Federal Research Centre for Nutrition and Food, Germany

Safety and Quality Fishery and Aquaculture Products

The Max Rubner-Institut (MRI) is associated to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and deals with scientific questions regarding nutrition and food with the focus on consumer health protection. One of the main objectives is to advise the BMEL on policy decisions in the area of nutrition. The MRI Department of Safety and Quality of Milk and Fish Products aims for improving and maintaining both safety and quality of these two groups of valuable food items. Thereby, fish, crustaceans and molluscs, as well as marine algae, are studied along the production chain from catch to consumption.

    

Analytical methods, molecular biological and microbiological techniques as well as technological and sensory assessments are used in an integrated approach to study aspects of seafood safety and quality, for example

• improving food safety and nutritional quality of fishery and aquaculture products 
• developing methods to ensure traceability and authenticity of seafood products, including differentiation of production method, area of origin and species by DNA-, protein- and stable isotope analysis, as well as other methods, for the detection of food fraud
• analysing inorganic and organic pollutants, including microplastics and process contaminants
• investigating nutritionally valuable compounds and their potential changes due to modified feeding regimes in aquaculture systems
• evaluating new technological processes and their effect on fish quality
• investigating the detection of parasites in fish products within the accredited National Reference Laboratory for Nematodes in Fish
• following up on new developments in food law and consumer protection

Many of the research activities are performed in the frame of European projects, with partners from other research institutes, fish processing companies and food control laboratories.