Project looks to make skin creams from fish waste
It is all part of the EU project APROPOS which aims to demonstrate the value inherent in waste food resources which are currently used mostly for animal feed.
The work currently being undertaken to turn these extracts into skin care components is being carried out by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Spain.
The extracts are linked to stable nanoparticles that can remove odours from fish raw materials, and the golden-brown colouring from rapeseed extracts; which is vital if the products are intended for the cosmetics market.
The university researchers have considered possibilities in the field of inflammation suppression and antimicrobial applications, as well as the occurrence of antioxidants.
The next step is to incorporate the fish and rape seed extracts into cosmetic products, and the Spanish company TrueCosmetics intends to use the extracts as a foundation for one of its creams.
The project
As part of the APROPOS project, researchers and industrial partnerships around the world have been developing new, industrial processing techniques, using rapeseed and fish as their basic raw materials.
Norway produces farmed salmon worth several billions every year; but much of this raw material is discarded during production. Only 50% of the fish mass remains once off-cuts such as heads, dorsal fins and offal are removed.
Industrial rapeseed is produced across huge, bright yellow fields. But only the black seeds are used to produce oil, and large volumes of chemicals are used in the oil extraction process.
Independent research organisation SINTEF has headed one of the project's seven work packages with the aim of developing a so-called "environmentally-friendly process technology for the exploitation of waste raw materials from fish filleting for human nutrition and skin care applications."
"We have carried out two processes involving salmon and Nile perch. We have analysed both the oil and proteins from the fish waste raw materials, as well as waste from rape and mustard seeds," says Rasa Slizyte at SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture.
In their work, the researchers have employed advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques, which enable them to monitor the freshness of the fish raw materials in storage.
Meanwhile, the previously mentioned research partners in Spain have developed the technique for incorporating and stabilising fish proteins in cosmetic creams.
