A Multidisciplinary Approach for Improving Resource Efficiency in the Indian Surimi Supply Chain

Abstract

With the world population set to approach an estimated 9 billion by 2050, against a background of finite natural resources, we need renewable biological resources for securing healthy food and animal feed to meet the nutritional requirements of the growing population. In this paper, key findings from ReValue Eranet project financed by Norway, India, and Spain are presented. The project aims to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target on food losses reduction, by developing innovative technologies for the surimi industry, namely reducing losses by improved cold chain management and efficient conversion of rest raw materials (RRM) and wash water into value-added protein and oil ingredients for food and feed applications. A multidisciplinary research approach was applied with expertise from supply chain management, life cycle assessment, biotechnology, energy, and process engineering to propose several solutions for improving the overall resource efficiency of the surimi supply chains in India. This paper presents a synthesis of proposed solutions from ReValue project and potential contribution towards SDGs as well as market exploitation strategies.