WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2024 29 Fish and Seafood Preservation Fish and seafood production results in significant amounts of waste globally due to the biological composition of these products, resulting in limited shelf life especially at abused storage conditions when rapid microbial and enzymatic reactions prevail. However, increasing consumer demands for healthy and fresh products with extended shelf life increases the necessity of alternative methods and technologies for effective preservation of perishable products (Siddiqui et al. 2024). The most common method to preserve fish fillets is modified atmosphere packaging, which aims to modify the headspace in food package to retard chemical reactions and bacterial activity. The main drawback of modified atmosphere packaging for seafood is that packages with high volumes are required, otherwise, the CO2 will be at insufficient levels to effectively preserve freshness (Tsironi and Taoukis 2018). Gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) belongs to the Sparidae family and is one of the most important Mediterranean aquaculture species, with an estimated annual production volume of 282.1 thousand tons in 2020, accounting for 3.4% of total global aquaculture production. As most of the production occurs in the Mediterranean, the leading producers are Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, and Italy (FAO 2022). Gilthead seabream is not extensively processed, and it is mainly available in the market as a fresh product. Spoilage and quality deterioration of fish stored under refrigerated conditions is mainly associated with microbial activity, which is the main factor to be considered in order to design appropriate processing and packaging methods. In the case of aerobically packed chilled Mediterranean fish, such as gilthead seabream, the dominant spoilage parameter is Pseudomonas spp. growth (Thomas et al. 2023). The microbiota which is grown in the skin, gills, and gut is influenced by fish age, diet, environmental conditions, and water quality (Kuang et al. 2020). Food and Plastic Waste In 2022, food waste across the retail, food service, and household sectors was 1.05 billion tons, globally. The average amount of food waste per capita, for 2022, was estimated to be 132 kg, of which 79 kg was wasted at the domestic stage. Packaging plays an important role in reducing food waste because packaging may delay bacterial and chemical reactions and maintain the quality and shelf life of food products. However, food packaging based on plastic materials increases the production of greenhouse gases and accumulates toxic materials in the environment (Ncube et al. 2020). According to European Union statistics, each citizen living in the European Union generated on average 36.1 kilos of plastic packaging waste for 2021. This number increased by 30 percent, equal to an increase of 8.1 kilos per person, for the period from 2010-2021. The plastic waste produced was 16.13 million tons and 6.56 million tons were recycled (European Parliament 2024). The annual growth rate of plastics use indicates that estimated plastic consumption by 2050 will be 500 million tons globally and the majority will be for single use materials (Ncube et al. 2021). To overcome the issues of food waste and plastic accumulation in the environment and marine systems, biodegradable materials have been used in the food packaging sector. Biopolymer or bioplastic materials are based on renewable resources and enhance material recycling like the biogeochemical cycles that Development of Alternative Packaging Materials Appropriate for Fresh Fish Products Evmorfia Athanasopoulou, Enrico Maurizzi, Francesco Bigi, Andrea Quartieri, Andrea Pulvirenti and Theofania Tsironi (CONTINUED ON PAGE 30) FIGURE 1. Classification of materials based on their origin and environmental decomposition. Fish and seafood production results in significant amounts of waste globally due to the biological composition of these products, resulting in limited shelf life especially at abused storage conditions when rapid microbial and enzymatic reactions prevail. However, increasing consumer demands for healthy and fresh products with extended shelf life increases the necessity of alternative methods and technologies for effective preservation of perishable products. The most common method to preserve fish fillets is modified atmosphere packaging, which aims to modify the headspace in food package to retard chemical reactions and bacterial activity.
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