SCRC: The Australian Seafood Diet for Intergenerational Health: Development of a healthy high Australian seafood diet that will be acceptable to women of child-bearing age.(PhD student Lily Chan)
SCRC: SCRC RTG Implementation of PhD research to industry partner Simplot Australia (Student: Sam He)
Final report
The objective of this research travel grant was to develop Australian Seafood CRC PhD student Shan He's professional knowledge of transferring laboratory-scale results to a pre-commercial food model for industry benefit, and also build his professional skills and industry experience.
After one and half year's research, Shan He has achieved outstanding scientific outcomes. However, these results have not been applied to an industrial application because of the limitations of the biotechnology laboratory at Flinders University in formulating food products, and in the knowledge of the industry partner's food process and formulas. This research travel grant supported Shan to apply these results to commercial food formulations in a one month industry visit to Simplot Australia, the project's industry partner. The trial activity and industry interaction will train Shan He to be an industry-ready PhD graduate in the near future, so as to be able to better serve the Australia seafood industry.
Shan He was able to conduct experiments talk to managers of different divisions in Simplot Australia related to science, such as the New Products Process & Portfolio Manager, Science & Technology Manager, Group R&D Manager etc. Through these talks Shan He was familiarised with a key decision making system of Simplot Australia called the Stage Gate System. The information that Shan He gained from the communications developed his understanding of the role of science and technology in industry. The outcomes of this project assisted in developing Shan He's professional knowledge of transferring laboratory-scale results to industry products, built his professional skills and industry experience, and thus successfully prepared him to be an industry-ready PhD graduate in the near future.
SCRC: Review of health benefit research and development relevant to the Australian seafood industry and members of the Australian Seafood CRC
Development of a position on functional foods to support the Seafood CRC workshop and potential rebid for funds for Program 3 (Health benefits of Seafood)
Final report
This project was designed to assist the Australian Seafood CRC identify research gaps and opportunities and ultimately provide the necessary background information and rationale for a potential supplementary bid to DIISR for funding of a new program of health related research.
The Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) website and websites for the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare and the US Food and Drug Administration were the major sources of information regarding health claims for Australia, Japan and the US. Japan and the US were included in this report as they are two key export markets for the Australian Seafood industry. Examples of seafoods, using specific seafoods of interest to the Seafood CRC were modeled for nutrition content and general level health claims. A brief review of the potential mechanisms of some of the observed health effects of fish and omega-3 fatty acids was undertaken.
The research described in this report found that one of the important mechanisms for the observed widespread effect of seafoods on a range of health outcomes (such as coronary heart disease, cancer, arthritis, dementia) is the dampening of the inflammatory response by the 2 key bioactives in seafood, namely the long chain omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA). However there are other bioactives in fish worth exploring further. Several research gaps were identified as part of this project and these are outlined in the report.
Potential collaborators or partners beyond the current CRC members and affiliates were identified and have been included in the body of the report, as are some early suggestions for alternative funding and funding models.