FishEUTrust is innovating in numerous ways to bring trust and safety to the seafood supply chain. On this page you will find details of some of these key innovations. More details and videos can be found by clicking the specific links in the descriptions.
1: Smart Control Systems for Seafood Safety & Quality
Innovative tools and sensors for the detection of pathogenic bacteria, antibiotics, toxins and freshness in fish and mussels have been developed, as follows:
1-1 Highly reliable screen-printed manufacturing process for fabricating electrodes in fish biosensing (MICRUX):
The innovation consists of a robust and scalable screen-printing process for the fabrication of electrochemical sensors tailored to fish biosensing applications. Screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) represent a cost-effective, disposable, and user-friendly solution for on-site analysis, requiring only minimal sample volumes. Their performance is significantly enhanced through the incorporation of nanomaterials and aptamers, which provide superior conductivity, increased electroactive surface area, excellent biocompatibility, and high specificity toward target analytes. These functionalized electrodes enable sensitive and selective detection of key biomarkers relevant to seafood safety and quality monitoring.
1-2 Sensors for detection of pathogenic bacteria or antibiotics (UMF):
Four innovations were developed as follows:
(i) Electrochemical aptasensors using a specific aptamer for the detection of vancomycin, bacteria or quorum sensing molecules characteristic of Gram-negative bacteria;
(ii) Electrochemical sensors based on molecularly imprinted polymer for the selective and sensitive detection of the cephalosporin antibiotics;
(iii) Electrochemical fingerprint of tetracyclines;
(iv) Electrochemical sensors for the detection of molecules, serving as biomarkers of biofilm formation or bacteria contamination using SPEs modified with nanomaterials.
You can see a demonstration of the sensors at the YouTube link below
https://youtu.be/VjxWRqsvWfA?si=I9Pe2wTBcKVfaB6F
1-3 - A sensor for detection of Marine toxins (UNIFI):
This was developed by means of two electrochemical aptamer-based sensors specifically designed for okadaic acid (OA) and saxitoxin (STX). This sensor was developed onto a polymeric/gold nanoparticle nanocomposite to enhance the electrochemical properties of screen-printed carbon electrodes. The assays are based both on a competitive format and exploit an enzymatic amplification of the signal, to increase the sensitivity of the device for an accurate OA and STX detection.
1-4 - Sensor for freshness (BTU):
Freshness was evaluated using a virtual sensor array based on an integrated electrochemical chemotransistor, which includes a conducting polymer as the chemosensitive material, four measurement electrodes for simultaneous detection of the sensor signal and the sensor integrity, and a reference electrode. An algorithm for data analysis was developed and is based on the minimization of the Euclidean distance in the multidimensional space formed by the descriptors of the virtual sensor array.
You can view the sensors in action on our YouTube channel here
2) FishEUTrust Platform
The central integration point of FishEUTrust the project is the platform, which collects data and connects software components into a unified system, providing end-to-end tracking of seafood and related information - from breeding or fishing, through storage, transportation, repacking, and processing, to the end consumer. The platform enables traceability at varying levels of granularity and supports data management, analytics, and visualization.
At the core of the traceability is the batch - a minimal traceable unit and the central point for tracking products and their lifecycles throughout the value chain. This concept is abstract and can represent various units, such as aquaculture, a single fish, a part of fish, any number of fish, mussels, cans, or any combination thereof. A batch can be split into smaller batches, multiple batches can be merged into a new larger batch, and a batch can be transformed into another batch (for example, when raw food is processed into canned food). Connected to the batches are their attributes - versioned key-value pairs, documents and certificates, lifecycle phase descriptions, ownership and access transfer information, measurements, locations and analyses from sensors and external platforms, and more.
The platform offers flexible knowledge integration, including nutrient or product composition data, impact metrics such as the HEalth Nutritional Index (HENI) and GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emission levels,and more complex analyses (like toxins contamination or freshness). Interpretation rules contribute to complex event processing and the notification system.
You can see the FishEUTrust platform in action on our YouTube channel here.
You can login to and access the FishEUTrust platform here.
You can read the user manual here.
3) Advanced Suite of Tools for Seafood Quality, Safety and Traceability
The originality of the FishEUTrust project lies in integrating genomic (UNIPD), metagenomic (UNIFI), and stable isotope data (JSI) and using recent advances in machine learning to classify sea bream based on the type and origin of production, providing explanations for the predictions made. Further K-mer analysis identified numerous markers for freshness and origin, supporting aptamer development; geographic proximity reflected in microbial and pathogen similarity.
You can access the publication describing the technology in more detail here.
4) Virtual Reality for Seafood Transparency and Consumer Trust
Virtual environments developed by UNIBO have tested in-depth consumers preferences in the three selected EU Countries of Italy, Slovenia and Denmark. Consumers will be engaged in virtual choice experiments where their preferences toward seafood products will be analysed, considering parameters as specimen, preparation, labelling, and willingness to pay. Results of these activities will define the key characteristics of innovative products and processes/innovations that are more appealing for different target consumer groups and will be the theoretical basis for the definition of the most effective monetary and non-monetary interventions that will increase demand for seafood products.
You can view a demo of the VR space on our YouTube channel here.
You can see more consumer related inforamtion by going to our page here.
5) AI-Powered Semantic Framework for Seafood Authenticity & Traceability
The framework combines stable isotope and elemental composition data with AI, natural language processing (NLP), semantic technologies and explainable machine learning to transform fragmented seafood data into trusted knowledge. It integrates analytical data from IsoFoodTrack with scientific literature and domain knowledge through a FAIR Knowledge Graph, supporting authenticity marker identification, fraud detection and verification of seafood origin. The innovation supports the objectives of the European AI for Science Strategy by advancing FAIR and interoperable data, AI-assisted scientific discovery, and trustworthy and explainable AI for evidence-based decision making.
DATA → KNOWLEDGE → AI → VERIFICATION → TRUST
You can access the publication describing the technology in more detail here.