Jellyfish Based Novel Food Products in Europe. A story is starting

In Europe, as well as in many other western countries, jellyfish (JF) are not a traditional food, they are not usually consumed and the JF market is probably limited to Asiatic communities. The use and marketing of JF in Europe is still hindered by the regulation on novel food (Commission Regulation EU 2283/2015) and mainly by the absence of standard methods for the treatment and processing of the raw material according to the EU safety standards. JF is considered a traditional food in Asian countries, such as China, Japan, Korea, Thailand which host the majority of consumers and producers. Although JF did not make its way to European consumers, some JF species originating from the EU were exported to East Asia for consumption. Traditionally JF are soaked in a mixture of NaCl and aluminum salts. This procedure reduces the water content and changes the JF gelatinous tissue into the consistency expected for the final edible product. This product is generally characterized by a crispy and firm texture highly appreciated by the Eastern market. However, aluminium, that is so extensively used in this procedure, is supposed to cause memory impairment and cognitive dysfunctions, which would lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Then, a reduction of dietary intake of aluminium is highly recommended. In Europe a Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) was established of 1 mg aluminium /kg body weight/week; however, the limits could even be more restrictive for overexposed populations. Then, new processes have to be designed to obtain final products observing safety and quality standards, maintaining nutritional traits, having sensory properties suitable for Western consumers. This is particularly true for raw material that has no history as food in western Countries and specifically in the European area (Torri et al., 2019). In within the GoJelly H2020 project, a new process and jellyfish-based products were developed.