The growing global demand for safe, high-quality food, combined with the need for the sustainable use of natural resources, highlights the importance of research focused on estuarine, coastal, and oceanic environments. These ecosystems are strategic sources of highly nutritious food resources, requiring the development of strategies for monitoring, assessment, and value enhancement of the products originating from them, with a focus on food security, traceability, and sustainable use.

Furthermore, food security is related to ensuring the universal right of access to quality food, in sufficient quantities and on a permanent basis, through healthy and sustainable dietary practices. In this context, national sovereignty is essential to ensuring respect for the cultural characteristics of each region, from the sourcing of raw materials to the excellence of the final product. The coordinating higher education institution has extensive expertise in this field, with highly regarded graduate programs and internationally recognized research groups, while the partner institutions contribute socially relevant scientific knowledge and opportunities for the joint development of research.

The theme seeks to integrate science and innovation by promoting the analysis of the nutritional and sanitary quality of natural resources, as well as the prospecting of bioactive compounds with functional and technological potential. Well-established research lines within the participating institutions reinforce this commitment, encompassing food safety and quality, the production of biomolecules for use in food, the improvement of production chains and systems, aquaculture and fisheries, food contamination, and the production of biomaterials from food-processing waste.

The proposal is grounded in national priorities such as the Brazil Without Hunger Plan, the National Aquaculture Development Plan, and the National Artisanal Fisheries Plan, as well as in the SDGs related to responsible consumption, health and well-being, and life below water.

Theme Coordinator: Mariano Michelon (Lattes, ORCID)

Participating Graduate Programs

• FURG:

  • Aquaculture

  • Food Engineering and Science

  • Technological and Environmental Chemistry

  • Biological Oceanography

  • Agroindustrial Systems and Processes

• Fisheries Institute:

  • Aquaculture and Fisheries

• UFDPar:

  • Biotechnology

  • Biomedical Sciences

• UEFS:

  • Ecology and Evolution

• UNIFAP:

  • Tropical Biodiversity

  • Environmental Sciences

  • Sustainable Amazon Development