Surimi: Focus sulla qualità di prodotto, sul processo produttivo e sul consumo consapevole

In this work we intend to provide an overview of the production process and on recent approaches to quality improvement on seafood products, such as surimi. This objective is pursued through an investigation of the nutritional, environmental, economic and legislative aspects, relating to the presence of this product on the national and international market. The purpose of this study is to highlight possible critical issues in production and marketing, and evaluate its potential as a functional food, thanks to innovative approaches, aimed at enhancing it with qualitative characteristics. Despite of having appeared on the Italian market since the 1960s, there still does not seem to be a clear and precise legislative defini tion, so this can generate confusion in the consumer and lack of protection at the time of purchase. In fact, there are many problems related to the marketing of the product, especially as regards the label, which is not always completely exhaustive, mainly due to the availability of fishes and the existence of surimi preparations of different quality