Marian Kjellevold

About

My main area of expertise is food security and nutrition with focus on micronutrients in aquatic foods. I have extensive experience in dietary studies with seafood with special focus on the first thousand days (pregnancy and infants), and development and validation of food frequency questionnaires with biological marker. Uncertainties in food composition data is a challenge in nutrition monitoring, which may lead to incorrect results. I have therefore the last years focused on generating relevant, reliable and up-to-date nutrient composition data on small fish. Today, aquatic food makes up a small part of the world’s food supply and is not well integrated in solving the goals to achieve “zero hunger” (UN SDG 2) and “good health and well-being” (SDG3). Thus, my research focus on how SDG14 (Life below water) can contribute to better nutrition security.

Employment

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Principal scientist, food security and nutrition
  2022 - 2022
• Institute of Marine Research Senior scientist, nutrition and food security
  2019 - Present
• Institute of Marine Research Head of research
  2013 - 2019
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Guest scientist
  2013 - 2014
• Havforskningsinstituttet Scientist
  2003 - 2013

Education

• Universitetet i Bergen dr. scient. (PhD)
  1997 - 2002
• University of Bergen cand. scient. (masters's degree)
  1993 - 1995

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (116)

• Microbial food safety of sun-dried and smoked European anchovies during nine months traditional storage in Ghana
  Food Safety and Risk 2026 DOI: 10.1186/s40550-026-00154-0
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• Dietary Diversity and Small Pelagic Fish Consumption among Women of Reproductive Age along the Southern Coast of Tanzania
  Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science 2026 DOI: 10.4314/wiojms.vi1/2026.1
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• Global marine fish trade networks track international pathways of nutrients and contaminants
  Eco-Environment & Health 2026 DOI: 10.1016/j.eehl.2026.100218
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• Nutrient Composition of Marine Fish Species From the East African Coast: Implications for Food and Nutrition Security
  Food Science & Nutrition 2026 DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.71159
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• Dietary Diversity and Small Pelagic Fish Consumption among Women of Reproductive Age along the Southern Coast of Tanzania
  Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science 2026 DOI: 10.4314/wiojms.si2026.1.1
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• Halogenated persistent organic pollutants in selected processed small fish species from Ghana
  Food Chemistry 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.146771
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• Novel analytical data on cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic and selenium content in fish from Tanzania and Mozambique: Implications for food safety
  Food Control 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2025.111350
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• Dried fish provide widespread access to critical nutrients across Africa
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2025 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2426844122
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• Nutrients and contaminants in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fillet and fish feed from 2006 to 2021
  Journal of Agriculture and Food Research 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.jafr.2025.101933
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• Putting small fish on the table: the underutilized potential of small indigenous fish to improve food and nutrition security in East Africa
  Food Security 2023 DOI: 10.1007/s12571-023-01362-8
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