The World Health Organization promotes salt iodisation to control iodine deficiency. In Portugal, the use of iodised salt in school canteens has been mandatory since 2013. The present study aimed to evaluate iodine status in school-aged children (6–12 years) and to monitor the use of iodised salt in school canteens. A total of 2018 participants were randomly selected to participate in a cross-sectional survey in northern Portugal. Children’s urine and salt samples from households and school canteens were collected. A lifestyle questionnaire was completed by parents to assess children’s eating frequency of iodine food sources. Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The median UIC was 129 µg/L which indicates the adequacy of iodine status and 32% of the children had UIC < 100 µg/L. No school canteen implemented the iodised salt policy and only 2% of the households were using iodised salt. Lower consumption of milk, but not fish, was associated with a higher risk of iodine deficiency. Estimation of sodium intake from spot urine samples could be an opportunity for adequate monitoring of population means. Implementation of iodine deficiency control policies should include a monitoring program aligned with the commitment of reducing the population salt intake.

The production and consumption of shrimp species create massive amounts of shrimp bio-waste. In this study, shrimp shell waste from Palaemon serratus and Palaemon varians from the Portuguese coast was characterized. Regarding the antioxidant capacity, the obtained values were between 4.7 and 10.4 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry weight (dw) for Total phenolic content (TPC); 3 and 7 mg ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE)/g dw for Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP); 0.4 and 1.2 mg Trolox equivalent (TE)/g dw for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate free radical scavenging (DPPH^•); 4 and 11 mg TE/g dw for 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging activity (ABTS^•+); and 72 and 130 mg TE/g dw for Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). For the antimicrobial activity, shrimp shell waste from P. varians formed inhibition zones between 14 and 23 mm. Total carotenoid content values were in the range of 28 and 134 μg/g dw, and according to their HPLC-PAD profile, β-carotene and astaxanthin contents were between 0.3 and 7.6 μg/g dw and 1.1 and 26.1 μg/g dw, respectively. These studies are critical to recognizing the potential added value of shrimp shell waste as possible colorants and preservatives with antioxidant protection capacity to be used in the food industry.