Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Biotechnological approach to promote environmental sustainability thro...
Coordinator
Innovation of food (bio)processing using smart and mild technologies and fermentation to improve nutritional quality while ensuring safety and environmental sustainability throughout the shelf life of foods. Nutritional quality and biodiversity are targeted through both advanced and sustainable processes (including encapsulation) to preserve and improve at-risk (micro)nutrient composition of relevant food categories and exploiting microbiological and biotechnological applications to impact on nutritional quality. Such (bio)technological approaches (e.g., fermentation, enzyme treatments, etc.) are validated by process markers also directed to ensure food production safety and quality targeting new food habits (e.g., ready to eat food and novel food consumption) and sustainability, promoting production efficiency and utilisation of alternative sources (in connection with Spoke 2 and 3).
Development or improvement of at least 3 technological approaches to innovate food production (including cooking and shelf life) in terms of nutritional quality, safety, and sustainability (M24)
Identification of new process and product markers (M30)
Innovative processing using microorganisms or their antimicrobials and fermentation products with bioprotective effects can support an increased shelf life of food products by delaying the growth of spoilage microorganisms (in connection with Spoke 2) and foodborne pathogens (in connection with Spoke 3), without need of chemical ingredients. Implementing innovative technologies to obtain longer shelf life will lead to less food waste, satisfying consumer demand for natural, innovative, and concrete food options to reduce their footprint enhancing sustainable consumption, avoiding the use of preservation treatments that can compromise nutritional quality. Aside from the positive benefit of avoiding waste, several studies have reported that the innovative bioprocessing, applied on food products obtained by conventional or alternative sources, is a promising strategy to improve both the nutritional and sensory quality of the final products, spurring innovation in existing production models.
UNIBA research team will use selected microorganisms (e.g., lactic acid bacteria) and/or their metabolites (e.g. organic acids, peptides; native and encapsulated) to prevent spoilage and extend the shelf life of national staple food products (i.e., baked goods and pasta). Considering that conventional process for food products (e.g. pasta) may not include a fermentation step, novel recipes including LAB-fermented ingredients will be proposed. Aiming at enhancing the shelf-life of the final product and expanding the market supply with products exhibiting new nutritional and sensorial profiles, conventional and alternative flours (e.g. pulses) will be preliminarily subjected to fermentation with selected microbial strains and used as ingredients to produce staple foods. The innovative bioprocesses will be optimized to obtain the extension of the microbiological shelf-life and the improvement of the nutritional, functional and sensory quality of the products.
We expect to produce either baked goods and/or pasta (dried or fresh) with prolonged shelf life as well as enhanced nutritional and functional properties. The most promising microbial strains and metabolites will be selected, and the bioprocess optimized to favor the release of metabolites with high antimicrobial potential, contributing to the extension of the national traditional products shelf life, and to improve the nutritional and functional properties of the products, compared to products containing a chemical preservative or subjected to other preservation techniques.
