Integrated biorefining technologies of berry pomace will be developed for the production of high value food grade functional ingredients, which will be comprehensively evaluated for the possibilities of their commercialization. Innovative methods such as supercritical fluid, pressurised liquid, ultrasound, microwave and enzyme assisted extraction, solid state fermentation will be applied and optimized for biorefining. Four types of functional ingredients will be developed: (1) lipophilic; (2) polyphenolic; (3) soluble oligosaccharide; (4) insoluble fibre/protein. Encapsulation technologies of these ingredients will be developed for increasing their stability, until they will be released in gastrointestinal tract, ensuring better bioaccessibility and providing more convenient technological application form. Antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of ingredients will be evaluated by the in vitro assays; their composition will be determined by various chromatographic/spectroscopic methods. Selected functional ingredients will be tested in various foods for improve their safety and increasing health promoting properties by berry phytochemicals and other valuable constituents. The optimal doses of ingredients in foods will be established by evaluating their effects on various quality characteristics, including sensory properties, as well as oxidative and microbiological stability. The effect of functional substances on global antioxidant response and their bioaccessibility will be tested using gastrointestinal digestion assays in vitro, while the bioactivity of the released bioactive compounds will be evaluated using colorectal cancer cell lines. The most promising technologies and products will be up-scaled to pilot level production and selected for commercialization by evaluating technological and economic feasibility for the industrial implementation.
Project funding:
This research project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund according to the 2014–2020 Operational Programme for the European Union Funds’ Investments, under measure’s No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718 activity “Research Projects Implemented by World-class Researcher Groups”
Project results:
15 articles in international journals with impact factor; 2 patent applications (Lithuania); 1 EPO patent application; 2 new technologies; 14 prototypes of new products
Period of project implementation: 2017-12-20 - 2022-05-31
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
