NAMASTE

New Advances in the integrated Management of food processing wAste in India and Europe: use of Sustainable Technologies for the Exploitation of byproducts into new foods and feeds

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'According to the EU-India Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement, there is a converging Indian and European interest in finding promising valorization routes and markets for fruit and cereal processing by-products and wastes. NAMASTE will develop innovative, comprehensive and industry-relevant approaches for the valorization of citrus, mango and pomegranates by-products and wastes as well as of wheat and rice bran, thought the environmentally and economically sustainable conversion of these by-products/wastes into healthy food ingredients, foods and feeds. NAMASTE-EU will particularly focus on citrus and wheat bran processing, and will develop and assess laboratory-scale experimental protocols to convert by-products/wastes into food ingredients and new foods with improved nutritional properties (e.g. fruit paste, citrus filled snacks, citrus-based snacks, fruit enriched breakfast cereals, citrus paste-based self-stable fillers for bakery products, a new citrus/mango based feed for aquaculture). NAMASTE-India will adopt complementary/synergic strategies, technologies and processes for turning by-products/wastes of mango/pomegranate processing and rice bran in similar ingredients, new foods and feeds. A proactive EU-India cooperation effort will be adopted to enhance mutual benefits, in terms of both knowledge generation and market expansion for the global food and drink industry. NAMASTE joint consortia will strictly collaborate on common by-products and shared food technologies as well as on activities aimed at investigating the nutritional quality, chemical and microbial safety of the resulting foods/feeds, and the environmental benefits and economic opportunities associated to industrial production. The direct involvement of strongly committed EU and Indian industries (and of an external Industrial Platform) will provide the high added value of guaranteeing the validation of developed processes and products, thus ensuring fast and effective industrial uptake'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Annually, fruit and cereal processing industries in Europe and India generate millions of tonnes of by-products that are mainly disposed of as waste. Conversion of such by-products into food ingredients and new food products could increase profit and sustainability.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Funded by the EU, the http://www.ifr.ac.uk/sfc/research/NAMASTE.html (NAMASTE-EU) project advanced innovative, industry-relevant approaches to the integrated management of food processing by-products and waste. Work aimed at valorising routes and markets for exploiting citrus by-products and wheat bran, while a parallel project, NAMASTE-INDIA, funded by the Indian Department of Biotechnology (DBT) focused his research on mango and pomegranate by-products and rice bran.

Researchers developed and tested improved methods and strategies for determining the quality and exploitation potential of citrus and wheat processing by-products. In the area of innovative technologies, they chose microwave drying for stabilising citrus by-products. The procedure is effective in maintaining microbiological safety without losing important properties of obtained citrus ingredients. The latter include citrus fibre, polyphenol extract and clouding agent.

Team members also developed a procedure combining (thermal) pre-treatments and enzymatic digestion of wheat bran for producing wheat bran fibres. The approach successfully also resulted in the production of oligosaccharides with high prebiotic index and ferulic acid to be then converted into vanillin.

The project screened technological applications for selection of the most promising ingredients, which were then combined to formulate new food products. Examples are a citrus fibre-enriched fruit juice, citrus fibre and citrus paste-based snacks and various bakery products, including one based on pre-fermented wheat bran.

NAMASTE assessed all developed products for composition as well as technological, microbiological, functional and sensory characteristics. It also reviewed production processes for food safety risk and environmental impact. In particular, 'Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points' (HACCP) studies confirmed that the project's ingredients are safe for use in various food processing technologies. This supports the project's application of a 'cradle-to-cradle' concept for new food production procedures.

Furthermore, project members used the full-cost method and web-based stakeholder consultation to assess economic and market opportunities. On the whole, there is potential in both areas, with industry competitiveness set to benefit both Europe and India. In addition, the developed food chain approach for valorising citrus and wheat processing by-products holds promise for similar plant-based food processing by-products.

Increasing restrictions are being imposed on waste disposal and landfills usage through the EU Land-fill Directive as well as other international legislation. As such, NAMASTE outcomes will also contribute to helping reduce pollution and health hazards.