Sensitive and reliable detection of functional food ingredients
Nowadays, modern food industry tends to leverage health properties and offer functional foods containing ingredients that may improve human health and quality of life. Despite the fact that functional foods are considered as significant among standard food and drink companies, little is known about their true benefits to human health. Thereby, clinicians, nutritionists and legislators need detailed scientific data on these ingredients. In an effort to validate the claim that functional foods are indeed beneficial, this project developed new scientific information on CPPs. More specifically, research was conducted on the production, utilisation, efficacy and safety of these specific mineral-binding peptides. These studies are also expected to significantly improve consumer awareness on functional foods/food ingredients. Among the project's results, a useful tool for the detection and semi-quantification of mixtures of CPPs that can be used as functional foods has been validated. It involves a novel Enzyme Immuno Assay (EIA) that features wide specificity and high sensitivity of CPPs preparations at least for those produced using classically approved food grade enzymes. The EIA may not only allow the effective control of fragments of CPPs additions in food end-products, but also to check their existence after processing or storage. In addition, this novelty may enable scientists to reveal new aspects of CPPs stability during digestion as well as their bioavailability and function as functional foods. With a view to specify added value outputs, the project also worked on the physiochemical and functional characterisation of CPP deplete co-products. Thereby, data on specific derivatives is now available and may aid users of food protein ingredients. Moreover, the allergenic potential of CPPs was also determined without potentially showing any serious reaction in allergic consumers who would ingest CPPs.
