Access to healthy and sustainable foods is an existential priority as recognized by the UN, WHO, and EU. Replacing animal-based proteins with their plant-based counterparts or even with other potential (more sustainable) ingredients is expected to be a major step forward. In order to speed up this transition, methods need to become available to allow for high throughput evaluation of ingredients, in terms of technical functionality that rules food properties, and physiological functionality that ultimately decides on effects taking place in the body. The EVALUATOR project focusses on ingredient properties in colloidal emulsions (oil (droplets)-dispersed in-water systems), for which a tailor-made microfluidic platform was applied to dynamically assess technical emulsion stability (ingredient ability to form and stabilize the droplets) and digestibility.
The microfluidic platform allows real-time investigation at micro- and nano- meter levels, the scales at which basic food structure elements are formed and degraded, and within very short time spans mimicking natural process conditions via high-speed recording. With this, the EVALUATOR project not only led to the design of healthier and greener food systems but also supply a versatile microfluidic platform that allows design from first principles, i.e. the actual ingredient properties as they are relevant for food production and digestion. This brings food design, that currently revolves around trial and error, into a completely different realm, and even more important, establishes the currently missing link between technological functionality and digestion.
All of the above is highly relevant from a scientific perspective, but not only that, the use of these tiny devices may also have a broader and larger impact. By using the microfluidic platform, ingredient screening can be done with small sample sizes and reduced amount of chemicals, making a substantial contribution to environmental sustainability and the exploration of novel food sources.
