Project description
Innovative and cost-effective carob powder with low environmental impact
Carob is an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean region whose fruit is a pod consisting of seeds and pulp. The pulp is ground into a powder often used as a chocolate substitute. It is a valuable source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and the market for similar foods, often called ‘superfoods,’ is growing rapidly. The Spanish SME PEDRO PEREZ MARTINEZ is developing a new natural ingredient from raw carob pulp to address consumer demands. The key is its innovative, cost-effective and sustainable production process that eliminates the use of chemicals, yielding dehydrated micronised carob powder. The EU-funded DEMICROCAROB project is supporting commercialisation of this novel product.
Objective
Superfoods are increasingly popular according to industry sources; 56% of European consumers use superfoods to improve their health with food or drink. The term “superfood” is a marketing term; essentially, it is used to describe foods and food ingredients that are “nutrient-rich” or “nutrient-dense”, or those that are believed to have health benefits. Currently, consumers are very concerned about health and many of them share the perception that the onset of many chronic diseases can be prevented with the intake of a nutritious diet. Besides they are now moving towards food products that are obtained from natural non-genetically modified organism extracts, so there is a new market niche that can be undertaken by the development of high nutritional and functional superfoods at reasonable prices -lower than the actual ones.
DEMICROCAROB project will produce a new natural ingredient from the raw carob pulp, with functional properties (antioxidant, energetic, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, antidiahorrea, antihyperlipidemia between others) and without chemicals, by means of an innovative and sustainable process: dehydrated micronized carob powder. DEMICROCAROB product will be commercialise in superfood market.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
46165 BUGARRA VALENCIA
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.