Project description
Turning olive oil waste into anti-inflammatory functional ingredients
Managing chronic inflammatory diseases usually entails the administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. However, these often have unwanted side effects, necessitating the discovery of alternative treatments. Based on the proven health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, scientists of the EU-funded NEOCANTAL project have investigated the potential of extra virgin olive oil, particularly the natural anti-inflammatory properties of the phenol compound oleocanthal. The project has developed a process for obtaining oleocanthal from olive pomace, a by-product of the olive oil industry, and generating powder, liquid and encapsulated forms for addition to food products. Project outputs include a commercialisation feasibility study and the design of a clinical trial.
Objective
Chronic inflammatory diseases (CID) have dramatically risen in the last decades. Current sole treatment for patients is the long-term intake of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with associated harmful side effects, such as ibuprofen, to mitigate their pain.
Research has demonstrated that there exist a strong relationship between nutrition and chronic diseases. This way, the extra virgin olive oil’s (EVOO) health effects have been assessed through diverse studies focusing on the Mediterranean diet. Researchers have recognised natural anti-inflammatory properties to oleocanthal, one of the phenols compounds present in the EVOO. Concentration of oleocanthal is 100 times higher in the olive pomace (OP), a highly pollutant by-product from the olive oil industry.
Santa Cruz Ingeniería is an agro-industrial engineering firm specialised in agronomic management and R&D. During last years, we have focused on the identification of oleocanthal-rich olive varieties and on the process to obtain stable oleocanthal extracts (Spanish patent application under study). NEOCANTAL is a great Circular Economy opportunity (cumulative turnover of €17.15M three years after its launching) to turn the environmentally harmful and low-cost OP into a valuable raw material for new oleocanthal-rich (60-70% pure) functional ingredients with anti-inflammatory pursposes. It will be produced in three different forms to be added to a wide range of food products: OP powder, liquid and encapsulated oleocanthal. Our target customers are food producers willing to differentiate their products as functional, while our end-users are CID’s patients, but also people who care of their wellbeing or follow healthy trends. In the future, we will address the cosmetics, food packaging and pharma industries.
This Feasibility Study’s goal is to deepen in those key points to assess the economic, technical and commercial viability of NEOCANTAL (including a clinical trial) to tackle this challenge for us to scale-up.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- medical and health sciences health sciences inflammatory diseases
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- engineering and technology other engineering and technologies food technology food packaging
- social sciences economics and business economics sustainable economy
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
41018 Sevilla
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.