Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Feasibility Analysis on the Extraction of Lycopene from Tomato Peel through Organic Synthesis

Project description

Food colouring made of food waste

The food industry uses artificial colours to make its products look more attractive. For instance, the safety of a pigment known as E120, which gives a bright red colour and is used by big multinationals, is questionable. Consumer advocacy groups claim E120 is responsible for causing attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity in children and some forms of cancer in animals. In addition, artificial colouring is associated with behavioural problems in general. The EU-funded LycoSOL project proposes an environmentally friendly solution based on natural ingredients. The method involves extracting and processing healthy ingredients from the waste of food processing. The project aims to develop the process of extraction and encapsulation from plant waste, targeting production from tomato peels in particular.

Objective

Artificial food colouring makes the foods more appealing and desirable, a tactic the food industry has been capitalising on for decades. One of the most used artificial food colouring is Carmine or E120 (Used in Nestle Nesquik, Rainbow Mentos, etc.) a pigment of a bright-red colour obtained from the aluminium salt of carminic acid, which is produced by some scale insects, such as the cochineal scale and the Polish cochineal, and is used as a general term for a particularly deep-red colour of the same name. While the safety of these dyes has been called into question, consumer advocacy groups and recent scientific research have linked these food dyes to a number of potential health problems, most notably, certain types of cancer in animals and attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity in children. The link between artificial colours and behavioral problems is a concern, especially for parents of children diagnosed with ADHD.
LycoSOL extracts and formulate natural ingredients (nutraceuticals and phytochemicals) from the waste products of food processing, by using (i) biological, (ii) sustainable and (iii) environmentally friendly, novel processes to stop the use of synthetic food colouring, known to adversely affect the public health and replacing them by ingredients with major health benefits. BioCapSOL aims to provide an improved process for extracting and encapsulating biological content from plants and vegetables using benign chemistries that can be applied at an industrial scale. The LycoSOL extracts the carotenoids from waste by-products of tomato paste production through a 100% natural and low-cost production method.
LycoSOL is currently at TRL6 stage. The global market size for lycopene amounts to €113M in 2018 and the market is expected to grow annually by 3.5% (CAGR 2018-2023) is estimated to be more than €117M. BioCapSOL aims to achieve between the 5 to 10% of market share in the first five year from the commercialization launch.

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.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

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.

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.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

BIOCAPSOL KIMYA ANONIM SIRKETI
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 50 000,00
Address
SANAYI MAHALLESI TEKNOPARK BULVARI 1/1A BLOK 109-110-111
34906 PENDIK ISTANBUL
Türkiye

See on map

SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
İstanbul İstanbul İstanbul
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

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.

€ 71 429,00
My booklet 0 0