Project description
New Pickering emulsions framework to fight food waste
More than 80 million tonnes of food waste are generated in the EU each year. The oxidation of lipids, vitamins and other constituents is one of the causes of quality deterioration in many types of food, leading, for instance, to the development of undesirable off-flavours. While conventional surfactants for emulsions stability are efficient, it is necessary to phase them out in order to reduce volatile organic compounds and carbon footprints. The new method of Pickering emulsions has emerged as an attractive alternative. However, there is a need to increase their stability and reduce their cost. The EU-funded PICKFOOD project will develop a new framework and methodologies to evaluate Pickering emulsion applications in safe, healthy and functional foods in collaboration with the food industry.
Objective
Enormous food waste worldwide has huge environmental and cost efficiency impact. Chemical deterioration caused by e.g.
oxidation of lipids, vitamins and other food constituents are causes of waste. Many foods are emulsions stabilized by
surfactants. Conventional surfactants have dominated emulsion science due to their ease of use, relatively low cost and
control. However, their future industrial use is under threat, because of formulation foaming problems and the need to reduce
volatile organic compounds and carbon footprints. The use of so-called Pickering particles for production of physically and
oxidatively stable emulsions may be a solution to these problems. The aim of the Pickering Emulsions for Food Applications
- PICKFOOD project is therefore to provide a framework and novel methodologies to study and develop Pickering emulsions
and to evaluate their applications in safe, healthy and functional foods in collaboration with the food industry. Achieving this
goal involves a combination of soft matter physics and food colloid science deepening our physical understanding of
emulsion stability and processing, preparation of food-grade Pickering particles as well as characterizing them by highly
advanced methods not traditionally used in food science. Moreover, physics and food science will join forces in
electrohydrodynamic processing to avoid the deterioration of thermo-sensitive compounds during encapsulation since the
solvents are evaporated at low temperature. PICKFOOD assembles a multisectorial team of scientists to train young
researchers, and provide them with the combination of skills from soft matter physics and food colloid science. We want to
specifically provide them with technological and methodological competences to advance the field of Pickering emulsions for
food production and associated characterization methods ―and help them to utilize the experience from PICKFOOD in their
individual careers.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Coordinator
7491 Trondheim
Norway