Descrizione del progetto
Nuovo framework a emulsioni di Pickering per combattere lo spreco alimentare
L’Unione europea genera annualmente oltre 80 milioni di tonnellate di rifiuti alimentari. L’ossidazione di lipidi, vitamine e altri componenti è una delle cause del deterioramento della qualità in molti tipi di alimenti, che porta, ad esempio, allo sviluppo di aromi sgradevoli. Nonostante i tensioattivi convenzionali per la stabilità delle emulsioni siano efficienti, risulta necessario eliminarli gradualmente per ridurre i composti organici volatili e le impronte di carbonio. La nuova metodica delle emulsioni di Pickering si propone come alternativa interessante, benché sia necessario aumentarne la stabilità e ridurne i costi. Il progetto PICKFOOD, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà una nuova struttura e metodiche per valutare le applicazioni dell’emulsione di Pickering in alimenti sicuri, sani e funzionali in collaborazione con l’industria alimentare.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-ITN - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN)Coordinatore
7491 Trondheim
Norvegia