By Products 06/RTD/AFRC/519
Development of functional foods with waste/by-products of fruit, vegetable and fish processing
Type of funding scheme: Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM), DAFF.
List of participants:
| Partner no. | Partner | Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Coordinator) | Dr Nigel Brunton | Teagasc Ashtown Food Research Centre (AFRC) |
| 2 | Dr. Ana Belen Martin Diana | Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) - CSIC Spain |
| 3 | Dr. Catherine Barry-Ryan | Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) |
| 4 | Pr. Keith Tipton | Trinity College Dublin (TCD) |
| 5 | Dr. Maria Tuohy | National University of Galway (NUIG) |
Aim and objectives
To examine the potential of waste and by-products from fish, fruit and vegetable processing in Ireland as sources of bioactive compounds for the use in functional foods.
Sustainable food production and waste valorisation are becoming important issues in the food industry. Food processors generate high amounts of biological by-products and waste that could be used for other purposes. In addition, functional foods and ingredients are gaining the consumer's interest. Therefore one good possibility would be to generate bioactive ingredients that could be applied to design functional foods.
1. Setup of methods to measure bioactivity and to extract bioactive compounds; screening of a high variety of sources.
2. Five main interesting sources were selected for further optimisation: fish by-products from blue whiting and mackerel, crab shells, apple pomace and potato peel. The extraction of bioactive compounds was optimised for these sources by using environmentally friendly and food safe solvents and technologies.
3. In addition to antioxidant activity, anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive activities and technological properties of extracts were analysed.
4. Bioactive fractions were tested and further purified for their bioactivity in vitro. In addition the effect of the purified extracts will be tested in vivo on rats. Finally the purified compounds/extracts will be added to certain foods and their effect will be tested.
Innovative aspects of the project
New technologies, such as pressurised liquid extraction (PLE) and critical CO2 were used to extract bioactive compounds. These techniques are generally considered as green extraction techniques since they use little or no solvents. Critical CO2 has been used in industry for example to extract caffeine and oils, and could also be used as a sustainable extraction method for extracting bioactives from by-products. At the moment PLE has not been adapted yet to industrial scale, and is a fairly new technique in food production.
New functional ingredients may be found, through enzymatic hydrolysis of fish waste for example. Some new bioactive compounds may be discovered that have various activities such as, anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory or anti-microbial.
Methodology and associated work plan
| Workpackage | Workpackage title | Leading Institution | Partners involved |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Project management and adaptation and validation of analytical techniques for measuring antioxidant compounds in fish, fruits and vegetables | AFRC + DIT | TCD, NUIG |
| 2 | Screening and isolation of bioactive compounds from fruit, vegetable and fish waste/by-products | AFRC + DIT | |
| 3 | Optimisation of procedures for extraction antioxidant compounds from fish, fruit vegetable waste/by-products | AFRC | DIT |
| 4 | Enzyme assisted extraction of antioxidant compounds from fruit and vegetable by-products | NUIG | AFRC, DIT |
| 5 | Study of the technical functionality of isolated bio-compounds under different conditions | DIT | AFRC |
| 6 | Determination "in vitro" of antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antithrombotic and probiotic activities of bio-compounds isolated from fish and fruit/vegetable processing industry | DIT | AFRC |
| 7 | Determination "in vivo" of antihypertensive and anti-inflammatory activities of bio-compounds isolated from fish and fruit/vegetable processing industry | TCD + DIT | AFRC |
| 8 | Semicarbazide Sensitive Amine Oxidase (SSAO) inhibition for anti diabetic and anti-inflammatory therapy | TCD | |
| 9 | Incorporation of the different bio-compounds in food matrices | AFRC + DIT | |
| 10 | Economic evaluation, market analysis of products with bioactive compounds recovered from fruit, vegetable and fish waste/by products | DIT | AFRC |
| 11 | To disseminate the results of the research to the food industry, food safety groups and RELAY in an easily-understood ready-to-use form | AFRC, DIT, TCD, NUIG |
Evolution of the project
Task 1: The methods of analysis have been identified and the project management is still ongoing.
Task 2: Various by-products and waste fruit and vegetable sources and fish and crustacean sources have been screened as potential sources. The following sources have been identified as having the highest potential: mackerel by-products, blue whiting by-products, crab shells, apple pomace and potato peel have been selected as sources to optimise for extraction.
Task 3: The extraction of bioactive fish by-products were optimised by using various food grade acids. To retrieve bioactive peptides samples were digested with different enzymes, including endogenous enzymes. Fruit and vegetable by-products were optimised by using solid liquid extraction with environmental friendly solvents ethanol and acetone. In addition pressurised liquid extraction (PLE) was used as a green and novel extraction technique.
Task 4: Enzymatic digestion did help to free phenolic compounds, especially in samples that contain bound phenolics, such as cereals.
Task 5: The gelatine of good quality has been extracted from mackerel skin.
Task 6: Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic and probiotic activities of bioactive compounds derived from fish products have mostly been determined. The potential of the same bioactivities will be determined of optimised extracts from fruit and vegetable by-products.
Task 7: The effect of purified extracts will be tested when the extracts are administered to rats.
Task 8: SSAO activity is inhibited by certain fish waste hydrolysates. Fruit and vegetable optimal extracts will also be tested.
Task 9: Bioactive compounds will be incorporated into foods to see there effect on food structure, sensory etc.
Task 10: The extraction of bioactive compounds from the various matrices will be evaluated, to see if the selected processes are economically viable.
Task 11: Results have been presented at various meetings and international conferences. In addition peer-reviewed articles have been published in peer-reviewed papers.
Contact person
| Name, Surname | Nigel Brunton |
|---|---|
| Position | Senior Research Officer |
| phone number | +353 1 8059500 (ext. 105) |
| fax | +353 1 805 9550 |
| nigel.brunton@teagasc.ie | |
| website |
