LIDER
Project number: 23/109/L-2/10
In 2011-20114 Department of Microstructure and Mechanics of Biomaterials is implementing a project “New texture-modifying agent on the basis of waste products of fruit and vegetable industry”
The project is financed from the National Centre for Research and Development from LEADER II programme. Project budget is 1 million PLN.
Project team
Research group
- Project manager
Justyna Cybulska, PhD, Eng. Assistant professor in the Department of Microstructure and Mechanics of Biomaterials
- Contractors
prof. Artur Zdunek
Mateusz Stasiak, PhD, Eng.
Monika Szymańska-Chargot, PhD
Andrzej Kurenda, PhD
Piotr Pieczywek, M. Eng
Anna Adamiak, M. Sc
Assisting team
Joanna Mierczyńska, M. Eng
Beata Kruk, M. Sc
Marek Gancarz, PhD
The aim of the project is to develop a food additive based on polysaccharides from cell walls which firm the texture of food products. Fruit and vegetable marc, by-products in food processing companies, is used as material for the production of the preparation. The product will be enriched with scarce elements of diet. The product will be characterised comprehensively and evaluated for its use in food production technology.
The main result of the project, a firming additive, will be useful for food processing companies. Beneficial for health product properties can be used in developing dietary food products. The product will generate a new opportunity to use fruit and vegetable processing by-products.
Project schedule
Task 1. The analysis of firming additives market in Poland and the methods of utilising fruit and vegetable by-products.
Task 2. The development of production matrix with firming properties.
Task 3. The characteristics of biochemical, microbiological, physical and technological properties of the material and the base matrix.
Task 4. The definition of capacity to bind other pro-health substances by the polysaccharide matrix.
Task 5. The analysis of technological usefulness of a new firming additive to stabilise the texture of food products.
Task 6. The analysis of potential use of the product in food production; project promotion and result dissemination.
Results
Task 1
Market analysis of food additives and the methods of fruit and vegetable utilisation was conducted in cooperation with the Department of Food Engineering and Process Management (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) headed by Iwona Sitkiewicz.
Analysis summary
Authors: Iwona Sitkiewicz, Justyna Cybulska, Sabina Galus, Emilia Janiszewska, Sylwia Łaba, Małgorzata Nowacka
Firming food additives can be divided into thickening, stabilising and gelling, emulating substances and the substances that participate in forming and/or preserving certain structures. In Poland only pectin, potato starch and wheat starch are produced. Other firming additives used in food production are imported. Additionally, there is only one company in Poland that produces low-esterified apple, citrus-apple and citrus pectin at the amount of c.a. 600 tons. Company’s share in the global pectin market makes c.a. 2.5%. Potato starch is produced in 13 factories and wheat starch in one only. The use of potato starch in Poland is slightly below its use in Western European countries. Despite this Poland is one of the major producers of potato starch in Europe.
Firming additives are used in virtually every branch of food production industry. Most frequent additives include hydrocolloids such as: guar gum, St John's-bread, agar, algins, carrageenans, gum arabic, gum karaya, xanthan gum and gellan gum. Cellulose is most often used in a form of carboymethylocellulose as a thickener and stabiliser in sauces, dressings, soup concentrates, fruit desserts, cloudy juices, ice-cream and flavoured yoghurts. Cellulose and its derivatives are used as fillers in low calorie products such as dressings, ice-cream and pastes. Pectin is also used in the production of jam, fruit confectionary fillings, fruit flavourings in yoghurts cream cheese, cottage cheese and spread cheese. They are also used to make food concentrates and gluten-free supplements. Moreover, they are used to give full flavour to fruit beverages and as a protein stabiliser in sour milk drinks in diet food production and low-energy supplements. Starch, especially in a modified form, is used to produce meat products and animal feed, to protect bread from drying and to thicken juices.
In Poland there are 90 companies that generate production by-products, including fruit and vegetable marc. The most abundant and important by-products from fruit and vegetable processing include marc, spent grain, haulm and waste from carrot, cabbage, corn and beet processing. Marc is a by-product of mechanical juice pressing with different sorts of presses during the production of juices, wines, beverages and concentrates. Marc makes from 15% to 25% of fruit in a concentrate, depending on the type of material and technology. Vast majority of marc is fruit marc, c.a. 198.000 tons in 2010, while vegetable marc, mainly in a form of beet pulp, was only 15.000 tons. Unused organic by-products may pose a danger of microbiological contamination in a factory or its vicinity. It is primarily the case of c.a. 12% of beet pulp that is sent to garbage dump, to the detriment of the economy and the environment. According to the resolution by the Ministry of Environment of 26 September 2011 on the charges for the environment exploitation quotes a unit charge for marc storage of 11.61 PLN/ton. Frequently marc is dumped without proper protection from spoiling. Minimizing the impact of food waste on environment should primarily concern its economic use. As far as environment protection is concerned, it is only hard fruit stones (plum, cherry, apricot, etc.) that should be stored in landfills.
About 90% of plant by-products are sold and re-used. Marc constitutes a significant share of all organic waste that is sold by food processing companies and bought by farmers to feed animals. In 1990’s c.a. 50% of apple marc was used in Poland and virtually all coloured fruit marc was stored in landfills. In 2000 as many as 86.2% of all food production waste was recycled, 4.5% was dumped in landfills and 5.9% was stored in warehouses. With the integration of Poland with European Union, marc biomass became an interesting source of heat energy. Word Energy Council anticipates that share of renewable energy in total energy produced will reach 21.3% - 29.6%. In Poland the share of renewable energy in 2020 will make 14%. The main form of using apple marc is composting and animal feed production (fresh or silage). Composting increases the fertilising properties of organic waste and reduces their volume. Direct use of apple and pear marc to fertilise orchards, after prior liming fresh marc.
Task 2
The material is analysed for chemical, rheological and microbiological properties.
For the purposes of the project, a company called Eureka. Inżynieria Spożywcza, Doradztwo i Projektowanie (http://www.eurekainz.pl), selected in a procurement procedure designed and produced a Fluidizing Spray Dryer. The information about the procurement procedure is available on the website of the Institute of Agro-physics: (http://bip.ipan.lublin.pl/5,10,zamowienia-publiczne,dostawy).
Waste material – apple marc – undergoes initial fluidization drying. Then it is fragmented in a ball grinder. The material is modified with substances acceptable in food production in order to obtain the desired structuring properties for high water-content food products. After modifications the material is spray dried.
Fig. 1. Research material - apple marc, obtained from a company producing concentrated apple juice, dried in a tumble dryer.
Press information
On the basis of the material from Polish Press Agency, a number of newspaper articles about the project were published:
- 31.05.2011, Dziennik Wschodni, article entitled: „Po milionie złotych na badania dla uczonych z Lublina”.
- May 2011, Forum Akademickie, article entitled: „Liderzy za 33 miliony”.
- 31.05.2011, Portal Innowacji, article entitled: „NCBiR nagrodziło Liderów”.
- 18.07.2011, Dziennik Wschodni, article entitled: „Naukowcy z Lublina sprawią, że żywność będzie zdrowsza”.
- 18.07.2011, Rynek Zdrowia, article entitled: „Polscy uczeni opracowują zdrowszy wypełniacz żywności”.
- 19.07.2011, piekarnie24, article entitled: „Polscy uczeni opracowują zdrowszy wypełniacz żywności”.
TV station also got interested in the project. In December TVP Info filmed a report that was broadcast on 25.12.2011 in a programme called “Era wynalazków” (The Era of Inventions).
