IATA coordinates a European project to obtain new food ingredients from algae

  • This project, led by CSIC researcher Amparo López, forms part of the European Union's ERA-Net SUSFOOD2 call for proposals and is endowed with one million euros.

The Instituto deAgroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA) of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), coordinates the European project BIOCARB-4-FOOD, of the call ERA-Net SUSFOOD2, endowed with one million euros, and whose objective is to obtain new food ingredients from algae.

The growing demand for food, combined with the scarcity of natural resources and a high rate of waste that causes a third of the food produced in the world to be lost, make the availability of food one of the social challenges of the future, so it is necessary to strengthen our food chain to increase sustainability in the production system, reducing losses in the food supply chain and limiting environmental impacts.Amparo López, CSIC researcher at IATA and coordinator of the BIOCARB-4-FOOD project explains that "alternative natural resources such as algae and marine plants are currently being explored, not only because of their abundance, but also because they constitute a source of biomass with a large number of potentially interesting compounds for food applications.  The algae industry today represents a turnover of about 7.4 billion dollars, and with increasing economic potential due to the growing interest in the food and pharmaceutical industry of compounds obtained from them for their interesting physical-chemical and biological properties. The BIOCARB-4-FOOD project, led by IATA, aims to achieve more sustainable processes for the extraction of carbohydrates from algae that can be used as new food ingredients, giving texture to different products and being useful as gelling or thickening agents for, for example, soups and sauces. Thanks to the specific properties of these types of carbohydrates, known as ficocoloids, their potential as substitutes for saturated fats in foods such as processed meats, biscuits and industrial pastries is also being explored.  This project also seeks to valorize the residue that remains after the extraction of ficocoloids for the development of biodegradable packaging materials. theBIOCARB-4-FOOD project also includes the study of the residues of the Posidonia oceanic marine plant, native to the Mediterranean. This plant accumulates on the beaches of the Mediterranean coast, being unpleasant for bathers and assuming a cost of management for local administrations that should be responsible for its withdrawal.  However, due to its composition, this Posidonia waste has great potential for the development of biodegradable packaging alternatives to synthetic plastic containers derived from petroleum. They can also be used to obtain cellulosic additives that improve several important properties of food packaging, such as gas and water vapour barrier properties, thermal or mechanical properties.The BIOCARB-4-FOOD project, which is funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the European Union through the ERA-Net SUSFOOD2 call, also involves Teagasc, The Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Ireland; the Nofima research institute, Norway; the University of Hohenheim, Germany; and the RISE network of research centres, Sweden.

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