Pilot-scale production of phenolic extracts and new functional ingredients for food application from orange and peanut agro-industrial by-products

Abstract

This project is linked to NPOP-PBIS (Integrated Biotechnology Platform for Healthy Ingredients, FAPESP process Nº 2020/07015-7) and proposes essential activities to overcome challenges in obtaining phenolic extracts and ingredients regarding the use of processing technologies (clean and/or emerging) and scale-up production that guarantees the presence, stability and bioavailability of the bioactive compounds of interest, in addition to the desired phenolic profile and technical and biological functionalities. The project aims to use clean and/or emerging technologies to scale up the pre-treatment of agro-industrial by-products and the extraction of phenolic compounds, and transform these phenolic extracts into functional food ingredients with high performance and biological value with a view to a wide range of applicability in different liquid and solid/semi-solid food matrices. Such ingredients have great potential to overcome the lack of competitive national ingredient alternatives so that food industries can reformulate their products with a focus on "healthiness" and innovation, and also to contribute to increasing phenolic intake in the Brazilian population's diet and, consequently, to improve general health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Finally, the use of low-cost agro-industrial by-products widely available in Brazil will enable the reduction of waste and processing losses, and add value to the production chain of crops such as orange, coffee and peanut.