oannes

RESEARCH INTO PLANT PROTEIN AND BIOPOLYMER PROCESSING FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HIGH QUALITY TEXTURED FOOD PRODUCTS

The OANNES project is motivated by the need to investigate innovative pre-treatment technologies that improve the nutritional and organoleptic quality of textured foods from plant-based proteins and biopolymers with smoother fish-like textures that differ from the textures of current meat analogues.

In addition, the project also aims to develop scalable and sustainable production processes to ensure the commercial viability of these products in the global market.

The initiative implies a significant advance in the state-of-the-art of the texturized food industry by proposing the application of pre-treatments of plant proteins and biopolymers with innovative technologies such as microwaves, ultrasound and ultraviolet light.

GOALS

The main objective of OANNES is to investigate 3 physical technologies applied on 3 plant proteins and 3 plant biopolymers used as ingredients, which demonstrate organoleptically positive effects on texturised products using 3 unique texturisation technologies of Ctic Cita.

In addition, the following sub-objectives are proposed:

  • To initially select and characterize 5 proteins and 4 plant biopolymers with the highest industrial potential (availability, price and functionality).
  • To investigate the effects of microwave, ultrasound and ultraviolet light pre-treatment on 3 proteins and 3 plant biopolymers with the greatest industrial potential of those prioritized in the previous point.
  • To develop 3 new texturized products from combinations of 3 proteins and 3 plant biopolymers pre-treated using 3 unique Ctic Cita texturization technologies.
  • To investigate how the pre-treatments affect the texture, odor, taste and nutritional quality of the 3 resulting texturized products.

PRETREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES

MICROWAVES (MW)

OANNES' innovation with the application of microwave technology as a pre-treatment before extrusion can improve the texture, nutritional quality and efficiency in the production of new vegetable texturised products, achieving smoother textures, and more neutral flavours and odours than commercially available products.

ULTRASOUNDS (US)

OANNES' innovation with the application of ultrasound technology as a pre-treatment prior to extrusion can improve nutritional quality, texture, taste and process efficiency in the production of new vegetable texturisates.

ultraviolet led light (uv-led light)

The innovation of OANNES with the application of UV light technology as a pre-treatment before extrusion can improve the nutritional and functional quality of the targeted vegetable texturisates and can provide a more sustainable and targeted solution compared to conventional processing methods.

ABOUT OANNES