Alimentação do futuro: o papel da inovação e tecnologia

Semana de Ciência e Tecnologia 2008 - O CEB na Escola Secundária de Barcelosinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Emergent proteins-based structures - prospects towards sustainable nutrition and functionality

The increased pressure over soils imposed by the need for agricultural expansion and food production requires development of sustainable and smart strategies for the efficient use of resources and food nutrients. In accordance with worldwide transformative polices, it is crucial to design sustainable systems for food production aimed at reducing environmental impact, contributing to biodiversity preservation, and leveraging a bioeconomy that supports circular byproduct management. Research on the use of emergent protein sources to develop value-added foods and biomaterials is in its infancy. This review intends to summarize recent research dealing with technological functionality of underused protein fractions, recovered from microbial biomass and food waste sources, addressing their potential applications but also bottlenecks. Protein-based materials from dairy byproducts and microalgae biomass gather promising prospects of use related to their techno-functional properties. However, a balance between yield and functionality is needed to turn this approach profitable on an industrial scale basis. In this context, downstream processing should be strategically used and properly integrated. Food solutions based on microbial proteins will expand in forthcoming years, bringing the opportunity to finetune development of novel protein-based biomaterials.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tunning pectinase activity under electric field effects towards enhanced clarification of vinho verde wine

Vinho Verde (translates as green wine) is one of the most important and leading DOC (Denomination of Controlled Origin) product in Portugal and known worldwide by its unique aromatic profile. Pectinolytic enzymes are of the great importance in the clarification process of Vinho Verde wine must, contributing to reduce the possibility of haze formation. During last decade a growing body of knowledge have been established about the effects of electric fields as sub-lethal stress for the activation of important food enzymes. However, the influence of electric parameters is enzyme dependent, and its influence on the catalytic activity should not be generalized This works describes for the first time the effects electric field and electric frequency on the activity of a pectinase (PEC) in the accelerated clarification of Vinho Verde must. Moderate electrical fields (MEF) with intensities below 20 V/cm and at electric frequencies ranging from 50 Hz to 20 kHz, were applied at temperatures between 15 ºC and 35 ºC. Enzymatic activity was measured for 25 minutes and the initial rate of reaction was determined by coefficient of the linear plot of the galacturonic acid production of as function of time. Results have shown that electrical frequency can increase enzymatic activity depending on treatment temperature; for example, at 20 ºC and electric frequency of 2 kHz and 20 kHz, the enzymatic activity increased approximately 40 % and 20 %, respectively, when compared with control sample (without application of MEF). The temperature dependence was evaluated through Arrhenius equation showing that the energy of activation (Ea) can be reduced from 9.2 kJ.mol-1 to 6.6 kJ.mol-1 at sub-optimal temperatures for PEC activity with application of MEF. Electrical parameters when combined with treatment temperatures 20 ºC reduced up to 42 % the presence of pectin in Vinho Verde wine must contributing to its final quality. This emergent treatment brings an opportunity to increase enzyme efficiency even at low temperatures, which are necessary during winemaking process, thus bringing a vision of sustainability through the reduction of energy input and process integration in relevant environment conditions.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit, AgriFood XXI R & D & I project, operation number NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000041, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through NORTE 2020 (Northern Regional Operational Program 2014/2020) and Bioeno - Comércio e Serviços em Enologia Lda. Ricardo N. Pereira acknowledge FCT for its Assistant Research program under the scope of Scientific Stimulus Employment with reference CEECIND/02903/2017.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Moderate Electric Fields application as a biotechnological tool in food processing

BioTech 2017 and 7th Czech-Swiss Symposium with Exhibition[Excerpt] Moderate Electric Fields (MEF) provide a uniform, rapid and energetically very efficient means of processing foods (mostly by heat). This has been known for over a century and has finally found its place among food processors, as MEF industrial equipments are being installed worldwide in growing numbers and in a variety of applications. This happened after technological issues such as electrode corrosion and adequate temperature and power control systems were solved. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Improving extraction of biomolecules from Coelastrella sp biomass using ohmic heating

Coelastrella sp is recognized by its double-layered cell wall and ability to produce high levels of pigments and interesting amounts of proteins and lipids. These molecules have potential to be applied in functional food and feed arena, but also in other biotechnological fields (e.g. nutraceuticals and cosmetics). However, most of the metabolites resulting from microalgaes metabolism are intracellular, which limits their accessibility during physical or biological processes. Currently, there are several traditional downstream processing methodologies aiming cells disruption to extract compounds of interest to the extracellular environment, envisaging production of bioactive-rich extracts. An emerging and sustainable extraction approach consists in the utilization of Ohmic Heating (OH). OH brings an unique synergy between thermal and electric field effects as a way to permeabilize microalgae cell wall and thus increase aqueous extraction yield. In this work Coelastrella sp was pre-treated using OH by applying electro-thermal protocols of different electrical field intensities (from 12 to 217 V/cm), treatment temperatures (50 to 100 ºC) and total treatment times (from 7 seconds to 10 minutes). OH and its moderate electric fields (MEF) contributed to an increased aqueous extraction of macronutrients with bioactive properties, allowing a recovery of 50 % and 20 % of the total chlorophylls and proteins, respectively, that were initially enclosed in the cells. Cytometry analysis confirmed disruption effects induced by OH treatments, while fluorescence measurements confirmed the presence of chlorophyl a and aromatic amino acids (such as tryptophan) in the obtained extracts. OH can be used to weaken microalgae cell wall structure facilitating subsequent aqueous and solvent extraction. These results also bring new insights regarding bioaccessibility of important biocompounds during gastrointestinal digestion of microalgae biomass.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit; Project Algavalor (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-035234; LISBOA-01-0247-FEDER-035234; ALG-01-0247-FEDER-035234) funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI); AgriFood XXI R & D & I project, operation number NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000041, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through NORTE 2020 (Northern Regional Operational Program 2014/2020); Vitor Sousa acknowledges the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for their fellowship UI/BD/151238/2021; Ricardo N. Pereira acknowledge FCT for its Assistant Research contract obtained under CEEC Individual 2017info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Extraction of pigments from microalgae and cyanobacteria - A review on current methodologies

Pigments from microalgae and cyanobacteria have attracted great interest for industrial applications due to their bioactive potential and their natural product attributes. These pigments are usually sold as extracts, to overcome purification costs. The extraction of these compounds is based on cell disruption methodologies and chemical solubility of compounds. Different cell disruption methodologies have been used for pigment extraction, such as sonication, homogenization, high-pressure, CO2 supercritical fluid extraction, enzymatic extraction, and some other promising extraction methodologies such as ohmic heating and electric pulse technologies. The biggest constrain on pigment bioprocessing comes from the installation and operation costs; thus, fundamental and applied research are still needed to overcome such constrains and give the microalgae and cyanobacteria industry an opportunity in the world market. In this review, the main extraction methodologies will be discussed, taking into account the advantages and disadvantages for each kind of pigment, type of organism, cost, and final market.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) under the auspices of Operational Program Human Capital (POCH), supported by the European Social Fund and Portuguese funds (MECTES); as well as by the national funds through FCT within the scope of UIDB/04423/2020, UIDP/04423/2020 and UIDB/04469/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Structural characterization of heat-induced β-lactoglobulin nanohydrogels under the effects of selected physical conditions

The 19th Gums & Stabilisers for the Food Industry Conference: Hydrocolloid multifunctionalityβ-Lactoglobulin (β-Lg) is the major protein fraction in bovine whey serum (ca. 50% of its protein content). It is a bio-based and a Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) material, with a high nutritional value, that can be used to encapsulate nutraceuticals essentially due to its gelation capacity, which allows the formation of nanohydrogels. Furthermore, β-Lg displays a high binding capacity, under specific environmental conditions and it is resistant to proteolytic degradation in the stomach. These features make of β-Lg an excellent bio-based material to be used as carrier of nutraceuticals. The objective of this work was to understand the impact of different conditions (β-Lg concentration and heating times) in the physical properties of β-Lg nanohydrogels. In this study, β-Lg at various concentration (5, 10 and 15 mg·mL-1 ), were solubilized in 25 mM of sodium phosphate buffer (at pH 6) and heated at 80 °C for several holding time periods (5, 15 and 25 min). The protein structures formed were then characterized in terms of their stability, morphology, polydispersity index, size and surface charge. Stable nanohydrogels were obtained at pH 6, when treated at 80 ºC for heating periods longer than 15 min, characterized by a low polydispersity (< 0.2). At these conditions, nanohydrogels showed increasing particle size values, ranging from 50 nm to 110 nm, and surface charge from -15 mV to -20 mV, as β-Lg concentration increased. Nanohydrogels prepared at the same conditions, but treated for shorter periods of time, showed to be unstable, characterized by higher polydispersity (≥ 0.5) and surface charges of - 7 mV, independently of the β-Lg concentration used. The results obtained in this study represent a significant contribute to enrich the knowledge about the impact of several environmental conditions on β-Lg nanohydrogel characteristics and thus in the desired properties intended for their final application.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI - 01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte 2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norteinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Valorization of tomato by-products: influence of ohmic heating process on polyphenols extraction

Vienna Polyphenols 2017 - 11th World Congress on Polyphenols Applications[Excerpt] Introduction: Tomato based products is one of the worldwide major agroindustrial sectors generating substantial amounts of wastes, with high economic and environmental costs[1]. These agroindustrial by-products e.g. skins and pulp remnants, are rich in bioactive compounds such as polyphenols [2–4]. Current extraction treatments, besides representing environmental hazards, may cause these by-products bioactive compounds degradation, promote toxicity, and reduce biological properties and health benefits, thus hampering their added value. Therefore, there is a growing interest in alternative extraction technologies, such as the case of Ohmic Heating (OH), an environmentally-friendly technique (i.e. use of electrical energy) [5]. This study aimed to optimize the extraction of phenolic compounds, antioxidants and carotenoids of tomato wastes through ohmic heating, as an alternative extraction technology. [...]The authors would like to thank to the project Co-promoção nº 016403, “MULTIBIOREFINERY”, supported by Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização e pelo Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa, na sua componente FEDER, e pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and project UID/Multi/50016/2013 , administrated by FCT. Furthermore, This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte”The author Marta Coelho would like to acknowledge FCT for your PhD grant with the reference [grant number SFRH/BD/111884/2015] and Ricardo Pereira SFRH/BPD/81887/2011.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Extraction of carotenoids supported by ohmic heating and characterization of biological properties and stability throughout gastrointestinal tract

The authors would like to thank to the project Co-promoção nº 016403, “MULTIBIOREFINERY”, supported by Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização e pelo Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa, na sua componente FEDER, e pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and project UID/Multi/50016/2013, administrated by FCT. Furthermore, his study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2019 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The author Marta Coelho would like to acknowledge FCT for your PhD grant with the reference [grant number SFRH/BD/111884/2015] .info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microalgae biomass as an alternative source of biocompounds: New insights and future perspectives of extraction methodologies

Microalgae have characteristics that make them unique and full of potential. Their capacity to generate interesting bioactive molecules can add value to various industrial applications. However, most of these valuable compounds are intracellular, which makes their extraction a major bottleneck. Conventional extraction methodologies have some drawbacks, such as low eco-friendly character, high costs and energy demand, long treatment times, low selectivity and reduced extraction yields, as well as degradation of extracted compounds. The gaps found for these methods demonstrate that emergent approaches, such as ohmic heating, pulsed electric fields, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, or high-pressure processing, show potential to overcome the current drawbacks in the release and extraction of added-value compounds from microalgae. These new processing techniques can potentially extract a variety of compounds, making the process more profitable and applicable to large scales. This review provides an overview of the most important and promising factors to consider in the extraction methodologies applied to microalgae. Additionally, it delivers broad knowledge of the present impact of these methods on biomass and its compounds, raising the possibility of applying them in an integrated manner within a biorefinery concept.Vitor Sousa acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for their fellowship UI/BD/151238/2021. This study was supported by the FCT under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 and UIDP/04469/2020 unit, by LABBELS – Associate Laboratory in Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Microelectromechanical Systems (LA/P/0029/2020). This research work was supported by ALGAVALOR - Lisboa-01-0247-FEDER-035234, supported by Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE2020), Lisbon Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa 2020) and Algarve Regional Operational Programme (Algarve 2020) under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work was funded by NORTE2020 Funds through the SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH - “STRUCTURED R & D & I PROJECTS” - HORIZON EUROPE under the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000070. Ricardo Pereira and Oscar Dias acknowledge FCT for the Assistant Research contract obtained under CEEC Individual 2017 and 2018, respectively.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio