SBIR Phase I: Biomanufacturing Red Natural Food Dye

SBIR 第一阶段：生物制造红色天然食品染料

• 批准号: 1547738
• 负责人: Stephen Pietsch
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: RedLeaf Biologics Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1547738&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Biomanufacturing; Red; Natural

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be the development of an alternative to synthetic chemicals that are used to impart color to food. The food industry has a long history of using synthetic pigments that impart color to foods. However, there have been concerns about negative health impacts of some high volume synthetic colorants, and the food industry is increasingly interested in identifying colorants that are obtained from biological sources. This project will explore the technical and commercial feasibility of a class of naturally occurring pigments that have properties of color, stability, and safety that make them attractive as food colorants but for which a suitable source is not currently available. Based on six years of prior research, a potentially suitable botanical source of a red pigment has been identified, and now propose to develop a commercial process to produce the pigment from the botanical source.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a proof-of-concept pilot-scale process for extracting and purifying a naturally occurring pigment from a source plant. The pigment, which has not previously been available in commercial quantities, will be produced from a selected variety of a major crop species. Using mechanical separations, food grade solvent extractions, and various commercially-available food-grade adsorbants the goal is to produce pigment under conditions that can be used for proof-of-concept testing in model food products. The pigment produced will be characterized by analytical chemistry methods as a prelude to seeking FDA approval to sell the pigment for food use. The extracted pigment will be tested for performance characteristics, and for thermal, pH, and light stability in a range of probable food applications.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是开发一种用于给食品着色的合成化学品的替代品。食品工业使用合成色素给食品着色有着悠久的历史。然而，人们一直担心一些大量合成着色剂对健康的负面影响，食品工业对鉴定从生物来源获得的着色剂越来越感兴趣。该项目将探索一类天然色素的技术和商业可行性，这些色素具有颜色、稳定性和安全性的特性，使它们成为有吸引力的食用色素，但目前还没有合适的来源。基于六年的前期研究，已经确定了一种可能合适的红色色素的植物来源，现在建议开发一种商业过程，从植物来源生产色素。这个SBIR一期项目建议开发一个概念验证的中试规模工艺，用于从源植物中提取和纯化天然存在的色素。这种色素以前没有商业数量，将从一种主要作物的选定品种中生产出来。使用机械分离、食品级溶剂萃取和各种商业上可用的食品级吸附剂，目标是在可用于模型食品概念验证测试的条件下生产色素。所生产的色素将通过分析化学方法进行表征，作为寻求FDA批准销售用于食品的色素的前奏。提取的色素将在一系列可能的食品应用中进行性能特性测试，以及热、pH和光稳定性测试。