I-Corps: Developing Protein-based, Edible Coatings for Perishable Produce to Reduce Food Waste

I-Corps：为易腐烂农产品开发基于蛋白质的可食用涂层，以减少食物浪费

• 批准号: 2132733
• 负责人: Muhammad Rahman
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-01 至 2023-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2132733&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Developing; Protein; based; Edible

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a sustainable coating technology to reduce global food waste and economic losses. Among all foods, fruits and vegetables are the highest categories of losses, with up to 50-60% of produce discarded in landfills. The proposed innovation will provide a desirable and healthy protein-fortified coating for food preservation and upcycle inexpensive food waste materials currently disposed of as landfills. The coating is washable, edible, and glossy - providing an all-encompassing yet desirable food preservation solution that benefits consumers, sellers, and farmers alike. It extends the post-harvest life of perishable products by reducing maturation, senescence, dehydration, and microbial growth rates. The proposed coating technology will be targeted towards the growing food coating market and will offer significant potential to combat the challenge of food preservation and waste management effectively and simultaneously.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an eco-friendly and biodegradable protein-based nanocomposite coating that can be applied to the surface of perishable fruits and vegetables of any shape via dip and spray coatings. Agro-derived proteins such as soy and corn will be modified by sequential chemical interactions using an optimized, bio-based plasticizer, crosslinker, and nanomaterials to fabricate the coating. In the preliminary work, cellulose nanocrystal-reinforced, egg-protein composite coating has significantly extended the shelf life and cosmetic appearance of various fruits, including banana, avocado, strawberry, and papaya. The coating has shown excellent antimicrobial properties and overcomes the significant challenge of simultaneously achieving the lowest oxygen and moisture barrier properties for a natural food coating. This combination of properties will extend the post-harvest life by reducing maturation, senescence, dehydration, and microbial growth rate. Future efforts include further optimizing materials, chemical modifications, scaling mechanisms from a technical perspective, and assessing business feasibility for potential commercialization.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发可持续涂料技术，以减少全球粮食浪费和经济损失。在所有食物中，水果和蔬菜是损失最高的类别，其中高达50-60％的垃圾填埋场产品。拟议的创新将为目前处置为垃圾填埋场的食品保存和廉价食品废料提供理想且健康的蛋白质结合涂层。 涂层可洗，可食用和光泽 - 提供了一种无所不包但理想的食品保存解决方案，使消费者，卖方和农民都受益。它通过降低成熟，衰老，脱水和微生物生长速率来延长可腐烂产物的收获后寿命。所提出的涂料技术将针对不断增长的食品涂料市场，并将为应对食物保存和废物管理的挑战提供巨大的潜力。该I-Corps项目基于可以应用于可腐烂的效果和植被涂料的表面的生态友好和可生物降解的基于蛋白质的纳米复合物的开发。 农业来源的蛋白质（例如大豆和玉米）将通过使用优化的，基于生物的增塑剂，交联和纳米材料来制造涂层来修饰化学相互作用。在初步工作中，纤维素纳米晶体增强，鸡蛋蛋白质复合涂料可显着延长各种水果的保质期和美容外观，包括香蕉，鳄梨，草莓和木瓜。该涂层显示出出色的抗菌特性，并克服了同时达到天然食品涂层的最低氧和水分屏障性能的重大挑战。这种特性的组合将通过降低成熟，衰老，脱水和微生物生长速率来延长收获后的寿命。未来的努力包括进一步优化材料，化学修改，从技术角度来看的扩展机制，以及评估业务可行性的潜在商业化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的智力优点评估和更广泛的影响来获得支持的。