PFI-TT: Developing Protein-based Edible Coatings to Extend the Shelf Life of Fruits and Vegetables

PFI-TT：开发基于蛋白质的可食用涂层以延长水果和蔬菜的保质期

• 批准号: 2234567
• 负责人: Muhammad Rahman
• 金额: $ 24.96万
• 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: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-03-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234567&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; TT; Developing; Protein; based

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is the development of an innovative, low cost, healthy and sustainable edible coating technology that can extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables to combat the challenge of food preservation and waste management effectively and simultaneously. Among all foods, fruits and vegetables are the ones with the highest categories of losses, with up to 50-60% of spoiled produce discarded in landfills. The proposed innovation will provide a desirable and healthy protein-fortified coating for food preservation. Moreover, the coating is washable, edible, and glossy providing an all-encompassing yet desirable food preservation solution that benefits consumers, sellers, and farmers. The proposed coating technology will enhance the window for the markets of edible coatings that focuses on the growing health- and sustainability-focused retail stores and health-conscious consumers. Other than reducing food waste and economic losses, the anticipated technology could have significant environmental impacts. For example, reducing food waste can save 25% of the freshwater supply, 3.9 billion tons of fertilizer, 300 million barrels of oil, and 135 million tons of greenhouse gases every year in the USA alone. This project will also benefit the education and training of students related to research translation.The proposed 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. On the lab scale, egg and soy-protein composite coatings have significantly extended the shelf life and cosmetic appearance of various fruits. However, testing on a pilot scale will provide a detailed understanding of performance and cost matrices. To fully understand the technological viability of commercializing the proposed coating, the optimum combinations of various proteins with cellulose nanomaterials, chemical modifications of proteins via selected plasticizers and crosslinkers, and easily scalable mechanisms for controlled coating methods will be explored. The coating will extend the shelf life by reducing maturation, senescence, dehydration, and microbial growth rate. The deliverables of this project will be a minimum viable product via pilot-scale studies. Overall, with an end goal of improving the environmental performance and sustainability of the food industry, the outcomes of the research will lead to the development of a protein-based inexpensive, and green coating that will enhance the shelf-life of fruits with the added benefits of biodegradability, washability, edibility, and cosmetic appearance and provide a business feasibility analysis for the potential commercialization of the product.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.

创新伙伴关系-技术转化（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种创新、低成本、健康和可持续的可食用涂层技术，该技术可以延长水果和蔬菜的保质期，从而有效地同时应对食品保存和废物管理的挑战。在所有食物中，水果和蔬菜是损失最严重的类别，高达50-60%的变质农产品被丢弃在垃圾填埋场。提出的创新将为食品保鲜提供一种理想的、健康的蛋白质强化涂层。此外，该涂层可洗涤，可食用，有光泽，提供了一个全面而理想的食品保存解决方案，使消费者，卖家和农民受益。拟议的涂料技术将增强可食用涂料市场的窗口，重点关注日益增长的以健康和可持续性为重点的零售商店和有健康意识的消费者。除了减少食物浪费和经济损失外，这项预期中的技术还可能对环境产生重大影响。例如，仅在美国，每年减少食物浪费就可以节省25%的淡水供应、39亿吨化肥、3亿桶石油和1.35亿吨温室气体。该项目也将有利于研究翻译相关学生的教育和培训。该计划的基础是开发一种生态友好且可生物降解的蛋白质纳米复合涂层，这种涂层可以应用于任何形状的易腐水果和蔬菜表面。在实验室规模上，鸡蛋和大豆蛋白复合涂层显著延长了各种水果的保质期和外观。然而，在试点规模上的测试将提供对性能和成本矩阵的详细了解。为了充分了解所提出的涂层商业化的技术可行性，将探索各种蛋白质与纤维素纳米材料的最佳组合，通过选择增塑剂和交联剂对蛋白质进行化学修饰，以及易于扩展的控制涂层方法机制。该涂层将通过减少成熟、衰老、脱水和微生物生长速度来延长保质期。该项目的可交付成果将是通过中试规模研究的最低可行产品。总的来说，以提高食品工业的环境绩效和可持续性为最终目标，研究结果将导致一种以蛋白质为基础的廉价绿色涂层的开发，这种涂层将延长水果的保质期，并具有生物降解性、可洗涤性、可食性和美容外观的附加好处，并为该产品的潜在商业化提供商业可行性分析。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。