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.

这种伙伴关系对创新 - 技术翻译（PFI -TT）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发创新，低成本，健康且可持续的可食用涂料技术，可以延长水果和蔬菜的保质期，以应对粮食保存的挑战，并同时且同时且同时且同时同时且同时进行废物管理。在所有食物中，水果和蔬菜是损失最高类别的食物，最多50-60％的垃圾填埋场被宠坏的农产品。拟议的创新将为食物保存提供理想且健康的蛋白质结合涂层。此外，该涂层可洗，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，卖方和农民受益。拟议的涂料技术将增强可食用涂料市场的窗口，该涂料集中在不断增长的健康和可持续性的零售商店以及注重健康的消费者上。除了减少粮食浪费和经济损失外，预期的技术可能会产生重大的环境影响。例如，减少食物浪费可以节省25％的淡水供应，39亿吨肥料，3亿桶石油和1.35亿吨的温室气体仅在美国。该项目还将受益于与研究翻译相关的学生的教育和培训。拟议的项目基于开发环保且可生物降解的基于蛋白质的纳米复合材料，该纳米复合材料可用于任何形状的易腐水果和蔬菜的表面。在实验室量表上，鸡蛋和大豆蛋白复合涂料显着延长了各种水果的保质期和外观外观。但是，试点量表的测试将提供对性能和成本矩阵的详细了解。为了充分了解商业化所提出的涂层的技术生存能力，将探索各种蛋白质与纤维素纳米材料的最佳组合，通过选定的增塑剂和交联的蛋白质对蛋白质进行化学修饰，以及易于扩展的受控涂层方法的可扩展机制。涂层将通过减少成熟，衰老，脱水和微生物生长速率来延长保质期。该项目的可交付成果将是通过试验规模研究的最低可行产品。总体而言，为了改善食品行业的环境绩效和可持续性的最终目标，研究的结果将导致发展基于蛋白质的廉价和绿色涂层，从而增强水果的保质期，并带来可生物降解性，清洗性，可塑性，可质量性和化妆品的额外好处，并为业务可行性分析，并为产品提供了宣传，并为产品提供了宣传。值得通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来支持。