Enhancing food quality through a novel low-energy dehydration machine using GaN solid-state RF generators to maintain nutritional value of dried foods for nutraceuticals.

通过使用 GaN 固态射频发生器的新型低能耗脱水机来提高食品质量，以保持营养保健品干燥食品的营养价值。

• 批准号: 10075294
• 金额: $ 71.07万
• 依托单位: MILDTECH UK LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10075294
• 关键词: Enhancing; food; quality; through; novel

Natural ingredients are the source of the majority of health-benefitting vitamins/minerals/enzymes consumed by humans. Spinach and carrots alone contribute over 13 different vitamins and minerals. These become denatured when dried using high temperatures (48degCelsius) meaning that their organoleptic and nutritional quality is diminished. When used in nutraceuticals and functional-foods, health benefits are limited.The specific need and challenge that we propose to address is the preservation of key chemicals/nutrients in natural ingredients during the dehydration/drying process. Traditional approaches to drying foods for consumption comprise freeze-drying and heat-drying. These processes are high-energy and reduce the nutritional value of the foodstuff, denaturing vitamins, minerals and enzymes through heating, with freeze-drying taking 36 hours.This project seeks to unlock the health benefits of dried natural ingredients by preserving key nutrients through a novel alternative for drying.This technology is truly game-changing for the nutraceutical industry, with critical improvements over current processing technology: maximum nutrient retention, reduced carbon emissions, improved energy efficiency, faster processing times and lower cost. We are positioned significantly ahead of incumbent competitors, and on project completion, will be set for rapid commercialisation.Mildtech UK Ltd and Harper Adams University are collaborating on this project to design and build a higher capacity dehydration machine, testing key materials commonly used in dehydration for nutraceuticals to rapidly scale to commercialisation post-project.

天然成分是人类消耗的大多数有益健康的维生素/矿物质/酶的来源。仅菠菜和胡萝卜就提供了超过13种不同的维生素和矿物质。当使用高温（48摄氏度）干燥时，这些会变性，这意味着它们的感官和营养质量会降低。当用于营养保健品和功能性食品时，健康益处有限。我们建议解决的具体需求和挑战是在脱水/干燥过程中保存天然成分中的关键化学物质/营养素。干燥用于消费的食品的传统方法包括冷冻干燥和加热干燥。这些过程是高能量的，会降低食品的营养价值，通过加热使维生素、矿物质和酶变性，冷冻干燥需要36小时。该项目旨在通过一种新的干燥替代方案来保护关键营养素，从而释放干燥天然成分的健康益处。这项技术真正改变了营养品行业的游戏规则，对当前的加工技术进行了重大改进：最大限度地保留养分，减少碳排放，提高能源效率，缩短加工时间，降低成本。Mildtech UK Ltd和哈珀亚当斯大学正在合作设计和建造一台更高容量的脱水机，测试营养保健品脱水中常用的关键材料，以快速扩展到商业化后期项目。