Development of encapsulated food ingredients from probiotic-fermented wild blueberry

蓝莓是加拿大所有水果作物中面积最大的。野生低灌木蓝莓(Vaccdium Angustifolium)占加拿大生产的所有蓝莓总农场门价的23%。单独速冻(IQF)低矮灌木蓝莓约占加拿大蓝莓出口的50%。最近IQF蓝莓的过剩导致农场门槛较低，该行业正在紧急寻找野生蓝莓的替代用途。我们计划与聪明果品有限公司合作，为加拿大和全球市场开发以野生蓝莓为原料的新型胶囊和发酵食品配料。主要的知识差距是缺乏可扩展的制造工艺来将发酵的野生蓝莓成分商业化。拟议研究的具体目标是(I)利用发酵和胶囊技术开发和优化增值野生蓝莓产品的科学先进制造工艺和(Ii)。产生有关发酵野生蓝莓的生物后代谢产物的新知识，可能对健康产生积极影响。建议的实验方法包括开发优化和标准化的益生菌发酵工艺，鉴定/评估生物后代谢物，检查用益生菌多糖(例如菊粉)或蛋白质水解物取代麦芽糊精的包埋技术，以及评估新的功能蓝莓成分缓解代谢疾病(如2型糖尿病和心血管疾病)的风险的能力。预期的结果将是为具有潜在健康益处的新型发酵野生蓝莓成分建立先进和可扩展的制造工艺。预计该项目将通过创造新的增值产品，为加拿大野生蓝莓产业的可持续性做出贡献。间接影响将是通过提供特殊的促进健康的野生蓝莓衍生食品成分来增强加拿大人的健康和福祉。

Blueberries occupy the largest area of all fruit crops in Canada. Wild lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) comprised 23% of the total farm gate value of all blueberries produced in Canada. Individually quick-frozen (IQF) lowbush blueberries contribute about 50% of Canada's blueberry exports. Recent surpluses of IQF blueberries have resulted in lower farm gate value and the industry is seeking urgent alternative uses of wild blueberry. Partnering with Clever Fruit Products Ltd, we propose to develop new encapsulated and fermented food ingredients from wild blueberry for the Canadian and global markets. The major knowledge gap is the lack of a scalable manufacturing process for the commercialization of fermented wild blueberry ingredients. The specific objectives of the proposed research are to (i.) develop and optimize science-based advanced manufacturing processes for value-added wild blueberry products using fermentation and encapsulation technologies and (ii.) generate new knowledge of post-biotic metabolites of fermented wild blueberry that could have a positive health impact. The proposed experimental approaches include the development of optimized and standardized probiotic fermentation processes, identification/assessment of post-biotic metabolites, the examination of encapsulation technologies for the potential to replace maltodextrin with prebiotic polysaccharides (e.g., inulin) or protein hydrolysates, and an assessment of the new functional blueberry-based ingredients for their ability to mitigate the risk of metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. The expected outcome will be the establishment of advanced and scalable manufacturing processes for novel fermented wild blueberry ingredients with potential health benefits. It is anticipated that the project would contribute to the sustainability of the Canadian wild blueberry industry through creation of new value-added products. The indirect impact would be enhancing the health and well-being of Canadians through the availability of specialty health-promoting wild blueberry-derived food ingredients.