Development of encapsulated food ingredients from probiotic-fermented wild blueberry

蓝莓在加拿大所有水果作物中占有最大的面积。野生矮丛蓝莓（Vaccinium angustifolium）占加拿大所有蓝莓总农场价值的23%。单独速冻（IQF）低丛蓝莓占加拿大蓝莓出口的50%左右。最近，由于IQF蓝莓过剩，导致农场出场价降低，该行业正在寻求野生蓝莓的紧急替代用途。与Clever Fruit Products Ltd合作，我们计划从野生蓝莓中开发新的封装和发酵食品成分，以供应加拿大和全球市场。主要的知识差距是缺乏一个可扩展的生产工艺，用于发酵野生蓝莓成分的商业化。拟议研究的具体目标是（i.）利用发酵和封装技术，开发和优化以科学为基础的先进制造工艺，生产高附加值的野生蓝莓产品;以及（ii.）产生发酵野生蓝莓的后生物代谢物的新知识，可能对健康产生积极影响。所提出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/评估后生物代谢物，检查胶囊化技术以用益生元多糖（例如，菊粉）或蛋白质水解产物的能力，以及评估基于蓝莓的新功能性成分减轻代谢紊乱如2型糖尿病和心血管紊乱的风险的能力。预期成果将是建立先进和可扩展的生产工艺，生产具有潜在健康益处的新型发酵野生蓝莓成分。预计该项目将通过创造新的增值产品，促进加拿大野生蓝莓产业的可持续性。间接影响将是通过提供促进健康的野生蓝莓食品成分，提高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.