Optimization of manufacturing processes for incorporation of plant-based bioactives in dehydrated honey lozenges to maximize health benefits

岛修道院食品有限公司开发了一种独特的脱水蜂蜜产品（Honibe），在环境温度下货架稳定。 该项目将通过加入为消费者提供额外健康益处的天然成分，进一步加强这类产品的营销。 该项目涉及制备一系列针对链球菌感染引起的喉咙痛的抗微生物植物提取物。该项目的主要范围是建立将小浆果（haskap和蓝莓）中富含多酚的提取物和夏季咸味中富含香芹酚的精油掺入Honibe产品的工艺。这些提取物将被稳定化，并以足以在Honibe成品中保留其生物活性，特别是抗微生物功效的方式与脱水蜂蜜结合。拟议的项目将克服一系列挑战，其中包括：通过合理安排脱水蜂蜜生产过程冷却阶段的掺入时间，尽量减少热降解的影响和生物活性物质的相关变化;开发利用新型微胶囊技术保护生物活性物质的加工方法;以及开发独特的天然提取物，其具有控制链球菌物种的生长和活力的功效，同时对结肠的有益微生物施加最小的抑制作用。Honibe制造商和加拿大天然保健品行业将受益于改进的技术，在脱水蜂蜜锭剂和其他类似产品中使用天然抗菌和抗炎生物活性物质。该项目还将促进满足加拿大卫生部的监管要求，以获得满足天然保健产品注册协议需求的产品格式，以建立新的Honibe含片产品。此外，这一举措将有助于在初级农业生产者和增值加工者之间建立一个新的价值链，并增加Honibe在当地和出口市场的销售。

Island Abbey Foods Ltd has developed a unique dehydrated honey product (Honibe) that is shelf stable at ambient temperature. This project will further enhance the marketing of this type of product through incorporation of natural ingredients that provide additional health benefits to the consumer. The project involves the preparation of a range of anti-microbial plant-extracts targeted for sore throat caused by Streptococcus infection. The primary scope of the project is to establish processes for incorporation of polyphenol-rich extracts from small berries (haskap and blueberry) and carvacrol-rich essential oil from summer savory into Honibe products. These extracts are to be stabilized and interfaced to dehydrated honey in a manner sufficient to retain their bioactivity, especially anti-microbial efficacy, in the finished Honibe products. The proposed project will overcome a series of challenges which include: minimization of the impact of thermal degradation and associated changes of bioactives by rationalizing the time of incorporation during the cooling phase of the dehydrated honey manufacturing process; development of processing methods to protect bioactives using novel microencapsulation techniques; and development of unique natural extracts with efficacy to control the growth and viability of Streptococcus species while imposing a minimum inhibitory effect on the beneficial microorganisms of the colon. Honibe manufacturer and the Canadian natural health product industry will benefit by improved technologies for use of natural antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory bioactives in the dehydrated honey lozenges and other similar products. The project will also facilitate fulfilling the regulatory requirements of Health Canada in attaining a product format that will meet the needs of natural health product registration protocols to establish new Honibe lozenge products. Furthermore, this initiative will help in creating a new value-chain between primary agricultural producers and value-added processors as well as increasing the sales of Honibe both in local and export market.