Innovations in postharvest technologies for food security and safety, and for value addition to agricultural residues

粮食安全和农业残留物增值的采后技术创新

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-03954
• 负责人: Raghavan, Vijaya
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=612679
• 关键词: Innovations; postharvest; technologies; food; security

Food security and safety issues must be met within the context of population growth beyond 7 billion, climate change, and environmental degradation. Globally, a third of harvested food is lost to damage, rot, and vermin before it reaches the consumer. Preventing such losses will help ensure food security and relieve the need to deforest land for food production. To address these issues, the program’s objectives are to: 1) develop methods using electro-technologies to dry and thermally process crops to prevent degradation; 2) develop storage technologies for produce to maintain quality and increase nutrient content; and 3) develop electro-technological processes to use waste biomass to produce biofuels and bioactive compounds. The program’s goals are thus to make total use of harvested biomass as a source of nutrition that can be safely consumed, and of bioenergy and bioproducts from residual biomass. My research in drying and heat treating foods is focused on developing electro-technology systems (eg. microwaves (MW)) to generate heat directly in the biomass. This is more rapid and efficient than using external heat sources; and since exposure time is shorter, food quality is less affected. We have used MWs to extract valued compounds from biomass, pasteurize eggs, and disinfest grains. The proposed program continues this line of study which was supported by funding from my previous Discovery Grant. We are now working on using high voltage electric-fields to dry temperature-sensitive foods; this also causes protein denaturation, which can be used to address allergenic properties of proteins (eg. gluten). My recent work on storage focused on using physical stresses to stimulate antioxidant production in produce during storage. This has led to studies on hyperbaric treatment of produce prior to storage to improve quality and to extend shelf life without refrigeration. We will develop and adapt this technology for field use in regions that lack cold chain systems.  The results of the work of my previous Discovery Grant program on MW-assisted extraction of bioactive components from biomass has led us to study the use of plant residues as sources of biofuels and bioenergy. We are developing a MW-assisted process for use at the farm level to separate components of lignocellulosic materials for production of biofuels. The purified material fetches a higher price which will provide additional income to farmers, and is compact which will lower transportation costs to bio-refineries. We will use a multi-disciplinary approach to address the biological and engineering aspects of research questions to achieve viable solutions leading to a holistic training opportunity for HQP.

粮食安全和安全问题必须在人口增长超过70亿，气候变化和环境退化的背景下解决。在全球范围内，三分之一的收获食物在到达消费者之前就损坏了，腐烂和害虫。防止这种损失将有助于确保粮食安全并挽救为粮食生产砍伐土地的必要性。为了解决这些问题，该计划的目标是：1）开发使用电学技术来干燥和热过程作物以防止降解的方法； 2）开发生产储存技术以保持质量和增加养分含量； 3）开发电学过程来使用废物生物量生产生物燃料和生物活性化合物。因此，该计划的目标是将收获的生物质全使用作为可以安全消费的营养来源，以及残留生物量的生物能源和生物产品。 我在干燥和热处理食物方面的研究集中在开发电技术系统（例如微波（MW））上，以直接在生物质中产生热量。这比使用外部热源更快，更有效。而且由于暴露时间较短，因此食物质量的影响较小。我们已经使用MWS从生物质，巴氏杀菌和二十口谷物中提取有价值的化合物。拟议的计划继续进行这一研究，这是我以前的发现赠款的资金支持的。我们现在正在努力使用高压电场来干燥温度敏感的食物。这也会导致蛋白质变性，可用于解决蛋白质的过敏性特性（例如面筋）。 我最近在存储方面的工作集中在使用物理应力来刺激储存过程中产生的抗氧化剂产生。这导致研究在存储前对生产高压处理，以提高质量并在不制冷的情况下延长保质期。我们将在缺乏冷链系统的地区开发并适应这项技术用于现场使用。 我先前关于MW辅助从生物量提取生物活性成分的发现赠款计划的工作结果使我们研究了将植物残留物作为生物燃料和生物能源的来源的使用。我们正在开发一个在农场一级使用的MW辅助过程，以分离木质纤维素材料的组成部分，以生产生物燃料。纯化的材料将获得更高的价格，这将为农民提供额外的收入，并且非常紧凑，这将降低运输成本，从而向生物改良工具。 我们将使用多学科的方法来解决研究问题的生物学和工程方面，以实现可行的解决方案，从而为HQP带来了整体培训机会。