Determining the Opportunities for Ahiflower Oil to be Used as a Functional Ingredient in Packaged Food Products through Stability and Organoleptic Testing.

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Natures Crops International (NCI), located in Kensington, Prince Edward Island, produces high value, non-commodity, plant-derived products from specialty contract grown crops for a wide range of industries, including functional food, cosmetic and specialty chemicals. Canada's Smartest Kitchen (CSK), the research and development arm of Holland College's Culinary Institute of Canada. Through this project, NCI and CSK intend to collaborate to develop new and unique products to be sold in the nutritional supplement and functional food markets, based on Ahiflower® oil, a new trademark protected, plant-derived source of omega 3 and 6 developed by NCI. The primary goal would be to maximize the rate of Ahiflower oil in various food products and generate positive data to support its inclusion without introducing negative attributes.NCI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Technology Crops, LLC (a US Corporation based in Winston-Salem, NC) and was founded in Atlantic Canada in 2009 to create a commercial centre of excellence for the production of specialty plant-derived ingredients from novel oilseed crops. NCI has built and commissioned a custom state-of-the-art oilseed processing facility in Prince Edward Island (PEI) to provide novel processing technology and other value added capabilities, with excellent opportunity for development of intellectual property. The facility also has crop storage facilities and a fully equipped ISO and HACCP compliant quality control and research laboratory.Ahiflower® oil is a trademarked product of Natures Crops that is derived from proprietary varieties of Buglossoides arvensis, a small annual plant that is a native species to northern regions of Europe and Asia, and an introduced species to North America. Ahiflower was developed as a result of selection of superior genetics and conventional (non-GM) plant breeding techniques conducted by NCI over the past decade. Currently, NCI produces Ahiflower oil for the natural products market where it is primarily used in dietary supplements. The main goal of this project is to incorporate Ahiflower oil into common food products that the consumer would eat or drink as part of a regular diet. Demonstration of the successful incorporation of the oil food products would create new national and international market opportunities for NCI. In the project, Canada's Smartest Kitchen will develop and optimize products with optimal levels of Ahiflower oil, ensuring stability of the product, optimal health benefits and well as superior flavor and sensory properties. Since Ahiflower oil is high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are prone to oxidation, this project will initially assess the stability, physical characteristics and limitations of the Ahiflower oil as a food ingredient, alone and in blends with other oils. Stability is of particular concern when considering the types of processing inherent to the production of some of the major food categories in scope of this project. For example, when considering Ahiflower oil for dairy and beverage products, it must first be determined whether or not Ahiflower oil will suffer any negative effects (nutritional, organoleptic or otherwise) after undergoing an ultra-high temperature (UHT), high temperature, short time (HTST) or any other heat or other processing treatment.