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

Natures Crops International（NCI）位于爱德华王子岛的肯辛顿，为功能性食品、化妆品和特种化学品等广泛行业生产高价值、非商品、植物衍生产品。加拿大最聪明的厨房（CSK），荷兰学院的加拿大烹饪学院的研究和开发部门。通过这个项目，NCI和CSK打算合作开发新的和独特的产品，在营养补充剂和功能性食品市场上销售，基于Ahiflower®油，一种由NCI开发的受商标保护的新的植物源欧米茄3和6。主要目标是最大限度地提高Ahiflower油在各种食品中的比例，并产生积极的数据来支持其列入，而不会引入负面属性。（一家总部位于温斯顿-塞勒姆的美国公司，NC），并于2009年在加拿大大西洋地区成立，旨在为特种植物的生产创造一个卓越的商业中心-从新的油料作物中提取的成分。NCI已在爱德华王子岛（PEI）建立并委托了一个定制的最先进的油籽加工设施，以提供新颖的加工技术和其他增值能力，并为知识产权的发展提供了绝佳的机会。Ahiflower®油是Natures Crops公司的商标产品，源自于欧洲和亚洲北方地区的一年生植物Buglossoides arvensis的专有品种，是一种原产于欧洲和亚洲的小型植物，也是北美的引进物种。Ahiflower是NCI在过去十年中选择上级遗传和常规（非转基因）植物育种技术的结果。目前，NCI为天然产品市场生产Ahiflower油，主要用于膳食补充剂。该项目的主要目标是将Ahiflower油纳入消费者将作为常规饮食的一部分食用或饮用的常见食品中。展示成功纳入油食品产品将为NCI创造新的国内和国际市场机会。在该项目中，加拿大的Smartest Kitchen将开发和优化具有最佳Ahiflower油含量的产品，确保产品的稳定性，最佳的健康益处以及上级风味和感官特性。由于Ahiflower油富含易氧化的多不饱和脂肪酸（PUFA），该项目将首先评估Ahiflower油作为食品成分的稳定性，物理特性和局限性，单独和与其他油混合。在考虑本项目范围内某些主要食品类别的生产所固有的加工类型时，稳定性尤其令人关注。例如，当考虑将Ahiflower油用于乳制品和饮料产品时，必须首先确定Ahiflower油在经历超高温（UHT）、高温、短时间（HTST）或任何其他热或其他加工处理后是否会受到任何负面影响（营养、感官或其他方面）。

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.