SBIR Phase I: Biomanufacturing Red Natural Food Dye

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是开发一种用于赋予食品颜色的合成化学品的替代品。食品工业使用合成色素赋予食品颜色的历史由来已久。然而，人们一直担心一些高容量合成着色剂对健康的负面影响，食品工业对识别从生物来源获得的着色剂越来越感兴趣。该项目将探索一类天然色素的技术和商业可行性，这些色素具有颜色，稳定性和安全性，使其作为食品着色剂具有吸引力，但目前没有合适的来源。基于六年的前期研究，我们已经确定了一种潜在的合适的红色素植物来源，现在我们计划开发一种从植物来源生产红色素的商业化工艺。SBIR第一阶段项目计划开发一种概念验证的中试工艺，用于从源植物中提取和纯化天然色素。该色素以前没有商业数量，将从一种主要作物的选定品种中生产。 使用机械分离、食品级溶剂萃取和各种市售食品级吸附剂，目标是在可用于模型食品中概念验证测试的条件下生产色素。生产的色素将通过分析化学方法进行表征，作为寻求FDA批准销售用于食品的色素的前奏。将测试提取的色素的性能特征，以及在一系列可能的食品应用中的热、pH和光稳定性。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be the development of an alternative to synthetic chemicals that are used to impart color to food. The food industry has a long history of using synthetic pigments that impart color to foods. However, there have been concerns about negative health impacts of some high volume synthetic colorants, and the food industry is increasingly interested in identifying colorants that are obtained from biological sources. This project will explore the technical and commercial feasibility of a class of naturally occurring pigments that have properties of color, stability, and safety that make them attractive as food colorants but for which a suitable source is not currently available. Based on six years of prior research, a potentially suitable botanical source of a red pigment has been identified, and now propose to develop a commercial process to produce the pigment from the botanical source.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a proof-of-concept pilot-scale process for extracting and purifying a naturally occurring pigment from a source plant. The pigment, which has not previously been available in commercial quantities, will be produced from a selected variety of a major crop species. Using mechanical separations, food grade solvent extractions, and various commercially-available food-grade adsorbants the goal is to produce pigment under conditions that can be used for proof-of-concept testing in model food products. The pigment produced will be characterized by analytical chemistry methods as a prelude to seeking FDA approval to sell the pigment for food use. The extracted pigment will be tested for performance characteristics, and for thermal, pH, and light stability in a range of probable food applications.