SBIR Phase I: Cost-effective manufacturing to enable adoption of a novel nutrient-dense chickpea dough platform in mass-market processed foods

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为高热量，营养不良，可口的食物开发一种替代品。该提案将创建一个营养丰富的成分组合，基于一种新型鹰嘴豆面团，广泛应用于加工食品。这套成分将包括松脆、高蛋白、高纤维和低热量的成分，在加工食品领域具有广泛的适用性;这可能会影响人群健康，包括II型糖尿病、肥胖症及其合并症的患病率。这种成分组合的变化也将导致本研究产生巨大的商业影响。经济效益包括开发新产品，品牌，生产和加工设备，以优化这些新颖的，鹰嘴豆为基础的，营养丰富的成分的使用。 这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的重点是评估一种新型鹰嘴豆面团，以创建一个营养丰富的成分组合，广泛应用于加工食品。一般来说，用营养丰富的成分生产的食物味道很浓，接受度很差，但替代品需要缓慢，低效和昂贵的加工。 为了解决这一挑战，我们正在评估一种新的微波技术。拟议创新的目标包括：确定几种成分应用的配方和加工参数，证明消费者的感官接受度，并通过成本分析验证扩大规模的可行性。技术目标包括：加热模式的预测建模和加工参数的形状、尺寸和范围的识别;干燥试验，以识别用于多种应用的通用面团配方;货架稳定性测试;消费者接受度测试，以证明市场可行性;该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop an alternative for high-calorie, nutrient-poor, palatable foods. This proposal will create a nutritionally dense ingredient portfolio, based on a novel chickpea dough, with broad application in processed foods. The set of ingredients will consist of crunchy, high-protein, higher-fiber, and low-calorie ingredients with broad applicability in the processed food space; this could potentially impact population health, including prevalence of type II diabetes, obesity, and their co-morbidities. Such a change in ingredient sets will also result in a large commercial impact of this research. Economic benefits include the development of new products, brands, production and processing equipment to optimize the use of these novel, chickpea based, nutrient dense ingredients. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the evaluation of a novel chickpea dough to create a nutritionally dense ingredient portfolio with broad application in processed foods. Generally, foods produced with nutritionally dense ingredients have strong flavors and poor acceptance, but alternatives require processing that is slow, inefficient, and costly. To solve this challenge, we are evaluating a novel microwave technology. The goals of the proposed innovation include: identification of formulations and processing parameters for several ingredient applications, demonstration of consumer sensory acceptance, and validation of scale-up viability through cost analysis. Technical goals include: Prediction modeling of heating patterns and identification of shapes, sizes, and ranges of processing parameters; drying trials to identify a versatile dough formulation for multiple applications; shelf stability tests; consumer acceptance tests to prove market viability; and nutritional analysis to fully characterize the final products.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.