I-Corps: Developing Protein-based, Edible Coatings for Perishable Produce to Reduce Food Waste

I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响和商业潜力是开发一种可持续的涂层技术，以减少全球食物浪费和经济损失。在所有食物中，水果和蔬菜是损失最大的类别，高达50-60%的农产品被丢弃在垃圾填埋场。提出的创新将提供一种理想和健康的蛋白质强化涂层，用于食品保存和升级回收目前作为垃圾填埋场处理的廉价食品垃圾。该涂层可洗涤，可食用，有光泽-提供了一个全方位的，令人满意的食品保存解决方案，使消费者，卖家和农民都受益。它通过减少成熟、衰老、脱水和微生物生长速率来延长易腐产品的收获后寿命。拟议的涂层技术将针对不断增长的食品涂层市场，并将提供巨大的潜力，以有效地同时应对食品保存和废物管理的挑战。I-Corps的这个项目是基于开发一种环保的、可生物降解的蛋白质纳米复合涂层，这种涂层可以通过浸渍和喷涂的方式应用于任何形状的易腐水果和蔬菜表面。农业衍生的蛋白质，如大豆和玉米，将使用优化的生物基增塑剂、交联剂和纳米材料，通过顺序的化学相互作用进行修饰，以制造涂层。在前期工作中，纤维素纳米晶增强的蛋蛋白复合涂层显著延长了香蕉、牛油果、草莓、木瓜等多种水果的保质期和外观。该涂层具有优异的抗菌性能，克服了同时实现天然食品涂层的最低氧气和水分阻隔性能的重大挑战。这些特性的结合将通过减少成熟、衰老、脱水和微生物生长速度来延长收获后的寿命。未来的工作包括从技术角度进一步优化材料、化学改性、缩放机制，以及评估潜在商业化的商业可行性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a sustainable coating technology to reduce global food waste and economic losses. Among all foods, fruits and vegetables are the highest categories of losses, with up to 50-60% of produce discarded in landfills. The proposed innovation will provide a desirable and healthy protein-fortified coating for food preservation and upcycle inexpensive food waste materials currently disposed of as landfills. The coating is washable, edible, and glossy - providing an all-encompassing yet desirable food preservation solution that benefits consumers, sellers, and farmers alike. It extends the post-harvest life of perishable products by reducing maturation, senescence, dehydration, and microbial growth rates. The proposed coating technology will be targeted towards the growing food coating market and will offer significant potential to combat the challenge of food preservation and waste management effectively and simultaneously.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an eco-friendly and biodegradable protein-based nanocomposite coating that can be applied to the surface of perishable fruits and vegetables of any shape via dip and spray coatings. Agro-derived proteins such as soy and corn will be modified by sequential chemical interactions using an optimized, bio-based plasticizer, crosslinker, and nanomaterials to fabricate the coating. In the preliminary work, cellulose nanocrystal-reinforced, egg-protein composite coating has significantly extended the shelf life and cosmetic appearance of various fruits, including banana, avocado, strawberry, and papaya. The coating has shown excellent antimicrobial properties and overcomes the significant challenge of simultaneously achieving the lowest oxygen and moisture barrier properties for a natural food coating. This combination of properties will extend the post-harvest life by reducing maturation, senescence, dehydration, and microbial growth rate. Future efforts include further optimizing materials, chemical modifications, scaling mechanisms from a technical perspective, and assessing business feasibility for potential commercialization.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.