I-Corps: Plant-made antimicrobials used as a produce wash for vegetables and fruits

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种商业规模的农产品天然洗涤解决方案。目标是满足消费者对更绿色、环境可持续的产品的需求，以安全、自然地加工农产品、食品和饮料。消费者要求食品加工中的消毒剂满足两个关键指标：1)它们需要带来更安全的食品供应；2)它们需要更环保，最好是来自天然（非化学）来源。所提出的技术旨在填补这一空白，因为配方具有持久的活性，具有更高的功效，节约用水，并通过在运输和储存过程中更大程度地减少食源性病原体和腐败细菌来提高安全性和保质期。目标客户，如大型农作物生产商和加工/包装/分销公司，已经部署了杀菌剂，但往往不满意目前的解决方案。该项目旨在发现如何最好地与客户合作并满足客户需求，从而节省大量水资源，延长保质期，实现环境可持续性，减少产品召回，减少食源性病原体导致的疾病和死亡。I-Corps项目的基础是开发一种天然抗菌洗涤技术，该技术已经过测试，可杀死蔬菜和水果等农产品上的沙门氏菌和大肠杆菌O157:H7等食源性病原体。此外，由于洗涤水的可回收性，该技术旨在节省洗涤水，并延长产品的保质期，这可能被认为是环保的。该技术将植物提取物与乳化剂结合在一起，产生协同效应，在非常低的浓度下也能发挥作用，从而实现这些效益。加工车间是高度复杂的，并在各种步骤中适应每种作物，如取芯、切割、清洁/消毒和产品的装袋。客户发现访谈和访问将允许围绕提议的技术开发商业模式，以评估产品的市场适应性。总的来说，拟议的项目将大大促进对农产品洗涤的痛点的理解，以及如何实施这种天然植物制造的抗菌洗涤技术。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 commercial-scale natural wash solution for produce. The goal is to meet the needs of consumers for greener, environmentally sustainable products for safe, natural processing of agriculture products, food, and beverages. Consumers are requesting that sanitizers in food processing meet two key metrics: 1) they need to lead to a safer food supply, and 2) they need to be more environmentally friendly, and ideally derived from natural (non-chemical) sources. The proposed technology is designed to fill this gap as the formulations have durable activity for higher efficacy, conserve water, and enhance safety and shelf-life by greater reduction of foodborne pathogens and spoilage bacteria during transportation and storage. Target customers, such as large crop producers and processing / packaging / distribution companies, already deploy sanitizers, yet are often not satisfied with the current solutions. This project seeks to discover how best to partner and meet customers’ need, with benefits of significant water savings, extended shelf-life, environmental sustainability, and possibly fewer recalls for produce as well as reduced illnesses and deaths from foodborne pathogens. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a natural antimicrobial wash technology that has been tested to kill foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 on produce such as vegetables and fruits. In addition, the technology is designed to conserve wash water due to the recyclability of the wash water, and increase shelf-life of the produce, which may be considered eco-friendly. This technology combines plant extracts with emulsifiers to create synergistic effects that are active at very low concentrations to achieve these benefits. Processing houses are highly complex and adapted to each type of crop in the various steps such as coring, cutting, cleaning/sanitizing, and bagging of the produce. Customer discovery interviews and visits will allow development of a business model around the proposed technology to evaluate product-market fit. Overall, the proposed project will significantly advance the understanding of the pain points surrounding produce washing and how this natural plant-made antimicrobial wash technology may be implemented.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.