NSF Convergence Accelerator Track J Phase 2: Dairy NutriSols - Catalyzing technology adoption to promote food and nutrition security

人口增长、气候变化和人道主义危机正在增加地球仪各地粮食和营养不安全的比率。牛奶是一种营养丰富的动力，可以转化为无数产品来应对这一关键挑战。目前的乳制品生产实践受到速度限制，并且受到传统的低效加工方法的影响。通过第二阶段的融合加速器，乳品NutriSols联盟将促进采用先进的软件和先进的制造技术，以提高高品质营养乳制品和配料的生产能力。具体而言，Dairy NutriSols将加速自动化人工智能、化学计量软件、脉冲电场和挤出机技术的行业采用，并整合可持续的升级循环实践。这些创新可以在各个食品制造领域得到应用，并有望为从婴儿到老年人的整个人类生命周期推广新颖、货架稳定、营养丰富和可获得的产品。多学科乳品NutriSols联盟将利用其融合科学专业知识实现乳品加工的现代化。此外，Dairy NutriSols将激励和教育下一代工人，以加强有弹性的国内食品制造业。Dairy NutriSols联盟利用以使用为灵感的实践，为乳品行业展示和部署创新，实用和可持续的解决方案，以更大的规模和更低的成本生产高质量的产品。项目目标包括：（1）开发用于实时监测整个加工设施中的乳制品蛋白质的化学计量软件，（2）整合脉冲电场技术以提高蛋白质喷雾干燥效率，（3）通过挤出技术增强成分功能和新产品开发，（4）副产品的升级循环以减少浪费，以及（5）劳动力技术技能培训，以激发年轻人的热情，并为目前正在乳制品制造业工作或希望获得职位的成年人创造专业发展机会。在第二阶段结束之前，里程碑将扩大到包括更多乳制品流程利益相关者采用原型，以提高国内和全球营养安全率。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Population growth, climate change and humanitarian crises are increasing rates of food and nutrition insecurity across the globe. Milk is a nutrient dense powerhouse that can be transformed into myriad products to address this critical challenge. Current dairy production practices are rate limited and suffer from traditional, inefficient processing methods. Through this Phase 2 Convergence Accelerator, the Dairy NutriSols consortium will catalyze the adoption of pioneering software and advanced manufacturing technologies to increase production capacity of high-quality nutritious dairy products and ingredients. Specifically, Dairy NutriSols will accelerate industry adoption of automated artificial intelligence, chemometric software, pulsed electric field and extruder technologies, and integrate sustainable upcycling practices. These innovations can be adopted across various food manufacturing sectors and promise to promote novel, shelf-stable, nutrient-dense, and accessible products for people throughout the human life cycle, from infants to seniors.The multi-disciplinary Dairy NutriSols consortium will leverage their convergence science expertise to modernize dairy processing. Additionally, Dairy NutriSols’ will inspire and educate the next generation of workers to strengthen a resilient domestic food manufacturing sector. The Dairy NutriSols consortium utilizes use-inspired practices to demonstrate and deploy innovative, practical, and sustainable solutions for the dairy industry that produce high-quality products at a larger scale and lower cost. Project objectives include: (1) development of chemometric software for real-time monitoring of dairy proteins throughout a processing facility, (2) integration of pulsed electric field technology to improve protein spray drying efficiency, (3) enhanced ingredient functionality and new product development through extrusion technology, (4) upcycling of by-products to reduce waste, and (5) workforce technical skill training to generate enthusiasm for youth and create professional development opportunities for adults who are currently working or want to obtain positions in the dairy manufacturing industry. Before the end of Phase 2, milestones will expand to include prototype adoption by additional dairy process stakeholders to improve rates of domestic and global nutrition security.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.