Optimization of manufacturing processes for incorporation of plant-based bioactives in dehydrated honey lozenges to maximize health benefits

海岛艾比食品有限公司开发了一种独特的脱水蜂蜜产品(Honibe)，该产品在常温下保持货架稳定。该项目将通过加入天然成分进一步加强这类产品的营销，为消费者提供更多的健康益处。该项目包括制备一系列针对链球菌感染引起的喉咙痛的抗微生物植物提取物。该项目的主要范围是建立将从小型浆果(哈斯卡普和蓝莓)中提取的富含多酚的提取物和从夏季香料中提取的富含香芹酚的精油加入Honibe产品的工艺。这些提取物必须稳定，并以足够的方式与脱水蜂蜜接触，以在成品Honibe产品中保持其生物活性，特别是抗微生物功效。拟议的项目将克服一系列挑战，包括：通过合理安排脱水蜂蜜生产过程中冷却阶段的掺入时间，最大限度地减少热降解和相关生物活性变化的影响；开发使用新型微胶囊技术保护生物活性的加工方法；以及开发独特的天然提取物，其功效是控制链球菌的生长和生存能力，同时将对结肠有益微生物的抑制作用降至最低。Honibe制造商和加拿大天然保健品行业将受益于在脱水蜂蜜含片和其他类似产品中使用天然抗菌和抗炎生物活性的改进技术。该项目还将有助于满足加拿大卫生部的法规要求，以获得一种符合天然保健品注册协议的产品格式，以建立新的Honibe含片产品。此外，这一举措将有助于在初级农业生产者和增值加工商之间建立新的价值链，并增加霍尼贝在当地和出口市场的销售。

Island Abbey Foods Ltd has developed a unique dehydrated honey product (Honibe) that is shelf stable at ambient temperature. This project will further enhance the marketing of this type of product through incorporation of natural ingredients that provide additional health benefits to the consumer. The project involves the preparation of a range of anti-microbial plant-extracts targeted for sore throat caused by Streptococcus infection. The primary scope of the project is to establish processes for incorporation of polyphenol-rich extracts from small berries (haskap and blueberry) and carvacrol-rich essential oil from summer savory into Honibe products. These extracts are to be stabilized and interfaced to dehydrated honey in a manner sufficient to retain their bioactivity, especially anti-microbial efficacy, in the finished Honibe products. The proposed project will overcome a series of challenges which include: minimization of the impact of thermal degradation and associated changes of bioactives by rationalizing the time of incorporation during the cooling phase of the dehydrated honey manufacturing process; development of processing methods to protect bioactives using novel microencapsulation techniques; and development of unique natural extracts with efficacy to control the growth and viability of Streptococcus species while imposing a minimum inhibitory effect on the beneficial microorganisms of the colon. Honibe manufacturer and the Canadian natural health product industry will benefit by improved technologies for use of natural antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory bioactives in the dehydrated honey lozenges and other similar products. The project will also facilitate fulfilling the regulatory requirements of Health Canada in attaining a product format that will meet the needs of natural health product registration protocols to establish new Honibe lozenge products. Furthermore, this initiative will help in creating a new value-chain between primary agricultural producers and value-added processors as well as increasing the sales of Honibe both in local and export market.