Processing of Cannabis waste residue to enable use towards prebiotic food ingredient applications

该提案旨在评估大麻植物废料中提取四氢大麻酚和大麻素后产生的高纤维成分的潜在益生元能力。益生元成分是经过发酵的化合物，通过增强益生菌（如乳酸菌和双歧杆菌）的组成和活性来促进肠道健康。由于大麻废物需要根据环境法规进行处理，因此开发益生元食品成分可以成为一种增值产品，有助于规避废物处理成本。一项研究挑战是大麻纤维主要是不溶性的，而益生元特性与可溶性纤维有关。该提案将评估一种被称为微粉化的食品加工技术的有效性，该技术是一种创新的方法，通过减小大麻纤维的粒径来溶解大麻纤维，这样益生菌就可以接触到大麻纤维，从而产生益生元特性。因此，微粉化可以从大麻废料中开发出一种益生元食品成分。

The proposal aims to evaluate the potential prebiotic capacity of the high fiber composition of cannabis plantwaste material that is generated after THC and cannabinoids have been extracted. Prebiotic ingredients arecompounds that are fermented, which promotes gut health by enhancing the composition and activity ofprobiotic bacteria such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. Since cannabis waste material needs to be disposed ofaccording to environmental regulations, the development of a prebiotic food ingredient can be a value addedproduct that helps to circumvent the waste disposal cost. A research challenge is that cannabis fibre is primarilyinsoluble whereas prebiotic properties are associated with soluble fibre. The proposal will evaluate the efficacyof a food processing technique called micronization as an innovative approach to solubilize cannabis fiber bydecreasing its particle size so that it can be accessible to probiotic bacteria thereby producing prebioticproperties. Micronization could thus allow the development of a prebiotic food ingredient from cannabis wasteplant material.