National Pasta Formulation and Shelf-Life Evaluation of a High Protein Drink for New Health Markets

全国面食公司（National Pasta Corp.， NPC）位于安大略省剑桥市，是一家意大利面食生产商。NPC将推出一系列新的“高蛋白”食品（饮料），以满足两个不断增长的、注重健康的国际市场；1)力量与健身；2)老年医疗保健。****高蛋白食品属于功能性食品（或“超级食品”）的范畴，在这类食品中，食品被增强以具有更高的营养成分，用于不同的应用，例如帮助适当的饮食和体重管理，自然增加肌肉或运动表现，或管理消化健康或老年患者的临床营养。然而，平衡一种新的保健食品的风味、质地和外观是具有挑战性的，因为添加功能性成分(乳清分离蛋白、蔗糖、赤糖醇、乙酸（风味）、抗坏血酸（稳定性）的影响，以提高产品的营养成分和保质期。**** Conestoga学院食品加工技术研究所（IFPT）的研究小组将进行实验，以改进高蛋白饮料的配方，以优化风味、质地和外观，微调巴氏杀菌条件，并评估巴氏杀菌饮料的货架稳定性。National Pasta将受益于健身和保健食品部门市场的销售增加；扩建新的生产设施；并为生产人员创造新的就业机会。* * * *

National Pasta Corp. (NPC), located in Cambridge Ontario, is a producer of Italian pasta. NPC is launching a new line of "high protein" food products (drinks) for two growing, international, health-conscious market segments; 1) Strength & Fitness; and 2) Senior Healthcare. ****High protein food products fall under the category of functional foods (or "super foods"), in which foods are enhanced to have an elevated nutrient profile for different applications, for example to aid proper diet and weight management, to naturally increase muscle or sports performance, or to manage digestive health or clinical nutrition in older patients. However, balancing the flavour, texture and appearance of a new health food product is challenging because of effect of adding functional ingredients (whey protein isolate, sucrose, erythritol, acetic acid (flavour), ascorbic acid (stability) to enhance the nutritional profile and shelf-life of the product.****The research team at Conestoga College's Institute for Food Processing Technology (IFPT) will conduct experiments to refine the formulation for a high protein drink to optimize the flavour, texture and appearance, fine tune the pasteurization conditions, and evaluate the shelf stability of the pasteurized drinks. National Pasta will benefit through increased sales into fitness and health food sector markets; expansion into a new production facility; and creation of new employment opportunities for production staff. ****