C U LT U R ED – A M U LT I - D I S C I P L I N A R Y C O N S O R T I U M P R OJ EC T
CULTURED
An Open Innovation Consortium
Project for Natural Food
Ingredient Development Using
Fermentative Strategies
(CULTURED)
TNO is interested in joint research
efforts of developing your natural
food ingredients using microbiological fermentation strategies. With
consumer demand for cleaner
labels and natural foods with
milder processing, there is renewed
interest in the age-old process of
fermentation as a method of
generating authentic, value-added
ingredients to foods.
Other than creating common food products
like yogurt, beer and bread, fermentation
can play a role in consumer demands for
natural and unprocessed foods by
producing compounds that modulate food
properties like flavor, texture and viscosity
amongst other functionalities.
Currently, more than a third of the biomass
in the food production chain is lost as
waste which contains valuable nutrients
that can be recycled back in the final
product, creating a food enhanced by its
own production stream. Tomato pomace for
instance is a common waste product that
can be converted to a bioactive medium.
With the suitable microorganisms, this
low-value waste stream can be fermented
for the formation of useful volatile or
anti-fungal compounds.
The CULTURED consortium will bring
together food manufacturers, microbe
suppliers, flavor houses and other industry
leaders to work on producing desirable
food properties like organoleptic qualities,
extended shelf-life and nutritional benefits
to your product. With a comprehensive
work stream approach, TNO targets three
RESEARCH LINES of applying fermentation
technology to introduce functionality in
final products.
TYPE OF PARTNERS
We are searching for the following type of
partners:
Natural (fermented) ingredients suppliers
Food manufacturers
Microbe suppliers
Flavour houses
C U LT U R ED – A M U LT I - D I S C I P L I N A R Y C O N S O R T I U M P R OJ EC T
CULTURED RESEARCH LINES
RESEARCH LINE 1
RAW INGREDIENTS
RESEARCH LINE 2
INTERMEDIATE PRODUCTS
RESEARCH LINE 3
FINAL PRODUCT
Raw ingredients or waste
streams can be used as
substrate for fermentation to
produce the desired
functionalities. The
ingredients are added to the
final product during the
manufacturing process as an
food additive
Multiple intermediate
products (e.g. tomato paste
or bread dough) can be
fermented with each having
a specific aimed functionality. Later on they can be
added to the final product
during the manufacturing
process
Generating functionalities
via a fermentation within the
final product to obtain
desired functionalities in situ
STARTING BIO MATERIALS
Selection of food-grade
microbial strains
Selection of fermentation
conditions
Definition of substrate
TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS
Advanced screening systems
that select for food
properties like:
APPLICATION
Compounds resulting from
the fermentation of the raw
materials, intermediate and
end-products are integrated
into the final food system to
elicit the desired functional
effect
Taste
Color
Etc.
Texture
Viscosity
WHAT DOES TNO BRING TO THE
PROJECT?
TNO is an independent research organisation based in The Netherlands. We believe
in the joint creation of economic and social
value. For this project we will make use of
the following in-house expertise and
facilities:
20+ years of experience in
Microbiological Fermentation
Microbial Strain Collection containing
bacteria, yeasts and fungi with GRAS
status or listed as QPS
Sophisticated microbial Screening
Platforms
Selective separation techniques for food
ingredients
State of the art quantitative and
semi-quantitative models for the analysis
of Food Physics like rheology, material
properties (sorption, state transitions,
particle size analysis)
Broad food analytical platforms
The CULTURED research lines will follow this work stream
STARTING BIO MATERIALS
Based on predetermined functionalities or
desired qualities of the food product by the
consortium partner, we will select the most
suitable microbial strains (available within
TNO and/or consortium partners) and
define optimal fermentation conditions for
producing ingredients such as natural
polymers like exopolysaccharides (EPS),
antimicrobial compounds, flavors and
colors, enzymes and emulsifiers. Other
experimental parameters such as incubation time and temperatures of the starter
culture will also be determined. The
substrate on which the fermentation
process takes place is also modulated.
TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS
CULTURED strives to develop both healthy,
natural and nutritional foods, as well as the
state-of-the-art technologies. At TNO, we
envision several types of technology
platforms to improve on or co-develop
including:
In vitro studies on health effects (e.g.
prebiotic and bioavailability/digestibility)
Identification of taste compounds that
enhance the savoriness or sweetness
with TNO’s proprietary SOLUTA platform
to allow for the production of foods with
less sugar, salt or added MSG without
sacrificing on flavor
An analytical platform aimed at identifying
compounds to replace the emulsifiers
and texturants used in many different
applications to improve mouthfeel and
texture, enabling clean labeling without
compromising on shelf-life and product
characteristics
Analytical platforms for testing of
anti-microbial activities using our current
state-of-the-art tools
TNO.NL
APPLICATION
The obtained functionalities via the
different research lines are translated
and applied towards a model product to
validate the acceptability and stability of
the new functionality. Together with the
incumbent parties, the developed products
can be scaled towards industrial relevance.
PARTNER WITH US
For more information please
contact Joost Blankestijn via email
([email protected]) or by
phone (+31 88 8661693).