Assessing and controlling the multiple dimensions of food quality is an everyday challenge for the global food sector. Facing the large amount of data needed, metabolomics are promising and appropriate to this challenge. The QualOmics project lies on this approach and aims at developing an untargeted analytical method for the detection of markers from different dimensions of food quality (food safety, organoleptic, nutritional). To that end, the project will apply advanced approaches of liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and tandem MS (LC HRMS/MS) analyses in order to identify, in a formulated and processed food product, the different quality and reactivity markers and to assess their links. Lastly, the impact of raw materials and process on the markers’ evolution will be considered in order to evaluate this analytical approach as a tool for the reasoned design of the multifaceted food quality.

Reducing food loss and food waste is an important axis for improving the food chain sustainability, especially since by-products generated by the food industry represent a great deposit of renewable raw materials. A potential application for their sustainable valorization would be as stabilizing agents in Pickering emulsions (i.e. stabilized by solid particles), allowing to avoid the use of synthetic surfactants replaced by un-cracked materials. CLEVER’s objective will be to reveal the potential of vegetal food by-products powders as a renewable source of unmodified, unfractionnated and unpurified ingredients in clean-label Pickering emulsions. The project is aiming for applied research that will benefit to the whole supply chain, for various food sectors. It will benefit from the producers of the by-products (alternative way of valorization with high added-value), to the consumers (higher naturalness, easier-to-read recipes or formula, circular valorization), including the formulators of the newly created emulsions (food applications as well as cosmetics or other bioproducts). We will develop a multi-actor strategy, combining interfacial and biomaterial science, experimental design and modeling, reverse engineering from desired functional properties of the final products towards process and formulation levers, sensory science and consumer acceptance of the by-products-stabilized emulsions.

Nowadays, population ageing represents a major social and public health challenge. It is characterised in particular by an increase in the vulnerability of seniors to physiological and metabolic disorders which may be due to poor diet. Different factors can be linked to this malnutrition: socio-economic context, sensory deficit, loss of appetite, oral problems or even reduced mobility. If preventive nutrition throughout life is essential in limiting the occurrence of diseases linked to ageing, it is also essential to be able to offer a specific diet adapted to seniors (sensory and nutritional enrichment, modified textures, adapted portions, etc. ) in order to prevent these disorders. In this context, this project aims to develop a new approach integrating the involvement of key players (from farmers to seniors) during the design and development phases of food products adapted for seniors. The objective will be to take into account multiple constraints related to the food product to be designed (agronomic, nutritional, technological or sensory), but also related to the multiplicity of actors involved. Participatory research will be conducted with the actors of this food system: farmers, food science researchers, culinary chefs, sociologists, dieticians and non-dependent seniors, in order to better understand and integrate their behaviours, needs, preferences and to identify levers to develop adapted food.Different associations will be involved in the project: Alim50+ for séniors, Institut Paul Bocuse for chefs and Terre et Cité for farmers. This study will be a proof of concept for the implementation of participatory research to design healthy, sustainable and appreciated food products, integrating the stages of multi-stakeholder ideation and co-creation, the construction and implementation of a dissemination and communication plan for the results, as well as the validation of the acquisition of knowledge by the stakeholders involved.

To be sustainable, bioeconomy routes must integrate both environmental, social and economic issues. Using biotechnological processes is a promising way to produce added-value molecules from various renewable biomass resources and by-products. Relevant and efficient combinations of unit operations must be involved to transform available resource(s) into chemical(s) integrating economic and environmental assessments at early stage. This project proposes the development of a methodology for optimizing a bioprocess which considers both production performance (productivity, yield, titer), extraction (yield, selectivity, purity) and the environmental footprint (LCA, Life Cycle Assessment). By combining (bio)chemical engineering models with environmental assessment (LCA), the objective will be to optimize the overall integrated process by considering multiple criteria at the same time, including an emerging approach of coupling bioconversion and recovery, and therefore to find sustainable (bio)production chain configurations. As a proof of concept, the proposed methodology is based on the environmental assessment of a microbial transformation process of bioresources into volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which requires on-line separation operations to tackle product inhibition towards the producing microorganisms. Thereby, substrates (coming from different bio-based sources) will be converted microbially into chemicals of interest (herein VOCs such as 2 phenyl ethanol, acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate…) which can be used as natural flavourings for different industrial applications (detergents, cosmetics, food…). The project is divided into 5 work packages: 4 scientific work packages and 1 work package dealing with project management. The 4 scientific WPs are thought out iteratively in order to develop the proposed methodology. WP1 concerns the definition of an initial methodology to explore the new eco-routes including biotransformations. Based on literature data, all partners will define the methodology to be followed for the environmental assessment linked to the chosen biotransformation. WP2 is dedicated to data acquisition on unit operations developed in the project i.e. the microbial reaction and the separation process. These experimental data will allow the development of relevant mathematical models which will be integrated into WP3. Indeed, WP3 is interested in the integration of unit operation models (existing or developed in the project) in a process simulator and its coupling to a life cycle assessment tool. After these 3 steps, WP4 will carry out environmental impact calculations, in particular by considering the influence of operating conditions in order to move towards a decision support tool. A final iteration is planned at the end of the project to question and / or consolidate the methodology choice performed during WP1, and methodological improvements could be proposed. Therefore, this project aims to propose an eco-design methodology for emerging biotechnological processes at an early stage. The ambition is to make life cycle assessment more predictive in order to offer eco-designed bioproductions and to provide the developed tools for implementation to scale-up at an industrial level.

According to the New Circular Economy Action Plan of European Commission, circularity is an essential part of a wider transformation of industry towards climate-neutrality and long-term competitiveness. It can deliver substantial material savings along value chains and production processes, generate added value and unlock economic opportunities. The present project, perfectly in line with the principles of the circular economy, proposes an alternative use of by-products coming from agro-food industry by-products, such as grape, artichoke, carrot and coffee, that would be mostly discarded. The main objective is to produce high value-added materials from by-products: active compounds and nanocelluloses. Two main uses of these new materials will be studied, fruit bio-coating and incorporation on biodegradable film. Indeed, previous studies conducted by the FZEA team have shown that fruits coated with nanoparticles loaded with active ingredients are preserved better than those coated with empty nanoparticles. Among the main nanocellulose applications, film reinforcement should be highlighted. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer derived from renewable sources and commercially available. Nevertheless, some disadvantages of PLA films prevent its full acceptance in the market (fragility, poor ductility, unsatisfactory water/oxygen vapor barrier properties). The addition of the nanocelluloses produced in this project will be tested as reinforcement in PLA matrices to improve their properties. The ambition of this project is to link the skills of the bilateral teams in very complementary fields: FZEA-Embrapa, pre-treatment of by-products from the agro-food industry and production of low-purified nanocelluloses; SayFood, production of nano-loaded films (for medical, cosmetic or food application), study of barrier properties/structure of films; LGPM: expertise on measurement and modeling of water transfer through bioproducts. The specific objectives of this study are: i) the extraction of active compounds extracted from by-products and their encapsulation in chitosan-based particles; ii) the production and characterization of nanocelluloses with different degree of lignins obtained from fibrous by-products/extraction residue by enzymatic hydrolysis and mechanical treatments; iii) the application of loaded particles and nanocelluloses for coatings and PLA film functionalization and reinforcement, respectively and iv) the predictive modeling and life cycle assessment as tools for design purposes. The relevance of this study is based on the importance of i) mastering the methods of treatment of by-products and ii) better understanding the interactions of the studied materials to improve its technological applications.