Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
408 Old Main
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802-1505
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
We consumers increasingly demand processed foods with clean labels (i.e., food with few and familiar ingredients), and are not willing to forfeit high standards for food safety, quality, and shelf life. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the food industry to develop natural / recognizable ingredients to remove synthetic / unfamiliar. This is difficult when 84% of the flour used across packaged foods comes from wheat and 95% of plant protein ingredients are either soy- or gluten-based.This project seeks to createnew functional ingredient, so called oleoproteins, from the stable interaction between food proteins and lipids. Members of the Harte lab showed that processing condition leading to the dispersion of naturally occurring quaternary structures (e.g., caseins from milk) in the presence of lipids, yielded stable functional ingredients. In this project, we will determine processing stimuli, protein, and lipids leading to the formation of stable oleoproteins, the types of interaction and scale explaining oleoprotein formation, and establish the range of functionality can be obtained from the novel oleoproteins.Our ultimate goal is to create a new category of natural and sustainable functional ingredients, that can be used by the food industry to manufacture high quality, clean-label, processed foods.
Animal Health Component
33%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
33%
Applied
33%
Developmental
34%
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal driving this proposal is to create solutions to fulfill the need of natural ingredients diversification by the food industry.This will be accomplished by engineering a new class of ingredients, named "Oleoproteins", obtained from the stable complexation between naturally occurring protein quaternary structures and lipids. In this proposal we will pursue three objectives spanning from basic understanding to the application of ingredients in food solutions:Objective 1: Determine proper stimuli and loading capacity of oleoproteins. We seek to establish the physicochemical stimuli leading to the formation of oleoproteins. The types of fats (e.g., triglycerides vs. fatty acids) and proteins (casein, pea and soy protein isolates), and the loading capacity (stoichiometry) of oleoproteins will be determined.Objective 2. Elucidate oleoproteins scale of interaction and stability. It is not clear whether oleoproteins require monomeric or polymeric protein units. We will elucidate molecular properties of oleoproteins using methods including native mass spectrometry and differential scanning calorimetry, and micro scale properties with tools including confocal scanning microscopy. We will focus on oleoprotein stability due to the challenging processing and environmental conditions common in foods (e.g., thermal, ionic). Objective 3. Explore the functionality of oleoproteins in food and non-food applications. We will quantify the impact of oleoproteins on the rheological, foaming, and emulsifying properties of model foods. We will also target oleoproteins to solve specific challenges in foods. Based on preliminary positive results, film formation properties and electrospinning properties of oleoproteins will be also explored, for potential packaging and coating solutions for food and non-food applications.
Project Methods
We approach this proposal through three independent objectives that cover key questions with regards to oleoproteins: (1) What stimuli, protein, and lipids lead to oleoproteins? (2) what type(s) of interaction(s) and scale explain oleoproteins formation, and (3) what range of functionality can be obtained from oleoproteins? The proposal is comprehensive as it covers the basic aspects of protein-lipid interactions in foods, as well as applied aspects of functional properties of natural ingredients for food and non-food applications. InObjective 1, we seek to establish the physicochemical stimuli leading to the formation of oleoproteins. The types of fats (e.g., triglycerides vs. fatty acids) and proteins (casein, pea and soy protein isolates), and the loading capacity (stoichiometry) of oleoproteins will be determined. In Ojbective 2,we will elucidate molecular properties of oleoproteins using methods including native mass spectrometry and differential scanning calorimetry, and micro scale properties with tools including confocal scanning microscopy. We will focus on oleoprotein stability due to the challenging processing and environmental conditions common in foods (e.g., thermal, ionic). In Objective 3,we will quantify the impact of oleoproteins on the rheological, foaming, and emulsifying properties of model foods. We will also target oleoproteins to solve specific challenges in foods (see proposal). Based on preliminary positive results, film formation properties and electrospinning properties of oleoproteins will be also explored, for potential packaging and coating solutions for food and non-food applications.