Extracting 'bioactives' from agricultural and food processing streams

Transforming products from agricultural and food processing streams into health-enhancing ingredients for use in a variety of foods and nutraceuticals is the aim of a $7 million Flagship Collaboration Fund Cluster involving CSIRO's Food Futures Flagship, Monash University and the University of Melbourne.

The Concentration and Separation of Bioactives in Food Science Research Cluster will develop techniques for extracting bioactive compounds from plant, meat and dairy agricultural and food processing streams.

"Grape skins and seeds, olive leaves, cartilage and cow hides are commonly thrown away by the food industry, but some of these materials are known to contain compounds with valuable bioactive properties," said Food Futures Flagship director, Dr Bruce Lee.

"For example, dermatan sulphate, which is extracted from cow hides, is reported to have anti-inflammatory properties and inhibit the formation of blood clots.

"The Cluster aims to make the extraction of bioactive materials like these more cost effective thereby reducing the cost of the ingredients and ultimately cutting food production costs," Lee said.

According to Cluster leader, Monash University's Professor Milton Hearn, the research program could lead to the production of foods and nutraceuticals which assist in maintaining the health of consumers.

"Over the next three years, the Cluster will develop environmentally acceptable techniques " using molecular imprinting of polymers and foam fractionation " to extract these materials in the laboratory," Hearn said.

"The Flagship will test the resulting bioactives using biochemical, cell-based and physiological systems and then optimise the production processes to ensure they meet the needs of industry.

"These technological developments will also be licensed to give the Australian agri-food industry a competitive advantage in the international food, feed and nutraceutical markets."

University of Melbourne Associate Professor, Mathupandian Ashokkumar said the Cluster will develop a new ultrasonic atomisation technique to concentrate and separate bioactive compounds.