ReMarcForFood is conceived to develop new concepts of use for winemaking byproducts based on their biotechnological conversion into innovative value-added ingredients, formulation into food products and then reintroduction into the food chainGrapes are one of the largest fruit crops in the world with, according to the FAO, 77 Mt of grapes produced throughout the world in 2013 most of which used in winemaking, with generation of 3.4 Mt of grape marc (skins and seeds). Following the reform of the Common Market Organization for Wine (CE/479/08) the compulsory distillation of grape marc and lees, together with part of the economic incentives to distilleries, the minimum price to be given to wine-makers and the acquisition of in excess produced alcohol by the EC have been removed. This reform, together with the recent economic crisis, the competition of New World producers and the uncertainties caused by climate changes call for new strategies for increasing resilience of winemaking small and medium enterprises. Additionally, winemaking by-products pose serious environmental concerns because their production is concentrated in a limited time frame, and their high organic matter content prevents direct disposal into the soil, except for limited and regulated amounts. Literature scientific works and research projects devoted to the utilization of winemaking by-products testify the importance of such issues. To this aim, promising biotechnological approaches have not been fully investigated
AIMS
INNOVATIVE GREEN ENZYMATIC HYDROLYTIC PROCESSES OF WINEMAKING BYPRODUCTS FOR PRODUCTION OF PHENOLIC-ENRICHED EXTRACTS AND FIBRE FRACTIONS
ReMarcForFood will develop a low-cost and environmentally friendly enzymatic hydrolysis treatment to: improve the recovery of soluble phenolic compounds from grape marc; improve the rheological and nutritional properties of the hydrolysed fibre residue; produce an innovative new ingredient resulting from the whole hydrolysed grape marc without separation of the soluble (phenolic extract) and insoluble fractions
CULTIVATION PROTOCOL OF PLEUROTUS ON WINEMAKING BYPRODUCTS FOR PRODUCTION OF FUNGAL BIOMASS AND EXTRACELLULAR LIGNOCELLULOLITIC ENZYMES
ReMarcForFood wil exploit the ability of Pleurotus to grow on winemaking byproduct in order to produce a high nutritional value biomass rich in protein, branched ß-glucan and low-molecular-weight compounds, as well as the lignocellulolitic enzymes that could be applied for grape marc hydrolysis as in the previous point
SCALABLE PROTOCOLS FOR PROCESSING PLEUROTUS BIOMASS GROWN ON WINEMAKING BY-PRODUCTS FOR INCORPORATION INTO INNOVATIVE FOOD PRODUCTS
ReMarcForFood will lead to definition of scalable processing conditions to process Pleurotus biomass into protein-rich, branched ß-glucan-rich and chitin-rich food ingredients and then into new food products
DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE SCALABLE FOOD PRODUCTS WITH THE USE OF ENZYMATICALLY TREATED WINE-MAKING BY-PRODUCTS
ReMarcForFood will enhable the development of new foods with improved functionality, including antioxidant coloring and texturizing properties, due to the enzyme modification of grape marc
SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE STRATEGIES DEVELOPED UNDER ReMarchForFood PROJECT
ReMarcForFood includes an action specifically aimed at evaluating the environmental sustainability of the developed strategies (by means of a conventional life cycle assessment approach based on a comparison with conventional or alternative uses of grape marc established or authorized in Italy), together with their economic and social impact with the final aim of promoting their effective industrial implementation
DISSEMINATION OF RESULTS WITH INVOLVEMENT OF STAKEHOLDERS RELATED TO AGRO-FOOD INDUSTRIES AND SOCIETY
ReMarcForFood aims at engaging a broad public, including industry, policy makers scientific and educational communities and the final users, i.e., civil society and panels of consumers, to to increase its potential impact in terms of local bioeconomy
ACTIONS
2. BY-PRODUCTS COLLECTION
To collect the required by-products to be used in the project and define their chemical composition
3. BY-PRODUCTS ENZYMATIC TREATMENT
To develop an enzymatic hydrolysis protocol to increase the polyphenols extraction yield compared to conventional solvent extraction techniques and, at the same time, to obtain a residual hydrolysed fibre fraction with increased potential application in the food sector. Also the option of producing a unique product consisting in a mixture of solubilised and insoluble residual material will be investigated
4. FUNGAL BIOMASS GROWTH ON BY-PRODUCTS
Collecting by-products from local farmers and partally determine their composition. Finding the best conditions for Pleurotus sajor-caju growth on WMBP, in terms of water content, minerals and low cost additives and composition in the waste substrate proposed, to ensure the best removal of lignin and non cellulosic materials; and, at the same time ensure a good production of fungine biomass possessing an ameliorated tenor in nutrients, and carpofores attractive for their aspect, flavour and fragrance
5. INNOVATIVE FOOD PRODUCTS
To explore the potential of Pleurotus biomass as an ingredient for new foods enriched in low-cost proteins and functional food enriched in branched ß-glucans and bioactive components for specific targets of consumers. To explore the potential of recovered winemaking by-products as ingredients for new foods enriched in dietary fibre and antioxidants for specific targets of consumers
6. SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT
A compared evaluation, by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approaches (“from cradle to grave”), of the environmental impacts (distinguished by category and scale) ascribable to (1) the strategies for biotechnological valorisation of marc tested in the project and (2) some of the alternative destinations of wine-making by-products allowed by legislation: distillation, spreading on land for agronomic purposes, composting and allocating the materials to further agronomic destination, energy production through biogas production or combustion
PARTNERS
With the contribution of
COMPANIES
ReMarcForFood thanks the companies interested in our project and that are actively cooperating to our activities
