Work Packages

The activities focus on the valorization of by-products from different food production chains, such as: dairy, oilseeds, brewery, meat (poultry), prickly pear cactus. Innovative “clean technologies” will be applied in pilot facilities to extract bioactive compounds (e.g. oils, waxes, fatty acids, carotenoids, polyphenols, tocopherols) and/or obtain defatted protein cakes. The materials will be fully characterized and evaluated for their applicability in the food chain in terms of food quality & safety and techno-functional properties, and used as new ingredients for baked products.

PROVIDE work-plan is organized in 10 Work Packages (WPs).

WP1 ensures a proper project management for maximizing support for the individual participants to achieve the objectives, progress control of each WP, coordination of the different activities, implementation of quality control mechanisms by defining appropriate project standards.

WP2, with the mapping of potential sources of by-products, is the starting point. Mapping will cover the potential use in relation to: byproduct tonnage and market value, transportability throughout Europe, beneficial components (= new ingredients) and their physical-chemical properties governing their extractability and their possibility to retain food grade. An integrated database, where the collected data will be made interoperable and available for different potential users (e.g. producers, consumers, inspection and control agencies), will be realized.

WP3 aims to evaluate the quality and safety of the raw materials to be used and their evolution during the processes, until the final end products (= food prototypes), in order to verify the applicability for food purposes. It covers the compositional, nutritional and safety characterisation of sources and intermediate-/end-/by-products, and definition of quality markers for healthy food production of bakery products. State-of-the-art analytical technologies will be used.

WP4 is dedicated to technological innovation including novel extraction technologies and will allow to develop new ingredients to be then used for bakery applications. In particular, innovative and cost-effective processes will be developed by applying green extraction technologies such as supercritical CO₂ extraction, and membrane processes like ultra-, nano- and dia-filtration. The protein formulas obtained will be characterized for their techno-functional properties (e.g. structure, texture, viscosity, binding, coating, etc.), in order to evaluate their technical applicability as new food ingredients.

WP5 covers the evaluation of the health-beneficial properties: cytogenetic, molecular and bioinformatic analyses, as well as digestion models and in-vitro assays, will be used to assess health-beneficial properties, anti-nutritional properties and allergenic potential of the high added value molecules.

WP6 implements 3 case studies– conventional/organic food products–for incorporating the protein rich and nutraceutical ingredients into food matrices. Pilot-plant activities will be performed to obtain new food products, with the design of food prototypes and the preparation for large-scale production. The food prototypes will be then characterized for techno-functional properties, as well as for nutritive and sensorial characteristics.

WP7 focuses on the development of integrated traceability systems and solutions to be directly applied at local level for promoting sustainability, circular economy and industrial symbiosis, along with evaluating the environmental and socio-economic performances of the products. Special attention will be also paid to the definition of strategies for long-term sustainability.

WP8 refers to consumers’ acceptance, with tests of the new products with sensorial analysis, hedonistic tests and analysis of potential markets. Furthermore, focus group studies and in depth consumer studies will be performed will be organized, covering different consumers’ categories (including groups of different gender, age, lifestyle, market and eating habits, and with specific dietary requirements).

WP9 is dedicated to demonstration and technology transfer, with the implementation of the technologies, processes and techniques developed in WP4 and WP6 at industrial scale, definition of Standard Operative Procedures and training for food producers, in order to generate market opportunities. Specific protocols will be defined for the certification as “organic” of food products obtained with ingredients arising from by-product treatment.

WP10 ensures the dissemination of PROVIDE outcomes, with the implementation of all the necessary actions for ensuring awareness, engaging all the target audiences and making the project outputs usefully exploitable through various tools.