Improve the shelf life of perishable goods through stabilization of vitamins

Introduction

Food processing industries face great pressure to increase the shelf life of goods, decreasing the tons of waste generated every year. At the same time, consumers are becoming more conscious about their choices and more critical about the use of synthetic preservatives.

Antioxidants in Food Preservation

The most common group of chemical compounds used to preserve the freshness of food are vitamins, also known as antioxidants. Antioxidants are compounds capable of inhibiting oxidation, which is a chemical reaction that leads to the production of free radicals, potentially damaging cells.

Antioxidants, such as vitamins (vitamin C - ascorbic acid or vitamin E - tocopherol), end these chain reactions. For that reason, many food supplements and cosmetics are constituted by these vitamins.

Project Objective

To prevent their early degradation is of maximum interest, and it is the objective of this project to disclose the use of deep eutectic systems (DES) to increase the shelf life of these compounds.

Deep Eutectic Systems (DES)

DES are mixtures of two solid species that, at particular molar ratios, form a new compound with different properties. The team has demonstrated that the use of this technology enhances the antioxidant activity for up to 5 days and prevents fruit oxidation for up to 48 hours. This is in contrast to conventional methods, which only prevent food oxidation for a couple of hours.

Proof of Concept

Within this proof of concept, the team intends to validate the product in terms of its technical features. Additionally, the team will validate the market and evaluate the commercial potential of our solution.