Research Call |
DAFM Reference |
Lead(Collaborating)Institution |
DAFM Award |
DAFM National Call 2011 | 11F043 | Teagasc (UCC, UCD, NUIG, ITT) | €1,433,532 |
Project Title:Exploration of Irish meat processing streams for recovery of high value protein based ingredients for food & non food uses |
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Project Coordinator:Dr Anne Maria Mullen |
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Project Abstract |
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Recovery of high value protein-rich functional co-products from meat processing streams represents an area of significant opportunity to enhance the economic performance and improve the environmental impact of the Irish meat Industry. ReValueProtein will capitalize on many potential opportunities to valorise meat processing secondary, by-product or waste streams. As there is no Irish based strategic initiative to support this exploitation, there is a pressing requirement for a nationally funded effort to support the meat industry in capitalizing on this opportunity. ReValueProtein is an ambitious project which brings together a multidisciplinary team [food chemistry, biosciences, tissue engineering, process (novel and pilot scale) technologies, consumer science, food and beverage technology] to generate technical know-how to develop functional co-products with applications in food, beverage, health and biomedical engineering. Intellectual property, protocols and products generated will have relevance across all of these sectors. The main activities fall under three key scientific pillars:
All of these are underpinned by analysis of consumer attitudes and preferences pertaining to sustainable processing and the products generated. While this is an ambitious project it is taking advantage of the facts that these streams are protein-rich and hold strong potential for extracting value and that it is well supported by a team of 17 PIs (with the specific expertise), technical staff, researchers and post-graduate students. A successful outcome will result in meat processors accessing higher value export markets with subsequent reduction in waste. While many of the source materials may currently have markets (Asian, Eastern EU) these tend to be lower value and also have a high carbon footprint associated with them. Short and medium/long term strategies are presented. |
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Final Report:Not available yet. |