Eurecat develops a new system that makes it possible to identify the potential biological activities of new ingredients and nutraceuticals

The Eurecat technology centre has developed a new platform to obtain and validate ingredients and nutraceuticals that makes it possible to identify and determine their potential biological activities, using sustainable and scalable methodologies in industrial processes and new screening models, which it presented at the Nutraceuticals Europe – Summit & Expo in Barcelona.

The platform, called AriaPne, responds ‘to the market’s growing demand for nutraceuticals with new ingredients of natural origin with health benefits, which we’ll show can also be obtained from agri-food industry by-products using sustainable processes’, explains Anna Mas, a researcher from Eurecat’s Nutrition and Health Unit, who described the innovation during a talk at the Nutraceuticals Seminar Theatre.

‘We offer companies in the value chain a fast and low-risk decision support system to develop and validate new ingredients and extracts with biological properties, as well as strategies to exploit them’, the researcher noted.

In this regard, ‘technological innovation is crucial in the development of new ingredients and foods that contribute to consumers’ well-being, as well as from the perspective of the opportunities opened up by alternative protein sources, which have to demonstrate their nutritional and health properties to respond to new consumer habits’, explains Ignasi Papell, the head of Eurecat’s Food Industry Business.

On the other hand, Noemí Boqué, a researcher in Eurecat’s Nutrition and Health Unit, gave a talk focused on the growth experienced by the alternative protein market. From her point of view, ‘their nutritional and health benefits must be brought to light through rigorous scientific studies, which will demonstrate protein quality and bioavailability, as well as the nutritional content and the healthy effects of the continuing consumption of these proteins on different populations and age groups’.

As part of the fair, Eurecat also unveiled technology innovation solutions in the development of new ingredients and foods in the food industry.