Redesign of collagen casings for high quality performance using food grade polysaccharide ingredients.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Biosciences
Abstract
The challenge for DEVRO plc is to create casing products similar in quality to real gut materials, used in artisanal manufacture of e.g. sausages. The current technology is to use collagen pastes / gels, through an extrusion and setting process, to create3 billion meters of casing per annum, from a diverse supply of beef hides. The current process takes the natural diversity of beef hides and creates a suitable collagen gel, such that processing is consistent, producing stable products at a high throughput. However the products are inferior, in some aspects, to natural gut products and there is a desire to understand how the collagen casings can be adapted to provide the same properties. A physical sciences approach is to be undertaken, and the use of food grade polysaccharide ingredients will be explored. This will be achieved by scoping the effect of polymer type (neutral, negatively charged, hydrophobic), polymer molecular weight, polymers that are cross-linkable (e.g. sugar beet pectin), amorphous polymers and polymers that may interact with other commonly used casing ingredients, such as trivalent ions. Rheological (small and large deformation (flow - rotational and extensional)), thermal, spectroscopic and microscopy techniques will be employed to understand more about how the material structure-functionality can be controlled, while maintaining the major structural component of collagen. The polymers of choice may form structures which either gel or melt at high (cooking) temperatures, thereby allowing real product performance control. Also the thermodynamic compatibility with the collagen material will be explored to establish the structures in the paste / gel which are relevance for effective and efficient processability.
UoN have just completed a TSB funded project entitled 'Transforming wet perishable food waste streams for high value human consumption' funded under the 'Food Processing and Manufacturing Efficiency' call and relevant learning from that project with regard to new molecular functionalities will be available to the student. Additionally Foster has led Nottingham's participation in the Marie Curie ITN 'Shaping and Transformation in the Engineering of Polysaccharides' (2009-2013), hosting 4 PhD students and providing secondment opportunities for PDRA and PhD students from industry and academic partners, and currently leads the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing (in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and Loughborough University), involving 20 PhDs and 10 post docs.
UoN have just completed a TSB funded project entitled 'Transforming wet perishable food waste streams for high value human consumption' funded under the 'Food Processing and Manufacturing Efficiency' call and relevant learning from that project with regard to new molecular functionalities will be available to the student. Additionally Foster has led Nottingham's participation in the Marie Curie ITN 'Shaping and Transformation in the Engineering of Polysaccharides' (2009-2013), hosting 4 PhD students and providing secondment opportunities for PDRA and PhD students from industry and academic partners, and currently leads the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing (in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and Loughborough University), involving 20 PhDs and 10 post docs.
People |
ORCID iD |
Timothy Foster (Primary Supervisor) | |
Motolani Sobanwa (Student) |
Publications
Sobanwa M
(2020)
The effect of cellulose and starch on the viscoelastic and thermal properties of acid-swollen collagen paste
in Food Hydrocolloids
Sobanwa M
(2020)
The effect of cellulose and starch on the viscoelastic and thermal properties of acid-swollen collagen paste
in Food Hydrocolloids
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
EP/N50970X/1 | 30/09/2016 | 29/09/2021 | |||
1881732 | Studentship | EP/N50970X/1 | 01/01/2017 | 25/04/2021 | Motolani Sobanwa |
Description | The objective of the work was to explore the use of food polysaccharides in improving the properties of collagen films. Several polysaccharides were explored and the results of the study showed that the polysaccharides were effective at improving the strength of the collagen films. This is important as the collagen films need to have sufficient strength in order to withstand processing operations. |
Exploitation Route | The outcome of this award can be explored by the several industries such as the food and pharmaceutical industries particularly in the use of packaging materials and edible coatings. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
URL | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2019.105460 |
Description | 4th UK Hydrocolloids Symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The symposium was held at the University of Leeds and the theme was from food to bioprocessing and the aim was to foster the exchange of ideas and recent advances from diverse discipines in the area aof hydrocolloids. The symposium focused was targeted to the food and pharmaceutical industry and the topics that were discussed were encapsulation, delivery, oral processing and digestion, biomaterials scaffolds, hydrogels, nanomaterials and future applications of Hydrocolloids. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://eu.eventscloud.com/ehome/hydrocolloids2019/home/ |
Description | European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence Junior Scientists meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The conference was held at Slovenia and was focused on bringing young scientist working in the area polysaccharide research to share their results, discuss on the development of polysaccharide research as well as build a network with other students. The conference attracted researchers working in several areas of polysaccharides, topics that were discussed includes; biosynthesis of polysaccharides, polysaccharides in food, biorefinery of polysaccharide biomass and chemical functionalization of polysaccharides. The conference sparked several questions and discussions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://3rd-epnoe-jun.sciencesconf.org/ |
Description | Food colloids Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The conference was on Food colloids which was organised by the University of Leeds. About 300 people attended the conference from all over the world. It was focused on topics illustrating the strong interplay between fundamental colloid science research and more applied soft matter which was categorised under five themes which includes interfacial design, colloidal aspects of eating and digestion. relating structures to properties, biopolymer interactions and processing of novel structures for functionality. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://10times.com/food-colloids-a |
Description | The 20th Gums & Stabilisers for the Food Industry Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The The 20th Gums & Stabilisers for the Food Industry Conference was held at San Sebastain spain , the conference attracted more than a hundred participants which included postgraduate researchers, academics and industry professionals. The conference was focused on topics on hydrocolloids in food materials, their characterization and applications. Some of the topics that were discussed were new sources of polysaccharides and proteins, innovative techniques of characterization and processing, effects of hydrocolloids on oral processing and tribology, hydrocolloid structure and functionality, polysaccharide interactions and rheology, bioactive hydrocolloids and polysaccharide and protein films and coatings, ydrocolloids for emulsions and foams stabilisations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://foodhydrocolloidstrust.org.uk/node/1 |
Description | The 6th EPNOE interantional polysaccharide conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The 6th EPNOE international polysaccharide conference was held at Aveiro Portugal, the conference attracted more than a hundred people from diverse researchers working in the area of polysaccharides. The conference created opportunity for networking and several questions were asked which led to further discussions |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://epnoe2019.sciencesconf.org/ |