AGROALNEXT BIOVALRICE Project: Microbial biotechnology for the valorization of agri-food waste: a step forward in the use of rice bran
- Type Project
- Scope Autonómico
- Autonomous community Comunitat Valenciana
- Main source of financing NextGenerationEU
- Project website Web del Proyecto
Description
The BioValRice project proposes a new approach to the management and treatment of rice bran, transforming it into various bioactive food ingredients that will contribute to responsible production and consumption, while simultaneously generating safe and healthy food. The project's results will be of particular interest to the Valencian food industry, which has a significant presence in the rice sector.
Contextual description
Each year, more than 700 million tons of rice are produced worldwide, making it an essential crop for global food security, especially in emerging economies. After harvesting, during the rice refining process, the protective layer of the rice grains, the bran, is removed. Although it is usually discarded as waste, bran has high nutritional value and can be used to obtain high-value-added microbial ferments. The BIOVALRICE project aims to valorize bran, as a byproduct, to generate biofunctional extracts and enzyme cocktails. The biofunctional extracts obtained through fermentation with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) contain bioactive compounds with beneficial health properties, such as antioxidants, and natural preservatives with antimicrobial activity. The enzyme cocktails generated by filamentous fungi contain enzymes of interest to the agri-food industry, such as cellulases and xylanases, which are used, for example, in juice production and breadmaking.
Results
A system for valorizing rice bran has been developed using microbial biotechnology, generating enzymatic cocktails and biofunctional extracts with preservative, antioxidant and antifungal properties that extend the shelf life of food and offer a natural alternative to chemical preservatives.
Contact information
- Coordinator/entity name: Paloma Mª Manzanares Mir
- Mailing address: Not available
- Email coordinator/entity: pmanza@iata.csic.es
- Phone: Not available
Coordinators
- IATA-CSIC
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