Fava bean (_Vicia faba_) is an established UK crop that improves soil fertility and helps lock in carbon. With the increase in flexitarian and vegan diets, plus the encouragement of more legumes in the diet, a fava based alternative to animal proteins would be advantageous across the UK supply chain and for the consumer. To achieve the textures expected for a meat analogue or extender from fava bean protein was challenging, but this challenge has been met. By using unusual and combinations of already established food processing techniques and innovative conditions a product has been made that compares well with other textured plant proteins. Major food producers and retailers consider, from their kitchen concept work, that the fava texturant showed excellent results. The challenge now is to use our technologies, developed for producing 25kg a month in a research facility, to build and equip a new factory making 5000 tonnes per year. Success for textured fava depends on it becoming an affordable everyday food and therefore requires manufacturing at scale. As volume production occurs, not only is there concern for the product's textural quality, but also that the process embraces high environmental standards, such as low inputs (energy/water, minimal waste) and appropriate use of co-streams. Textured fava must have clean label status, be safe in terms of anti-nutrients and retain the nutritional aspects associated with fava.
This project's team are those that originally carried out the ground-breaking steps to create texture from fava. ABMauri, to start scaling production, are building a 1st phase test market facility. Over the project's 9 months the SMEs will use this and other amenities to carry out a series of trials to establish which capital equipment can make, at scale, the textured fava. Potential equipment, destined for a new factory, can then be compared against operational requirements and other criteria. These criteria embrace our starting priorities of quality textured product, sustainability and nutritional excellence. To keep these factors at the forefront of decision making there will be independent advisors, paid for by the project, whose expertise include process efficiency, fava agronomy and legume nutrition. Another feature of the proposal is amassing a dissemination group, many with specialised knowledge, thereby achieving field-to-fork visibility, management of expectations and advising our decisions. Although not all know-how from this project may be shared, many aspects can be publicised and should encourage eating of affordable UK sourced plant proteins.
This project will establish if a food supply chain can be developed so that locally sourced starchy materials and insects could be supplied from within rural Nigeria for the creation of an innovative new food product. Tests have shown that this new food product can be made from unrefined proteins and starch to create a light crispy type product that has a protein content of more than 40%. The manufacturing steps for the product are not complicated and have low environmental costs and, as part of the study, the feasibility of undertaking manufacturing within the community will be checked. Prototype products will be used in consumer testing within Nigeria to see if these are acceptable to urban and rural communities. If products are liked and their nutritional and cost demonstrated as beneficial then the use of these product will help achieve the Innovate UK Challenge goal of contributing to healthy, safe and nutritious diets.
The project will aim to develop healthier products within the fresh category that deliver an improved
nutritional composition whilst still maintaining great taste and quality. The innovative aspect is the use of
cutting edge technology and ingredients without the need for the addition of flavours to deliver reductions in
nutrients that are commonly over consumed in the UK diet (such as fat, saturates, sugar and salt). This will help
to facilitate progress on some key government initiatives outlined in the Public Health Responsibility Deal
Pledges and aims to impact on a large number of food products and therefore have a positive impact on
consumer health. The resulting outputs could revolutionise product formulation throughout the food industry
to deliver high quality products with improved nutritional credentials.
Consumers increasingly demand convenient food that can be eaten on the go. It is now recognised that
snacking can be an important part of diet – but the trick is to eat the right snacks. There is much evidence that
whole grains (especially whole grain oats) are an important part of a healthy diet. Cereal bars therefore are
potentially a good option for people wanting healthier snacking options. Cereal bars need to be stable and
easy to eat and yet it is not easy to bind cereals together to form bars (using recognisable ingredients that
consumers demand) without high levels of added sugar. In this project a group of companies, led by The
Jordans and Ryvita Company, using the scientific understanding of adhesion developed at the University of
Nottingham, will look at English oats and how they can be processed allowing optimum binding properties
using less sugar. Currently there is little knowledge about oats and their treatment so that they can have good
adhesion properties. In this project, different novel precision ways of applying sugar as “glue” will be
investigated, so that just the right amount can be used to agglomerate and keep cereals together.