BUILDING A BETTER PRODUCT: IMPROVING FOOD THROUGH PROCESSING AND UPCYCLING

Gabriely Maria Soncin Alfaro

The majority of the current food production systems are not sustainable. Nutrients are wasted daily, along with the resources used to produce suitable food that goes uneaten and ends up in landfills. The studies in this dissertation examined diagonal approaches to mitigate food waste and loss through the improvement of processes, products, and the use of resources. First, an investigation on the effects of genotype and environment on the milling traits of yellow peas was conducted. Eight genotypes from four different locations were tested. Pea flour yield was impacted by pea genotype, and the milling traits had significant genotype × location interaction. Such findings are useful for breeders, growers, and companies that want to advance the use of peas as flour, broadening the possibilities of applications in food. The second study explored the application of yellow pea flour in pan bread. Large amounts of bread go to waste, and the use of pea flour as an antifungal agent to improve bread shelf life was investigated. The study also aimed to replace currently used chemical preservatives with a more recognizable list of ingredients for consumers. Over ten days of storage, breads with 10% yellow pea flour showed significant lower microbial growth than control samples without pea flour, but the ingredient did not perform as well as calcium propionate, commonly used as a preservative in baked products. To explore the upcycling of foods, the third study investigated the application of brewers spent grain into yellow alkaline noodles. Brewers spent grain is a byproduct of the beer brewing process, rich in fiber and protein, but commonly disposed of. Three levels of inclusion of spent grain were tested (5, 15, and 25%) against a control noodle made without spent grain. A commercial buckwheat noodle sample was also tested for comparison. Spent grain noodles cooked faster than control noodles. Noodles with spent grain were slightly firmer, had lower cooking loss, and lower weight increase compared to the control noodles, and had significantly higher fiber content, quantified as total arabinoxylans and β-glucans. These findings are of use to food producers, developers, and consumers, considering the improvements in the use of resources and the nutritional content of the food products tested. Future studies should investigate different approaches to prolong bread shelf life through the use of recognizable ingredients, and the acceptance of the developed upcycled noodles by consumers.

BUILDING A BETTER PRODUCT: IMPROVING FOOD THROUGH PROCESSING AND UPCYCLING

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