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Collaborative project: Novel approaches to handle flax´s beneficial and detrimental nutrients focusing on hydrogen cyanide and its value chain products (LINOVIT)
Project
Project code: 2819OE013
Contract period: 01.02.2020
- 31.01.2023
Budget: 81,474 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research
Keywords: food safety, product quality, nutrition, food quality, value chains, oil and fibre plants, processing, poison, toxins, ingredients, food processing, product safety
In times of so called 'superfoods” and call for more sustainability, flax has gained a lot of attention over the last few years. This increased interest is based on the wide range of applications flax can be used for. Containing valuable nutrients such as oleic and a-linolenic acid, dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, flax as a raw material is mostly used in shredded form, as seeds or as an oil. Beneath its beneficial nutrients, flax also contains antinutrients, such as cadmium and hydrogen cyanide most prominently, which have an adverse effect on the overall amount of nutrients and the human health. The processing of flax into oil accumulates hydrogen cyanide in the produced oilcakes. As of today, these oilcakes are not getting used to their full potential and the value chain bears a lot room for improvements. The objective of this research project is to improve the whole value chain of flax in terms of quality and beneficial nutrients by gaining knowledge about how to decrease the amount of antinutrients in the seeds and along the processing chain. These goals will be met by analysing agronomical parameters such as locations, methods and different forms of cultivation. Focus will be laid upon different pre-treatments of flax seeds and especially processing of the oilcakes regarding the reduction of detrimental nutrients. Furthermore, the influence of lactic acid bacteria and isolated enzymes on the level of hydrogen cyanide will be trialed. Risk and develop assessments will be done along the whole value chain to evaluate eventually future food applications, improved functionality and valorise side streams. These aspirations will be fulfilled by the expertise of industry partners covering the entire value chain ranging from agronomists over engineers to food scientists.
Section overview
Subjects
- Specialised crops
- Physiology of Nutrition
- Food Processing
- Toxicology
Framework programme
Federal Organic Farming Scheme and other forms of sustainable agriculture (BÖLN)
Funding programme
Excutive institution
Funding institution
Project management agencies
Associated projects: LINOVIT
- Collaborative project: Novel approaches to handle flax´s beneficial and detrimental nutrients focusing on hydrogen cyanide and its value chain products. Coordination
- Collaborative project: Novel approaches to handle flax´s beneficial and detrimental nutrients focusing on hydrogen cyanide and its value chain products