Project
Call for Partners | CarboHealgae– Carbohydrates from algae, from biomass to health benefit
To foster healthy people and a healthy planet, a transition is needed towards more sustainable consumer diets. Replacing animal protein with plant protein would contribute significantly to this transition, but this is a challenge as it impacts the familiar flavour and texture profiles consumers are accustomed to. How can consumers not only get used to these changes but also become more inclined to consistently re-purchase sustainable plant-based products, ultimately transitioning to a plant-based diet? The project Sustainable Liking will focus on the interplay between sensory experiences, long-term liking, and habit formation. By developing effective strategies, this project aims to facilitate consumers’ transition towards healthy plant-forward diets.
No matter if we're talking about beta-glucans, fermented alginates, modified carrageenan, sodium oligomannate, algae derived products seem very promising in food applications and to support health. At WUR we have many technologies and research models to take these opportunities to the next level and to confirm functionality and beneficial health effects. Join our project in which we will give dedicated support depending on the stage you’re currently at; with the development of modification processes to enhance functionality or bio-activity of seaweed carbohydrates, or in substantiation of health effects, with in vitro or in vivo approaches directed to gut and cardiovascular health, immune support, and/or the gut-brain axis. We could also support in the development of tailored products and applications for the (modified) algae derived seaweed carbohydrates.
Partners will develop knowledge and build on scientific evidence to support functional and sustainable health supporting food formulations and ingredients from micro and macroalgae
Partners
We are looking for companies that want to valorize biomass or carbohydrate containing fractions derived from seaweed and microalgae for applications in food (or feed). This can be biomass producers, processing companies, enzyme producing companies, ingredient manufacturers, food producing companies, nutraceutical/supplement producing companies, etc. We welcome the fact that for some companies the focus will be on processing while for others the main interest is to substantiate health impact of already existing products.