The NUTRA-SNACKS project: basic research and biotechnological programs on nutraceutics

The Nutra-Snacks project aims at creating novel high quality ready-to-eat foods with functional activity, useful for promoting public health. The team is composed of seven research institutes and three SMEs from different countries whose activities span from basic to applied research providing the right technological transfer to small and medium industries involved in the novel food production chain. Strategic objectives include the application of plant cell and in vitro culture systems to create very large amounts of high-value plant secondary metabolites with recognized anticancer, antilipidemic, anticholesterol, antimicrobial, antiviral, antihypertensive and anti-inflammatory properties and to include them in specific food products. To this end, the screening of a vast number of working organisms capable of accumulating the desired compounds and the characterization of their expression profiles represent fundamental steps in the research program. The information allows the identification of plant species hyper-producing metabolites and selection of those metabolites capable of specifically counteracting the oxidative stress that underlies the development of important pathologies and diseases. In addition, devising safe metabolite extraction procedures is also crucial in order to provide nutraceutical-enriched extracts compatible with human health. New biotechnological approaches are also undertaken including the exploitation of photosynthetic algal strains in bio-farms to enhance the synthesis ofantioxidant compounds and the design of novel bioreactors for small and large scale biomass production. Further outstanding objectives include the development of (i) safety and quality control protocols (ii) biosensor techniques for the analysis of the emerging ready-to-eat food and (iii) a contribution to define a standard for new regulations on nutraceutics.