PN-IV-PCB-RO-MD-2024-0173 – Dezvoltarea de noi produse alimentare cu destinatie speciala prin utilizarea de materii prime neconventionale

ROMANIA

Project manager: Associate Professor, PhD, Eng. Sorina ROPCIUC

Senior Researchers:

Professor, PhD, Eng. Mircea Adrian OROIAN

Professor, PhD, Eng. Georgiana Gabriela CODINĂ

Researchers:

Lecturer, PhD, Eng. Florina DRANCA

Postdoctoral researcher: PhD, Eng. Daniela Oana PAULIUC

REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

Partner Manager Republic of Moldova: Associate Professor, PhD, Eng. Viorica BULGARU

Senior Researchers:

Associate Professor, PhD, Eng. Natalia NETREBA

PhD, Student members: Eng. Iana CIUGUREANU

PhD, Student: Eng. Sergiu PAIU

PhD, Student: Eng. Olga SMEREA

Senior Researcher:

Associate Professor, PhD, Eng. Natalia NETREBA

Researchers:

PhD, Student members: Eng. Iana CIUGUREANU

PhD, Student: Eng. Sergiu PAIU

PhD, Student: Eng. Olga SMEREA

.    Innovative food products containing new ingredients have been designed to meet nutritional needs and new consumption trends. The purpose of the study was to produce oleogels and their introduction into gluten-free muffins and frozen dessert as unconventional fat sources. Oleogelation is the method of turning liquid oil into a gel that functions like fat and provides the nutritional benefits of oils. The direct dispersion methodology will be used in this project and consists of a direct dispersion of oleogelators in vegetable oils at temperatures above the melting point. The oleogels will be used in muffins and in the frozen dessert mix to replace margarine. In recent decades, interest in the development of quality gluten-free products has increased due to the presence of population groups that must follow a gluten-free diet. The relevance of this field of research is due to the significantly increased incidence of celiac disease in recent years, especially among children. Another research approach is to obtain plant-based ice cream using a plant-based alternative to milk for people with milk intolerance and allergy. The major benefit of the project is to obtain compositionally valuable food products to offer to consumers with special dietary requirements.

.    The research directions within this collaboration project with researchers from the Republic of Moldova include three extremely current and innovative directions:

1. obtaining healthy alternative oleogels without trans fats to replace saturated fats in pastry and ice cream products;
2. obtaining gluten-free muffins in which margarine is replaced with oleogels;
3. obtaining frozen desserts based on vegetable drink (vegetable alternative to milk) and using oleogels as a fat source.

.    The aim of the project is to replace saturated fats with oleogels in the fluid dough for gluten- free muffins and frozen desserts based on existing technologies, in order to obtain products with superior nutritional and technological characteristics analyzed in the laboratory. The specific objectives of the projects are as follows:

.    The specific objectives of the projects are as follows:

O1: obtaining the oleogels necessary for pastry products and frozen desserts;

O2: analysis of the physico-chemical, rheological and textural characteristics of oleogels;

O3: optimization of oleogels according to quality characteristics;

O4: obtaining and characterizing pastry doughs with oleogels;

O5: obtaining and characterizing mixes for frozen dessert with oleogels;

O6: obtaining and characterization of gluten-free muffins with oleogels;

O7: obtaining and characterizing the texture of the frozen dessert with oleogels.