5802_NT_Wahyu_Wijaya

BCFN Young Earth Solutions YES! Fresh microalgae paste stabilization as food substitute Abstract: Nowadays, the major food issues to be faced in the future will be food scarcity which gradually bring impacts to overnutrition and undernutrition. Those are becoming most food issues to be addressed by welfare and developing countries including Indonesia. Overnutrition diseases are related to excess supply of junk food, whereas undernutrition diseases are related to difficulty access of food. The application of microalgae biomass is an attracting and innovative approach for the development of healthier food ingredients to combat overnutrition and undernutrition. Microalgae have higher productivity and nutritional quality when compared to higher plants.

However, raw microalgae biomass needs a processing technology to improve the physical functionality properties and sensory characteristics before it is used as food substitute. Several steps will be applied after harvesting the biomass, such as particle size reduction of the biomass to create smooth paste texture, filtration using micro-membrane to homogenize the particles and to remove the impurities, deodorization to remove undesired volatile compounds, emulsification and gelling method to maintain its texture stabilization and followed by formulation. This technology as an innovative way which has high possibility to be applied and high impact on food sustainability in the future.

Author

Wahyu Wijaya

Title of the idea : Fresh microalgae paste stabilization as food substitute Participant : Wahyu Wijaya (Student of Laurea Magistrale in Scienza della Nutrizione, Università della Calabria) Overnutrition and undernutrition remain the most devastating issues facing the majority of the global world including Indonesia. Indonesia ranks world’s fourth highest population country, about 50% or more than 100 millions of the people are suffering from undernutrition diseases, particularly protein energy malnutrition and 15% of adult population start increasing incidence of chronic metabolic diseases such as obesity, coronary heart disease, and diabetes [1]. However, demographic situation in Indonesia can be a country model to represent and to resolve two major nutritional problems worldwide, those due to insufficient nutrition intake, and those due to excessive intake of food.

Indonesia is the biggest archipelago in Southeast Asia with tremendously wealth of natural resources. However, it has been doubtful since the population has increased more with an annual growth of 1.3%. The total population is estimated to reach 280 million by 2025 from the total population based on 2000 census data was 203.4 million people [1]. According to Human Development Reports (HDR) 2011, Indonesia has GNP per capita (US$) was 3,716 and the proportion of people living in income poverty was 20.8%. This value shows social inequality and demographic variation in almost every district in Indonesia which lead health and nutrition problems in Indonesia. According to [2], Indonesia was recorded by FAO as having the lowest calorie consumption (about 2000 calories per head per day) and the lowest protein consumption (about 40 gr per head per day) in the world. The case is generally similar in mostly developing countries Food from microorganisms including microalgae can be an alternative of future food to resolve the food sustainability issues because they grow and proliferate in the high rate. The most frequently used microalgae are Cyanophyceae (blue-green algae), Chlorophyceae (green algae), Bacillariophyceae (including the diatoms) and Chrysophyceae (including golden algae). However, some types of microalgae are famous to be cultured and has been commercialized such as Nostoc, Arthrospira (Spirulina) and Aphanizomenon, Chlorella, Dunaliella salina, and Haematococcus pluvialis [4].

The average nutrition quality of most microalgae are claimed equal or even superior to higher plant. Microalgae contains highly digestibility carbohydrates, saturated and unsaturated lipids, essential amino acids, all essential vitamins, and also rich in pigments like chlorophyll, carotenoids and phycobiliproteins [5]. In spite of its high content of nutritious protein, raw microalgae have not impressed as food or food substitute yet. The major hindrances are sensory characteristics such as fishy odor, dark color, and rough texture or physical inconsistency which limit the incorporation of the material into food products or meals. Series of trials were applied to include microalgae into bread or noodle preparations, but the texture still became unsatisfied [4]. However, starting from that problems, a question arises, why don’t we improve the functionality and sensory characteristics of the raw biomass? The product will have much longer shelf-life, better physical chemistry functionality and sensory characteristics. This idea is mainly to provide a processing technology of the raw biomass, so

we can use it as a food ingredient applied into food products or meals, such as mayonnaises, desserts, biscuits, pasta, noodles, pastries, breakfast cereals, meal replacements, which are largely consumed on daily basis on different world diets. It will be able to provide healthy options to consumers and hunger people which need immediately access of nutritious food.

The technology process of raw biomass microalgae consist of several steps including particle size reduction, filtration, deodorization, emulsifying and gelling. Firstly, after harvesting raw microalgae biomass, crushing of microalgae cells is needed to create pastelike viscous structure. Smooth biomass paste needs a filtration process to remove bigger size particles and impurities. The deodorization process is applied with vacuum stripping method to remove fishy odor. Afterwards, emulsifier such as lecithin (Hydrophylic Lipophilic Balance approx. 4.0) is added into microalgae paste which are oil in water emulsions. According to Becker (2007), microalgae have sufficiently content of lipid ranging from 4-22%, so with the addition of emulsifier it will stabilize the consistency. Furthermore, the emulsion system need to increase the viscosity to maintain the emulsion stability with addition of gelling agent like carrageenan. Formulation with other ingredients can be a choice step to improve the taste.

The final products will have better physical functionality and sensory characteristics to be applied in some common foods without change much the sensory characteristics.

Their high yield make them attractive options which can have a good impact for economical reason. According to financial analysis of microalgae cultivation prepared for the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the areal production was 103 tonnes ha-1 a-1 which has resulted 0.41$/kg biomass [6]. The biggest spending of this technology will be the total installation cost, but it can be adjusted into laboratory or home industry scale as a trial. However, the possibility of this idea to be applied in the near future is going to be higher because of the source and technology has been affordable.

References [1] Armarita. Nutrition problems in Indonesia. An Integrated International Seminar and Workshop on Lifestyle – Related Diseases, Gajah Mada University (2005).

[2] Bailey, K. V. Food problems in Indonesia. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 14 (3), 299-305 (2008).

[3] Becker, E. W. Microalgae as a source of protein. Biotechnology Advances, 25, 207–210, (2007).

[4] Gouveia, L.,. Batista, A. P., Sousa, I. A., Raymundo, and Bandarra, N. M. Microalgae in novel food products. Food Chemistry Research and Development. Nova Science Publisher (2008).

[5] Spolaore, P., Joannis-Cassan, C., Duran, E., and Isambert, A. Commercial applications of microalgae. J. Biosci. Bioeng., 101 (2), 87–96 (2006).

[6] Williams, P. J. le B., Laurens, L. M. L. Microalgae as biodiesel & biomass feedstocks: Review & analysis of the biochemistry, energetics & economics. Energy Environ. Sci., 3, 554–590 (2010).