The purpose of this project is to develop and optimize innovative multifunctional materials to help solving a specific food safety problem of major concern: the threat of mycotoxin contamination of foods resulting in human poisoning.
An efficient decontamination strategy with straightforward applicability still does not exist and that is why research in this area is still up to date. An efficient control of these kinds of contaminants (trace presence within a complex food matrix) must rely on a fundamental combination of different approaches with varying and complementary modes of action. This is the field where the present project proposal wants to give new insight.
The main rationale of this project is thus to develop novel electrospun nanofibrous affinity membranes with tailored and stable selectivities combining high separation performance, catalytic properties and capacity to remove selected food contaminants from fluid food commodities, involving simple filtration steps and avoiding loss of nutritive and/or organoleptic attributes. As proof of concept, the target will be the selective removal of certain mycotoxins, specifically ochratoxin A from wine and patulin from apple juice. The fundamental knowledge to be generated is expected to help developing other useful applications on the agro-food area directed to other mycotoxins or other kinds of contaminants.
The main strategy to be pursued is the preparation of multifunctional membranes consisting of polymer sub-micro fiber arrays with adsorption ability and catalytic characteristics, including affinity to the target compounds and immobilized enzyme(s) for their specific degradation. The project is based on the integration of several recent advances in the study and use of nanoscale materials, particularly electrospun nano-/microfibrous membranes as supports for bioactive molecules (biopolymers, enzymes) with high binding affinity and selectivity for small target molecules, in concert with the merits of biological detoxification approaches directed to decontamination of food commodities.
The project proposal is based strongly on fundamental cooperative research work between all team members. The know-how of four different research groups, namely: i) the technology of polymer nanofibers and their characterization, polymer science, food biotechnology, in particular enzyme immobilization (QOPNA- and CICECO-UAVR), ii) biotransformations and deep knowledge on mycotoxins (CEB-UMinho), iv) membrane separation processes and design of functional membranes (LAQV-REQUIMTE-NOVA.ID), are now put together for the development of a new multifunctional membrane material that combines simultaneously the role of a biocatalyst and the role of a membrane filter with adsorption properties.