ZHAW wants to harness side streams

A three-year project at the ZHAW is exploring ways in which scraps from industrial food production can be used. It is being led by Nadina Müller and Selcuk Yildirim. According to an interview with the two researchers on the ZHAW website, the project has already received many inquiries from the food industry.

Müller and Yildirim have selected a total of 15 raw materials for their research. Ten were chosen due to the large quantities they produce and their high environmental impact. "The other five were our personal wishes, for example because they have interesting ingredients," explains Yildirim in the interview.

"Difficult side streams" that are "contaminated with heavy metals or pesticides" were also deliberately chosen, explains Müller. "The idea is to find solutions on how to deal with them." The project aims to produce a guide that does not ignore the sensitive issues.

In the case of cocoa shells contaminated with pesticides, the researchers have already found a process that can be used to reduce the cadmium content to below the permissible level for cocoa in the side stream. A chocolate manufacturer is interested in packaging produced from cocoa bean shells. In a student side project, an ice cream was also produced from cocoa shells, which another partner is interested in.

Müller and Yildirim are looking for possibilities for large-scale machine production of a film already developed from potato peelings, as new manufacturing processes also need to be developed for packaging in addition to the new materials. ce/hs