Portuguese project Alphamais presents new carob-based food products

The Portuguese research project Alphamais has developed, through biotechnology, a set of new ingredients and functional food preparations using only carob. The initiative lasted three years and was funded by Norte 2020 and Algarve 2020. As explained in a statement, the motivation for the project arose because, in 2020, Portugal was the largest carob producer in the world and more than half of its production was used for export to other countries. “The main results were obtaining new ingredients and functional food preparations, using carob in its entirety, using biotechnological solutions for micronization and compound extraction. Carob by-products were also valued in order to obtain ingredients and functional food preparations, exploring the ingredient in its entirety, in a zero-waste logic”, explains the researcher at the Center for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry of the Catholic University of Portugal, Manuela Pintado. As for Margarida Vieira, a researcher at MED – Instituto ...