| Project Name: | Vegetable Sheet Development |
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| BPA Number: | 2140 |
| Funding Round: | |
| Report(s): | Production and process development of vegetable sheets – Literature Review Production and process development of vegetable sheets – Report |
| For enquiries contact: | |
| Phone: | |
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Summary of Project and Key Findings:
This product development project utilises vegetable waste from juicing and reject material as an ingredient for a commercial edible film/wrap product. The scope of this project covered the research of additives and processes to design and complete an experiment to develop prototype samples.
An extensive range of additives were researched with the goal to identify those which could be suitable for this application. The information gathered for this investigative work included topics such as their production/source(s), structure & gelling mechanism, relation to dietary restrictions, stability, processing requirements, other food applications and expected sensory profile. From this, four were selected for testing. In order to develop a processing methodology, inspiration was drawn from similar research papers as well as a variety of manufacturing techniques across different industries culminating in rapid tests to validate and refine.
To begin, the additives were tested individually, in isolation and at a range of different concentrations. This quickly demonstrated their different properties and processing requirements as well as the boundaries for how the film properties relates to concentration. By interpolating a suitable concentration and adjusting each methodology to aid processing, the formulations expanded to include the intended vegetable matter. Certain observations from the earlier trials were worsened by the vegetable matter so the focus was reduced to two additives. The final experiment sought to improve texture and quality with greater focus on controlling the process for the two remaining additives.
This phase of work ended with promising results indicating feasibility and the direction for future work required. The formulations can be optimised further but it is believed it is currently limited by the small-scale production process. Work is being undertaken to revise the process to improve performance and closer match equipment suited for manufacturing. This will improve confidence in decision making through continued development and into commercialisation.
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