Up4Health

Project Description
The UP4HEALTH project provides the demonstration at pre-industrial scale of an integrated biorefinery for the recovery of valuable biomolecules from food processing by-products and their conversion into natural, healthy and sustainable high added-value products for the nutraceuticals and cosmetic sectors. UP4HEALTH ingredients will be of suitable quality to meet market requirements of consumers and industry in these sectors: consumers are demanding functional natural products and industry is demanding bio-based formulations for better performance and higher sustainability.
In a current scene of limited resources, million tons of food waste and by-products are discharged worldwide by the food processing industry, whose management is costing EU 143 billion €1. In particular, olive and grape by-products account for more than 9.3 million tonnes (Mt). This underexploited residual biomass is rich in bioactive compounds, resulting in a great market opportunity for the UP4HEALTH project.
UP4HEALTH upcycling process integrates a unique zero waste sustainable process for 4 locally available mediterranean feedstocks from food processing (olive pomace, grape pomace, nut by-products (nut discards & nut press cake) and olive pits) to deliver four organic, natural, sustainable & healthy ingredients: (1) natural fruit water rich in polyphenols, (2) polyphenol-rich dietary fibre (hereafter referred as “fibre”), (3) fruit natural oily extracts (hereafter referred as “oily extracts”), and (4) prebiotic Xylooligosaccharides. UP4HEALTH ingredients will be integrated into functional food, nutraceutical supplements and cosmetics, targeting a wide niche population (e.g. elderly people, healthy and green consumers, sporty people).
This project is a consortium of excellent researchers and industries from across Europe. TU Dublin will be responsible for the safety and legal assessment of inputs and outputs in the project, including authentication and traceability and the requirements for pre-market approval of ingredients.
Student requirements for this project
BSc in Food Science/Technology or a related discipline.
If you are interested in submitting an application for this project, please complete an Expression of Interest Form available on our website at the link below and email it to [Email Address Removed] and [Email Address Removed]