Understanding the chemical components that influence the flavour and quality of milk under different pasture management systems. The project will preserve and substantially increase the penetration of Australian milk into the Asian import market for dairy products, which stands at $2.1 billion annually, and is expected to grow at 6.6%per annum over the next 5 years. This outcome can potentially counteract the decline in dairy farm numbers in northern NSW, attract new suppliers to the region, an ....Understanding the chemical components that influence the flavour and quality of milk under different pasture management systems. The project will preserve and substantially increase the penetration of Australian milk into the Asian import market for dairy products, which stands at $2.1 billion annually, and is expected to grow at 6.6%per annum over the next 5 years. This outcome can potentially counteract the decline in dairy farm numbers in northern NSW, attract new suppliers to the region, and stimulate rural community growth and prosperity.Read moreRead less
Flexible and Printable Sensors for Early Detection of Food Spoilage . This project aims to develop a technological platform for the fabrication of flexible sensors that enable the detection of food spoilage and life threatening microbial contamination. By engineering stimuli-responsive inks, colorimetric, chemiresistive, and impedimetric sensor arrays will be printed on flexible plastics and paper substrates. The printed sensor arrays will respond to gases and volatile compounds generated from f ....Flexible and Printable Sensors for Early Detection of Food Spoilage . This project aims to develop a technological platform for the fabrication of flexible sensors that enable the detection of food spoilage and life threatening microbial contamination. By engineering stimuli-responsive inks, colorimetric, chemiresistive, and impedimetric sensor arrays will be printed on flexible plastics and paper substrates. The printed sensor arrays will respond to gases and volatile compounds generated from food deterioration and spoilage, microbial pathogen, temperature and pH by a change in their colour or electrical properties, hence providing real-time measurements. The project will enable to design efficient data-driven decision making tools along the supply chain to enhance food safety and reduce food waste. Read moreRead less
Engineering improved fat encapsulation for food powders. Encapsulation of fats and oils into powders has wide applications in the food industry, with products including creamers, soups, infant formula, and nutraceutical powders. Spray drying of liquid emulsions into powders is an integral part to manufacture high value products by extending their shelf life, nutritional content, and functionality. This project will generate new protocols for the production of high-fat powders, with direct commer ....Engineering improved fat encapsulation for food powders. Encapsulation of fats and oils into powders has wide applications in the food industry, with products including creamers, soups, infant formula, and nutraceutical powders. Spray drying of liquid emulsions into powders is an integral part to manufacture high value products by extending their shelf life, nutritional content, and functionality. This project will generate new protocols for the production of high-fat powders, with direct commercial benefits in improved production efficiency and new product development from recovered ingredients. The knowledge will benefit the manufacturing of food powders in Australia, currently valued around $600M AUD pa, and will potentially expand the variety of product offering for the export market.Read moreRead less
The Development of New Carrier Technologies for Spray-Dried Fruit Extracts. This project aims to develop new carrier techniques for spray drying fruit extracts based on the use of natural fibres, with the aim of overcoming a key problem in the operation of spray dryers for producing powders, the deposition of particles on walls. Carriers are non-sticky materials that effectively dilute the stickiness of any materials. The significance is that it will use waste products from fruit processing (th ....The Development of New Carrier Technologies for Spray-Dried Fruit Extracts. This project aims to develop new carrier techniques for spray drying fruit extracts based on the use of natural fibres, with the aim of overcoming a key problem in the operation of spray dryers for producing powders, the deposition of particles on walls. Carriers are non-sticky materials that effectively dilute the stickiness of any materials. The significance is that it will use waste products from fruit processing (the fibres from skins) to overcome this problem, and it will also be possible to dry sticky materials using material from the fruit itself, rather than additives such as maltodextrin.Read moreRead less
Development of novel omega-3 enriched poultry products. New Health recommendations and changes to the Food Standards Code encourage greater dietary intake of omega-3 (w-3) fatty acids. Our core research on modifying fatty acid composition of poultry tissues and preliminary studies with our industry partner's proprietary fishmeal product (PorcOmega) have indicated the feasibility of producing novel meat products and eggs with high w-3 contents, which would qualify to carry a new nutrition label. ....Development of novel omega-3 enriched poultry products. New Health recommendations and changes to the Food Standards Code encourage greater dietary intake of omega-3 (w-3) fatty acids. Our core research on modifying fatty acid composition of poultry tissues and preliminary studies with our industry partner's proprietary fishmeal product (PorcOmega) have indicated the feasibility of producing novel meat products and eggs with high w-3 contents, which would qualify to carry a new nutrition label. We now propose, in collaboration with our industry partner, to assess the viability of producing such products by conducting poultry feeding trials with PorcOmega on a commercial scale and evaluating both the levels of w-3 enrichement of chicken breast, thigh and sausages, shelf-life and consumer acceptability (sensory evaluation) of these products. We expect to establish feeding strategies for adoption by commercial producers of premium poultry and eggs for local or export markets.Read moreRead less
Biotechnology and epidemiology to control nodavirus in barramundi aquaculture. Production of farmed barramundi has increased more than 1200% in the NT since 2001 but is threatened by nodavirus infection. Three industry partners, Darwin Aquaculture Centre, Marine Harvest and Berrimah Veterinary Laboratory will collaborate with The University of Sydney to:
1. control nodavirus infection
2. develop new technologies to detect nodavirus using immunoassay and surface enhanced laser desorption ionis ....Biotechnology and epidemiology to control nodavirus in barramundi aquaculture. Production of farmed barramundi has increased more than 1200% in the NT since 2001 but is threatened by nodavirus infection. Three industry partners, Darwin Aquaculture Centre, Marine Harvest and Berrimah Veterinary Laboratory will collaborate with The University of Sydney to:
1. control nodavirus infection
2. develop new technologies to detect nodavirus using immunoassay and surface enhanced laser desorption ionisation mass spectroscopy (SELDI)
3. develop an integrated disease control strategy based on epidemiological survey data, and ensure that it is practical and able to be widely adopted
By this means growth targets for barramundi aquaculture in northern Australia will be achieved.
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Flavour enhancing functional feeds for farmed Barramundi. This project aims to improve the flavour quality of Australian farmed barramundi through developing novel functional feeds. The project expects to expand our fundamental knowledge of flavour enhancement, whilst providing practical benefits with respect to final product quality. The project will enable industry to achieve higher product quality benchmarks, towards the ultimate goal of improving the marketability of barramundi both locally ....Flavour enhancing functional feeds for farmed Barramundi. This project aims to improve the flavour quality of Australian farmed barramundi through developing novel functional feeds. The project expects to expand our fundamental knowledge of flavour enhancement, whilst providing practical benefits with respect to final product quality. The project will enable industry to achieve higher product quality benchmarks, towards the ultimate goal of improving the marketability of barramundi both locally and overseas. This project will provide significant benefits to the Australian barramundi industry by increasing product values, thereby facilitating an economically sustainable growth of this important regional industry.Read moreRead less
Phylogeography, Conservation Genetics and Stocking Management of Perches and Basses. This project will use DNA data to address fundamental questions about the origin and maintenance of biodiversity in a popular and widely distributed fish group. From a conservation perspective, the project will produce a benchmark about management of fish resources. We will investigate questions related to important conservation issues (including the recovery plan of a nationally threatened species) and the mana ....Phylogeography, Conservation Genetics and Stocking Management of Perches and Basses. This project will use DNA data to address fundamental questions about the origin and maintenance of biodiversity in a popular and widely distributed fish group. From a conservation perspective, the project will produce a benchmark about management of fish resources. We will investigate questions related to important conservation issues (including the recovery plan of a nationally threatened species) and the management of stocking activities in recreational fisheries of coastal and inland waters. The latter is particularly relevant to rural communities since they provide both social and economic benefits to rural people.Read moreRead less
Measurement and Prevention of Membrane Fouling for Water Reuse in Biorefineries. The effluent streams from molasses based fermentation contain dark-coloured melanoidins (recalcitrant COD) which limit discharge options and make water recovery via membrane technology challenging. Understanding membrane fouling to a level where its behaviour can be reliably predicted is a vital step in gaining widespread acceptance of this technology. Advances made here have a built-in multiplier effect, as insight ....Measurement and Prevention of Membrane Fouling for Water Reuse in Biorefineries. The effluent streams from molasses based fermentation contain dark-coloured melanoidins (recalcitrant COD) which limit discharge options and make water recovery via membrane technology challenging. Understanding membrane fouling to a level where its behaviour can be reliably predicted is a vital step in gaining widespread acceptance of this technology. Advances made here have a built-in multiplier effect, as insights from yeast production (core business for our industrial partner A B Mauri) can be readily applied to large-scale fermentation producing fuel alcohol from molasses as well as the emerging use of lignocellulosics. This project will contribute significantly to sustainability by reducing industrial water consumption.Read moreRead less
Development and nutritional evaluation of novel foods based on a unique combination of soy and dairy products. This exciting project will enable us to incorporate two competing food industries (dairy and soy) to develop innovative foods combining soy and low-fat dairy which will provide increased palatability as well as nutrition. This project is a new collaboration between So Natural Foods and the Universities of Wollongong, South Australia and Western Australia. The aims are 1) develop new f ....Development and nutritional evaluation of novel foods based on a unique combination of soy and dairy products. This exciting project will enable us to incorporate two competing food industries (dairy and soy) to develop innovative foods combining soy and low-fat dairy which will provide increased palatability as well as nutrition. This project is a new collaboration between So Natural Foods and the Universities of Wollongong, South Australia and Western Australia. The aims are 1) develop new foods combining soy and low-fat dairy; 2) test the bioavailability of the soy isoflavones (particularly equol production) from these foods; 3) determine the active component(s) in soy (soy protein and/or soy isoflavones) responsible for cholesterol reduction and other health benefits of soy; 4) evaluate consumer acceptability and market potential of the novel soy foods. We expect to demonstrate that healthier and more appealing food products can be produced by combining two currently competing foods, namely soy and dairy.Read moreRead less