Technical Innovations

Two-thirds of the world’s 50 largest food companies are now committed to cutting food waste in half. The New Zealand government has recognised the business opportunity that food waste provides and has announced a significant investment in converting unmarketable crops into value-added products for export through the Bioresource Processing Alliance (BPA), a Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) funded collaborative research programme.

Our researchers have added expertise in:

• Extraction, optimisation and evaluation of bioactive compounds from food waste

• Utilisation of food waste for energy, food packaging and related issues

• Edible food coatings

• New product opportunities relating to waste

• Accurately predicting and enhancing the safety, quality and shelf-life of food and beverages

• Determining the factors (chemical, enzymatic, biological) responsible for the end of shelf-life

Our Upcycled Food Lab

The Upcycled Food Lab utilises the Theme’s food science expertise and resources to work with businesses to create upcycled products from waste and by-products. We provide various services, from research and consultancy to food product development.

Past Projects

Find all past Technical Innovation-related projects in the Resource Hub.

Technical Innovation-related Publications

• Mirosa, M., Bremer, P. (2023). Understanding New Foods: Upcycling. In: Serventi, L. (eds) Sustainable Food Innovation. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12358-0_11 

• Thorsen, M., Skeaff, S., Goodman-Smith, F., Thong, B., Bremer, P., & Mirosa, M. (2022). Upcycled foods: A nudge toward nutrition [Perspective]. Frontiers in Nutrition, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.1071829

• Young, E., Mirosa, M & Bremer, P. (2020). A systematic review of consumer perceptions of smart packaging technologies for food. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, section Sustainable Food Processing. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00063

• Zariean, M., Tybussek, T., Silcock, P., Bremer, P., Beauchamp, J., & Böhner, N. (2019). Interrelationship among myoglobin forms, lipid oxidation and protein carbonyls in minced pork packaged under modified atmosphere. Food Packaging and Shelf Life, 20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2019.100311 

• Zariean, M., Böhner, N., Loos, H., Silcock, P., Bremer, P., & Beauchamp, J. (2018). Evaluation of volatile organic compound release in modified atmosphere-packaged minced raw pork in relation to shelf-life. Food Packaging and Shelf Life, 18, 51-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2018.08.001 

• Alahakoon, A., Oey, I., Bremer, P., & Silcock, P. (2019). Quality and Safety Considerations of Incorporating Post-PEF Ageing into the Pulsed Electric Fields and Sous Vide Processing Chain. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-019-02254-6 

• Alothman, M., Lusk, K., Silcock, P., & Bremer, P. (2017). Relationship between total microbial numbers, volatile organic compound composition, and the sensory characteristics of whole fresh chilled pasteurized milk. Food Packaging and Shelf Life, 15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2017.11.005 

• Aryee, A. N. A., Agyei, D., & Akanbi, T. O. (2018). Recovery and utilization of seaweed pigments in food processing. Current Opinion in Food Science, 19, 113-119. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2018.03.013 

• Buvé, C., Bedts, T., Haenen, A., Kebede, B., Braekers, R., Hendrickx, M., van Loey, A., & Grauwet, T. (2017). Shelf-life dating of shelf-stable strawberry juice based on survival analysis of consumer acceptance information: Shelf-life dating of shelf-stable strawberry juice. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 98. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.8856 

• Buvé, C., Neckebroeck, B., Haenen, A., Kebede, B., Hendrickx, M., Grauwet, T., & van Loey, A. (2018). Combining untargeted, targeted and sensory data to investigate the impact of storage on food volatiles: A case study on strawberry juice. Food Research International, 113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2018.07.022 

• Di Stefano, E., Agyei, D., Njoku, E., & Udenigwe, C. (2018). Plant RuBisCo: An Underutilized Protein for Food Applications. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 95, 1063–1074. https://doi.org/10.1002/aocs.12104 

• Dzuvor, C. K. O., Taylor, J. T., Acquah, C., Pan, S., & Agyei, D. (2018). Bioprocessing of Functional Ingredients from Flaxseed. Molecules, 23(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23102444 

• Kebede, B., Lee, P.Y., Leong, S.Y., Kethireddy, V., Ma, Q., Aganovic, K., Eyres, G., Hamid, N., Oey, I. 2018. A chemometrics approach comparing volatile changes during the shelf life of apple juice processed by pulsed electric fields, high pressure and thermal pasteurization. Foods, 7 (10), 169. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods7100169

• Schuster, L., Franke, C., Silcock, P., Beauchamp, J., & Bremer, P. J. (2018). Development of a novel sample reuse approach to measure the impact of lean meat, bone and adipose tissue on the development of volatiles in vacuum-packed chilled lamb stored at 2 °C for 15 days. Meat Science, 145, 31-39. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2018.05.016 

• Alothman, M., Lusk, K. A., Silcock, P., & Bremer, P. J. (2017). Comparing PTR-MS profile of milk inoculated with pure or mixed cultures of spoilage bacteria. Food Microbiol, 64, 155-163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2017.01.001 

• Holland B., Akanbi T.O, Agyei D., Wang B., Barrow C.J. (2017). Bioprocessing of plant-derived bioactive phenolic compounds. Handbook of Food Bioengineering. Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu and Alina Maria Holban (Editors). Elsevier (UK)

• Lee, Y., Kebede, B., Lusk, K., Mirosa, M., & Oey, I. (2017). Investigating consumers' perception of apple juice as affected by novel and conventional processing technologies. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 52. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.13542 

• Mutsokoti, L., Panozzo, A., Tongonya, J., Kebede, B., van Loey, A., & Hendrickx, M. (2017). Carotenoid stability and lipid oxidation during storage of low-fat carrot and tomato-based systems. LWT - Food Science and Technology, 80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2017.03.021 

• Goodman-Smith, F., Bremer, P. & Mirosa, M. (2016). Shelf Life Study of Commonly Wasted Foods. Project report prepared for WasteMINZ, the representative body of the waste and resource recovery sector in New Zealand (Confidential report).

• Agyei D., Shanbhag B., and He L. (2015). Enzymes for food waste remediation and valorisation. Improving and tailoring enzymes for food quality and functionality. Yada R. (Ed.) Woodhead Publishing. pp. 123 – 145

• Kebede, B. T., Grauwet, T., Palmers, S., Michiels, C., Hendrickx, M., & Van Loey, A. (2015). Investigating chemical changes during shelf-life of thermal and high-pressure high-temperature sterilised carrot purees: A 'fingerprinting kinetics' approach. Food Chem, 185, 119-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.02.134 

• Wibowo, S., Grauwet, T., Kebede, B. T., Hendrickx, M., & Van Loey, A. (2015). Study of chemical changes in pasteurised orange juice during shelf-life: A fingerprinting-kinetics evaluation of the volatile fraction. Food Res Int, 75, 295-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2015.06.020 

• Kebede, B. T., Grauwet, T., Magpusao, J., Palmers, S., Michiels, C., Hendrickx, M., & Loey, A. V. (2015). An integrated fingerprinting and kinetic approach to accelerated shelf-life testing of chemical changes in thermally treated carrot puree. Food Chem, 179, 94-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.01.074 

• Silcock, P., Alothman, M., Zardin, E., Heenan, S., Siefarth, C., Bremer, P. J., & Beauchamp, J. (2014). Microbially induced changes in the volatile constituents of fresh chilled pasteurised milk during storage. Food Packaging and Shelf Life, 2(2), 81-90. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2014.08.002 

• Beauchamp, J., Zardin, E., Silcock, P., & Bremer, P. J. (2014). Monitoring photooxidation-induced dynamic changes in the volatile composition of extended shelf life bovine milk by PTR-MS. J Mass Spectrom, 49(9), 952-958. https://doi.org/10.1002/jms.3430 

• Verachia, W., Niven, B., & Bremer, P. (2012). The effect of postharvest handling and processing on sea urchin (Evechinus chloroticus) gonad quality. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 47. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2621.2012.03133.x 

• Phillips, K., Bremer, P., Silcock, P., Hamid, N., Delahunty, C., Barker, M., & Kissick, J. (2009). Effect of gender, diet and storage time on the physical properties and sensory quality of sea urchin (Evechinus chloroticus) gonads. Aquaculture, 288, 205-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.Aquaculture.2008.11.026