In September of this year, a meeting was held in the SusKelpFood project in Bergen, Norway. The project is about developing innovative solutions in the production of safe, nutritious and tasty raw materials from kelp for food.
Among the things developed in the project are new processing methods, such as drying and fermentation, of kelp (Saccharina latissima) and marine kernel (Alaria esculenta) to reduce energy consumption in production and increase the quality of final products. All aspects of the value chain will be studied from primary production to ready-to-eat food products. The food company Orkla, which among other things produces TORO products, is participating in the project and will develop new products for the food market that contain kelp.
The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway, but Matís' role in the project is to measure the odorants in the ingredients and their sensory assessment, which is used to describe the appearance, smell, taste and texture of food products.
The status of the project was reviewed at the meeting, but Matís presented the results of measurements with an electronic nose and an electronic tongue that were carried out in Israel, and which provide indications of the taste and smell of the ingredients without actually tasting them. The results of those measurements, together with sensory evaluation, indicate that production methods can have a great influence on the smell and taste of the kelp.
More information about the SusKelpFood project can be found on its project page here:
Sustainable ingredients from cultivated kelp to the food industry