Characterisation of Muffins with Upcycled Sunflower Flour.

Tatiana Pintado,Claudia Ruiz-Capillas,Jara Pérez-Jiménez,Simona Grasso,Ana Maria Herrero

doi:10.3390/foods10020426

Abstract

There is an increased interest and need to make our economy more circular and our diets healthier and more sustainable. One way to achieve this is to develop upcycled foods that contain food industry by-products in their formulation. In this context, the aim of this study was to develop muffins containing upcycled sunflower flour (a by-product from the sunflower oil industry) and assess the effects of sunflower flour addition on the fibre, protein, amino acid, mineral content, and antioxidant activity measured by a Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay and Photo chemiluminescence (PCL) assay. Results show that the sunflower flour inclusion significantly improved all the parameters analysed as part of this study. A more balanced muffin amino acid profile was achieved, thanks to the increased levels of lysine, threonine, and methionine, the limiting essential amino acids of wheat flour. We can conclude that upcycled ingredients, such as sunflower flour, could be used for the nutritional improvement of baked goods, such as muffins. Their addition can result in several nutritional advantages that could be communicated on packaging through the use of the appropriate EU nutrition claims, such as those on protein, fibre, and mineral content.

Highlights

In order to make our economies more circular and our diets more sustainable, there is an increased need to valorise food industry by-products into ingredients that can re-enter the food chain as part of new foods.Sunflower cake is a by-product of the sunflower oil industry which has been traditionally used as animal feed [1]
Both muffins with sunflower flour provide at least 3% fibre; they would represent “a source of fibre”, according to the current EU regulations [18]. This is a positive result, as food industry by-products could be used as ingredients to enhance the nutritional content of baked goods, such as muffins, as recently shown with spent coffee grounds [13] and grape pomace [19]
The development of baked goods with a balanced amino acid profile through the use of upcycled ingredients is of particular interest and should be explored in further research

Summary

Introduction

In order to make our economies more circular and our diets more sustainable, there is an increased need to valorise food industry by-products into ingredients that can re-enter the food chain as part of new foods.Sunflower cake is a by-product of the sunflower oil industry which has been traditionally used as animal feed [1]. In order to make our economies more circular and our diets more sustainable, there is an increased need to valorise food industry by-products into ingredients that can re-enter the food chain as part of new foods. Circular economy principles should push us to valorise food industry by-products as ingredients for human diets, rather than just as animal feed, as explained in the food recovery hierarchies developed in the EU and in US [7,8]. This is especially relevant if we consider that food industry by-products contain several nutrients of interest, such as protein, fibre, minerals and vitamins. In 2015, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition brought the recommended daily intake of fibre to 30 g, while the average intake in adults is around 18 g of fibre daily [10]; fibre-rich by-products could play a key role in meeting this nutritional need when suitably incorporated into new foods

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