Francesca Valerio
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Francesca
Valerio
Institute of Sciences of Food Production Researcher Nutrheff Thematic Microbial technology, Clinical and nutritional studies
Research Interest and expertise in the field of nutraceuticals
and functional food
Keywords: Probiotics, bacterial metabolites, micro-biotechnological strategies, fermentation, probiotic foods, functional bread, short chain fatty acids
Nutraceuticals and foods of interestDevelopment of probiotic vegetable/fish/fruit foods and evaluation of the functional efficacy in in vitro (simulated gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation) and in vivo (nutritional and clinical trials) studies. Biotechnological approaches to develop functional cereal foods with reduced salt and/or fat content, improved protein/amminoacid/prebiotics/bioactive compounds content. Characterization of the growth performances of bacterial strains for prediction of their growth n foods Glucosinolates, prebiotic polysaccharides, vegetables, fruits, fish products, cereal foods Fields of application Micro-biotechnological strategies, using probiotics or functional bacterial strains producing bioactive molecules, can be applied to the food process for a sustainable and innovative approach aimed at obtaining functional foods that could be also designed for selected nutritional programs and population groups. In our laboratory, the biotechnological approaches involving a probiotic strain authorized for human consumption by the Italian Ministry of Health, have been patented and applied at laboratory and industrial level in collaboration with Italian Gastronomic Enterprises namely Copaim SpA and Agrimperiale SpA, to vegetables (table olives, artichokes and cabbage) to obtain ready-to-eat products enriched with probiotic cells. Similar strategies have been successfully applied to other matrices as fish fillets and dehydrated fruit. The efficacy of the probiotic strain delivered by the ready to eat probiotic foods developed, has been demonstrated in nutritional trials in collaboration with a Hospital Institution. Other biotechnological procedures involving protechnological strains have been applied at both laboratory and industrial level in collaboration with the Bakery enterprise Valle Fiorita s.r.l., in the fermentation process of cereal foods to improve the nutritional and functional properties of the final product and obtain bread with reduced salt level, reduced added fat, improved protein digestibility. In this context, the predictive microbiology can give a further support allowing the prediction of the suitable fermentation conditions for reaching the targeted probiotic level in foods. Selected bacterial strains characterized for the probiotic, functional and technological features can be applied as starter/bioprotective cultures in fermentation process or included in edible coatings or microencapsulated Facilities and equipments Microbiology laboratory, Preparative and Analytical laboratory, Automated Microbiology Growth Curve Analysis System “Bioscreen C”, High pressure chromatographic system, microelectrophoresis system Bioanalyzer2100 for protein and DNA products analysis. |
