Effect of Cell Disruption Methods on Functional Properties of Microalgae for the Application in Minimally Processed Vegan Food

Climate change and the scarcity of natural resources pose a major challenge fot the global community. The production of animal-derived, land and water use intensive food, which is causing high greenhouse gas emissions, is adding to our negative impact on nature and world hunger. Within the context of a transition to plant-based food with a lower environmental impact, microalgae are expected to contribute to a safe and healthy nutrition for our growing world population. Many microalgae have a nutritionally intersting profile, containing high protein levels, all amino acids essential to humans and other health promoting components such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins. In order to use their full potential and make the ingredients bioavailable, it can be necessary to break up the often very stable cell wall. This project aims to explore production methods for tasty, healthy, functional, minimally processed and environmentally sustainable food ingredients from microalgae. We want to test several cell disruption methods and their effects on nutritional, functional, safety, health and aroma parameters.