Oxidative stability of long chain omega-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids in fruit and vegetable based products enriched with microalgae.

Fruit and vegetables are important carriers of bio-active components whereof the daily intake by the major part of the population is often too low. The largest part of fruit and vegetables is consumed as low fat dispersed food like juices, sauces and soups. Microalgae on theirside have been identified as a source of omega-3 long chain poly-unsaturated fatty acid. The objective of this Ph.D. is to combine the potential of both products by enriching fruit and vegetable based products with microalgae. The potential of different microalgae will be screened. The microalgae will be suspended as biomass as well as oil in a buffered aqueous solution and will be thermally and HPH treated. The homogenous suspensions will be chemically analyzed with different technics on total lipid content, lipid profile, phenolic, tocopherol and ascorbic acid content, carotenoid content, … Based on those results a selection of a few microalgae will be made for further experiments. Afterwards the impact of processing and storage will be examined on the lipid stability of the selected microalgae adjusted in real fruit- and vegetable matrices. Also the flavor of the matrices will be examined. Those researches will bring more insight in the stability of lipids of microalgae in fruit and vegetable matrices and in the potential to combine both components to boost the nutritional value.