The LIGNOFOOD project “Healthy food ingredients (XOS y Xylitol) from valueless agro-byproducts”
Selçuk University-Research and Development Center participates in the European
LIGNOFOOD project of Research for the Benefit of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), a 2
Mll€ project supported by 1,6 Mll€ EC funds running from 2013 to 2015.
(Photo’s footnote: Launch of the FP7 EU Project LIGNOFOOD in Madrid)
On the 25th November, in Madrid Spain, LIGNOFOOD participants gathered at the Institute of
Catalysis and Petrochemistry of CSIC (http://www.icp.csic.es/) to hold the first meeting of this
just started project within the Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no
606073 (http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html).
The main objective of the LIGNOFOOD project (www.lignofood.eu) is to offer a competitive
solution to the participating SMEs by developing a biotechnological process of production of
healthy ingredients from natural resources. For this purpose and thanks to the
multidisciplinary consortium of research groups of excellence and biotechnology-based
companies, the following targets are expected to be reached:
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Biotechnological processes optimization and validation for the production of healthy
ingredients from lignocellulosic by-products.
Demonstration of the ingredient functionality on gut health by means of non-invasive
assays (in vitro models)
Food product development with the functional ingredient ensuring food safety,
sensorial quality, and consumer acceptance.
The project will enable new production methods of xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) and xylitol
from lignocellulosic agricultural by-products as starting raw material. XOS are non digestible
components recently revealed to stimulate the growth and/or the metabolic activity of
beneficial bacteria in our gut. This feature makes XOS excellent for prebiotic applications, that
have promising commercial perspectives of 14% annual market growth, likely associated to the
increasing awareness of the relation between diet and health, around 90.0000 tons of
production volume, and 296 Mll€ sales merely in Europe.
Not just XOS but also xylitol helps for a healthier diet. Xylitol is a low caloric sweetener suitable
for diabetics and mainly used as a sugar replacer. Likewise, xylitol counts with a consumer and
food industry growing demand and positive market estimators.
The LIGNOFOOD project participants form an interdisciplinary consortium of Industries,
Research and Technological Centres, and Academia from different countries across Europe:
Spain, Italy, Turkey, Austria, and The Netherlands. In total, 10 beneficiary partners integrate
the project consortium: Isanatur Spain S.L. (Spanish Biotechnology-based SME developing
innovative healthy natural ingredients), Envirohemp S.L. (Spanish start-up developing
technological solutions for the exploitation of renewable resources through environmentally
sustainable processes), Zade Vital (Turkish SME with a long track in vegetable oils production
and emerging in the field of food supplements), Biotech Power (Italian Biotechnology-based
SME developing technological processes and new formulations of bioactive compounds),
Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (Spanish research group expert in enzyme
immobilization techniques to optimize biocatalysts mediated processes), Graz University of
Technology (Austrian research group specialized in biocatalysis), TNO (Dutch Research Centre
focused on applied food research and other sciences), Selcuk University (Turkish research
group of substantial technology and biology expertise), Centre of Innovation and Food
Technology from La Rioja (Spanish Technological Centre specialist in food innovation), and the
project coordinator, Contactica S.L. (http://www.contactica.es/), Spanish R&D consulting
company offering solutions to food industries for health improvement and competitiveness
advance.