NAMASTE · New Advances in the integrated Management of food processing wAste in India and Europe: use of Sustainable Technologies for the Exploitation of byproducts into new foods and feeds

According to the EU-India Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement, there is a converging Indian and European interest in finding promising valorization routes and markets for fruit and cereal processing by-products and wastes. NAMASTE will develop innovative, comprehensive and industry-relevant approaches for the valorization of citrus, mango and pomegranates by-products and wastes as well as of wheat and rice bran, thought the environmentally and economically sustainable conversion of these by-products/wastes into healthy food ingredients, foods and feeds. NAMASTE-EU will particularly focus on citrus and wheat bran processing, and will develop and assess laboratory-scale experimental protocols to convert by-products/wastes into food ingredients and new foods with improved nutritional properties (e.g. fruit paste, citrus filled snacks, citrus-based snacks, fruit enriched breakfast cereals, citrus paste-based self-stable fillers for bakery products, a new citrus/mango based feed for aquaculture). NAMASTE-India will adopt complementary/synergic strategies, technologies and processes for turning by-products/wastes of mango/pomegranate processing and rice bran in similar ingredients, new foods and feeds. A proactive EU-India cooperation effort will be adopted to enhance mutual benefits, in terms of both knowledge generation and market expansion for the global food and drink industry. NAMASTE joint consortia will strictly collaborate on common by-products and shared food technologies as well as on activities aimed at investigating the nutritional quality, chemical and microbial safety of the resulting foods/feeds, and the environmental benefits and economic opportunities associated to industrial production. The direct involvement of strongly committed EU and Indian industries (and of an external Industrial Platform) will provide the high added value of guaranteeing the validation of developed processes and products, thus ensuring fast and effective industrial uptake