Sustainability and product innovation are among the most important challenges of the modern era and pillars of economic growth and prosperity for each Regional Entity. However, these concepts are particularly important when referring to affected regions, such as the Thessalian land, a region that in recent years has been tested by natural phenomena (floods) and the economic crisis as no other. In this direction, the present Research Proposal deals with the creation of new innovative dairy products, of high nutritional value, with protein components from whey by-products and plant antioxidants from the biodiversity of Thessaly.
A quality characteristic of the Thessaly Region is the rich plant biodiversity (aromatic/medicinal plants) as well as the unique agricultural products, including dairy products, which constitute pillars of economic stability and prosperity for the residents of the regions. The Mountain Tea (Sideritis spp.), the Sage (Salvia fruticosa), the Melissa (Melissa officinalis), the Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), the Mint (Mentha spp.), the Lavender (Lavandula spp.), the Oregano (Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum), the Manchurian (Origanum majorana), the Headed Basil (Coridothymus capitatus) are some of the traditional aromatic/medicinal plants of the Region whose uniqueness, in terms of aromatic components and their bioactive content, has been extensively studied and appears to be due to a combination of natural, geographical, and anthropogenic factors. Equally important for the economy of the Region are the dairy products, which however are accompanied by a significant environmental footprint, mainly due to the huge quantities of waste generated as a result of their production. Despite the high polluting load, dairy by-products are at the same time a valuable source of protein components, where through extraction/separation/isolation processes these components can be relatively easily recovered and further used as raw materials for the enrichment and development of new innovative products. At the same time, in recent decades, a systematic shift in the consumer and industrial sectors worldwide has been observed towards food products with high nutritional value, enriched with bioactive components of plant origin.
The recovery of plant antioxidants from medicinal/aromatic plants of the Thessaly region and protein-rich ingredients from dairy by-products of the region, using «green» cutting-edge technologies, and their further use for enriching and producing new innovative, bioactive dairy products constitute the central idea of this research Proposal.
The BIOFUN-Yoghurt project is a partnership (1) between the Research Agency «EKPA/FARM» with many years of experience in the field of natural products, and (1) the Greek company «PRAPAS», which is undoubtedly one of the most productive companies of dairy/dairy products in the Thessaly Region.