Value-added Issue

Louisiana Agriculture, Fall 2002 1

Fall 2002Vol. 45, No. 4

Value-added Issue

Fall 2002Vol. 45, No. 4

2 Louisiana Agriculture, Fall 2002

EDITORIAL BOARD:David J. Boethel (Chairman)Linda Foster BenedictPat BollichJim ChambersBarbara Groves CornsCaye DrapchoJane HoneycuttRay McClainT. Eugene ReaganDavid Sanson

Published quarterly by the LouisianaAgricultural Experiment Station, LouisianaState University Agricultural Center,Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Subscriptions arefree. Send requests and any comments orquestions to:

Linda Foster Benedict, EditorLouisiana AgricultureP.O. Box 25100Baton Rouge, LA 70894-5100

phone (225) 578-2263fax (225) [email protected].

www.lsuagcenter.com

EDITOR: Linda Foster BenedictDESIGNER: Barbara Groves CornsPHOTO EDITOR: John WozniakCONTRIBUTORS: Jane Honeycutt and

Mark Claesgens

The mention of a pesticide or use of a trade namefor any product is intended only as a report ofresearch and does not constitute an endorsementor recommendation by the Louisiana AgriculturalExperiment Station, nor does it imply that a men-tioned product is superior to other products of asimilar nature not mentioned. Uses of pesticidesdiscussed here have not necessarily been approvedby governmental regulatory agencies. Informationon approved uses normally appears on the manu-facturer’s label.

Material herein may be used by the press, radio andother media provided the meaning is not changed.Please give credit to the author and to the publica-tion for any material used.

LSU AgCenterWilliam B. Richardson, Chancellor

William H. Brown, Vice Chancellorand Director of Research

Paul D. Coreil, Vice Chancellorand Director of Extension

The Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Stationprovides equal opportunitiesin programs and employment.

ON THE COVER

Assuring Our Future Through Scientific Research


Mary May, a 2002 LSU graduate, wrote her senior honors thesis on herresearch on the role that soy protein can play in reducing bone loss in rats.Her thesis won the award for best thesis in science. Her adviser was MarenHegsted, an LSU AgCenter researcher and the author of an article thatdescribes this research on page 6. May is continuing her nutrition studiesat LSU as a graduate student. Photo by John Wozniak.

New food that’s functionalJust as Popeye’s spinach gave him extra power, today’s “functional foods” can

give us a boost for disease prevention.Functional foods are those in which some ingredient has been added or

modification has occurred that provides health benefits beyond basic nutrition,such as a bread spread that lowers cholesterol.

Creation of a functional food requires intensive research. And LSU AgCenterresearchers are right in the middle of it. They are looking at the roles that variousfood components play in disease prevention as well as how to extract thesecomponents and incorporate them into foods we would find acceptable to eat.

Jack Losso, for example, is studying lutein and the possibility of adding it togrits. Lutein can help prevent cataracts, glaucoma and irreversible blindness indiabetic patients.

High amounts of lutein occur naturally in kale. But there is not enough kalein the world to help the population who can benefit from increased lutein in theirdiets.

Lutein is also in corn but not in sufficient quantities for us to get enough justby eating it. However, during the processing of corn byproducts, lutein can beextracted and added to other foods, thereby bringing more value to that corncrop.

And that’s another benefit of this relatively new phenomenon of functionalfoods’ creation. It offers more ways to use Louisiana agricultural commodities,including waste products.

For example, Joan King is investigating resistant starch, which can beextracted from rice, even the broken kernels that have little value in themarketplace.

Resistant starch is in high demand as a functional food ingredient because itacts like soluble fiber in our digestive system and can reduce the risk of coloncancer and help us lose weight.

Other functional food ingredients being studied include protamine, which canbe extracted from seafood waste. Protamine has been shown to inhibit thegrowth of salmonella, E. coli and listeria in foods.

Some of the functional foods in the market include Benecol, which is a spreadsimilar to margarine but with the ability to lower our cholesterol levels, and Silk,which is a milk-like product that incorporates the health-giving properties of soyprotein.

Down the road functional foods mean more money in the pockets ofLouisiana agricultural producers and more business opportunities for foodprocessing. Linda Foster Benedict


Volume 45, Number 4, Fall 2002

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CONTENTS


4 Perspective: Value-added Products Provide Broader Basefor State’s EconomyLeo J. Guedry

5 Overview: Value-added from Agricultural and AquaculturalByproducts and WastesWitoon Prinyawiwatkul and Michael Moody

6 Soybean: A Source of Functional Food IngredientsMaren Hegsted, J. Samuel Godber, Zhimin Xu and Jack N. Losso

9 Rice Bran and Rice Bran Oil in Functional Foods DevelopmentJ. Samuel Godber, Zhimin Xu, Maren Hegsted and Terry Walker

11 Protamine and Collagen: Two Value-added Productsfrom Louisiana Seafood Processing FacilitiesJack N. Losso, Masahiro Ogawa, Michael W. Moody, Ralph J. Portier, Kenneth W. McMillin,Donal F. Day, Jon Bell and Mark Schexnayder

12 Dried Shrimp Processing in LouisianaVoranuch Suvanich and Michael Moody

13 Lutein in Corn and Sweet PotatoesJack N. Losso, Don LaBonte, J. Samuel Godber, Joan M. King and Witoon Prinyawiwatkul

14 Resistant Starch in Rice: A New Source of ‘Fiber’Joan M. King, Maren Hegsted and Carol E. O’Neil

15 Novel Beef Products from Undesirable CutsVoranuch Suvanich, Ingrid Maciel-Pedrote and Witoon Prinyawiwatkul

16 Ohmic Heating: A Value-added Food Processing ToolMarybeth Lima, Tuoxiu Zhong and N. Rao Lakkakula

17 Microbes and FoodMarybeth Lima

18 A Multidisciplinary Approach to New Product DevelopmentR. Wes Harrison, Alvin R. Schupp and Jeffrey M. Gillespie

20 Value-added from Crawfish and CatfishWitoon Prinyawiwatkul, Voranuch Suvanich, R. Wes Harrison, Joan M. King, Subramaniam Sathivel,Karoline Pacheco, Sandeep Kumar Rout, Kandasamy Nadarajah and Sirisha Sonti

22 Mayhaw Fruit JuiceAlfred Trappey II, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Paul Wilson and Charles E. Johnson

23 Mayhaw: A Competitor for Cranberry?Alfred Trappey II, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Paul Wilson and Charles E. Johnson

24 Value-added Forest Products: Opportunities for GrowthNiels DeHoop, Michael Dunn, Todd Shupe, Ramsay Smith, Richard Vlosky and Qinglin Wu

26 Bioconversion of Processing Byproducts and WastesTerry H. Walker, Caye M. Drapcho and Donal Day

28 Biorefinery and SugarcaneWillem H. Kampen

29 Sugarcane HistoryWillem H. Kampen

30 Producing Nonwoven Materials from SugarcaneYan Chen and Ioan Negulescu

31 News Briefs


v

Leo J. Guedry, Executive Vice Chancellor, LSUAgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

alue-added industries and activi-ties are fundamental to agriculture’sviability, stability and contribution toeconomic development of the state. Ingeneral, value-added means any activityor process that increases the marketvalue or utility of a product to consum-ers. In 2001, the value-added activitiesin Louisiana associated with selectedagricultural products for which data aremaintained was $3.9 billion and thelevel of farm income for these productsthat year was also $3.9 billion. That is,for every dollar of farm income lastyear, an additional dollar of value-addedactivity occurred in the state. Over thelast five years, the value-added activitieshave averaged about $4.8 billion, whilefarm income averaged $4 billion.Agricultural production is what givesrise to the value-added component of theagricultural sector, and this componentcontributes significantly to the state’seconomy.

Vision 2020, a document developedby Gov. Mike Foster’s administrationoutlines a plan for economic develop-ment in Louisiana focusing on the use ofindustry clusters. These clusters includegroups of businesses that complement,compete and have similar needs fortechnology, human resources andinfrastructure. Two sets of clustershave been identified, traditional andseed. Traditional clusters are based onexisting industries and represent thestate’s industrial core. They includeshipbuilding; oil and gas; petrochemi-cal; tourism; transportation; health care;agriculture and food products; wood,

lumber and paper; and entertainment.Seed clusters have a strong foundationin university-based research and areexpected to serve as engines of growthto transform the traditional clusters. Theidentified seed clusters include environ-mental technologies, food technologies,advanced materials technologies,medical and biomedical technologies,microsystems technologies and informa-tion technologies. Three clusters aredirectly related to value-added researchand extension programs of the LSUAgCenter. They are 1) agriculture andfood products, 2) wood, lumber andpaper and 3) food technologies. Particu-larly critical to the success of the lattercluster is university-developed technol-ogy expected to serve as the engine forinnovation.

Value-added also represents a majorcomponent of the delivery system fornewly developed products emergingfrom research. Given the investmentinvolved in bringing new technologiesto the consumer, most companies arelooking for exclusive licenses beforecommitting to the production of new

and improved products. Therefore, arole for value-added industries in thestate is to ensure that new technologiesand products are accessible to the enduser.

A more subtle value-added activitythat the LSU AgCenter is involved in isthe maintenance of a coastal wetlandarea through the management of awatershed which results in the mainte-nance of an estuary. The value-added asa result of this activity is not as easilydefined in terms of monetary or marketvalue but is more appropriate whenviewed from the foregone loss thatmight have occurred. The point is thatwhile value-added takes on specificmeaning in the market, there arenumerous research and extensionprograms that would fall into thecategory of value-added activities wherevalue is something other than marketdetermined.

The most recognized use of thevalue-added term relates to the enhance-ment of the value of products. Whythese activities are important to produc-ers and consumers alike is at leastpartially due to the incidence of eco-nomic activity. For any given product,the more of the processing, packagingand distribution functions occurringwithin a state, the greater the level ofeconomic activity and job creation.Economic activity and job creation leadto the ripple effects of new or additionalsales leading to enhanced incomes,increased tax base, community servicesand standard of living.

Value-added ProductsProvide Broader Basefor State’s EconomyLeo J. Guedry

PERSPECTIVE

Leo J. Guedry

Photo by John Wozniak

PERSPECTIVE

Value-added ProductsProvide Broader Basefor State’s Economy



OVERVIEW

Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Associate Professor, andMichael Moody, Professor and Head, both withthe Department of Food Science, LSU AgCenter,Baton Rouge, La.

he term “value-added” broadlymeans “adding value to a product.”For food items, adding value impliesa degree of innovation that makes aproduct more desirable to consumers,perhaps in terms of shelf stability,improved functionality, better color,texture, flavor and more convenience.Adding value to agricultural andaquacultural byproducts or wastes,however, implies “total resource use,”meaning that the byproducts or wastesare used as raw materials subjected tofurther processing into edible food itemsor functional ingredients. For value-added forestry or wood products, theyare commonly thought of as being high-value products such as furniture,flooring or specialized paneling. Value,however, can be added to wood andwood products at various levels duringprocessing. Development of moredurable termite- and decay-resistantengineered wood products is an ex-ample.

Louisiana has several high-valueagricultural, fishery and aquaculturalcommodities including crawfish, catfish,

soybeans and rice that lend themselvesto further processing and developmentof value-added industries. The dollarvalue for value-added for animal,fisheries, wildlife and plant commodi-ties in 2001 was $3,853,788,970compared to the gross farm income of$3,901,187,329. Louisiana may not behighly competitive in the high-technol-ogy industries, but we can compete inhigh-value and value-added agriculturalproduction and processing.

Seafood and aquaculture productionhas a potential to offer an immediatepayoff and has a potential to becomeLouisiana’s highest dollar impact inthe animal commodities; however, theproblem is disposal of processingwastes, which remains a huge problemfor the processors. Additional cost ontop of further processing is fromdisposal of processing byproducts andwastes. Louisiana seafood processorsgenerate millions of pounds of wastes.It is no longer practical to discardbyproducts and wastes, especially whena significant amount of valuable rawmaterials can be recovered and used to

produce value-added new products andfunctional ingredients. The magnitudeof raw material for value-added productsin Louisiana suggests a strong economicpotential with major impact on theLouisiana seafood and aquacultureindustries.

The outlook for more innovativeand effective processing technology forbyproduct recovery is promising. Value-added new product development usingprocessing byproducts can convert anoften negative or low-value byproductinto a product capable of covering theoriginal processing and disposal costs,reducing the environmental damage andperhaps expanding the world’s foodsupply. Research on value-added iscritical and challenging. In the longrun, adding values to byproducts andprocessing wastes will affect the growthand economy of Louisiana tremen-dously.

This issue of Louisiana Agricultureprovides a snapshot of research effortsunder way in the LSU AgCenter to addvalue to agricultural and aquaculturalbyproducts and processing wastes.These include a concept of productdevelopment process of value-addedproducts from processing wastes, thenew value-added food processing tool,development of value-added fromagricultural, seafood and aquaculturalprocessing wastes, novel white beefproducts from undesirable cuts, develop-ment of valuable functional and health-promoting ingredients (chitosan, lutein,oryzanol from rice bran and beta-carotene), value-added forestry productsand bioconversion of processing wastesfrom sugar industry.

Value-added from Agriculturaland Aquacultural Byproductsand WastesWitoon Prinyawiwatkul and Michael Moody

T

Witoon Prinyawiwatkul Michael Moody

Photos by John Wozniak

OVERVIEW

Value-added from Agriculturaland Aquacultural Byproductsand Wastes





A Source of Functional Food IngredientsMaren Hegsted,

J. Samuel Godber,Zhimin Xu andJack N. Losso

Soybean


FunctionalFoods

The functional food areais the largest and fastest grow-ing segment of the food indus-try, with a market estimatedat $29 billion a year in theUnited States alone. Func-tional food ingredients arenaturally occurring bioactivecompounds isolated fromplant sources, dairy products,animal byproducts, fisherywaste and aquatic resourcesthat may enhance health byproviding a physiological ben-efit beyond the provision ofthe basic nutrients in the food.

The proliferation of func-tional foods has developedfrom the critical link betweendiet and optimal health, in-creased consumer demandfrom aging baby boomers forhealthy food products to aug-ment a healthy lifestyle, thestaggering health care costsdriven in part by diet-relateddiseases, and advances in foodresearch and market oppor-tunities.

oy flour and more highly purifiedsoy proteins contain a number ofconstituents that can be used in combat-ing a variety of diseases. Soy isofla-vones may prevent diseases associatedwith post-menopausal women such asosteoporosis and coronary heart disease.A peptide found in soy flour is apotential anti-carcinogen. LSUAgCenter research has been directed atextraction, purification, stability testingand functional activity of these com-pounds.

Soybeans have been a major foodsource in Asian cuisines for centuries.Soybean cultivation as a crop began innorthern China more than 5,000 yearsago and slowly spread into southernChina, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia.Early Chinese writings by the EmperorSheng-Nung in 2838 BC include adescription of soybeans as one of thefive sacred crops along with rice, wheat,barley and millet. Later poets celebratedthe benefits of soybeans and theirservice to humanity in China. Soybeanswere processed into many food itemssuch as tofu, miso, tempeh and soysauce, which were part of the dailydiet. Fermented soy products were usedmedicinally in many parts of Asia, andmoldy soybean curds have been used formore than 3,000 years to treat skininfections.

Today, soybean consumption is stillmuch higher in Asian countries than inthe United States. Because lower ratesof heart disease, some cancers andosteoporosis are associated with higherintakes of soy products, scientists havestarted to examine soy as a functionalfood. The relationship between soyintake and heart disease was the firstfocus of research because heart diseaserates are much lower in soy-consumingcountries. Because of evidence support-ing the benefits of soy in loweringcholesterol, the Food and Drug Admin-istration has approved a nutrition healthclaim on soy-containing food productsstating that “foods rich in soy protein aspart of a low-fat diet may help reducethe risk of heart disease.”

IsoflavonesSoy contains many phytochemicals,

and scientists are just now identifyingthe roles they may play in human health.Among these phytochemicals are theisoflavones—genistein, daidzein andglycitein—which may act as estrogenanalogs in the body, affecting cells thatcontain estrogen receptors. LSUAgCenter researchers are studying the

during heating. The results are useful inunderstanding the thermal stability ofsoy isoflavones. Overall, the stabilityof daidzein was found to be higher thanthat of glycitein or genistein.

Many reports have indicated thatsoy isoflavones lower plasma choles-terol and may reduce the risk of cancer.The detailed mechanism for thiscapability is not fully understood.Oxidation products of cholesterol areharmful to many cells in the vascularsystem, which contribute to plaqueformation and cancers. Because soyisoflavones contain phenolic groups,they may possess antioxidation proper-ties that offer protection against oxida-tion of cholesterol and oxidative damageto blood vessel cells. In LSU AgCenterresearch, both genistein and daidzeindemonstrated significant antioxidantactivity in the inhibition of cholesteroloxidation. Since soy contains bothgenistein and daidzein, the combinedantioxidant benefits of both isoflavonescould be important in reducing oxidativedamage to body tissues.

Bowman-Birk inhibitorAnother health benefit of soy intake

may be through inhibition of angiogen-esis by a peptide found in many soyproducts, referred to as Bowman-Birkinhibitor (BBI). Angiogenesis is theformation of new blood vessels tosupply blood and nutrients and toremove metabolic wastes from livingtissue. Physiologic angiogenesis is atightly regulated process important toembryonic development, reproductionand wound healing. Pathologic angio-genesis is a feature of many inflamma-tory diseases and contributes to thespread of several chronic diseases andmay involve excessive or inadequateangiogenesis. Prevention of excessiveangiogenesis involves using drugs thatinhibit the enzymes required for newblood vessel formation. Stimulation ofnew blood vessel growth with growthfactors is being considered for therapeu-tic treatment of insufficient angiogen-esis for patients with poor woundhealing of skin ulcers.

Data from animal models and cellculture show that angiogenesis can be

Maren Hegsted, Professor, School of HumanEcology; J. Samuel Godber, Professor; ZhiminXu, Postdoctoral Researcher; and Jack N. Losso,Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science,LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

purification and characterization of soyisoflavones.

The chemical structural differencesof soy isoflavones may result in variablebioavailability in biological systems.The structures of soy isoflavones are notconsistent during routine food process-ing. Factors induced in the food process-ing, such as enzymes in raw soy flour,heating and additives, can affect thestability of soy isoflavones. Theisoflavones genistein, daidzein andglycitein, as found in soy foods, areusually bound to a glucose moleculeforming the glucosides—genistin,daidzin and glycitin. In LSU AgCenterresearch, high purity genistin, daidzinand glycitin were prepared from soyflour and observed for their stability

S


inhibited by naturally occurring physi-ologically active compounds, such asBBI. BBI is stable to gastrointestinaldigestion and maintains biologicalactivity even after boiling for 10minutes. BBI is used in the soybean asa defense mechanism against insects,predators and bacterial and viralinfections. BBI is a natural inhibitor ofseveral metalloprotease enzymes thatlead to the onset and progression ofangiogenesis and diseases related toexcess production of new blood vessels.

LSU AgCenter research has shownthat BBI at concentrations found in acup of soymilk can completely preventthe activation of metalloproteinases bybinding to the enzymes. These enzymescan be maintained in an inactive form bythe presence of low concentrations ofBBI. The prevention of metalloprotein-ase activation preserves the integrity ofthe basal membrane and other tissuesand may delay the onset and progressionof diabetes complications, periodontaldiseases, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis,psoriasis and AIDS complications.Because treatments for many of theseconditions may be costly and ineffec-tive, good nutrition may be the key toprevention. Two advantages for promot-ing BBI as an inhibitor of angiogenesisare 1) BBI is not perceived as a medi-cine and has no known side effects inAsian populations who have consumedsoy products for generations and appearto have low rates of chronic diseases and2) food fortification with soybean BBIwould be a relatively inexpensive wayto deliver BBI over a lifespan.

BBI is a protein with health-enhancing properties that encompassa wide range of human ailments.Consumption of soymilk by the generalpopulation may provide health benefitsin the intestinal tract and should beencouraged. A cup of soymilk a daymay help keep the doctor away.

Soy and osteoporosisThe incidence of osteoporosis in

this country is increasing as the popula-tion ages, leading to more hip fractures,pain, disability and death. One com-monly recommended treatment ishormone replacement therapy forwomen at menopause. However, manywomen choose not to use hormonereplacement because of the potential forside effects such as increased risk forbreast cancer and leg thrombosis. Asianpopulations with a high soy intake havea substantially lower incidence ofosteoporosis, suggesting that increasing

our soy intake may be a beneficialalternative to hormone replacementtherapy. Soy isoflavones are phyto-estrogens and may bind to estrogenreceptors to maintain bone integrityafter menopause without the detrimentalside effects seen with hormone replace-ment treatments. Ovariectomized ratsare being used as a model for postmeno-pausal women to study the potential ofsoy protein for maintaining bonemineral.

Several studies in the LSUAgCenter’s School of Human Ecologyhave confirmed that soy protein contain-ing natural soy isoflavones can reducethe vertebral bone loss that normallyoccurs in ovariectomized rats. Thisresearch has shown that the protectiveeffect of soy is dose responsive to thelevel of soy protein in the diet and ismost beneficial when soy is part of alow-fat diet. In the most recent soystudy, ovariectomized rats were fed a

low-fat diet with 5 percent, 10 percentor 15 percent soy protein and comparedto casein-fed rats with and withoutovariectomy. The density of the verte-brae was measured at the end of thestudy. The benefits of soy protein onvertebral bone density were clearly seenin 10 percent and 15 percent soy fedrats. As the level of soy protein in-creased in the diets from 5 percent to 10percent to 15 percent, the vertebral bonemineral density increased by 3 percent,15 percent and 18 percent respectively,when compared to the ovariectomizedcontrol rats. This confirms the benefitsof soy in reducing bone loss andosteoporosis.

In summary, soybeans are apowerful functional food that containsphytochemicals that can reduce the riskof chronic diseases. Work at the LSUAgCenter has focused on purifying anddescribing the characteristics of theactive components of soybeans that canbenefit health. Researchers are continu-ing to study soy products and theisolation of active components that canbenefit all of us. Throughout history,people living in Asia have relied heavilyon soybean products to prevent or fightdisease. It is time for the western worldto learn how to use soybeans effectivelyin our diets to maintain a healthier life.


Several LSU AgCenter studies have confirmed that soy protein can reduce the vertebralbone loss that normally occurs in ovariectomized rats. The diagram shows an image ofbone mass. The student researcher is Mary May.


ice bran and its oil contain largeconcentrations of several compoundsthat could potentially prevent chronicdiseases such as coronary heart diseaseand cancer. The LSU AgCenter has beenactively engaged in identifying, extract-ing, purifying and evaluating thefunctionality of several of these com-pounds. The focus has been on vitaminE, especially the tocotrienols, andoryzanol, which contains a high propor-tion of phytosterols. Recent efforts haveincluded an evaluation of the potentialof supercritical carbon dioxide

as a more

appropriate extraction medium, use ofcell culture to evaluate cellular antioxi-dant activity, and an evaluation of thepotential of oryzanol to reduce bone loss

in rats whose ovaries had been removedas a model of postmenopausal women.

Functional foods are defined asfoods, or food components, that providehealth benefits beyond their nutritionalvalue. Functional foods may reducechronic diseases such as coronary heartdisease or cancer. One of the most well-recognized functional foods is garlic,which has been found to reduce serumcholesterol and possibly prevent certaintypes of cancer. Oat bran, soy proteinand red wine are also viewed as func-tional foods, to name just a few. Forseveral years, ongoing research in theLSU AgCenter has focused on rice branas a potential human food ingredient.

Rice bran and antioxidantsOur initial studies with rice bran

focused on stabilizing it against lipiddegradation that leads to flavor prob-lems. During these studies, we realizedrice bran had high levels of bothtocopherols and tocotrienols, whichcomprise vitamin E and act as antioxi-dants in our body, and also had highlevels of a mixture of compounds

Rice Bran and Rice Bran Oil

J. Samuel Godber, Professor, and Zhimin Xu,Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of FoodScience; Maren Hegsted, Professor, School ofHuman Ecology; and Terry Walker, AssistantProfessor, Department of Biological andAgricultural Engineering, LSU AgCenter, BatonRouge, La.

Photo by John WozniakZhimin Xu uses a high performance liquid chromatograph for analyzing components of rice branoil including oryzanol, which has been of particular interest in functional food development.

R

In Functional Foods DevelopmentJ. Samuel Godber, Zhimin Xu, Maren Hegsted and Terry Walker


referred to collectively as oryzanol.Oryzanol components are complexcompounds that can act as an antioxi-dant and can improve solubility in cellmembranes and potentially lowercholesterol by competitive inhibitionof absorption and synthesis. Our recentefforts have focused on recovery ofthese compounds from rice bran,especially oryzanol.

Conditions were optimized for theextraction of oryzanol using a processcalled supercritical fluid extraction(SFE) with carbon dioxide as anextraction solvent. This state-of-the-artextraction process has been suggested asa means to obtain high-value functionalcomponents from low-value agriculturalbyproducts such as rice bran. Wedemonstrated the viability of thisapproach because we were able toobtain a highly concentrated extractof oryzanol. We now have a pilot scaleextractor that will allow us to scale upthe extraction process to demonstratethe commercial potential of this ap-proach.

To evaluate individual componentsof the oryzanol mixture, we employed asophisticated separation process using apreparative scale chromatograph. Wewere able to purify the three majorfractions of oryzanol: cycloartenylferulate, 24-methylene cycloartanylferulate and campesteryl ferulate.Separation conditions were developedthat would permit economical purifica-tion of these three components.

Rice bran componentsreduce cholesterol oxidation

The possibility that rice brancomponents could reduce the effects ofoxidation both in food and in our bodiesis one of the most exciting aspects ofrice bran as a functional food. Thecauses associated with almost allchronic disease can be traced to theeffects of oxidants, both in the environ-ment, including food, and in our bodies.Cholesterol oxidation products havebeen suggested as a major cause of heartdisease. The antioxidant activities offour of the vitamin E and three oryzanolcomponents purified from rice branwere investigated in a chemical modelof cholesterol oxidation. All compo-nents exhibited significant antioxidantactivity in the inhibition of cholesteroloxidation. All three oryzanol compo-nents were higher than any of the fourvitamin E components.

A second approach tothe potential effect of thesecomponents on oxidationand cholesterol dynamicshas been initiated using cellculture techniques. Cellmembrane integrity of livingcells was used to test theprotective effect of oryzanolcompared with the vitamin Ecomponent alpha-tocopherolagainst an oxidizing agent.Oryzanol was found tomaintain greater cell survivalthan alpha-tocopherol, andboth were considerablyhigher than the untreatedcontrol.

Rice bran andosteoporosis

Osteoporosis affectsmore than 20 million olderAmericans, with the numberincreasing every year. Thisbone loss can be greatly reduced withhormone replacement therapy for post-menopausal women. Unfortunately,many women do not to use hormonesbecause of side effects such as increasedrisk for cancer. This has led to greatinterest in identifying functional foodsthat can reduce bone loss naturally.

Ovariectomized rats are used as amodel for postmenopausal osteoporosisand typically lose substantial bonemineral density after an ovariectomy.The addition of a 7 percent oryzanolrice bran oil concentrate to the dietsof ovariectomized rats was slightlyprotective in reducing bone loss atseveral bone sites. This protective effectwas strongest for the tibia, where thebone density was 5 percent greater forrats fed rice bran oil concentrate thanthe control rats. The beneficial effect ofthe rice bran oil concentrate appeared tobe primarily on cortical bone in the longbones, not on the trabecular bone invertebra. Crystalline oryzanol andcrystalline oryzanol dissolved in cornoil had no effect on bone mineraldensity. This suggests that either theoryzanol as it occurs naturally in ricebran oil is more biologically active thancrystalline oryzanol or that somethingelse in the rice bran oil is affecting bonedensity positively.

Rice bran as a functional foodRice bran and its oil may be among

the most important sources of functionalfood components available in the world

today, considering rice bran’s vastworldwide production and the fact that itis poorly used for human food consump-tion. Our efforts are revealing potentialfunctional applications for rice bran inhuman foods. The importance of theseefforts is becoming more criticalbecause of the introduction to U.S.markets of margarine and other prod-ucts, such as Benecol, containingcompounds reputed to lower serumcholesterol that are similar to theoryzanol components under study.Thus, the establishment of the therapeu-tic potential for specific oryzanolcomponents could lend credence tosimilar applications with rice bran oilor concentrates.

The potential role of rice brancomponents in bone health is a criticalarea of research and expands ourpotential for reducing osteoporosis withfunctional foods. More study is neededto identify the active elements in ricebran oil beneficial in reducing bone lossand determine their mode of action. Therice bran oil concentrate appears to actprimarily on preserving the slow turn-over cortical bone in the long bones.Other functional foods such as soyprotein act on the rapid turnovertrabecular bone in vertebrae. This leadsto the possibility that the two in combi-nation could provide even greater bonebenefits in preserving both cortical andtrabecular bone in the elderly to reduceosteoporotic fractures.



he United Nations Food andAgriculture Organization has estimatedthat by 2025 global aquaculture willprovide more than half of the world’sseafood supply. Now it is about 35percent to 40 percent. With a growingindustry comes growing waste. Louisi-ana seafood processors alone generatemillions of pounds of aquatic-basedfood processing waste annually.Disposal of fisheries waste in Louisianais a huge problem. Many processingfacilities have a waste load of 1 millionto 2 million pounds per year. Currentdisposal rates in the New Orleans areaare $30 per ton, and a large plant mayspend $2,000 to $3,000 per month indisposal fees. Several local landfillshave already refused fisheries wastesbecause of the nitrogenous runoff thatmay be produced and the contaminationof their truck weighing scales.

One traditional use of seafoodwaste has been low-value feeds andfertilizers. However, there is growinginterest among seafood processors toobtain higher value from byproductssuch as by recovering health-enhancingproducts. Fish byproducts include fishframes (bones), viscera, skin, roe, eyes,head and testes. Fishery waste is amixture of many biologically activecomponents that can be extracted toisolate different compounds. Functionalfoods, biochemicals and pharmaceuti-cals can be refined and used as anti-inflammatory agents, antimicrobials,antioxidants, enzymes, proteins, nucleicacids, calcium, oil, enzyme inhibitors,colors, pigments, dyes and caviar.

Researchers at the LSU AgCenterare developing commercially viablerecovery methodologies for bioactivecompounds such as protamine and

collagen from Louisiana seafood wasteproducts. The development of a bio-chemical industry that will help solve thewaste disposal problem associated withfishery byproducts and generate moreprofit for seafood processors requiresa scientific information base.

Protamine and CollagenOne of the products that can be

extracted from seafood waste is prota-mine, a small cationic peptide that showspotential as an antimicrobial agent. Itsantimicrobial property, stemming fromits ability to create cavities in microbialcell membranes, is similar to othercationic peptides such as defensinsand nisin produced by organisms asa defense against microbial invasion.

Researchers at the LSU AgCenterare developing antimicrobial systemscontaining protamine for use in meatproducts and fresh produce. Initialstudies have shown that protamineinhibited salmonella, E. coli and listeriain soy broth. In ground beef, protamineresulted in a reduction in salmonella, andreduction was observed for E. coli atrefrigeration temperature.

Protamine also has applications inthe control of fat intake and is a potentialcandidate for the control of food intakein diabetes.

Another product that can be ex-tracted from seafood waste is collagen.This product is unique among body

Protamine and Collagen

Jack N. Losso, Assistant Professor, MasahiroOgawa, Postdoctoral Researcher, Michael W.Moody, Professor and Head, Department of FoodScience; Ralph J. Portier, Professor and Directorof the Department of Environmental Studies;Kenneth W. McMillin, Professor, Department ofAnimal Science; Donal F. Day, Professor,Audubon Sugar Institute; Jon Bell, AssistantProfessor, Department of Food Science; and MarkSchexnayder, Fisheries Agent, LSU AgCenter,Baton Rouge, La.

T

Many seafood processing facilities have a waste load of 1 million to 2 million pounds peryear.


Two Value-added Products fromLouisiana Seafood Processing FacilitiesJack N. Losso, Masahiro Ogawa, Michael W. Moody, Ralph J. Portier,Kenneth W. McMillin, Donal F. Day, Jon Bell and Mark Schexnayder


proteins because it contains hydrox-yproline amino acids. It is the singlemost important protein of connectivetissue and serves as the matrix on whichbone is formed. It is found in theligaments and tendons, forms scars tohold separated tissue faces together andis the strengthening glue between thecells of artery walls that enables themto withstand the pressure of surgingheartbeats. Successful medical andpharmaceutical applications of commer-cially available collagen include thetreatment of hypertension, urinaryincontinence and pain associated withosteoarthritis and inhibition of cancerspread in the body. The cosmeticindustry uses collagen in personal careproducts. Food applications of collageninclude clarification of alcoholicbeverages and the preparation ofgelatin. There is a large market forgelatin as an ingredient in food,pharmaceuticals, photographicand personal care products.

The predominant source materialfor commercially available gelatin isanimal tissue (skin, bone). Use ofcollagen and collagen-derived productsfrom warm-blooded animal byproducts,however, has been called into questionbecause of concern that bovine spongi-form encephalopathy (“mad cow”disease) may be transmitted to humans.

Marine Sources of CollagenThis concern is giving rise to new

markets for marine sources of collagen.Marine collagen is considered a saferalternative to bovine or porcine skinmaterials. No evidence suggests thatviral or sub-viral particles adapted tocold-blooded organisms can be transmit-ted to humans. Marine gelatin andcollagen, especially those from somewarm-water species, have physical andchemical properties similar to thegelatin and collagen from warm-bloodedanimals. This is not always true forgelatin from cold-water species.

Marine products can easily becertified as a Kosher quality productbecause there is no mixing of porcineand bovine tissues as occurs in red meatbyproduct recovery. This designation isan important marketing element to manycompanies using gelatin or collagen asan ingredient. A marine collagenproduction facility would use only alimited number of species availablefrom local processors in one givengeographical area, so the sorting ofspecies allowed as Kosher could beeasily accommodated.

Scientists at the LSU AgCenterhave received funding from the NationalSea Grant to prepare collagen fromLouisiana seafood processing waste forpharmaceutical and food applications.Collagen has been purified from finfishskins and scales. The collagen recoveredwas similar to bovine and porcinecollagen in physicochemical properties(molecular size, viscosity, solubility andcolor). The molecular size of thecollagen has been determined acceptableas a food ingredient.

Louisiana has the nation’s most productive commercialshrimp fishery, landing about 100 million pounds a year with adockside value of $150 million. White and brown shrimp makeup most of Louisiana’s harvest. Pink shrimp and sea bobs (smallbrownish shrimp, more than 100 per pound, with manyantennae and a long curved and spiny head) are also caught andsold, but in much smaller quantities.

Although fresh, frozen and canned shrimp dominate themarket, there is still a demand for dried shrimp. Dried shrimpis an intermediate moisture and shelf-stable product normallyused as a snack or as a food ingredient and flavor enhancer inAsia, Africa, South and Central America, and in the UnitedStates, especially Louisiana, California and Hawaii. Dried shrimpare categorized by processing types into freeze-dried and sun-dried shrimp. Freeze-dried shrimp are normally sold as fishfood, and sun-dried shrimp are for human consumtpion.

The shrimp drying process, using hot-air indoor dryers, isenergy and time consuming and normally takes five to eighthours for dried shrimp to reach an internal water activityrequired for product shelf-life stability and safety. Additionally,the product may not have a uniform moisture content, whichmay result in poor quality and short shelf-storage life. Aftershelling, low-value byproducts consisting of small pieces ofseparated heads and shells are generally sold as byproducts.

According to our studies, drying times and temperaturesand ratios of surface air/above air and drier air temperaturescould be used to indirectly monitor critical limits if processors

could control: (1) uniform shrimp size, (2) shrimp weight perdryer bin, (3) dryer bin size (length, width and depth), and (4)forced air temperatures and air flow rates of dryers. Finally, weevaluated changes in visual appearance and sensory character-istics of sampled shrimps during drying. Our research providesguidance on how science-based principles can be practicallyapplied and implemented not only in Louisiana’s small and lessdeveloped dried shrimp businesses but also worldwide.

Although dried shrimp has a limited market and is pro-duced in smaller amounts than frozen shrimp products, driedshrimp processing is still a viable industry for the preservationof shrimp products in South Louisiana and represents a viableand traditional Louisiana shrimp product. Dried shrimp is stillanother source of revenue for Louisiana shrimp processors.The development of an effective drying process, which main-tains short drying time with less energy consumption, wouldbe economical and beneficial to producers. Moreover, thefeasibility of protein recovery from boiled shrimp water andthe use of dried heads and shells as a source of high qualityprotein, calcium and minerals for value-added human foodswould make Louisiana dried shrimp processing even morecost effective.

Voranuch Suvanich, former Postdoctoral Research Associate, andMichael Moody, Professor and Head, Department of Food Science,LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

Dried Shrimp Processing in Louisiana


LLLLLuuuuute ite it e it e it e innnnn acular (a region of the retina)

degeneration is a physiological processthat involves the formation of excessivenew blood vessels in the retina and isthe leading cause of cataract formation,glaucoma and irreversible blindness indiabetic patients and the elderly. Theexact cause of age-related maculardegeneration (AMD) is not yet known.There are few effective treatments, littleprevention and no real cures for thesedebilitating conditions. Becausepotential cures are limited and costly,the role of nutrition in preventing thesechronic diseases is receiving significantscientific scrutiny.

Lutein has been identified andrecognized as one of the dietary strate-gies (natural sunglasses) that can delaythe onset and progression of maculardegeneration. The human body easilyabsorbs lutein and deposits it in theregion of the retina called the maculaand in the lens of the eye where lutein isable to filter light and prevent oxidationof proteins or lipids within the lens.Epidemiological evidence that supportsthe inverse relationship between luteinand AMD is consistent. Studies haveshown 20 percent to 50 percent lowerrisk of cataract extraction in people withlutein intake. Lutein also has beenshown to be inversely related to therisk of colon cancer in men and womendiagnosed with the disease at a youngerage. Epidemiological observationshave shown that individuals with highlevels of serum lutein had a signifi-cantly reduced risk of developingcoronary heart disease or ischemicstroke. Lutein also binds to aflatoxinand reduces the toxicity of aflatoxinin grain crops like corn.

Eat Green VegetablesLutein is an orange-colored pig-

ment, which is highly concentrated inmarigold flowers. High levels of luteinare found in kale and spinach, and lowlevels are found in many other green

vegetables. The human body does notsynthesize lutein, so it has to be ab-sorbed from external sources. Ingestedlutein deposits in the macular region,where it contributes to the density ofmacular pigment and may preventmacular degeneration. The denser thepigment, the more protection there isfrom damage caused by natural lightin the blue spectrum. Lutein is moreeffective than other carotenoids inpreventing lipid oxidation, a deteriora-tive process that occurs in the humanserum and in the eye.

Researchers have reported thatconsuming 6 milligrams of lutein a daywas associated with a 43 percent lowerrisk of macular degeneration andincreasing the consumption of foods richin certain carotenoids, in particular dark-green, leafy vegetables, may decreasethe risk of developing AMD. A concen-tration of 6 milligrams lutein representsabout 30 grams of kale or 60 grams offresh spinach. Other foods containingsmaller amounts of lutein includesummer squash, green peas, corn andtomatoes.

Potential Lutein SourcesLSU AgCenter research has focused

on commodities grown in Louisiana aspotential sources of lutein that could addvalue to Louisiana crops. Corn is aneconomically viable source of lutein,because during lutein isolation, othervalue-added products such as oil,proteins and starch can be extracted.Corn varieties are being screened forlutein content. To date three cornsamples from varieties DK 697, DKC68-70 and AP 9843 have been analyzed.More varieties are being screened.

Grits with LuteinAdding lutein to food is more

appealing than using lutein as pills.AgCenter research has demonstratedthat lutein can be added to a foodproduct and remain stable during

processing. One study involves addinglutein to corn grits and analyzing luteincontent after microwave cooking thegrits. Lutein was added to corn grits atconcentrations reported to reduce theincidence of macular degeneration(cataract formation) by 43 percent. Alutein concentration equivalent to 6milligrams per serving size was addedto corn grits. Lutein was dissolved inethanol or corn oil and added to corngrits in water. After microwaving thegrits, the lutein remained stable.

AgCenter researchers are tryingto formulate minimally processed foodproducts that contain high levels oflutein so consumers can obtain theirdaily intake of lutein.

Sweet PotatoesAgCenter scientists in the Food

Science and Horticulture departmentsare examining sweet potato leaves androots as potential sources of lutein. Todate, research shows that sweet potatoleaves contain more lutein than sweetpotato roots. Sweet potato roots are wellknown for their high content of beta-carotene, and this work shows additionalhealth benefits in sweet potatoes.Bienville, a 2002 LSU AgCenter release,shows particularly high levels of luteinin comparison to other varieties. Thehigh lutein content in sweet potatoleaves offers a further possibility ofvalue-added. Additional research isneeded to understand the economicfeasibility of extracting lutein fromsweet potato leaves.

Lutein

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Jack N. Losso, Assistant Professor, Department ofFood Science; Don LaBonte, Professor,Department of Horticulture; J. Samuel Godber,Professor; Joan M. King, Assistant Professor; andWitoon Prinyawiwatkul, Associate Professor,Department of Food Science, LSU AgCenter,Baton Rouge, La.

Jack N. Losso, Don LaBonte, J. Samuel Godber,Joan M. King and Witoon Prinyawiwatkul

In Corn and Sweet Potatoes



esistant starch is chemically not afiber; however, there is an effort to haveit declared so because it acts like solublefiber in the gastrointestinal tract, thusproviding the health benefits of fiber.Resistant starch and soluble fiberferment in the small intestine—confer-ring their health effects. Not surpris-ingly, resistant starch is in high demandas a functional food ingredient. LSUAgCenter researchers are conducting avariety of studies on resistant starch,including the effect it has on propertiesof rice and rice flour, which will addvalue to this Louisiana commodity, andthe effect it has on weight gain and bodyfat in rats, with the goal of understand-ing the role resistant starch plays inobesity.

Resistant starch can occur naturallyin foods, including raw potatoes andbananas, or in processed foods andstarches. Although some raw foods haveresistant starch, cooking can destroy it,so it is important that the method usedto process the starch makes it heat-stable. One way to enhance resistantstarch in a food product is to heat thestarch to a gel and cool it quickly. Thisprocess is called retrogradation and iswhat happens to bread when it coolsafter cooking—the process is acceler-ated by storing bread in the refrigerator.

Another way to increase the level ofresistant starch in foods is to modify thestarch by the addition of fats, whichbind inside the spiral of the starchmolecule to stabilize it and make itresistant to attack by enzymes. LSUAgCenter researchers are conductingstudies on the use of enzymes andadditives on rice flour and starch toenhance resistant starch content.

The modification of corn starch toproduce functional food ingredients hasresulted in driving the selling price ofnative corn starch from 20 cents per

pound to $2.50 per pound for modifiedcorn starch. There is a potential of a 10-fold increase in the value of rice flour,from the development of rice starch-based ingredients, such as resistantstarch, through the same technology.The low protein content makes ricehypoallergenic; thus, it is often a betterchoice for people with allergies to wheator other cereal grains.

Broken rice kernels,which make up 15 percentof milled rice in the UnitedStates, can be used toproduce value-added foodingredients. Rice varietiesthat may have excellentagronomic traits but maylack acceptability byconsumers because ofnegative cooking or othercharacteristics may also beused for value-added foodingredient development.This research will benefiteveryone in the riceindustry by providing anexpanded use of rice andan increased demand for rice and riceproducts, as well as providing a healthychoice for consumers.

Clinical health research withresistant starch is exciting because thereare so many potential health benefitsassociated with its use. These include:

1) improved glucose regulationand better weight control,

2) reduced constipation,3) reduced colon cancer risk,4) and reduced blood cholesterol

and triglycerides.Resistant starch has a low glycemic

index because of the slow release ofglucose. This may lower the insulinresponse by the body after eatingresistant starch, thus helping peoplewith diabetes normalize their bloodsugar. The better blood sugar levels canbe controlled, the fewer the long-termcomplications of diabetes that mayoccur. The lowered insulin responsemay also reduce the subsequent drop inblood sugar that triggers hunger for thenext meal. This could result in a lower

energy intake at the following meal andbetter body weight regulation. In a studyusing rats as a model for human obesity,AgCenter researchers found that whenthey replaced regular starch with highamylose cornstarch (60 percent resistantstarch), it reduced body fat in rapidlygrowing male and female rats. Bloodinsulin levels were also lower in the ratsfed resistant starch.

Resistant starch can also helpimprove colon health. As resistant starchmoves through the intestinal tract, itdecreases constipation by increasingfecal moisture, bulk and transit time.The non-digested starch in the largeintestine is fermented by bacteriaproducing short chain fatty acids,primarily acetate, butyrate and propi-onate. Butyrate is the preferred energysource for colon cells, resulting inhealthier colon cells. Resistant starchencourages the growth of beneficialbacteria in the large intestine and lowersthe pH of the intestinal contents, all ofwhich may reduce the development ofcolon cancer. Diets high in resistantstarch can reduce blood cholesterol andtriglyceride levels because of higherexcretion rates of cholesterol and bileacids.

Overall, increasing resistant starchcontent in the diet has the potential toprovide several significant healthbenefits and add value to rice, animportant Louisiana commodity.

Resistant Starch from Rice

Joan M. King, Assistant Professor, Department ofFood Science; Maren Hegsted, Professor, andCarol E. O’Neil, Associate Professor, School ofHuman Ecology, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

R



Joan M. King, Maren Hegsted and Carol E. O’Neil

A New Source of ‘Fiber’


rocessed beef products in the U.S.market include sausages and cured,canned, dehydrated and conveniencemeat items. The convenience and snackmeat products make up about 2 percentof the total meat production. Thedemand for these items continues toincrease. According the Snack FoodAssociation, meat had the largestpercentage growth in the snack foodindustry with an increase of 31 percentin sales between 1999 and 2000, and aprojection of a profitable future.

Beef cuts from the shoulder andneck tend to be inferior in quality, todarken quickly and to cost less. Therough cuts are trimmed immediatelyand often sold as stew and ground meatitems. These cuts can be further pro-cessed into new convenience meatproducts that are tasty, ready-to-eat,portable and unique in style with addedvalue and acceptable quality. Suchalternative products may potentiallylead to higher revenues for Louisianabeef producers and processors.

Crispy Beef ChipsLSU AgCenter researchers have

developed two new Cajun-style crispybeef chips from beef cuts for stew(shoulder and neck). Beef cuts weretrimmed to remove fat, tumbled withsalt and sodium tripolyphosphate andmixed with beef plasma, sodium nitrite,dried herbs and spices. The meat wasthen stuffed into stainless steel cylindermolds and frozen. The frozen productwas sliced thin and oven-dried. The beefchips were packed in polyethylene bags.

Two products (4 percent sugar and6 percent sugar with spices) were mailedto 100 consumers in Louisiana for themto evaluate. Consumers rated productacceptability of appearance, color,aroma, texture and overall liking.Purchase intent was also asked.

Results indicated no differencesbetween the two beef chips in overallliking, acceptability and purchase intent.Seventy percent of the consumers foundthe products acceptable, and 37 percent

would purchase the products if avail-able. Aroma and taste differentiated thetwo products. Appearance, color andoverall liking were most critical tooverall acceptance, while aroma andoverall liking were most critical topurchase.

Surimi-like Beef ProductsSurimi-like beef products contain

a high concentration of myofibrillarprotein and form strong, elastic gelswhen cooked. The gel-forming propertyis essential for manufacturing productssuch as meat snacks, low-fat cold cuts,sausages and seafood analogs. Makingbeef surimi is challenging because thefat content from undesirable cuts(shoulder and neck) is high, and themeat has more pigment, connectivetissue and collagen. However, we

its color and textural properties, whitebeef can be further processed intoseafood-flavored imitation productstargeting consumers allergic to seafood.Because consumers are more healthconscious and often associate the “red”color of meat with unhealthy consump-tion, white beef and its derivativeproducts may be alternatives.

New Beef Cold-cutsLSU AgCenter researchers have

developed a low-fat, colorless cold-cut.Two formulations (spicy and bland)were prepared. White beef was temperedand chopped to fine particles, and allingredients and ice water were added.The mixture was then stuffed intocasings, cooked in the smokehouse,cooled, thinly sliced and vacuumpackaged.

Louisiana consumers evaluated thetwo cold-cut products for acceptabilityof sensory quality: appearance, color,flavor, texture and overall liking. Theyalso evaluated intensity of whiteness,aroma and hickory smoke strength,saltiness, hotness, sweetness, juicinessand toughness. Purchase intent was alsodetermined.

There were no differences in overallliking, acceptability and purchase intentbetween the two products. Eighty-fourpercent of the consumers accepted theproducts, and 60 percent would purchaseif available. Texture, flavor and overallliking were discriminating attributes.Some consumers were concerned aboutthe whiteness of the products. The mis-conception from consumers was thatchemicals were used to produce thewhite beef cold-cut. The white beefcold-cut product has market potential.Further product optimization and amarket-test study are the next steps tocommercialization.

Novel Beef Productsfrom Undesirable Cuts

Voranuch Suvanich, Research Associate; IngridMaciel-Pedrote, Graduate Student; and WitoonPrinyawiwatkul, Associate Professor, Departmentof Food Science, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

Voranuch Suvanich, Ingrid Maciel-Pedrote and Witoon Prinyawiwatkul

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Novel Beef Productsfrom Undesirable Cuts

Based on its color andtextural properties, whitebeef can be furtherprocessed into seafood-flavored imitationproducts targetingconsumers allergic toseafood.

successfully developed a process toproduce white beef (surimi-like) fromground beef. The process involveswashing ground beef with iced water,draining and mixing with cryo-protectants. Yield was up to 35 percentof the original weight of ground beef,depending on the ground beef’s particlesize. The white beef has low fat content(1.2 percent). Whiteness of the whitebeef prepared using three washingcycles was not different from that of thecommercial Alaska pollack surimi. Thewhite beef exhibited desirable function-ality and can potentially be used as aningredient in various reduced-fat meatproducts and seafood analogs. Based on


hmic heating is a food processingmethod in which an alternating electri-cal current is passed through a foodsample. This results in internal energygeneration in foods. This produces aninside-out heating pattern, which ismuch faster than conventional outside-inheating. Ohmic heating is somewhatsimilar to microwave heating but withvery different frequencies. The advan-tage of ohmic heating is that it uni-formly heats foods with differentdensities, such as chicken noodle soup,for example.

Ohmic heating technology has beenaround since the early 1900s, but it wasnot until the late 1980s that food pro-cessing researchers began investigating

Ohmic Heating:A Value-added Food Processing ToolMarybeth Lima, Tuoxiu Zhong and N. Rao Lakkakula

Julianne Forman, a senior in biological engineering, uses a thermocoupleto check the temperature of sweet potato tissue during ohmic heating.

Marybeth Lima, Associate Professor; and TuoxiuZhong and N. Rao Lakkakula, former GraduateStudents, Department of Biological and Agricul-tural Engineering, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge,La.

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the potential of ohmic heating for foodquality, and cost and energy savings infood processing.

Most initial research on ohmicheating has been conducted on heattransfer and thermal processing of foodmixtures. Recently, issues involvingmass transfer of components in foodsduring ohmic heating have been studied.Potential applications for ohmic heatinginclude blanching, evaporation, dehy-

dration, fermentation and extraction.LSU AgCenter researchers are investi-gating ways to use ohmic heating infood processing.

Freeze-drying sweetpotatoes

Sweet potato samples were ohmi-cally heated and freeze-dried, and theirfreeze drying rate was measured and

FOOD

AC power supply

In ohmic heating alternatingelectrical current passes througha food sample, resulting in internalenergy generation in the food. This produces an inside-out heating pattern.

"Excited" cells vibrate,causing friction and energy dissipation in the form of heat.

Illustration by Barbara Corns


Figure 1. Percent oil yield as a function of moist-ure content and frequency of alternating currentfor the ohmic heating process. Adding water tothe bran (10.5% bran has no moisture added)results in better ohmic heating and better oilyields. Decreasing the frequency of alternatingcurrent increases the oil yield due to electro-poration, which causes the formation of smallpores in the cell walls and enables oil to diffuseacross the cell walls, where it is easier to extract.

compared with a control (no heating).Ohmic heating increased the rate offreeze-drying up to 25 percent, asignificant time and energy savings forprocessing. Freeze-drying is a time- andenergy-intensive process, thus anymethod that cuts drying time signifi-cantly is important. Additionally,freeze-drying is one step in thesupercritical fluid extraction process,which shows promise as a fast, environ-mentally friendly way to extract beta-carotene and other high valuecomponents from sweet potato tissue.

Extracting oil from rice branRice bran oil can be extracted from

rice bran and used as cooking oil.Although rice bran oil has outstandingnutritive, sensory and cooking character-istics, it is relatively expensive toproduce. Ohmic heating could enhancethe extraction of rice bran oil from ricebran, with the ultimate goal of makingthe production of rice bran oil economi-cally feasible. Ohmic heating is a fastprocess (on the order of seconds) thatenhances the extraction of apple juicefrom apples, sucrose from sugar beetsand soy milk from soybeans. LSUAgCenter researchers conducted studiesto determine if ohmic heating couldenhance the extraction yield of rice branoil from rice bran.

Rice bran wasohmically heated andthe oil subsequentlyextracted. Ohmicallyheated samplesyielded more totallipids from rice bran(Figure 1). Research-ers also determinedthat lowering thefrequency of alternat-ing current duringohmic heating resultedin enhanced extractionyields.

Ohmic heatingsaves time

Ohmic heatingsaves significant timeand energy in hot airand freeze drying offoods and enhancesextraction yields insome processingoperations. The parameters used duringohmic heating, such as frequency ofalternating current, applied voltage andthe temperature to which the sample isheated, have a significant effect on itssuccess. The electrical conductivity ofthe food or food mixture is a significantfactor, too. Ohmic heating is a usefultool for value-added processing, and it

The overwhelming majority of microbes in the world are not harmful tohumans. Food processing researchers have established two kinds of microorgan-isms that are undesirable in food: spoilage microorganisms, which spoil the foodbut are not toxic to consume, and pathogenic microorganisms. Pathogens areharmful to consume, or they produce toxins that are harmful or fatal if consumed.

Researchers can identify which types of pathogenic and spoilage microorgan-isms are likely to be in a food based on its biological, chemical and physicalproperties. A processing method is then designed to ensure that these microor-ganisms will not grow or proliferate in the food; this can be “guaranteed” for onlya certain period. For example, pasteurization is a mild to moderate heat treatmentdesigned to kill spoilage microorganisms. The consumer has 10 to 14 days toconsume milk (if refrigerated) before spoilage microorganisms or yeasts sour themilk. In most other parts of the world, milk is subjected to heavy heat treatment(sterilization) using aseptic processing. This milk lasts at least eight weeks and doesnot need to be refrigerated, even after being opened. Worldwide, most peopledrink milk warm or at room temperature.

Microbes and Food

AcknowledgmentsVicki Lancaster and Terry Walkercontributed to this research; James Finney,Tom Bride and the late Malcolm Gaspardprovided technical assistance.

Marybeth Lima, Associate Professor, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering,LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

has great potential for use in a widevariety of food processing operationsinvolving heat and mass transfer.

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n recent years, many large food andbeverage companies have adopted teamapproaches to new product develop-ment. The approach typically involvesboth a marketing department and aresearch and development departmentgenerating product ideas, concepts andultimately prototypes, which aresubsequently tested in selected targetmarkets. Production engineers andadvertising experts are brought in later.The development process takes any-where from 18 months to several yearsbefore a product is launched. Because ofshort life cycles for many products andstiff competition, the time betweenproduct conception and product launchmust move as fast as possible. Manycompanies take an approach that usesall departmental expertise at the earlieststages of product development. This hascut the time it takes to develop andlaunch new products to less than oneyear. Food Processing magazine reportsthat Coors, Hershey Foods, Planters,ConAgra, Taco Bell, H.J. Heinz,General Mills and Ore-Ida all attributethe success of new product launches in

the 1990s to well-organized, multifunc-tional product development teams.

Successful new product develop-ment involves matching buyer prefer-ences with the desired physical andperceived attributes of products orservices. This is particularly true forfoods developed from processingbyproducts, because traditional marketsfor these products do not yet exist.Subjective perceptions of a food’sphysical attributes, such as visualappeal, texture, aroma and taste, playa major role in consumer acceptance.Consumer perceptions also are affectedby numerous socio-economic factorsincluding cultural, social, personal andpsychological attributes of the indi-vidual. The design of new foods alsorequires that domestic and internationalregulations for safe processing andhandling, sanitary practices, packagingand labeling requirements be consid-ered. Production and distribution costsand procedures must be evaluated todetermine if the new products could beproduced profitably in quantity. Thecomplex task of developing theseproducts requires a multidisciplinaryteam that includes food scientists andengineers, food marketing and economicspecialists, and food safety specialists.

The LSU AgCenter has developeda consumer-driven, multidisciplinary

approach to new product development inthe agro-food industry. The frameworkincludes these sequential steps: 1)identifying new product ideas, 2)analyzing economic and financialaspects of product ideas, 3) testingproduct concepts, 4) developing productprototypes, 5) conducting consumertaste tests, 6) following food safetyconsiderations and 7) establishingproduction protocols (Table 1).

Four types of new product develop-ment in the food industry includeextending or repositioning existing foodproducts, reformulating or developingnew forms of existing products, repack-aging existing products and developinginnovative value-added products.Research institutions, such as the LSUAgCenter, are well suited for this work.Examples of these products includecrawfish minced meat, crawfish nuggetsand crawfish sausages produced fromthe byproducts of traditional crawfishprocessing. These products are currentlybeing developed by multidisciplinaryteams from the departments of FoodScience and Agricultural Economics andAgribusiness. Other potential prototypesinclude medicinal products and nutra-ceutical ingredients being developed bythe LSU AgCenter’s AgriculturalBiotechnology Laboratory.

A Multidisciplinary Approachto New Product Development

R. Wes Harrison, Alvin R. Schupp and Jeffrey M. Gillespie

R. Wes Harrison, Associate Professor; Alvin R.Schupp, Professor; and Jeffrey M. Gillespie,Associate Professor, Department of AgriculturalEconomics and Agribusiness, LSU AgCenter,Baton Rouge, La.

I

AGRO-FOOD INDUSTRYFood Marketing &

Economic Specialists

Food Scientist

s

& EngineersFood Safety

Specialists



Food Product DevelopmentA product idea can be defined as

any possible product that might beoffered to a particular market. Thisbroad definition allows food productideas to come from many sources,including food industry experts, foodscientists and marketing specialists.Idea sources may include informationgleaned from trade shows, researchsymposia, trade literature and govern-ment publications. Key industry playersinclude managers of processing facili-ties, restaurant and grocery storemanagers, salespeople and industryconsultants.

Regardless of how product ideasare generated, a method for preliminaryscreening of those ideas is necessarybefore the next stage of developmentcan begin. Screening eliminates productideas with low potential according tofour specific criteria: marketability,technical feasibility, manufacturingfeasibility and financial feasibility. Forexample, before the crawfish nuggetswere developed and tested, numerousideas were explored. These includedcrawfish stuffing, crawfish sticks andcrawfish soup base. These ideas weregenerated and refined in discussionswith food scientists and marketingspecialists as well as restaurant chefsand crawfish processors.

Next, a preliminary economicanalysis is needed. This involves

collection and analysis ofsecondary data intended todetermine customer trends andthe potential market size andgrowth prospects. Marketanalysis provides the basisfor initial screening of productideas. The question of technicalfeasibility requires input fromfood technologists. The goal isto determine the probability thatthe product idea can be success-fully transformed into aphysical product and to esti-mate the time and cost requiredto develop the actual product.Product ideas clearing these hurdlesadvance to the next stage of develop-ment, which involves formation andtesting of specific product concepts.

Product TestingThe testing of product concepts

leads to the development of prototypeproducts by food scientists. Differentingredients, spices and cooking pro-cesses are investigated. Food scientistshave developed numerous formulationsfor crawfish nuggets. Technical experi-ments are performed in LSU’s MuscleFoods Laboratory to develop prototypenuggets under various processingconditions. These prototypes are thentested for sensory qualities of taste,texture, smell and appearance byconsumers. Sensory analysis has been

conducted on a number of products,including various formulations ofminced crawfish meat. These analysescan be used to determine whether aproduct has acceptable sensory charac-teristics and how well the productcompares with potential competition.Packaging prototypes may be developedfor testing, too.

Once product prototypes have beentested and refined, food safety special-ists provide input. The costs of develop-ing and implementing appropriatequality control and HACCP systemsmust be assessed. Food engineersprovide the primary input into thequestion of manufacturing potential.The time and cost required to manufac-ture the proposed product under com-mercial conditions is determined. Thefinal criterion of product development isan assessment of the financial feasibilityof the new products. This involves inputof economists and financial experts ofthe team. The goal is to access thecapital requirements necessary to launchthe product idea commercially and toestimate the potential payoff.

Potential Economic ImpactNew product development using

processing byproducts can change anoften negative or minimum valuebyproduct into a product capable ofcovering the original processing costs ormore. Since processing costs for manymeats can represent 5 percent to 10percent of the products’ costs at thepacker level, using one or more of thebyproducts for human food can greatlyimprove a producer’s net return. Use ofprocessing byproducts for food or otheruses has also generated savings in wastedisposal and environmental damage.Efforts in new product developmentsuch as those of the LSU AgCenter canextract more dollars from byproductsand expand the world’s food supply.


These crawfish sausages are produced from thebyproducts of traditional crawfish processing.

Photo by Witoon Prinyawiwatkul

Table 1: New Food Product Development Process

Stage Type of Analysis Output

1. Product Idea Opportunities/Need for New Ideas for Product Concepts Generation Products & Technical Feasibility

2. Preliminary Market & Analysis of Markets, Prices List of Product Ideas with Economic Study Production Costs, Investment the Highest Likelihood of

Success in Market

3. Testing of Remaining Focus Groups & Consumer Important Product Product Concepts Surveys Attributes, Hypothetical

Product Designs

4. Prototype Evaluation of Technical Product Prototypes Development Success and Costs

5. Prototype Testing Consumer Sensory Tests Refinement of ProductDesigns

6. Food Safety HACCP & Quality Control HACCP Plan

7. Production Protocols Analysis of Pilot Plant Production Plan for Commercialization


ecause of declining naturalfishery resources and increasingconsumer demand for fishery andaquacultural products, it is no longerpractical to discard undersized crawfishand byproducts and wastes fromcrawfish and catfish processing plants,

suggests a strong economic potentialwith major impact on the entire catfishand crawfish industries.

CrawfishLouisiana is the world’s largest

producer of crawfish with an averageannual harvest exceeding100 million pounds. Alongwith edible crawfishtailmeat, about 85 millionpounds of peeling wasteis generated in Louisianaannually. The peeling wasteis used as animal feed withlow economic value,although it is an inexpensivesource of the valuableorange-red pigment,asthaxanthin, and thebiopolymer, chitosan.

Before processing,crawfish are typically sortedinto three grades: large/export, medium/restaurantand small/manual process-ing. The grading processresults in a notable volumeof undersized crawfish toosmall for manual peeling—

more than 20 million pounds in someyears. Lack of satisfactory markets foroverabundant undersized crawfish canbe economically devastating forprocessors and remains one of theproblems facing the Louisiana crawfishindustry. LSU AgCenter researchershave demonstrated that by using a meat-bone separator located at the FoodProcessing and Technology Laboratory,they can mechanically recover mincedmeat from cooked, undersized crawfish.With this recovered crawfish mince,formed seafood products can be created.

Because availability of crawfish ishighly seasonal, thorough understandingof storage conditions, shelf-life qualityand microbial safety of mince recoveredfrom undersized crawfish are critical foreffective development of value-addedseafood products safe for humanconsumption. Crawfish mince has 14.4

percent protein, 80.4 percent moisture,2.1 percent fat and 1.3 percent ash.Even after six months of storage atminus 20 degrees C, the mince main-tains an appealing orange-reddish color.Furthermore, this frozen mince re-sembles fresh mince, having no appar-ent offensive odor. LSU AgCenterstudies show that formed seafoodproducts made from crawfish mince,which required further heat treatmentduring cooking, were free of pathogensand safe for consumption. The shelfstability of crawfish frozen mince,which is up to six months without addedpreservatives, is attributed to its low fatcontent and the presence of the naturalantioxidant, astaxanthin.

Consumer SurveyA survey was conducted with 1,600

seafood restaurants in Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas to evaluatedesirable quality attributes of crawfishmince. Mince freshness was identifiedas the most critical attribute affectingend-product quality and purchase intent.Minced meat from cooked, undersizedcrawfish was successfully used as abase for several new formed seafoodproducts such as nuggets, patties andsausages. These products were accept-able to consumers and more than 80percent of the consumers participatingin the tests indicated that they wouldpurchase the products if commerciallyavailable. Flavor was most critical tooverall acceptance and purchase intentof the crawfish mince-based productsfrom the consumers’ point of view.

ChitosanCrawfish shell waste is a good

and inexpensive source of chitosan.Chitosan is a biopolymer havingnumerous food applications. Traditionalchitosan production involves four steps:demineralization, deproteinization,decoloration and deacetylation.AgCenter researchers successfullysimplified the process, which alsoreduced some chemical waste.

Value-addedfrom Crawfish and Catfish

Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Voranuch Suvanich, R. Wes Harrison, Joan M. King,Subramaniam Sathivel, Karoline Pacheco, Sandeep Kumar Rout,

Kandasamy Nadarajah and Sirisha Sonti

Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Associate Professor, andVoranuch Suvanich, Research Associate,Department of Food Science; R. Wes Harrison,Associate Professor, Department of AgriculturalEconomics and Agribusiness; Joan M. King,Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science;Subramaniam Sathivel, Assistant Professor,Fishery Industrial Technology Center, Universityof Alaska Fairbanks, Kodiak, Alaska; KarolinePacheco, Sandeep Kumar Rout, KandasamyNadarajah and Sirisha Sonti, all GraduateStudents, Department of Food Science, LSUAgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

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Photo by Mark Claesgens


Louisiana is the world’s largest producer of crawfish withan average annual harvest exceeding 100 millionpounds.

especially when a significant amount ofvaluable raw materials can be recoveredand used to produce value-added newproducts and functional ingredients. Themagnitude of this resource as a rawmaterial for value-added products


costs would encouragecatfish processors tofurther invest to extendthe production line toinclude surimi. Catfishsurimi has little or noflavor of the originalfish and therefore canbe used as an intermedi-ate raw material forvarious seafood-basedproducts. Surimiproduced from catfishframe mince hasinferior whitenesscompared to commer-cial surimi. Our studiesshow that significantimprovement ofwhiteness of catfish surimi can beachieved with addition of 0.1 percenttitanium dioxide. Consumer acceptabil-ity of catfish surimi is increased whenat least 0.5 percent titanium dioxide isadded.

Catfish frame mince and surimi,alone or in combination, were success-fully used as major ingredients forvarious seafood-based products such asnibblets, fingers, chips and sausages.Product acceptability, opportunity andmarket potential for nibblets, fingers andseafood sausage were investigated.Flavor and texture were most criticalto product acceptance. Since safety iscritical to the success of any newproducts, we developed the genericmodel Hazard Analysis and CriticalControl Point (HACCP) for raw frozencatfish mince, catfish surimi and derivedvalue-added products.

As demand for surimi productscontinues to grow and a global naturalfishery catch declines, byproducts fromthe catfish filleting operation may serveas an alternative for surimi production.Potential exists for the commercial-scaledevelopment of both catfish mince-based and surimi-based products, whichmay in turn form new market niches thatwill be beneficial to the catfish industry.

Catfish VisceraThere has been little interest to add

value to catfish viscera, a processingwaste. A whole viscera, which includesthe liver, gallbladder, digestive tract(intestine and stomach) and storage fat,weighs about 10 percent of a livecatfish. Our study indicated that catfishviscera contains about 30 percent to 35percent fat. Docosahexaenoic andarachidonic acids in natural fish oil havebeen touted as helping maintain heart

and vascular health in humans. Wefound that catfish viscera contain thesetwo health-promoting fatty acids.Recovery, extraction and purificationprocesses for catfish visceral oil weredeveloped, and the oil quality character-ized. Conventional oil refining isachieved through the following steps:degumming, neutralization, bleachingand deodorization. We discovered thatchitosan (functional ingredient derivedfrom crawfish shell waste) was aneffective adsorbent for removing freefatty acids (causing offensive odor)from crude catfish oil. The use ofchitosan may eliminate the neutraliza-tion step. Further research on properprocess design and process optimizationfor a larger scale production of catfishoil is essential. A market feasibilitystudy is also needed.

Economic ImpactThe outlook for more innovative

and effective processing technology forbyproduct recovery is promising. Withenforcement of pollution laws to protectthe environment, catfish and crawfishprocessors have shown an increasinginterest in using byproducts and process-ing wastes. This would minimizepollution problems and offset costsinvolved in disposal of processingbyproducts and wastes and at the sametime maximize the processors’ profits.In the long run, the use of byproductsand wastes from catfish and crawfishprocessing plants will not only enhancethe competitiveness of the Louisianacatfish and crawfish industries, butalso enhance the state’s economicdevelopment.

The fat-binding capacity of chitosanhas made it a potential weight-reductionfood supplement. We discovered thatcrawfish chitosan has more than 750percent fat-binding capacity.

Chitosan is a natural antimicrobialand antifungal substance and may beused to produce an edible film coating.We are currently studying thefilmogenic properties of crawfishchitosan. Coating whole or fresh-cutfruits and vegetables with chitosan filmmay prolong shelf life. The marketdemand for fresh-cut fruits and veg-etables has undergone rapid expansionin recent years. We are investigating theeffect of chitosan coating on shelfstability of fresh-cut apples. Ourpreliminary study indicated that thecoated fresh-cut apples lasted at leastone week without surface browning.

CatfishMost catfish processed in the

United States is sold as fresh or frozenfillets and whole-dressed fish. The yieldfrom dressed-out catfish from traditionalprocessing is only 45 percent, whileoffal (including catfish frames, viscera,skin and trimmings) derived from thefilleting process, which often ends up inlandfills or rendering plants, amounts to55 percent of the total live catfishweight. Up to 75 percent of usablemince can be recovered from a catfishframe. The mince can be directly usedin formed seafood products or furtherprocessed into surimi. Crude fat can beextracted from the viscera and head,purified and potentially used as season-ing oil or functional food supplement.

Surimi ProductionCatfish processors have increas-

ingly shown interest in convertingbyproduct or waste into edible value-added food products. At the LSUAgCenter, we successfully developedthe process to recover minced meat fromfilleted catfish frames. The mince wasfurthered processed into surimi. Oursurimi production process requires lesswash-water volume than the traditionalprocess, yet provides quality comparableto that of the commercial surimiproducts. Furthermore, all significantpotential human pathogens werereduced to a non-detectable level as aresult of our controlled processes usedduring production of minced meat andsurimi. Reducing the required wash-water would lower the production costand reduce the space required forwastewater treatment. Lower production



Most catfish processed in the United States is sold as freshor frozen fillets and whole-dressed fish.


freshly prepared mayhaw fruitjuice should correspond to the composi-tion of the fruit selection from which ithas been prepared. If the juice extractionmethod has been effective, there shouldnot be significant differences betweenthe fresh juice and the original fruit.However, the processing of mayhawfruit can change its juice composition,especially when heat-treated. Addition-ally, the mayhaw fruit selection used forjuice production, stage of fruit maturityat the time of harvest as well as culturalvariables can all produce variations andinconsistencies in the initial composi-tion of the expressed mayhaw fruit juice.Here are results of a study of juicepreparation using only one variety ofmayhaw, the “Texas Star.”

Six extraction methods wereevaluated: steam extraction using wholefruits, steam extraction using wholefruits with added pulp juice, cold-pressextraction using whole fruit, cold-pressextraction using finely ground fruit pulp,hot press extraction using finely groundfruit pulp and hot press extraction usingfinely ground fruit pulp incorporating acommercial pectolytic enzyme as apretreatment aid before pressing.Quantitative results on mayhaw fruitjuice composition after the initialexpression when using either fresh orfrozen fruit were significantly differentamong each extraction method used.

Some aspects of mayhaw fruit juice,such as color, are entirely a consequenceof processing methodology. Studyresults show that comminution ormilling, fruit pulp holding temperature,type of extraction method and conditionof fruit (fresh or frozen) singularly andcollectively had a significant influencein determining the final composition andcolor of fresh mayhaw juice. Pectolyticenzymes, when used properly, willsignificantly increase juice extractionyields of both fresh and frozen mayhawfruit.

For this study, mayhaw fruit juicewas extracted with the use of a rack and

Mayhaw Fruit JuiceAlfred Trappey II, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Paul Wilson and Charles E. Johnson

Alfred Trappey II, Assistant Professor, and WitoonPrinyawiwatkul, Associate Professor, Departmentof Food Science; Paul Wilson and Charles E.Johnson, Professors, Department of Horticulture,LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

The mayhaw, the fruit of the thorny, hawthorne tree, is about a 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch indiameter and resembles a crabapple. Mayhaws are grown in about 20 Louisiana parishes,with most grown in Grant Parish.

Photo by Mark ClaesgensA


Mayhaw-MuscadineFruit Juice Drink:

A Competitor for Cranberry?The cranberry was once an obscure, regional fruit that through research and

marketing has been propelled to a commodity with international demand. LSUAgCenter researchers hope that the mayhaw may also achieve such prominence,and research projects are under way.The following study involves mayhaw-muscadine juice blends.

Preliminary consumer preferencetesting determined that, after an adjust-ment to the sugar acid ratio, certaincombination proportions of mayhaw-muscadine fruit juices were consideredby consumers to be similar in flavor tocommercially available cranberry/apple/grape juice drink. Before preferencetesting, mayhaw-muscadine juice blendswere adjusted to about the same percent total soluble solids (17) as found in theOcean Spray cranberry apple juice drink. Juice blends formulated from differentcombinations of mayhaw-muscadine differed significantly in color, flavor, taste andoverall acceptance. Most important, fruit juice drinks produced from either 60/40,30/70 or 40/60 mayhaw-muscadine blends were considered best in flavor andoverall acceptability. Taste had the strongest effect on overall acceptability offinished juice formulated when varying the level of mayhaw juice used incombination with muscadine grape juice. Taste scores correlated significantly withacceptance for both 60/40 and 40/60 mayhaw-muscadine juice blends.

frame hydraulic press, which works wellwith small quantities of fruit. However,a disadvantage of this system is theinability to mix the fruit (whole orground) during cold-press extractionof either fresh or frozen fruit. Studyfindings showed significant inconsis-tency in juice efficacy. This is primarilydue to pockets of unpressed fruit thatbecame trapped and unavailable forjuice expression in the rack and framehydraulic press system.

To optimize mayhaw juice process-ing, specific variables must interacteffectively. For each of the six extrac-tion methods, these variables were:mayhaw fruit quality, fruit pretreatment(freezing as a press aid), type of fruitpreparation (whole or ground), thequality and type of juice desired (sugarto acid ratio), condition of mayhaw fruitat the time of comminution (texture),enzyme usage and temperature of thefruit pulp at the time of expression.

Handpicked mayhaw fruit isgenerally of good quality, but naturalvariations in the composition ofmayhaw fruit, such as stage of maturityand cultural practices, will all producesignificant variations or inconsistenciesin the composition of expressed juice.

With the growth of mechanicalharvesting of mayhaw fruit, qualitystandards must be developed to limit theintroduction of the following: contami-nation by debris (leaves, insects, dirt andtwigs), damage of fruit, and inconsisten-cies in fruit maturity, all of which haveto be sorted and removed beforeprocessing. From a producer’s perspec-tive, minimum quality standards orgrading guidelines must be establishedfor large-scale mayhaw fruit purchase.On the processing end, impurities needto be identified and removed beforemilling and pressing, particularly sun-scaled mayhaw fruit, rotten fruit andinsect-damaged fruit. The quality of thefruit determines the problems that mayoccur during juice processing.

Research indicates that frozenstorage of mayhaw fruit can be usedeffectively without lowering juice yieldor quality. Processing of fresh mayhawfruit in the future with the advent ofmechanical harvesting may presentscheduling problems because mostmayhaw selections tend not to matureat the same time. Frozen storage wouldallow for an accumulation of inventory,thereby creating a consistent supply offruit, since crop yields may varyconsiderably from year to year becauseof extremes in weather conditions.

Alfred Trappey II, Assistant Professor, and Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Associate Professor,Department of Food Science; Paul Wilson and Charles E. Johnson, both Professors,Department of Horticulture, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

Alfred Trappey with a sample of the mayhaw-muscadine fruit juice drink.



olid wood forest products asopposed to pulp and paper products canbe characterized broadly as primary orsecondary. This classification is notalways clear, but most industry observ-ers agree that primary products are thoseproduced directly from raw timberinput. Examples include chips, lumber,veneer, plywood and their byproducts.Secondary products use primaryproducts as input for remanufacturing.Examples include various types ofpanels or engineered composites.Secondary products also can includefinal consumer products such as cabinetsand furniture.

Value-added wood products aremost commonly thought of as beingonly those products with the highestvalue such as furniture, flooring orspecialized paneling. Value, however,can be added to wood and woodproducts at various levels of processing.For example, value can be added to alog by properly cutting to the correctlength so more product can be producedfrom straighter, less tapered material.Value can be added to lumber byprocessing more efficiently or manufac-turing for special niche markets. Inpanel production, value can be added byenhancing certain properties such asdimensional stability or resistance totermites and decay. Value is greatlyadded when producing engineered woodproducts, such as building joists, beamsand framing made from wood fibers orstrands held together with a binder suchas glue or resin.

The LSU AgCenter’s LouisianaForest Products Laboratory works tohelp Louisiana’s forest productsindustries add value to their productsthrough a number of activities. These

Value-added Forest Products:Opportunities for GrowthNiels DeHoop, Michael Dunn, Todd Shupe,Ramsay Smith, Richard Vlosky and Qinglin Wu

include enhancing production efficiencyin the primary and secondary processingindustries, developing more durablewood-based products, developingmethods and products for recyclingwood-based products and enhancingeconomic development by encouragingbetter business practices.

The potential of the value-addedforest products industry has beenincreasing as a means of facilitatingeconomic development. Most industrydevelopment efforts focus on value-added secondary processing (furniture,flooring) instead of primary production(lumber, plywood) to retain and expandjobs in rural areas. Value-added second-ary wood processing offers opportuni-ties for increased profitability throughhigher margins and greater profits.Making secondary wood products oftenoffers opportunities that primaryprocessing does not normally offer. Forexample, secondary manufacturers cangenerally increase prices to make up forlost profits when raw material costs rise.Secondary products also earn higherprofits by adding value and meetingspecific customer needs.

Louisiana’s Forest ProductsIndustry

The harvest of timber, Louisiana’sNo. 1 agricultural crop both in grossincome and value-added processing,supports a solid wood forest productsindustry that includes about 200 primaryand 750 secondary manufacturingestablishments. In contrast to primarycompanies, secondary wood productsmanufacturers tend to be small; nearlytwo-thirds have fewer than 10 employ-ees. More than half have annual salesof less than $250,000 with just over 5percent having sales of $5 million ormore. Average annual sales are anestimated $1.2 million.

Louisiana produces only 97 centsof value-added product for every $1 oflumber created by the sawmills operat-ing in the state. This compares to thesouthern average of $2.13 of value-

added for $1 of sawmill productproduced. Improvement of industrycompetitiveness can increase potentialfor jobs creation and resource use in therural-based forest products industry.However, to attain this potential, a widevariety of issues must be addressed. Forexample existing consumer markettrends, location decision criteria, rawmaterials availability and applicability,labor force skills and training require-ments, target market identification,recruitment and retention strategies,comparative advantages and effectson community stability should all beconsidered as part of an economicdevelopment initiative.

LSU AgCenter research has shownthat if Louisiana could reach theSouthern average of wood value-addedproduction, about 5,500 jobs would becreated. Recent research has indicatedthat the main barrier to secondary woodproducts expansion in Louisiana is thelack of an adequately trained workforce. To help the industry attain its fullpotential, a wide variety of woodscience and business issues are beingaddressed.

Educational ActivitiesThe first step in adding value to

wood is to identify the species of woodcorrectly. Drying schedules and end-useoptions of wood are largely governed bythe species. The LSU AgCenter’sLouisiana Forest Products Laboratoryconducts wood identification work-shops. Fundamental in adding valueto wood is kiln drying. Accordingly,lumber drying workshops are conductedin cooperation with LSU School ofRenewable Natural Resources, Louisi-ana Tech University, Louisiana ForestryAssociation and dry kiln manufacturers.In addition, newsletters and publicationsinclude information on wood-moisturerelationships such as lumber drying andwood decay. The Forest Products Labalso educates wood business owners onsound business practices such as recordkeeping and marketing. Evaluations

Niels DeHoop, Associate Professor; MichaelDunn, Program Leader, Extension NaturalResources; Todd Shupe, Associate Professor;Ramsay Smith, Program Leader, Forest Products;Richard Vlosky, Professor; and Qinglin Wu,Associate Professor, Louisiana Forest ProductsLaboratory, School of Renewable NaturalResources, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

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indicate that more than half of theparticipants plan business expansions byadding employees and equipment andexpanding facilities.

In addition, workshops are con-ducted to educate individuals working inthe Louisiana secondary wood industryas well as those considering enteringthis industry sector. The wood scienceissues that have been targeted includewood-moisture relationships, woodidentification, lumber drying andstorage and wood preservation. Businessissues are critical to the success of asecondary wood business, and work-shops have targeted sound businesspractices, marketing, regulatory compli-ance, workers’ compensatory insurance,business plans, obtaining a loan andInternet resources. Workshop evalua-tions indicate that participants haveearned or saved their businesses about$1,000. Moreover, more than half of theparticipants say they plan to add at leastone employee.

Termite-resistant ProductsOne opportunity for value-added

growth in Louisiana’s forest productsindustry is the development of moredurable termite- and decay-resistantengineered wood products. The damageto homes and forests caused byFormosan subterranean termites andresulting treatments and repairs isestimated at $2 billion a year nation-wide, with $350 million or more of thatin New Orleans. Moisture and decaycause additional losses. A major issueis the availability of treated engineeredwood products for use in adverseenvironments. Various treatments arebecoming available, but there is a needto develop stronger, more stable, moreresistant, but environmentally safewood-based treated products. Onceproven, these products will have greatdemand in the residential and commer-cial construction markets.

The Louisiana Forest ProductsLaboratory is working with a numberof companies to help develop durablewood-based materials. A Formosansubterranean termite lab has tested morethan 70 treatments. In addition, productsare being developed and tested for bettermoisture resistance, dimensionalstability, strength and product perfor-mance. Specifically, research is beingconducted on structural compositepanels such as oriented strandboard(OSB), which cannot be pressure-treatedonce it is made into panel form. OSB ismade of wood flakes glued with a

thermal-setting resin. It is widely usedas sheathing, flooring and I-joistmaterials in construction, replacingmore traditional plywood. Thus, alter-native techniques for protecting OSBagainst termites are being developed.

As durable wood-based materialsare developed, homeowners andhomebuilders who incorporate them intonew homes and repairs of older homescan have more confidence that theirinvestments will last. Through theseefforts, significant new value-addedmarkets can be developed that willenhance the industry supplying thesemarkets and provide Louisiana home-owners reduced maintenance costs and asignificant reduction in termite damage.

Agriculture-fiber CompositesSugarcane is an important agricul-

tural crop in the southern United States.The cane stalk consists of an inner piththat contains most of the sucrose and anouter rind with lignocellulosic fibers.Cane processing crushes the entire stalkto extract the sucrose, from whichrefined sugar is produced. Largequantities of the bagasse, containingboth crushed rind and pith fibers, remainafter sugar extraction. Disposal of thisbyproduct from the sugar industry is sofar still inefficient. For instance, about85 percent of the bagasse produced inLouisiana is used as fuel in mill pro-cesses and for other low-value applica-tions such as mulch and inexpensiveceiling tiles. The remaining 15 percentis waste that is allowed to decay or isput in landfills. Therefore, finding betterways to use bagasse is an importantresearch interest with practical signifi-cance. Transforming bagasse into highquality industrial panel productsprovides a prospective solution. Re-search has been conducted to developbagasse-based core material for laminatefloors. Hammer-milled bagasse fiberswere successfully combined withpolymeric diphenylmethane di-isocyan-ate resin to form panels at variousdensities. Performance characteristicsof the products were assessed andcompared with respective propertiesspecified in the industrial standard forcommercial wood-based particleboard.The results of this study demonstratedthat a consistent, high performanceagrifiber composite panel with desirableenvironmental attributes could bedeveloped successfully.

Making Sawdust into FirelogsA perpetual problem for the wood

products industry has been the disposalof wood residues. Common methods ofdisposal include sending to a landfill orburning for energy. The sawmills andplywood mills in Louisiana use sawdustand wood pieces for particleboard andenergy. The smaller secondary indus-tries such as cabinet and furnituremanufacturers cannot efficiently do this.

LSU AgCenter researchers havedeveloped a way to create firelogs fromsawdust and planer shavings. This turnsa waste material into a profitableresource for homeowners without themess and work of firewood. Conven-tional firelogs are made from sawdustand petroleum-based paraffin wax. Thefirelogs created in the Louisiana ForestProducts Lab consist of sawdust and awax made from soybeans. Dubbed anenvironmentally friendly firelog, it notonly smells better as it burns, but is lesspolluting. Tests indicate that the firelogsproduced less carbon monoxide andtotal hydrocarbons than either oakfirewood or conventional firelogs.Researchers are now looking for waysto resolve economic issues to help bringthe product to market.

Markets and BusinessDevelopment

In addition to developing value-added products, it is important toidentify where the markets are for theproducts. More than 20 studies havebeen conducted by the Louisiana ForestProducts Laboratory that offer informa-tion for Louisiana wood productmanufacturers on baseline marketstructures, product opportunitiesand the competitive environment.

Although Louisiana ranks lowin adding value to its wood productresources and in other productivityindicators when compared to neighbor-ing states with similar resources andindustry structures, the value-addedwood products industry in the state hassignificant potential for expansion anddevelopment.


he usable carbon and nutrientscontained in rice hulls and bran,sugarcane bagasse and sweet potatoskins, which are Louisiana agriculturalbyproducts, may be converted bymicroorganisms to high-value products.LSU AgCenter researchers are develop-ing bioconversion processes that can beused to produce specialty or nutra-ceutical compounds from thesebyproducts. The value of these benefi-cial compounds may exceed $50 perpound as compared to a value of lessthan 50 cents per pound for white rice,sugar and sweet potatoes.

In 2000, the Biomass Research andDevelopment Board co-chaired by theU.S. Department of Agriculture andDepartment of Energy established the

goal of tripling use of biobased productsand bioenergy by 2010. To achieve this,a number of bioconversion and processtechnologies are needed to increaseproduction while maintaining profitabil-ity. One concept that integrates mostapproaches is the development of a“biorefinery.” This is a process that firstextracts valuable components from afeedstock with the goal of complete useat optimum profitability and minimumwaste generation.

LSU AgCenter researchers arecoordinating efforts with other statesto develop a biorefinery. The goal isbioconversion in three categories ofbiobased products: specialty chemicals

Bioconversion of ProcessingByproducts and WastesTerry H. Walker, Caye M. Drapcho and Donal F. Day

The flow of material in a biorefinery starts with raw materials that are turned intoproducts of lower value (bulk chemicals) and then into higher value (specialtybiochemicals). The three E’s address environmental, educational and economicconsiderations to sustain a successful biorefinery.

Terry H. Walker, Assistant Professor, and Caye M.Drapcho, Associate Professor, Department ofBiological and Agricultural Engineering; andDonal F. Day, Professor, Audubon SugarInstitute, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

T such as pharmaceuticals, bulk chemicalssuch as ethanol and biomaterials. Thiscollaborative effort will result in fasterdevelopment of processes that willbenefit Louisiana agriculture.

Fatty Acid BioconversionBeneficial health effects from

consumption of certain fish oils havebeen attributed to essential polyunsatu-rated fatty acids. These fatty acids havebeen linked to a reduced risk forcoronary heart disease, arthritis,inflammation, hypertension, psoriasis,other autoimmune disorders and cancer.Essential fatty acids are marketed asdietary supplements for adults andchildren at health food stores in theform of concentrated fish oils and asprescribed medications for humans andpets. The U.S. market is estimated to beat least $100 million per year with avalue of about $50 per pound.

Declining marine resources and anincreasing demand have prompted thesearch for alternative sources of polyun-saturated fatty acids. These sourcesinclude certain types of algae andfilamentous fungi. LSU AgCenterresearchers are examining a bioconver-sion process using the fungi Pythiumirregulare. This fungi is effective atconverting the carbohydrate in rice branand rice husks into stored oils thatcontain high levels of the omega-3 fattyacids, such as eicosapentanoic andarachodonic acids.

This research has shown that 0.31grams of oil per gram of fungal biomasscan be obtained when rice bran andhusks are used as the growth mediumand that enhanced growth rates areachieved at a temperature of 25 degreesC. Adding enzymes did not enhance oilproduction, which is an important costconsideration.

This research used rice byproductsobtained from the Sataki pilot-scale ricemill in the Department of Biological andAgricultural Engineering, thus integrat-ing the bioconversion process totraditional grain processing, whichexemplifies the biorefinery concept. Theoils are extracted by supercritical fluid

Bioprocessing, Bioconversion,Bioreactor design and control,

"Biorefineries"

Raw Materials, Byproducts,Agricultural "wastes"

Bulk Chemicals,Biofuels

Biomaterials Specialty Biochemicals

Environment Education Economics

SRDC - Southern Regional Development Committee

A “biorefinery” is a con-cept in which high-valueproducts are created fromlow-value byproducts.

Bioconversion of ProcessingByproducts and Wastes

Illustration by Barbara Corns


extraction using carbon dioxide ratherthan toxic, flammable organic solvents.Supercritical carbon dioxide hasadvantages over conventional solventsin that high extraction rates are achievedat lower temperatures, which preservesmany of the nutrients extracted.

Production of Bioethanoland Xylitol

Research conducted in the Depart-ment of Biological and AgriculturalEngineering has led to the investigationof a novel bioreactor system to maxi-mize product formation rates foranaerobic or low-oxygen fermentationproducts. This system is being investi-gated for both ethanol production fromsweet potato wastes and xylitol produc-tion from sugarcane bagasse.

Bioethanol Production. Ethanolis used as a precursor to other organicchemical production and as an additiveto fuels to significantly reduce noxiousemissions from fuel combustion. MTBE,

Zhu Hui, a graduate student in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, works withthe pilot-scale bioreactor to produce specialty biochemicals. He does the fungal fatty acid production.In the background Erika Reeves, also a graduate student, is working with bioethanol production.

the current fuel additive, is being phasedout because of environmental concerns.LSU AgCenter researchers are focusingon the use of Kluyveromyces marxianus,a heat-tolerant yeast, to convert agricul-tural waste from the processing of sweetpotatoes, rice, corn and sugarcane toethanol. These byproducts contain largeamounts of starch, cellulose and hemi-cellulose that must be broken down tosugars at high temperatures by enzymesin a process called saccharification sothat the sugars can be used by the yeastfor growth. Use of the high temperature-tolerant yeast allows for the saccharifi-cation step and the yeast growth to occurin the same reactor, which results infaster hydrolysis and growth rates, andtherefore will lower operating andcapital costs. AgCenter research hasshown that K. marxianus grows well inhydrolyzed sweet potato wastes and thateffective conversion of the organiccompounds in the sweet potato waste toyeast biomass and ethanol was achieved.

Xylitol Production. Xylitol is animportant sugar alcohol that has foundwide application in foods. Xylitol isconverted to glucose by human metabo-lism, but at relatively slower rates thatdo not significantly increase humaninsulin production. Food-grade xylitolhas an economic value of about $12 perpound. AgCenter researchers areconducting studies into the productionof xylitol by the yeast Candidatropicalis using sugarcane bagasse andleaf trash. This process involves thehydrolysis of the celluloses and hemi-celluloses to the sugars glucose andxylose, followed by the bioconversionof the sugars to yeast biomass andxylitol. Conversion rates of 0.5 – 0.8grams xylitol per gram of xylose havebeen found by other researchers. Thegoal of the research into the two-stagecontinuous reactor process is to increaseproduction rates while minimizing costscompared to traditional batch fermenta-tion systems.



he cane sugar industry is under pressure because ofglobal competition to diversify into value-added products. Thesucrose molecule derived from sugarcane has properties thatcan lead to further development. The large-scale and eco-nomic diversification of sucrose in other than food productshas not been realized. The biorefinery concept can solve thisproblem.

Analogous to an oil refinery, a biorefinery can producemany value-added products from sugarcane, such as glycerol,bioethanol, inositol, carbon dioxide, succinic acid, aconiticacid and an animal feed ingredient. The bagasse will be thefuel to cogenerate steam and electricity, so a biorefinerywould be nearly self-sufficient in energy.

A biorefinery cuts down on loss occurring in raw sugarfactories (Table 1). We have demonstrated in our research thata foliar application of betaine on sugarcane increases the sugaryield. This means more sugar is available for fermentation andraw material costs are reduced.

We have also demonstrated that Louisiana blackstrapmolasses can yield 42 percent glycerol and 20 percentbioethanol on fermentable sugars in a special fermentation

Willem H. Kampen, Associate Professor, Audubon Sugar Institute, LSUAgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

process. Yeast cells are forced to function under extremefermentation parameters of high osmotic pressure, pH,temperature and cell concentration. The biorefinery hasconsiderable swing capacity in terms of glycerol versusbioethanol production. Figure 1 shows the basic process andthe yields obtainable. Glycerol has numerous applications,

Willem H. Kampen

T


Biorefineryand SugarcaneThe large-scale and economicdiversification of sucrosein other than food productshas not been realized.The biorefinery conceptcan solve this problem.

Table 1. Available sugars in the raw sugar factoryand the biorefinery.

(Basis: 1 ton of cane) Factory Biorefinery

Sucrose in cane treated with betaine, lbs 280 280

Loss on the wash table, lbs 11 0

Loss in bagasse, lbs 20 10

Loss in filter mud, lbs 5 0

Loss in molasses, sucrose equivalent, lbs 33 0

Available sugars as sucrose, lbs 211 270


Figure 1. Simplified Biorefinery Process

New Guinea is the home of a cultivated form ofsugarcane. In ancient times, people migrating from theIndochina area to New Guinea encountered differenttypes of wild sugarcane. High-fiber forms were used forconstruction; softer and juicier forms were propagatedin gardens for chewing. From about 8000 B.C. on,people migrated from New Guinea to several PacificIslands, taking a cultivated form of sugarcane with them.It later reached Indonesia, the Philippines and NorthernIndia. By 400 B.C., crude sugar was developed.

Cane culture spread slowly, reaching Persia by 500A.D. Because of the Islamic Holy War, the Arabsbrought sugarcane to Egypt, which they had conquered.They built plantations and stone mills. Around 710A.D., the Egyptians developed clarification, crystalliza-tion and refining. Sugarcane spread westward acrossnorthern Africa and into southern Spain and Sicily. Thefirst large shipment of sugar reached England in 1319.Sugarcane reached the Canary Islands in 1420, fromwhence Columbus introduced it to the New World in1493.

From Santo Domingo cane culture spread acrossthe New World. It reached Louisiana in the late 1700s.Until some 450 years ago, fruits and honey were themost important sweet foods in the world. Then canesugar became the sweetener of choice until the 19thcentury.

Sugar beets have been grown for food and fodderin Europe for centuries. The German chemist Marggraffdemonstrated in 1747 that pure beet and pure canesugar were essentially identical. In 1802, the first beetsugar factory was started up in Cunern, Silesia, Ger-many. The French began construction of a beet sugarfactory that same year. In 1806, England imposed acontinental blockade against Napoleon. Imported sugarwas unavailable, and consequently the beet sugar indus-try began to flourish in Germany and France. Napoleon,in 1811, ordered rapid development of the industry andits technology.

In the 1980s the corn wet milling industry diversi-fied by marketing high fructose corn syrups (HFCS) andglucose syrups. Artificial sweeteners also entered themarket. Now the natural sweetener market is made upof about 55 percent HFCS, 25 percent cane sugar (ofwhich one-fourth is imported as raw sugar under theWorld Trade Organization quota system) and 20 per-cent beet sugar.

Willem H. Kampen, Associate Professor, Audubon SugarInstitute, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.

Simplified Biorefinery Process

Sugarcane(Molasses - 1 ton)

Special Fermentation

Aconitic Acid70 lbs.

CO2200 lbs.Distillation

Molecular Sieve

Stillage Clarificationand Evaporation

Absolute Ethanol200 lbs.

ChromatographicSeparations/Refining

Inositol20 lbs.

Glycerol350 lbs.

Animal Feed700 lbs.

(Acrolein)

Succinic Acid35 lbs.

Sugarcane Historysuch as toothpastes, shampoos, skin care products, polyure-thane, cellophane and pharmaceuticals. Inositol is used inbaby formula and specialty animal feeds for salmon andshrimp. It is a high value-added product at $5 per pound.Succinic acid is used in photographic and pharmaceuticalapplications. Aconitic acid is used in rubber and paints.

The demand for bioethanol should triple by the year 2010.It is a renewable oxygenate in gasoline, which can be pro-duced economically from molasses without the need forsubsidies, if incorporated into the biorefinery process.

The remaining molasses solids are concentrated andblended with agricultural waste for animal feed, the demandfor which should continue to increase.

Even though the total capital requirements are high, thereturn on investment would be about 20 percent, which isconsidered good. The process can be scaled up or down, andwaste treatment requirements have been minimized.


ouisiana is the second largest U.S.sugarcane producer, with sugarcaneproduction accounting for 41.5 percentof the nation’s total (Table 1).

The LSU AgCenter is conductingresearch on converting bagasse intovalue-added nonwoven materials. Thisresearch involves procedures forbagasse fiber extraction, bagasse fiberprocessing and bagasse fiber formationinto nonwoven materials. It alsoinvolves methods of evaluating non-woven bagasse products, including fiberbonding structure, mechanical andphysical properties, and biodegradabil-ity. Potential applications of bagassefiber nonwoven materials includehorticultural products, animal beddingand aquaculture products.

Sugarcane ProductionThe sugarcane stalk consists of two

parts: an inner pith containing most ofthe sucrose and an outer rind withlignocellulosic fibers. During refining,the sugarcane stalk is crushed to extractthe sucrose. This procedure produces alarge volume of residue, bagasse,containing both crushed rind and pithfibers. U.S. sugar mills produced about13 million tons of dry bagasse in 2001.In Louisiana, approximately 85 percentof waste bagasse is used as in-house fuelfor power generation or as raw materialfor producing low-value products suchas mulch and ceiling tiles. The remain-ing 15 percent is waste that goes to a

landfill or is allowedto decay.

Previous researchon bagasse hassuggested manyapproaches toconverting bagasseinto value-addedindustrial products,such as liquid fuels,feedstocks, enzymesand activated carbon.Use of bagasse fiberfor manufacturingmaterial products isanother prospectivesolution. Comparedto pure syntheticmaterials, bagassefiber-based materialshave two advanta-geous features, light

weight and renewability. The LSUHuman Ecology Textile ProcessingLaboratory has developed a method toproduce bagasse fiber nonwovens andcomposites. These biobased industrialmaterials have potential for diverse end-uses from automobile interior trim andhousing to agricultural and otherindustrial sectors.

Bagasse Fiber ProcessThe process for producing bagasse

fiber nonwovens and compositesincludes bagasse fiber extraction,bagasse fiber cleaning, opening andmixing, carding and needle-punching.Waste bagasse is manually sifted andput into an alkaline solution for boilingto remove lignin. After the treatment,bagasse fiber is rinsed with water anddried in an electric oven. The extractedbagasse fiber is cleaned using a cottoncleaning machine. The clean fiber isthen blended with carrier fibers orbonding fibers in desired ratios and fedinto a universal laboratory cardingmachine to form a fiber web. During thecarding, the fiber blend is further openedand individual fibers are combed to berelatively parallel.

Needle-punching is a mechanicalaction to entangle fibers in the direction

Producing Nonwoven Materialsfrom SugarcaneYan Chen and Ioan Negulescu

Yan Chen holds the fiber web that has been needle-punchedfor further compaction.

L

Yan Chen, Associate Professor, and IoanNegulescu, Professor, School of Human Ecology,LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, La.


Sugarcane refining generates a largevolume of residue called bagasse.Disposal of bagasse is critical for bothagricultural profitability and environ-mental protection.

After being cleaned, the bagasse is blendedwith bonding fibers for forming a fiber web.

Table I U.S. SugarcaneProduction* and Value**

State For Sugar For Seed Value

FL 15,620 718 487.4

HI 1,878 54 64.0

LA 13,340 1,015 337.1

TX 1,937 25 53.3

USTotal 32,775 1,812 941.8

* Updated in 2001, 103 tons.** Updated in 2000 for sugar and seed, million

dollars.


perpendicular to the web surface. Afterneedle-punching, the fiber web issignificantly compacted and stronger.

Property EvaluationEnd-use quality and performance of

the bagasse fiber nonwovens are criticalfor both the producer and consumer. Thebagasse fiber nonwovens are tested fortensile strength, flexibility, compress-ibility, water absorption and biodegrad-ability. Bonding properties between thecellulose fiber and polymer fiber arealso characterized using variousinstruments.

Agricultural End-usesEnduses of the bagasse fiber

nonwovens in agriculture include:Horticulture. Bagasse fiber

nonwovens can be used to makeflowerpots. This type of flowerpot hasexcellent biodegradability and can beburied in a flowerbed or larger plastic orclay pots. A recent study indicates thatthe bagasse nonwoven pot buried in a

flowerbed is dissolved within only 23days. When the nonwoven pot is put ina larger plastic pot, it is biodegradedwithin 50 days. The study also showsthat the bagasse nonwoven pot iscapable of sustaining weather andwatering during seedling and retailing.

Animal Bedding. The bagasse fibernonwovens can be used as beddingmaterial for poultry farms. Because thenonwoven is easy to lay out and pack,the used nonwoven bedding material(after collecting enough poultry wastes)can be packed and sold as garden mulchdirectly. This approach not only pro-motes production of biodegradable andnutritional garden mulches, but alsohelps ease animal waste management.LSU AgCenter researchers are workingon the development and testing of thisproduct.

Aquaculture. Like othergeotextiles, the bagasse fiber nonwovenscan be applied in aquaculture, such asbank weed control, filtration and pilewraps. Artificial habitats used in fish

cultivation can benefit the aquaculturesystem by providing shelter and separa-tion, additional nutrition and waterquality improvement. Thus, availabilityof inexpensive artificial habitat materi-als can help fish farmers with profits.

Yan Chen feeds bagasse, a waste productfrom sugarcane, along with bonding fibersinto a universal carding machine at the LSUAgCenter’s Textile Processing Laboratory.

weeks every quarter inthe country. The U.S.Agency for InternationalDevelopment, whichfunds the project, is sopleased with the resultsso far that it has renewedthis three-year phase fora record $3.2 million.

The LSU AgCenter’sproject is headquarteredin Vinnytsia, which is inthe Vinnytsia oblast (prov-ince), but has expandedto two nearby oblasts.

Although Ukraine is a beautiful country with rolling hills anda picturesque landscape, the agricultural problems are immense.Conversion from state-run collective farms to privately runfarms has been extremely difficult. Among the obstacles are:

Farmers cannot get loans.Equipment is expensive and hard to come by.Farmers cannot buy and sell land given to them as part

of the breakup of the collective farms. Linda Foster Benedict

The LSU AgCenter is operating a program in Ukraine thatis a model for how to run a successful educational effort in acountry that was formerly part of the Soviet bloc. The program,“Improving Income of Private Ukrainian Agricultural Produc-ers,” targets farmers with less than 250 hectares and householdplot owners (HPOs). Much of the food consumed within thecountry is produced by this latter group, who use their yards andland near their homes for orchards, gardens and a few dairycows.

The goals of the AgCenter project include helping thefarmers and HPOs become more efficient, learn the latesttechnology and develop marketing skills.

Initial interest in Ukraine came about in the 1980s throughthe efforts of the AgCenter’s former chancellor, H. RouseCaffey. This current project is directed by Lakshman Velupillai,director of International Programs. The heart of the program,though, is with Larry Brock, former county agent in St. MaryParish, who is teaching the Ukrainians how an agriculturalextension program can work.

Brock lived in Ukraine, which is slightly larger than the stateof Texas, for two and a half years, giving the project his fullattention. With the renewal of the second phase of the currentproject on March 1, 2002, he spends from six weeks to eight

LSU AgCenter TargetsUkrainian Farmers

Larry Brock, former county agent inSt. Mary Parish, is teaching theUkrainians how an agriculturalextension program can work.

Photo by Mark Claesgens


Non-profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 733Baton Rouge, LA

Louisiana Agricultural Experiment StationLouisiana State University Agricultural CenterP.O. Box 25100Baton Rouge, LA 70894-5100

Inside:

Value-added products provide abroader base for expansion ofLouisiana’s economy. Page 4

The functional food area is thelargest and fastest growing segment ofthe food industry. Page 7

Louisiana has the nation’s mostproductive commercial shrimp fishery,landing about 100 million pounds ayear with a dockside value of $150million. Page 12

White beef? Yes, that’s a productwith potential. Read more.

Page 15

USAID Awards AgCenter $3.2 million for Ukraine Project

Illya Krotyuk, left, is a Ukrainian raion specialist (county agent)who works as part of the LSU AgCenter project. He is visiting witha farmer in Tyvriv Raion.

Much of the food consumed in Ukraine isgrown in individual gardens that are fencedand gated.

Bright colors are common in Ukrainiancities and towns, such as this universitybuilding in Kiev.

A corn variety trial at Vinnytsia StateAgrarian University, one the LSU AgCenter’spartners.

Most households in Ukraine have gardens and orchards instead oflawns. They grow vegetables, fruits and flowers. This is a scene inKomainetz-Podilsky.

Photos by Linda Foster Benedict

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