Food: From microbiomes innovative solutions improving food chains

Improve productivity, quality and sustainability of food chains using a "microbiome", i.e. the complex of microbial communities and their genomic outcomes. This is the goal of the European project SIMBA, funded by the program Horizon 2020, in which participate ENEA and other 22 partners among European companies and research institutes coordinated by the Finnish Natural Resources Institute (LUKE).

SIMBA (Sustainable Innovation of MicroBiome Applications in Food System) aims at exploiting the microorganisms of marine and terrestrial food chains with the purpose of converting vegetable raw materials, such as rape seeds, legumes and oats, into food products containing beneficial elements like vitamins, phenolic compounds, acids fats and peptides. At the same time, healthier animal feed will be developed and the capacity of the marine microbiome of favoring the cultivation on coastal land with high salt content will be studied, thus exploiting desert areas otherwise unusable in agriculture.

The project also has the objective of evaluating how plant foods produced using microbes in different production phases influence the intestinal microbiome, with the aim of improving the health condition of people suffering from diabetes or metabolic syndromes.

Finally, thanks to the interdisciplinary nature of the project and the involvement of SMEs, microbial cultures will be produced on a pilot scale suitable for the start-up of a fermented food production; biomasses produced from agricultural waste will also be used for energy purposes.

ENEA has the task of selecting the microbial communities by conducting activities to promote the growth of plants to be tested on agronomic crops (wheat, maize, tomato and potato) also "in the field" and of assessing their efficacy. The ENEA researchers will study the effects of the application of microorganisms in the field on the soil and rhizosphere microbiome, that is the portion of soil surrounding the roots of the plants, and on the crop quality.

ENEA also has the task of performing experimental tests with pilot-scale fermenters, assessing the sustainability of the various innovative solutions developed and disseminating the results obtained.

The mapping of the microbiomes associated with marine and terrestrial food chains will contribute to the creation of a database of microorganisms and their genomic outfit, for public consultation. Thanks to the use of innovative computational methods and the preventive evaluation of their effects, the best combinations of microorganisms capable of increasing the quality and productivity of the food chain will also be identified.

"We are faced with the challenge of identifying solutions to achieve global food security for a population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, at a time when climate change, sea level rise and drought risk to compromise food production", Annamaria Bevivino, Head of the ENEA Laboratory Sustainability, Quality and Safety of Agri-food Production. "For this reason, as researchers we have the responsibility of providing innovative solutions capable of guaranteeing greater food production using less natural resources and reducing waste, enhancing food quality and developing near-to-market products ", Bevivino concluded.

For more information plese contact:

Annamaria Bevivino – ENEA, Head Sustainability, Quality and Safety of Agrifood Production