19 February 2014: Partners of the research project LeguAN "Innovative and comprehensive value-added concepts for functional food and feed from local grain leguminosae - from cultivation to use" today met in Potsdam to discuss the state of research progress and coordinate further steps.

The LeguAN project aims at the efficient and market-oriented production of innovative foods and ingredients on the basis of native leguminosae such as pea and faba bean. LeguAN project with its 17 participating institutions explores the value chain of Leguminosae from cultivation to use, evaluates and redesignes it.

One focus of the meeting at ATB is the presentation of the work package "Optimized production and technological modification of functional ingredients from selected Legumisae species". Research carried out by  ATB covers the innovative use of plasma technologies along the value chain of legumes. Issues related to the interaction of matrix and process are examined in detail, including the control of ingredients during storage as well as the specific modification of product properties during processing.

Another work package with ATB participation focuses on the technological assessment and comparison of methods. The aim is the economic analysis of the potentials of different breeding and technical innovations in grain leguminosae value chains. The work package takes a cross-sectional task in comparing the different value chains from breeding to consumer acceptance.

The joint research project LeguAN is funded with 2.1 million Euros by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Nutrition (BMEL) through BLE over three years (2011-2014). Coordinator is Prof. Dr. Sascha Rohn from the Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Hamburg.

Project staff ATB: 

Oliver Schlüter
Franziska Grzegorzewski
Antonia Nette