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06 May

LIGNOXOS: Project challenges and achievements

LIGNOXOS: Project challenges and achievements

In the LIGNOXOS project, Isanatur together with ZADE aimed to develop and validate XOS as a high-quality prebiotic. This production can be either in isolation or in combination with other products to enhance the protective and modulating capacity of the gut microbiota.

Challenges

  • Obtaining polysaccharides with a low degree of polymerisation at pilot/semi-industrial level.
  • Elimination of impurities, both produced during autohydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis.
  • Legal framework definition for the commercialisation of XOS. Besides, the evaluation of XOS presence in the market.
  • Evaluation of XOS functionality, in combination with beneficial probiotic strains and in comparison with other prebiotics.

Achievements

  1. Developing the appropriate XOS production process.
  2. Optimisation of the enzymes used, in terms of their type, concentration and optimal working conditions.
  3. Determination of the technology required for purification.
  4. Determination of the optimal final process conditions (Standard Operating Procedure).
  5. The prebiotic and bifidogenic capacity has been contrasted by in vitro tests and simulations.
  6. Regarding the legalisation of the product, we prepared the “Novel food” application dossier for EFSA. Moreover, this is a very important step for the approval of Xos as “Novel food” according to the regulation (EU) 2018/1648.

Conclusions

We have succeeded in developing a prebiotic (Xos) that meets physic-chemical, food safety regulatory and functional expectations. The latter is endorsed by in vitro tests and gastrointestinal simulations. However, the challenge now is to manufacture the XOS at a cost that allows us to replace any prebiotic, not only in terms of functionality but also in terms of cost.

From LIGNOXOS, very important opportunities open up for us for using other biomasses and transforming them into a product with high added value. As a consequence, this could become a standard of the circular economy that we boast.

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