Foodomics, defined for the first time in our research group attempts to provide a global vision on the relationship between food and health through the use of -omics technologies with the mail goal of improving consumer's well-being, health and confidence. Green Foodomics attempts to contribute to the greenness, sustainability and ecology of Foodomics as a whole. By definition, Foodomics is a green discipline that tries to provide with new answers to the challenges of our society; aspects related to the sustainability, food quality and safety are basically embedded in the own Fodomics' definition. Other aspects such as those related with the rational design of new foods able to improve human health and to prevent illnesses are basically green by themselves since they will contribute to obtaining safer foods, with lower contamination and chemical risks. The present talk will present different green alternatives for the production of new functional food ingredients (based on the use of green solvents and the design of integrated processes producing less residues and consuming lower amounts of energy) and how these processes can be also applied to develop greener analytical methodologies to face some aspects related to the food quality, traceability and safety (through the miniaturization of sample preparation techniques, the use of ecological solvents and the development of new separation methods). Among other examples, some research works developed in our laboratory will be presented dealing with the direct extraction, using SFE (Supercritical Fluid Extraction), of carotenoids (astaxanthin) from Neochloris oleoabundans biomass, the isolation, using gas expanded liquids (GXLs), of gamma-linolenic acid from Spirulina, the extraction of antioxidants from rosemary using integrated processes of extraction and particle formation (WEPO, Water Extraction and Particle formation On-line) and the use of LCA (Lyfe Cycle Assessment) tool to evaluate the environmental impact of the different extraction and analytical processes.

Resumen del trabajo presentado al 20th International Congress of Nutrition celebrado en Granada del 15 al 20 de septiembre de 2013.

Peer Reviewed