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Biotechnological Transformation of Hempseed in the Food Industry

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Cannabis/Hemp for Sustainable Agriculture and Materials

Abstract

Industrial hemp is a multi-purpose crop that has been reintroduced from the 90s after chemical and genetic differentiation between narcotic and non-narcotic strains. This has encouraged the interest of many researchers, including those in the food industry sector. Hempseeds represent an important and nutritionally valuable resource due to their macro- and micro-nutrients and phytochemical composition. Hempseed production is increasing rapidly in many parts of the world, together with the development of alternative hempseed-based daily foods or processed hempseeds-derived products, including hempseed oil, meal, flour, and protein isolate/hydrolysate. Due to the relatively recent renewal of hemp production, the agro-food industries still lack standardized and specific transformation technologies and processing methods for hempseeds, thus prompting scientific research around this topic. Hence, current literature concerning the biotechnological transformation used on hempseeds and their derivatives has been reviewed in this chapter. Overall, many biotechnological methods can be effectively applied on whole hempseeds, hempseed oil, meal, flour, bran, and protein isolate/hydrolysate to valorize, improve, and use them differently in food preparation. To date, the most proposed, assessed, and adopted relevant biotechnological protocols aim to improve the bioavailability and functionality of nutrients and phytochemicals in hempseeds and derivatives. Also, these protocols focus on reducing harmful anti-nutrients and improve consumer acceptability of the final product. Techniques used to achieve these objectives include enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, roasting, extrusion, extractions through supercritical fluid, microwave, and ultrasound, and microencapsulation. Despite the advances in knowledge made so far, there are still gaps in hempseed’s transformation processes; thus, further investigations are needed to optimize them specifically.

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Abbreviations

ALA:

α-Linolenic

AU:

Alcalase units

BHT:

2.6-Di-tert-butyl-p-cresol

DW:

Dry weight

EFAs:

Essential fatty acids

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared

GLA:

γ-Linolenic acid

HDL:

High density lipoprotein

HPI:

Hempseed Protein Isolate

IL-1β:

Interleukin 2

IL-6:

Interleukin 6

LA:

Linoleic acid

LAB:

Lactic acid bacteria

LAPU:

Leucine amino peptidase units

LPS:

Lipopolysaccharides

MPa:

MegaPascal

PUFAs:

Polyunsaturated fatty acids

Rpm:

Revolutions per minute

SPI:

Soy protein isolate

THC:

Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol

TNF-α:

Tumor necrosis factor alfa

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Correspondence to Barbara Farinon .

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Farinon, B., Molinari, R., Costantini, L., Merendino, N. (2022). Biotechnological Transformation of Hempseed in the Food Industry. In: Agrawal, D.C., Kumar, R., Dhanasekaran, M. (eds) Cannabis/Hemp for Sustainable Agriculture and Materials. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8778-5_7

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