THE ENTIRE PRODUCT RANGE IS INNOVATIONS FROM EXCELLENT HUNGARIAN BIOLOGICAL BASIS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITIVE, HIGH-VALUE-ADDED ORGANIC FOOD AND FEED
Project identification number: GINOP-2.2.1-18-2018-00005
Amount of support: 1,186,876,391 HUF
Aid intensity: 68.96 %
Consortium leader: Pécsi Brewery Co. Ltd. (grant: HUF 467,619,346, intensity: 59.62%)
Consortium member: Grain Research Nonprofit Ltd. (grant: HUF 375,640,400,- intensity: 100%)
Consortium member: Hubai and Partners Ltd. (grant: HUF 204,329,948, intensity: 61.94%)
Consortium member: Szarvas Agrár Zrt. (grant: 139,286,697 HUF intensity: 60.22%)
The HUNBIO consortium won a grant of HUF 1.186 billion in non-refundable funding within the framework of the GINOP in the call for proposals on “R&D competitiveness and excellence cooperation” within the framework of the Széchenyi 2020 program. The aim of the project is the radically innovative development of an integrated, full-cycle eco-product from the laboratories to the table. The starting pillar was the creation of quality biological bases that meet the special requirements of organic crop production, feeding and food processing. The R&D work covers the examination of the yield, adaptability, abiotic and biotic stress resistance, and designated content and technological parameters of suitable plant species and varieties. The innovation process is concluded by the development of industrial processing technology and recipes, up to the marketing of promising products. In addition to optimizing organic malting and brewing technologies, a key objective was to create marketable products based on the utilization of organic brewing by-products, such as beer lees and brewer's yeast. The project implemented sustainable processing technology developments that fill a gap in its kind and are unique in the world. Through it, innovative, high-added-value organic food, dietary supplements and completely new feed product lines capable of serving special dietary and feeding needs were introduced to the members, and then to the domestic and foreign markets. In addition, within the framework of the Project, technologies for producing products that can be used in eco-intensive crop production from by-products that were previously utilized with low added value were also developed. The project, with a total budget of more than 1.721 billion forints, implemented the value-added use of organic beer by-products by developing the necessary technology, and with the help of a research center and partners with extensive experience in organic farming, the seed genotypes selected for organic production were determined, which could form the most suitable malt for beer production, taking into account the conditions of organic farming. The amount of the non-refundable grant was nearly 1.186 billion forints, and the intensity of the grant was 68.96%.
In the project entitled "Full-cycle innovations from excellent Hungarian biological bases to the development of competitive, high-added-value organic food and feed within the framework of the HUN-BIO consortium", with the identification number GINOP-2.2.1-18-2018-00005, the four-member consortium, led by Pécsi Sörfőzde Zrt., worked on a comprehensive, small ecological footprint project, the aim of which was to optimize organic brewing technologies and develop solutions that would enable the greatest possible utilization of organic brewing by-products, such as beer lees and brewer's yeast.
The expert research partner, the Szeged Grain Research Institute, provided seeds selected for organic production from more than twenty genotypes to two consortium partners with more than 10 years of experience in organic farming – Szarvas Agrár Zrt, Hubai és Társai Kft. (Karcag) – for the setting up of their pilot and large-scale experiments. Several malt genotypes from these top-quality raw materials were also used for the experimental brewing to be set up by the Pécs Brewery, where it became possible, among other things, to develop the brewing technology of organic autumn malting barley and its continuous technological optimization based on analytical measurements.
The three-year R&D work, which began on January 1, 2019, covers the examination of the yield, adaptability, abiotic and biotic stress resistance, and designated content and technological parameters of suitable plant species and varieties. Optimal cultivation, processing experiments and solutions were developed based on ecological principles. The innovation process was concluded with the development of industrial processing technology and recipes, up to the introduction of promising products to the market.
We first used organic winter barley from the 2019 and 2020 harvests for our research. In order to broaden the genetic base of winter malting barley and triticale, the breeders of the Grain Research Institute carried out new crosses in the greenhouse with raw materials suitable for organic production. Multi-replicate, plot-based field experiments were set up from existing varieties, candidates and strains. Genotypes suitable for organic production were highlighted and advanced breeding strains were propagated, and seeds of the most promising ones were produced. The base GK seeds were handed over to the Karcag and Szarvas consortium partners for their farm experiments. The enzyme content of the organic malt produced in this way is also low, which again required the optimization of the parameters of large-scale malting. The brewing technology had to be constantly reviewed and modified according to the enzyme set of the given malt batch. We conducted shelf life and value-adding experiments related to the utilization of organic mash, and the spelt husk addition and drying solution was chosen as the optimal one. We determined the composition and the parameters that best support industrial implementation. We found that adjusting the moisture content of the mash by adding husk can be achieved under industrial conditions. Under laboratory conditions
We investigated the composition of the liquids recovered and remaining during the mechanical and membrane technology thickening of beer production by-products.
During the studies conducted together with the consortium researchers, several grain varieties were identified that could be useful raw materials in new types of beer technologies. Together with the researchers, we established a research concept and technologies aimed at utilizing beer industry by-products: prototype products suitable for solid and liquid phase plant nutrition (soil and plant conditioner).
The research engineer and technician colleagues from Karcag further bred the selected varieties in their organic experiments and used them as components in their prototype feeds for feeding experiments. In addition to the field experiments, emphasis was also placed on factory processing and product development. The result of these is two types of whole grain organic spelt flour.
Project completion date: 2022.11.28
Further information is available at:
Dr. Zoltán Szemerey
szemerey.zoltan@gmail.com
