Bacterial cellulose production from food wastes

Università degli studi di Milano (UNIMI) is a leading institution in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity and academia.
The One Health research unit combines different skills within the Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences and has been formed as a response to new challenges and perspectives in the fields of public health, food safety and security, animal welfare and environmental protection. In particular, our group has twenty years of expertise in food microbiology and biotechnology.

This proposal outlines the reintroduction of any food wastes still containing sugars for the manufacture of biodegradable and high value-added materials based on bacterial cellulose (BC). Our research unit is able to: I) select the best performing BC-synthesizing Komagataeibacter strains from our collection; II) evaluate the inhibitory capacity of the material against various microorganisms; III) set up the growth medium from any food waste and cultural conditions for optimization of BC production; IV) carry out the physical and chemical characterization of the polymer by analytical techniques (NMR, FT-IR, XRD, SEM); IV) tailor the functionalization of BC with different residues (Fatty acids, PHAs) to enhance mechanical properties or hydrophobicity of the native biopolymer.

Bacterial cellulose; Komagataeibacter; food waste; biodegradable polymer; antimicrobial activity; food safety; food supply chain, shelf life; natural biopolymer