BHU researchers develop flavouring compound with anti-cancerous qualities

NEW DELHI: A team of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) researchers has developed a flavouring compound from coconut coir that has antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The team also included one scientist from Delhi University (DU).

The university said in a statement that the compound also has anti-cancerous qualities. Researchers used temple-waste coconut coir as base material for fermentative production of the compound, it added.

The team comprised of Abhishek Dutt Tripathi from the department of dairy science and food technology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU; Veena Paul, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU; Vibhav Gautam, Centre for Experimental Medicine and Surgery, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU; and Aparna Agarwal, DU.

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BHU used temple waste

Tripathi said a massive amount of coconut coir waste is produced in cities such as Varanasi, which have religious and spiritual significance. “This waste is biodegradable but if not regulated properly can pose a threat to the environment. It can serve as the breeding ground for numerous microbial diseases. There is a vast scope for use of coconut coir as it is rich in lignocellulosic biomass,” he added.

There have been several studies describing the different approaches to converting coconut coir waste’s lignocellulosic biomass into value-added aromatics. “We have attempted to take this work a step forward to prepare edible flavouring compounds using lignocellulosic biomass of the coconut coir with the help of Bacillus aryabhattai, which has been done for the first time,” Tripathi said.

The findings of the study have been published in journals such as Bioresource Technology, Food Biotechnology and Applied Food Biotechnology. The work will be highly beneficial for the food processing and pharma industries, the BHU statement said.

The team first subjected coconut coir to pretreatment and then dried it for 72 hours at 50 ℃. It was then ground into fine powder. After the hydro-distillation of the coconut coir, it was digested at 100 ℃ for an hour and then filtered and acidified to separate lignin and cellulose. The extracted lignin was then processed to obtain the flavour compound.