PhD Scholarship Top Up – M. Chaliha

Summary

A metabolomic approach to assess the efficacy of Australian native plant extracts in intervening spoilage in a model food system. Microbiological safety is one of the cornerstones of quality control in the food industry. To achieve this, food systems employ preservatives and antimicrobial agents which are often of chemical origin. However, modern consumers are demanding for food products that are free of chemical preservatives but with long shelf life. Therefore food industries have turned their attention toward plant antimicrobials to replace the use of chemical preservatives. Recently, Australian native foods have gained research momentum as they contain phytochemicals with health promoting properties. The primary focus of the research would be to investigate the suitability of using plant extracts to inhibit spoilage in a model food system. Therefore we will: (a) carry out a metabolomic approach to asses the efficacy of extracts on suppressing / inhibiting the formation of rancid aroma in model food systems and (b) conduct controlled experiments to identify the effect of the native extracts on the microbial community of the model food systems. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) in combination with selected ion monitoring and solid phase micro extraction would be used to analyze the volatile compounds, realtime PCR, biodiversity profiling and confocal scanning laser microscopy would be used to examine the change in microbial population dynamics in the model food systems. This is a revolutionary new research area as no previous study has looked into the vast potential of Australian native plants in intervening spoilage in terms of the targeted analysis of volatiles.

Program

New and Emerging Plant Industries

Research Organisation

The University of Queensland

Objective Summary

A metabolomic approach to assess the efficacy of Australian native plant extracts in intervening spoilage in a model food system.