Antioxidants are a vital component of the food industry. Most of currently used antioxidants are synthetic chemicals, and there is a global concern among regulatory bodies and customers regarding the safety of these compounds. However, natural antioxidants are more than ten times more expensive, and are often not as effective as their synthetic counterparts. Thus, there is a need for inexpensive and capable natural antioxidants. In response to this need, we have developed a novel, simple, and cheap method for extraction of natural, safe, and effective antioxidants from animal blood, a source available in large quantities as a co-product from the animal and poultry processing industry. We have shown these novel antioxidants are as efficient as currently used synthetic antioxidants in several food models. Perhaps even more compelling is the low cost of production, which is several times cheaper than that for most of the synthetic competitors, and 25-50 times cheaper than that for natural antioxidants. The long-term goal of this project is to develop an inexpensive natural antioxidant to be used as a human food preservative. During the Phase I, we will focus on collecting the proof-of-concept performance and safety data for our prototype product. Studies performed during the Phase I will address 1) Comparison performance of our product to that of most common synthetic and natural antioxidants and optimization of the treatment dose; 2) Study of the mechanism of antioxidant activity; and 3) Assessment of susceptibility to microbial contamination. If funded, this project will further advance methods of extraction and characterization of antioxidants from animal/poultry blood and provide better insight on their safety and susceptibility to bacterial contamination. This study will also advance knowledge about performance and stability of antioxidants extracted in partially purified form, in a mixture with other blood components.
