Sustainable Re-Use of Brewer’s Spent Grain for the Production of High Protein and Fibre Pasta

Abstract

Brewer’s spent grains are one of the principal by-products of the brewing industry. For protein and fibre content, this by-product represents an interesting raw material to be reused for manufacturing many other products. To maximize the nutritional characteristics of this by-product, in this study, ingredients derived from brewer’s spent grains were included in the design of innovative dry pasta. Two brewer’s spent grains derivative ingredients, one enriched in proteins and the other in fibre were blended with semolina. Based on the rheological evaluation, the optimal amount of the two ingredients for producing pasta was determined. In particular, pasta responding to the claims “High Protein” and “High Fibre” was realized using the formulation enriched with 15% of protein-rich ingredient and the claim “High Fibre” and “Source of proteins” using the formulation enriched with 10% of fibre-rich ingredient. The final products were compared to 100% semolina and 100% wholegrain semolina pasta for composition, color, texture, and cooking quality, revealing excellent quality characteristics. The newly formulated pasta represents a successful match of technological aptitude, nutritional/sensorial quality, and sustainability.

Extraction, Composition, Functionality, and Utilization of Brewer’s Spent Grain Protein in Food Formulations

“…BSG was utilized as an ingredient during extrusion processing to produce puffed snacks, pasta, breakfast cereals, different nutritional ingredients, and bread [ 8 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 ].…”

“…The high nutritional density, coupled with consistent year around availability, large production volumes, and low market price, make it an attractive raw material for human food applications. Although BSG has been used to enhance the overall protein content of staple human foods such as bread and pasta [ 8 , 9 ], the anti-nutrients present in it—particularly polyphenols [ 6 ]—may restrict the overall nutrient absorption and utilization [ 10 ]. Extracting proteins from BSG, therefore, seems like a reliable approach to enhancing the protein content and bioavailability, while offering greater flexibility in formulations.…”

Spent Grain: A Functional Ingredient for Food Applications

“…Schettino et al used bioprocessed spent grain to obtain fortified pasta labeled “High fiber” and “Source of protein” [ 55 ]. Cuomo et al [ 54 ] used two fractions of spent grain (5–10% protein and 10–20% fiber) to obtain high fiber and high protein pasta. Several features of pasta were evaluated, including proximate composition, color, optimal cooking time, sensory features and texture.…”

“…As expected, the protein- and fiber-enriched pasta had a darker color. The L* (brightness) parameter showed a significant reduction compared with the wholegrain semolina paste sample [ 46 , 54 , 86 , 88 ], as shown in Figure 2 .…”

“…Optimal cooking time was between 11 min and 13 min 30 s. Values close to the blank samples and firmness of pasta were positively evaluated. The firmness characteristics, evaluated using instrumental analysis, were associated with sensorial features and were very close to each other [ 54 ]. Cappa and Alamprese [ 80 ] added egg white powder to spent grain pasta to improve the structural properties of fresh-egg pasta (lasagna) but the mechanical properties were poor.…”