JACK Research Project
Just Adopt pulses from Cook to fork
Group : Reliability Engineering and Decision-Making tools
Labelling: Valorial competitive cluster
Duration: 54 months
Funding: ANR
Staff involved from LARIS: Cécile GREMY-GROS
Project partners: Academic and technicals : ESA GRAPPE (199522194A), ESA LEVA (199522196C), INRAE BIA (199617832E), Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Paul Bocuse, Terres Inovia, CCI du Maine et Loire, CTCPA; Companies : Atlantique-alimentaire, Bonduelle, SODEXO, CAPL, INVEJA, TIPIAK, Diana - Symrise, Robot Coupe
Abstract
Pulses, source of plant protein, are under-consumed and under-produced. JACK aims to valorize pulses from plate to farm with a gastronomic approach, and such, modify food behavior, create innovative recipes with low-impact transformation, identify key sensory and physico-chemical factors of pulses’ culinarity, screen culinarity of species and cultivars, link agronomic and pedo-climatic factors to the quality of seeds, develop environmental assessment of production and transformation of pulses. The final objective is to add value to pulses by valorization and diversification, with a positive environmental impact.
There is a lack of knowledge about the functional benefits of pulses. Moreover, the diversity of pulses is little investigated. The undesirable criteria such as anti-nutritional factors have been more investigated than functional and desirable properties, and more often with objectives of meat or dairy products substitution. As well, the impact of agronomic and pedo-climatic factors on quality of grain is little explored. The French gastronomic chefs are used to magnify raw products but rarely with pulses. The interest of a gastronomic approach to modify food behavior is to use several levers recognized as efficient in the literature: liking, image, beliefs, knowledge, skills, motivation and imitation.
JACK has the ambition to remove these locks: identify the levers for a sustainable change in consumer food behaviour, measure the link between the quality of pulses and their culinary functionalities through the identification of physico-biochemical variables, identify the agronomic factors influencing culinary quality of pulses, measure the environmental impact of pulses production and transformation through LCA, to maintain the environmental benefits of pulses throughout the processing chain.
The project will start both with the chefs creating innovative recipes, and in the field with collection of a large diversity of pulses samples, with a known technical itinerary. The recipes will be simplified in model foods, used for culinarity evaluation, and, in parallel, developed and even industrialized. New ingredients and products concepts will be co-designed with chefs and consumers. Several factors to change behaviour will be tested with consumers cohorts: gastronomic experiences, training and information by chefs, at home or in company restaurants.
Culinary, sensory, functional properties and environmental impacts of a diversity of pulses (beans, lentil, chickpea) will be assessed and linked to physico-biochemical properties. The agronomic determinants of these properties will be identified: species, cultivars, pedoclimatic factors, practices. JACK will identify the main factors involved in quality construction and yield.
Scientists and producers at all levels of the chain are present in JACK. JACK takes the opportunity of bringing together scientists and business professionals in a coordinated and collaborative process, with a simultaneous action on several issues.
JACK will focus on the continuum from field to plate, in an original way, by analysing the construction and the variability of the quality at different steps: showing how to change consumer behaviour through chefs valorization, while exploring the functionalities of pulses and controlling the environmental impact by low-impact process, using the whole seed as much as possible. It will identify the characteristics of the seeds at harvest, predictive of a culinary interest, and their explicative factors., bringing a better added value to these products. JACK will contribute to build a connection between the links in the chain, bringing new solutions and opportunities to all the chain.
