•    Introduction
•    Quality Characterization, Preservation, and Enhancement
•    New Processes, New Uses, and Value-Added Biobased Products 

Introduction

This National Program is focused on post-harvest quality and utilization of agricultural commodities and products.  In response to comments and suggestions from stakeholders and ARS scientists at workshops held in 1999, the title of this National Program was revised to more concisely reflect the program focus.  The Program Summary was revised and aligned with the Action Plan.  In revising the Program Summary and Action Plan, the number of program components was condensed from four to two, while maintaining the scope of the Program in response to comments and suggestions from Program stakeholders and ARS scientists.  In the fiscal year 2001 budget appropriation, ARS received an increase of $1.4 million to expand research on development of biobased products, a program area included under the New Processes, New Uses, and Value-Added Biobased Products Component of this National Program.  Selected accomplishments of this National Program are shown below.

Selected Accomplishments (Listed by Component)  

Quality Characterization, Preservation, and Enhancement

Improved dyeing of wool/cotton blends.  The marketing of wool/cotton blended textiles is impeded by the lack of a simple system for achieving 'union dyeing' the equal uptake of dye by the cotton and wool fiber components that results in uneven color shades in the blends.  Working with a private sector partner under a Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement, scientists at Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, determined that certain proprietary cationic resins, of the class typically applied to increase the strength of paper and to convey dimensional stability to wool, were effective pretreatments for promoting union dyeing.  An optimized process was developed to ensure color uniformity, maximum shade depth, and colorfastness in blends.  This new technology will provide textile manufacturers with an improved dyeing process, and consumers with higher quality products.

Improved method for wheat color classification.  The Kansas Wheat Commission requested that ARS develop simple, rapid, safe, and objective procedures for determining red and white wheat color classes.  Scientists and engineers at Manhattan, Kansas, optimized procedures that involve soaking kernels in sodium hydroxide, resulting in a rapid change in seed color that makes color classification simple and accurate.  The color classification test is now commercially marketed and used by the wheat industry and inspectors to determine wheat color class.  This simple procedure can help promote the adoption and segregation of white wheat, and help expand export markets for United States white wheat.

Improved sampling for mycotoxins in corn and wheat.  Mycotoxins exist in cereal grains and oilseeds as the result of fungal infections, which can adversely affect the health of humans or livestock consuming contaminated products.  In collaboration with individuals from the Food and Drug Administration, industry, and North Carolina State University scientists at Raleigh, North Carolina, developed methods to evaluate the performance of sampling plans used to detect the mycotoxins fumonisin in shelled corn and deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat.  The evaluation method is currently being used by industry and regulatory agencies to establish advisory limits and to design mycotoxin sampling plans to reduce buyers and sellers risks and reduce the number of contaminated products reaching consumers.

Rapid screening for desirable aroma traits in rice breeding lines.   Scientists at New Orleans, Louisiana, in cooperation with scientists at Beaumont, Texas, and Stuttgart, Arizona, developed a method to rapidly screen breeding lines of aromatic rice for the desirable 'popcorn' aroma.  This method will allow breeders to easily screen hundreds of possible candidates for the desired aroma trait; the result being improved varieties for domestic and export markets.

Calcium dips extend shelf-life of honeydew melons.  When honeydew melons are harvested fully ripe they have the highest market quality traits for consumers; however, they can only be stored for 5 days.  Scientists at Weslaco, Texas, in collaboration with a produce company and a private sector CRADA partner found that postharvest calcium immersion could extend the shelf-life of honeydew melons to 20 days.  Thus, consumers will be able to enjoy the availability of fully ripe, high quality melons, while producers and handlers suffer less economic loss due to postharvest deterioration.  

Measuring apple and cherry quality.  Poor, inconsistent fruit quality, a top concern of the fruit industry, negatively affects its competitiveness and profitability.  An ARS engineer at East Lansing, Michigan, found that a light-based sensing technique can accurately and nondestructively measure the sugar content and firmness of apples and cherries.  The findings provide the technological foundation for development of a commercial grading and sorting system for fruit.

New Processes, New Uses, and Value-Added Biobased Products

Nutraceutical lipids, fats and oils.  Imparting extraordinary health benefits to consumers is one of the fastest growing segments in the food ingredient market.  Scientists at Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, have developed the technology to produce structured lipid products from commodity type fats and oils, in collaboration with a CRADA partner.  The lipid products formed by a combination of physical and enzymatic steps have been shown in studies by the CRADA partner to have beneficial cholesterol-lowering effects when administered as dietary supplements to hypercholesteremic subjects.  A jointly owned patent application on the technology was prepared and filed by the collaborator.

Anticarcinogen from soybean hulls.  To improve the economics of soybean processing, new uses are needed for low cost, under-utilized soybean hulls that now go into animal feeds.  In a collaborative effort with a private sector partner, scientists at Peoria, Illinois, isolated a protein fraction having potential anticarcinogenic properties from soybean hulls for which a patent application was filed in April 2000.  Use of this inhibitor as an anticarcinogen should have great potential in the medical fields and thus increase the utilization of soybean hulls.

Value-added neutraceutical co-product from oat bran.  Value-added co-products from agricultural commodities and byproducts are needed to enhance the competitiveness of United States agriculture and improve the balance of trade.  Scientists at Peoria, Illinois, have developed a practical and economical method to produce enriched beta-glucan as a valuable co-product of oat bran.  Defatted oat bran was finely ground and fractionated using a stream of air to produce a product containing over 50 percent more beta-glucan than oat bran.  The enriched beta-glucan product is potentially valuable as a neutraceutical food ingredient that can help lower blood cholesterol levels and the potential risk of heart disease.

Vegetable oil sunscreen.  Scientists at Peoria, Illinois, developed an 'all natural' sunscreen made from vegetable oil and other natural plant components (cinnamates) using supercritical carbon dioxide.  The product, which can replace the synthetic chemicals currently used in sunscreen formulations, represents a new and novel market for commodity vegetable oils and specialty plant-derived components, and the process is environmentally friendly.  Further development of this product is being conducted with an industrial partner.        

Wheat starch-based food containers.  Scientists at Albany, California, in cooperation with a CRADA partner, have developed a starch-based, biodegradable food container from wheat that is an abundant and affordable source of starch.  This technology will result in a new market for wheat growers if it were to be adopted throughout the fast food industry.

Formaldehyde-free, flame-proof, cotton cut-pile carpeting.  The introduction of cotton into the large carpeting market requires that it be modified in a safe and economical manner to meet Federal flammability standards.  Cotton cut-pile carpeting was treated with non-formaldehyde chemical agents by scientists in New Orleans, Louisiana, in collaboration with Cotton Incorporated.  Formaldehyde-free flame-proof cotton cut-pile carpeting resulted which met industry standards.  The treatments effectively give cotton-containing carpeting flame resistant properties, and potentially allow cotton to capture a portion of the total five million bale fiber market for carpeting.

Safer alternative for oilseeds extraction.  The oilseed extraction industry is expecting more stringent regulation from the EPA and is therefore anxiously seeking an alternative solvent to replace commercial hexane used in extraction facilities.  Scientists at New Orleans, Louisiana, demonstrated that commercial isohexane could be a good alternative to hexane.  Trials with two cottonseed oil mills proved that isohexane can be used effectively and offers the opportunity to save energy and increase productivity.  These research trials have encouraged the oilseed extraction industry to willingly examine commercial isohexane in their oil mills or to convert to isohexane from hexane.  

Natural fiber auto insulation.  An improved method of providing quieter passenger compartments in cars is highly sought after by automobile manufacturers.  Scientists at New Orleans, Louisiana, developed sound-absorbing nonwoven cellulosic composites to shield automobile passengers from motor/road noise that were then evaluated by a company in Ohio.  These materials also exhibited high thermal insulation properties.  Industry has asked the New Orleans researchers to conduct further work on the products.

Cotton waste fibers in fiber blends.  Until recently, highloft perpendicular-laid insulation fabrics were made from synthetic fibers only.  Scientists at New Orleans, Louisiana, discovered that low quality, short, waste cotton fibers improve the thermal insulating properties of highloft fabrics.  The nonwoven industry is becoming more interested in cotton/synthetic blends as a result of these findings.  The first production line to process waste cotton fibers using perpendicular layering was installed in Beaumont, Texas, in 2000.