Transforming rapeseed presscake into nutritious and tasty foods

Swedish rapeseed proteins are today an underutilized raw material with good potential to become a fine food ingredient.

When pressing rapeseed for oil production, about 2/3 of the raw material becomes a press cake, which is rich in protein.

The press cake is currently mainly used as feed, but with the right treatment could be kept in the food chain and become an attractive food ingredient.

The major limiting factors for the use of rapeseed presscake in food are its content of shell residues, bitter taste and its content of so-called anti-nutrients which have negative health effects.

In order to transform rapeseed presscake into a high-quality food ingredient and keep it in the food system, methods for reducing off-flavours and anti-nutrients need to be researched, as well as an understanding of how the various methods affect the functionality of the presscake in food production.Previous research focused on the extraction of rapeseed proteins from the press cake into a protein isolate, but such extraction leads to new side streams, high consumption of water, chemicals and energy, and risks destroying the functionality of the proteins.

Our project, instead, focuses on mild processing so that the whole rapeseed presscake can be used for food production.

By keeping the Swedish rapeseed presscake in the food system, we can reduce wastage, increase the degree of self-sufficiency and pave the way for the export of Swedish-produced high-quality food ingredients.