Team:Nagahama/Entrepreneurship

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Prototype

Our project is Flavorator. We show its system working under real-world conditions in India . Because India has a problem about storage of foods. We want to spread Flavorator to the world , and we thought that our Flavorator can solve such as its problem. This is why we choose India.

According to Assocham that is Joint Chamber in India , 30 percent of the total harvest of agricultural crops in India have been discarded by lack of refrigerated storage facility . Refrigerated storage facility is insufficient in the retail market in rural areas and suburbs.In 2011, Refrigerator penetration in the cities is 43.8% , and the villages is 9.4%(fig1). The penetration in rural areas is much smaller than the city . Its cause is considered that supply of electricity are not yet ready. To solve this problem, there is a need for method of preserving food products that do not require electricity in rural and suburban markets. Our Flavorator does not require electricity. So, we considered that it is used in situations such as the India, and designed Flavorator.

fig1:Refrigerator Penetration rate in Inindia

Design

This is the design of Flavorator (fig2)

・Container of medium is attached in above the box , fragrances is produced from there (①). As a result, fragrance circulates without electricity (③). This phenomenon is called natural convection.

・It must to keep temperature in Flavorator for recombinants activity. A layer of vacuum suppress the change of temperature in Flavorator because it work as a heat insulator.(②)

・To prevent the contact of recombinants and foods, the container of the medium is covered by a triple filter (④). Recombinants are larger than the mesh of filter, so they can't go through a triple filter , but fragrance is able to pass through because its molecules are smaller than the mesh (fig3).

※Recombinants differs depending on the temperature in a region which use Flavarator. (For example : Escherichia coli will use in India because temperature in there is its active range.)

fig2:Design of Fravorator
fig3:filer

抗菌活性のある香りによる食品の保存は可能か

We experimented preserving food by fragrance with antimicrobial activity. fig4 is preservation of pork by garlic, and fig5 is preservation of bread by geraniol. Both results shows that


fig4:Storage of food by garlic. (A) was put mashed garlic 5g in the bottom of box.We left the two pork in the box at 18℃ for 2 months.2 months later, Left pork (A) didn’t change the color. Right pork (B) changed Pink to Brown.


fig6:Storage of food by geraniol. A:ddH2O(300 μl)B:geraniol(stock solution, 300 μl) Incubation: 35 days Temperature: room temperature Chopsticks dipped in suspension of mold was put in the center of the bread. Mold were cultured among the left box(A), and mold weren’t cultured among the right box(B), suggesting that mold can’t be cultured in a state where geraniol is filled. This experiment indicate that geraniol might be the effect of suppressing the growth of bacteria.