Dr. Christelle Bou-Mitri, Associate Professor of Food Sciences at Notre Dame University-Louaize’s (NDU) Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences (FNHS), is the creator of the vegan labneh, developed from chickpeas and white beans. Bou-Mitri received a grant from the Conseil National de la Recherche Scientifique du Liban (CNRS-Liban), the Fonds de Recherche du Québec (FRQ), and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) to visit the bioresource engineering laboratory of Professor Valerie Orsat at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, during the Summer of 2023.
The aim of the visit was to strengthen the collaboration between NDU and McGill; specifically, the former’s BS in Food Safety and Quality Management and the latter’s Department of Food Engineering. Furthermore, Bou-Mitri was able also to reunite and strengthen her contact with her alma mater. During the visit, she worked closely with highly experienced researchers such as Dr. Yvan Gariepy and Dr. Ali Taherian, carrying out experimental research on the effect of fermentation on legume-based milk and proteins obtained from pulses in order to investigate the possibility of producing plant-based yogurt.
In addition to reinforcing her knowledge in fermentation, food chemistry, and food microbiology, Bou-Mitri was also able to acquire experience in multiple cutting-edge technologies, including the use of a texture analyzer (Instron) to assess how fermentation of different pulse-derived milks produced certain levels of firmness, viscosity cohesion, and consistency. The rheology meter was used to determine the behavior of plant-based yogurt when subjected to shear and oscillation, imitating the food behavior during the spooning, eating, and swallowing processes. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) test was used to scan the freeze-dried plant-based yogurt samples with an electron beam to determine the material structure and 3D network formed during fermentation.
This visit led to promising results that Bou-Mitri is planning to publish at a later stage, in the hopes of opening new avenues regarding food processors and to create reform in the plant-based and alternative protein sectors. Bou-Mitri believes that her ensuing study could contribute to the production of sustainable ingredients and processes, which could be adopted as a mitigator of widespread hunger.