February 2012/Prepared Foods -- Solae, maker of soy-based ingredients, is leading a 4-year, €$11 million research project—MagPro2Life—funded by the 7th Framework Programme of the EU Commission. The aim of the project is to use smart magnetic particles to extract beneficial components during the processing of food, pharma and feed. The main goal is to bring healthy, high-value food to the consumer. For example, in a soy or fermentation broth, it is a challenge to separate small amounts of the beneficial proteins; therefore, it is difficult to produce high purities. The new technology can overcome drawbacks in membrane and chromatographic separation. This could provide cost-savings, and these specially produced particles can be used to selectively separate out the high-value component, thus producing higher purities and yields with high nutritional value, says Solae. Solae LLC, www.Solae.com pf