Abstract
Novel solutions for ensuring food security have to be established in the context of a growing world population, and rising climate restrictions on agriculture and agriculturally usable lands. Simultaneously, there is a rising demand for healthy functional foods in today’s world population. Edible halophytes could be part of the solution, as they are capable to grow in saline environments and contain several bioactive compounds. The exploitation of these salt-tolerant plants in the formulation of novel functional dairy products is demonstrated. Therefore, the focus of this research is on the development of suited dairy products with the addition of different concentrations of Salicornia europaea biomass, while measuring the in vitro anti-inflammatory activity with the egg albumin denaturation method. The inhibition of protein denaturation observed is equivalent to the anti-inflammatory capabilities of the steroid reference drug hydrocortisone. Therefore, these initial results indicate that the formulation of cream cheese products with the addition of S. europaea biomass can be achieved.
