Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** current issue: the production of…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** current issue: the production of bourbon whiskey generates large amounts of a waste product called distillers' spent grains. Currently, this waste product is given away or sold for a low price to local cattle farmers to use as animal feed. However, a rapid increase in demand for bourbon has meant that more spent grains are being generated and there are not enough cattle farms around the distilleries to consume all of the spent grains. Some distilleries have resorted to landfilling their excess spent grains.regardless of current disposal method (landfilling or animal feed), distillers' spent grains currently represents a highly under-utilized byproduct that could be upcycled into high-value ingredients. Although the distilling process removes the starch from grains, the distillers' grains retain high levels of other valuable compounds, including a carbohydrate material that has the capability to both act as an antioxidant and nourish human GUT bacteria. We propose that this carbohydrate material could be used by the food industry as a high-value ingredient. However, there is a GAP in knowledge regarding processing steps that could convert distillers spent grains into value-added ingredients with both good ingredient functionality and GUT-health-promoting health characteristics.methods and approaches: we will test several different processing techniques on the distillers spent grains to see whether they can release the useful carbohydrate and antioxidant-rich material from the spent grains. We will also determine whether processing changes the structure of the carbohydrate material, since carbohydrate structure affects how materials are digested by human GUT bacteria. We will then test our processed materials' ability to function as antioxidants in systems that model food products -- specifically, can our materials preserve the quality of food products during room-temperature storage and prevent them from becoming rancid. We will also test how our processed materials are digested by human GUT bacteria. Finally, using economic modeling, we will assess whether IT is economically feasible for distilleries to add this process to their facility -- i.e. is the cost of producing this carbohydrate- and antioxidant-rich food ingredient offset by its resale value?ultimate goals: we intend to help the bourbon industry find more environmentally and economically sustainable ways of handling their waste production. In doing so, we also intend to develop a food ingredient that is useful for the food industry and enhances the GUT health of consumers eating these products.