The MIXI-LAB Joint Laboratory gathers the VMI – medium size Enterprise (Vendée Mécanique Industrie) and the Joint Research Unir UMR CNRS 6144-GEPEA Joint Research Unit. It aims to develop innovative dispersion / mixing solutions. It is supported and endorsed by VALORIAL and CEREALES VALLEE Clusters of excellence. VMI is one of the major players in the world mixing while the UMR GEPEA (A + AERES / 2011) has experience in process engineering. The mixing and structuring of systems based on liquid and solid ingredients (powders), poses special problems that can be found in agri-food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, etc ... A mixer consists of a container (reactor) and one or more tools that will ensure a circulation of the elements (solid, liquid, gas), put them in contact and structure. The design of the reactor-tool pair is often based on the experience associated with an intuitive approach. Different physicochemical constraints are involved such as shearing, elongation, solid-solid and solid-liquid affinities, dissolution of solids, chemical reactions .... Energy and viscous dissipation result from tool / reactor / product interactions. In this traditional industry, the use of sensors is minimal, and is often limited to global data (energy) and offline sensors. The end of the mixing process is often related to the appreciation of the operator. The major challenge for VMI is to switch to a scientific approach to the design of batch equipment, to succeed in the transformation towards continuous systems and to develop an offer of piloting processes based on instrumentation and advanced sensors. The research axes of MIXI-LAB, based on its initial 5 Years project which started in January 2016, are as follows: A) Development of physical models for optimizing and scaling batch and continuous mixing equipment. B) Development of sensors allowing supervision, optimization of energy input and determination of the degree of completion of mixing operations C) Study on the reactor head / mixed material volume interactions: i) consumption and interactions with certain gases (CO2, O 2 etc), ii) introduction of minority components, iii) mode of incorporation of the liquid phases D) Optimization and extrapolation of reactor-tool assemblies for batch (multi-tool) and continuous mixing systems (extrusion-expansion properties) After having developed these different axes over a first phase of 3 years, a software sensor concept for the supervision of a kneading equipment for cereal dough was developed. The MIXI-LAB joint laboratory aims to the settling of a permanent partnership between ONIRIS-GEPEA and VMI with 3 majors joint objectives: - Market transfer (TRL 9) of a software-sensor dedicated to the supervision of bread dough mixers with possible extension to other applications - Consolidation and continuation of the investigations related to the 4 axes presented above - Extension of the investigations on non food applications such as pharmacy cosmetics, biotechnology and similar domains in order to ensure a continuation of the initial roadmap towards the permanent establishment of the LABCOM "MIXI-LAB" partnership.

Processing can induce contaminants in food, especially when high temperature is reached. This is the case of bakery, whose products can contain neoformed contaminants (NFC) from inoffensive precursors in the dough and exogenous contaminants (EC) transferred from the support coating at the interface. EU regulations do not appropriately cover these fields and industrials are missing the tools and protocols to produce breads safely. In particular the existing food simulants and migration tests are not adapted to baking supports. SATIN will focus on Pan Bread and Rusk baked most of the time with Perfluorinated (PFC) coated pans. These two cases represent the main utilization of these coating with effective sticking and ageing problems. SATIN aims at developing technologies and knowhow which will allow the production of pan (tin) bread and rusk with (i) a reduced energy demand for baking by exploring ways to reduce oven temperature with even sensorial qualities and (ii) a better control of the chemical risks associated to perfluorinated antistick coating. One of the challenges lies in the assessment of the ageing of antistick coating in industry and in correlating the ageing with either the baking practices (pan temperature) or the risk of release of EC in the product. SATIN will concomitantly look at both NFC and EC and related their formation to various parameters influenced by food processing. Key objectives are (i) to assess the exposure of EC in particular PFC, (ii) to develop ageing tests in the case of baking support, (iii) to develop testing equipment(s) to monitor the ageing of the coating and to assess the conditions of an anti-stick coating to detect its end of life by analysing the crust condition and the volatiles in the baking oven and (iv) to develop innovative pan coating structure which will permit to mitigate the risk of transfer of PFC in the products. This will be supported by a transversal approach based on a reduction of the baking temperature and by the way of the baking energy. SATIN proposes a “win-win” strategy to reduce the EC and NFC while extending the shelf life of the coating; in turns, it will result in a reduction of the baking energy and a reduction of chemical waste generated when refurbishing used coating. SATIN will contribute to the improvement of the French and European regulation on Food Contact Material (FCM). SATIN will alsoinvestigate vacuum baking to reduce the baking temperature and baking energy with the objective of extending the life span of the antistick coating.