Quality and Safety of Food and Feed

Photo: ATB

Nutrition for humans and animals - gentle processes from harvest to consumption

The projected growth of the world's population to more than nine billion people by 2050 and other factors will entail changes in food production, global supply chains, the international economy, and the global food culture. With regard to global food security, our research work is particularly focusing on reducing losses and using by-products and alternative bioresources in order to promote the required sustainable intensification of bio-economic food production and to meet the needs of a dynamic consumer culture - without losing sight of the welfare of public health and the environment.

The impact of food production, processing, distribution and disposal accounts for about one third of global CO2 emissions - a large part of these emissions are related to food production, but the share of emissions caused by processing, distribution, disposal and consumption is steadily increasing. In this context, we design sustainable processes that have a targeted effect on the biosystems involved in food (micro-organisms, plants, animals, humans) and enable the realization of partially contrary process objectives in the post-harvest chain.

In line with the concept of circular bioeconomy, we address complex scientific questions relating tasks between primary production and processing of food and feedstuffs (e.g. fruit, vegetables, cereals, herbs, spices, milk, insects), thereby considering the potential of the residues produced in the context of the material and energetic use of biomass

We develop tailor-made physical, physico-chemical and biological processes, taking into account important food ingredients, microbial systems, the properties of the products, as well as production-dependent working conditions and environmental influences. With innovative and interdisciplinary approaches as well as specific control and regulation strategies we contribute to the improvement of quality and safety throughout all areas of future food production.

Perishables

With a view towards sustainable intensification, we examine the production chain of fresh and largely unprocessed cellular food matrices and, based on batch- and product-specific process design and basic product-process interactions, we develop integrated approaches for loss minimization in the postharvest sector. Gentle preservation methods (e.g. non-thermal decontamination, cooling, drying, packaging) are of key importance during postharvest processing.We characterize microbiological, physiological and biophysical product properties in interaction with the respective process in order to develop sensors, adaptive processes and corresponding control and regulation strategies.

Based on the specific product knowledge, we create conditions for a sustainably intensive production of high-quality food and feed by means of model-supported and quality-optimized process design. Compiling time- and location-resolved information on product status along the entire value chain taking advantage of our expertise in data science enables us to create the tools for the targeted and long-term redesign of production systems.

Functional food ingredients

Considering the increasing demand in protein supply for humans and animals and the resulting research requirements, we are focusing intensively on the exploitation of alternative protein sources for food and feed production. We are investigating novel or hitherto rarely considered bioresources (insects, hemp, algae, etc.) and are developing holistic value-added concepts for future bio-economic production, which also take into account the use of other components such as lipids and polysaccharides during preparation and processing. For this purpose we employ tailor-made process modules and innovative non-thermal processes (high-voltage pulses, ultrasound, isostatic high pressure, cold atmospheric pressure plasma) and optimize conventional processes (drying, fermentation). Our research into product-process interactions and the measurement of structure- and process-related physicochemical and techno-functional properties provide an essential basis for the development of innovative, sustainable and product-friendly processes and new types of combination processes. We strategically combine the key topics of food and feed and interlink the cross-departmental and cross-research programme processing of systemic research issues.

Program coordination

Contact

Dr. Ojha, Shikha

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow


Department: System Process Engineering

Email: sojha@spam.atb-potsdam.de

to the profile

To the team of the research program 'Quality and safety of food and feed'

News related to the program

News

Plasma experts of the European network COST Action "Plasma Applications for Smart and Sustainable Agriculture - PlAgri" met at ATB on October 13 and…

more
News

Am 11. und 12. Oktober 2022 fand auf Einladung von BMEL und ATB in Potsdam das Symposium  „Mikrobiomforschung: der Schlüssel für eine zukunftsfähige…

more
News

Vor wenigen Tagen hat das Bundesministerium für Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV) sein Eckpunktepapier für die Nationale Biomassestrategie…

more
News

The INSECTA conference proved to be a complete success also in 2022. It was held from September 14 to 16, 2022 at the Justus Liebig University…

more
News

Sometimes doing nothing is even worse. Our planet earth is facing numerous and huge man-maid problems, such climate change, global biodiversity loss…

more
News

Yesterday, Nandita Keshri very successfully defended her doctoral thesis at the Agromechatronics Department of the Technical University of Berlin.

more
News

The sustainable and resilient cultivation of insects for innovative use in feed and food production is the aim of the reKultI4Food project coordinated…

more
News

Preliminary results of a pilot study indicate that it may be worth taking a closer look at the effect of this external support structures with regard…

more
News

2021 is the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables. For us, this is an occasion to highlight our manifold research activities in this area ...

 

more
News

On September 7 and 8, the 6th INSECTA® International Conference, an international platform for the use of insects, took place. This year PPM Magdeburg…

more
News

At the CAMA2021 conference ATB scientist Dr. Namrata Pathak was awarded by ISHS with the Young Minds Award for the best poster presentation.

 

more
News

ATB-Wissenschaftlerin Razieh Salamat hat sehr erfolgreich ihre Doktorarbeit mit dem Titel „Studying and modelling of mushroom precooling in…

more

Events

No news available.

Forschungsprojekte

Alle Projekte aus dem Forschungsprogramm Qualität und Sicherheit von Lebens- und Futtermitteln

Publikationen aus dem Programm

More publications of the research program

Cookies

We use cookies. Some are required to offer you the best possible content and functions while others help us to anonymously analyze access to our website. (Matomo) Privacy policy

Required required

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the proper functioning of the website. This category only includes cookies that ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Cookie Duration Description
PHPSESSID Session Stores your current session with reference to PHP applications, ensuring that all features of the site can be displayed properly. The cookie is deleted when the browser is closed.
bakery 24 hours Stores your cookie preferences.
fe_typo_user Session Is used to identify a session ID when logging into the TYPO3 frontend.
__Secure-typo3nonce_xxx Session Security-related. For internal use by TYPO3.
Analytics

With cookies in this category, we learn from visitors' behavior on our website and can make relevant information even more accessible.

Cookie Duration Description
_pk_id.xxx 13 months Matomo - User ID (for anonymous statistical analysis of visitor traffic; determines which user is being tracked)
_pk_ses.xxx 30 minutes Matomo - Session ID (for anonymous statistical analysis of visitor traffic; determines which session is being tracked)