Proteins (Dairy, Meat, Plant)

Proteins are the main functional component in food products as well as being essential nutrients for humans. Thus, high protein quality plays a vital role in creating high quality foods.

This research area aims at understanding protein structure, chemistry, processing, and function in the food matrix together with the nutritional effect (digestion) to provide knowledge-based options for future food production. The cross-disciplinary research focuses on novel gentle processes for protein extraction, fractionation, and utilization of plant-based raw materials to produce functional ingredients or foods with lower carbon emissions. Understanding how processing and storage provide optimal protein quality in animal-based food products, such as dairy foods, is also part of this research area.

The vision is to enable sustainable and healthy food design by enhancing food quality through knowledge of complex chemical interactions between food components and to implement this knowledge in the food industry. Through several externally funded research projects, this research area aims to accelerate the transition from animal- to plant-based food proteins for sustainable food production and consumption in a world with a fast increasing population.

The research aims to develop an in-depth mechanistic understanding of complex interactions of food components, which will make it possible to predict, control, and modulate the chemical reactions taking place in food and beverages during production and storage.