Processing has a long history in providing nutritious, stable, and tasty foods, and experiences currently a revival when it comes to exploiting novel and perhaps more environmentally friendly resources to produce new food ingredients and products. In this regard, it is important to consider that processing can and will cause molecular modifications, especially of the proteins, which in turn affects the protein macro- and supramolecular structures and hence their techno-functionality and micro- and macrostructure-forming behaviour during further food manufacture. To identify and understand these processing-structure-function interrelations is an emerging and exciting area of research, requiring both fundamental understanding and applied research.
After a short introduction of the vision of the Food Proteins group at University of Copenhagen, I will present an example for the complex processing-structure-function interrelations that can be observed already in a relatively simple material – enzymatically cross-linked caseinates –; highlighting the importance of gaining a proper understanding to facilitate the use of processing to manipulate protein structure and functionality. Lastly, I will present some results of two more recent research projects, focused on milk protein concentrates and valorisation of sunflower seed press cakes, and introduce the core ideas for my future research activities.