Projects

According to OECD, Estonia is one of the EU countries where obesity and diabetes are most prevalent. According to WHO, every fifth child in Estonia is overweight. Therefore, our task is to help people reduce their consumption of sugar, salt, and fat, which are associated with obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The Estonian food industry is already committed to food reformulation, transforming former sinners in to saints. For example, muffin, which has been a delightful dessert in the past, has now become a food with reduced sugar, extra fiber and with a Nutriscore value B. However, its health impact is noticeable only when the taste is equally enjoyable and consumers accept it. This reformulation project explores sweet-tasting and healthy peptides and oligosaccharides to replace added sugars, the synergy of flavor compounds and salt, and the effect of fats on flavour. We aim to have a positive impact on public health without compromising quality, safety and taste.

Field of Research: Develops eco-friendly, nonthermal processing methods (HIPEF, HHP) to enhance food safety, nutrient retention, and probiotic viability in plant-based juices, with emphasis on industrial scalability. Specialty: • Primary: Integration of nonthermal technologies (HIPEF+HHP) to achieve synergistic effects—enzyme inactivation, release of bound bioactives (e.g., carotenoids), and stabilization of probiotics in acidic, nutrient-rich juices. • Secondary: Application of in vitro digestion models to evaluate bioactive absorption and optimization of processes for industry-scale adoption. Contributions: Leads experimental design and process trials with HIPEF+HHP, and performs detailed HPLC/MS analysis of bioactive release and digestive stability. Bridges laboratory research with sustainable food processing, supporting nutrient-rich, waste-reducing, and consumer-friendly innovations.

The program supports the development of green skills necessary for the food processing companies. In the course of the activity, the updating of the learning content related to the teaching of green skills in higher and vocational education, further and retraining for the development of green skills in order to prepare a workforce with broader knowledge and skills regarding the green economy for the introduction of new technologies and approaches, as well as the updating of professional standards and skill profiles or, if necessary, the creation of new ones, and the further training of vocational teachers-lecturers are supported.

The existing solid face fermentation systems do not ensure the optimal oxygen supply, nor temperature, high microbial contamination risk is also common for those systems. The aim of current project is to develop a simple and cheap system for cultivation of fungi or mycelium equipped with oxygen and temperature control. That improves the growth rate and yield of fungal biomass. System is universal, in addition to cultivation of fungi it enables to carry out high temperature composting. We use 20 - 200 L polypropylene bags as cultivation vessels, that are equipped with process control head. This cultivation vessel enables sterilization, aseptic inoculation, aeration and cooling of growth substrate. Cultivation vessel is connected to control system for oxygen and temperature monitoring and process control at least in 4 individual cultivation vessels.

The aim of the project is to develop an international research network onthe diagnosis and epidemiology of viruses infecting cereal crops to understand the current state of occurrence of cereal viruses and their vectors and reservoirs. Depending on research findings, development of diagnostic methods is planned for the viruses with higher pathogenicity potential.

Solid state fermentations (SFF) are one of the most environmental friendly methods for food valorization. It has been used for thousands of years for production of fermented foods in the orient, using aerobic fermentation with filamentous fungi. By contrast, in Western world it has been used in anaerobic fermentations to alter the sensory properties of bread, meat and cheese. The aim of this project is to apply the SFF for production of bio control agents using side products of food production (spent brewers grains, kernels, whey) as a carrier or substrate. The biocontrol agents studied are propionic acid bacteria and filamentous fungi. The propionic acid bacteria have potential to increase the shelf life of bakery products while fungi (e.g. Chlonostachys rosea, Thrichoderma etc) are being widely used as biopesticides and biofertilizers. To optimize the SFF processes a unique solid state fermention system enabling to control the pH, T, pO2 and growth rate will be constructed.

Prolonging the shelf life of food is important to reduce food losses in supply chain and consumption as well as enable products to be marketed longer distance. Measures to extend the shelf life are directly related to food safety and quality; however, its sensory properties are best within a certain optimal shelf life. Although human sensory receptors are set by nature to identify food safety risks, good taste does not necessarily guarantee food safety and vice versa. Safety risks are particularly high for unpasteurised products with neutral pH. The temperature of 2-6°C used in the supply chain does not prevent the growth of spoilage, including pathogenic, bacteria and thus limits the shelf life. This project explores various technical options for extending the shelf life of food without sacrificing safety and quality: incl. aseptic production, rapid cooling, use of ice binding proteins and storage temperatures of -2...0°C as well as control of essential flavor components.