Research group of food science and technology

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.

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.