Obtaining and characterising functional ingredients from plant-based raw materials and by-products of the food industry with a focus on proteins

Overcoming the future challenges of the food industry to supply a growing world population with sufficient high-quality food requires a rethink in the current production of food and the raw materials available for it. The holistic utilisation of plant-based raw materials, which includes the use of all side streams of food production, as well as alternatives to animal products, could be possible approaches here.  

The research focus of the Plant Proteins and Nutrition working group is on the extraction and characterisation of functional ingredients from plant-based raw materials and their application in food.

The focus is currently on plant proteins, as plant proteins can be used as functional ingredients in a variety of foods and can represent an alternative (not a substitute) to animal proteins in food production.