Research Unit VEG-i-TEC of the Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health (Ghent University), led by Prof. dr. ir. Katleen Raes and Prof. dr. MSc. Imca Sampers, focusses at two research lines: fermentation and chemical & microbiological quality. Theoretical knowledge is translated to concrete company situations and input is given in optimization and implementation of company-specific installations and processes.. The labs are equipped with bioreactors (batch and fed- batch up to 30l, and solid-state) and downstream equipment, supported by a microbiological (L2), biochemical and analytical (GC, GC-MS, LC, LC-MS, ICP, IR) research lab. Recently, based on the research conducted at the Research Unit VEG-i-TEC, a research- and expertise center (VEG-i-TEC) for the processing of vegetables and potatoes is approved and the construction of the pilot hall is started in September 2019 (to be finished September 2021).

The research of K. Raes is nowadays focused on traditional fermented foods, the use of fermentation (natural or steered) fermentation processes to obtain new food products, and the valorization of by- products by the use of enzymes or micro-organisms. In relation to traditional fermented food products, more emphasis is given to understand the different (bio)chemical processes that take place during the fermentation process, in order to be able to produce a more standardized, high quality products. Studies has been done with shrimp paste, fermented anchovies, fermented African oil beans, and traditional cereal products (e.g. injera, millet porridges). Finally a lot of agriculture products are lost, partly by overproduction or bad preservation techniques, partly because this is not edible (e.g. fruit skins, peels). Therefore this research line is focusing on the extraction of these high amounts of bio-active compounds in these sidestreams and by-products of the fruit and vegetable industry, as well as on fish by-products. The extraction is mostly done using enzymes and/or microorganisms, instead of using chemical solvents. Applications and bio-activity screening (e.g. antimicrobial, antioxidative effects) is performed using the obtained extracts.

Prof. Raes has 130 international peer review publications, 3,395 citations, excluding self-citations, and an h-index of 33 (Web of Science, 04.02.2020). A full list of the bibliography can be found on https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801001275508.

Prof. Vijay Jayasena is a world renowned expert in food science & technology with over 30 years of professional experience. Since 2005, he has received around $10 million worth of research grants, delivered more than 100 (including 45 international) presentations and published more than 50 peer reviewed papers.

Prof. Marie-Louise Scippo is the Director of the laboratory of food analysis (Department of Food Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine), University of Liège, Belgium. Her major expertise domains are chemical risks linked to foodstuff (e.g. : development and use of analytical methods (biochemical and physico-chemical) for residues and contaminants determination in various matrices (antibiotics, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PCBs, dioxins, etc.; - development of in vitro assays (cell culture based) to study endocrine disruptors (substances with hormonal actions, or dioxin-like, xenobiotics or natural compounds) found in various matrices; - study of degradation products of fatty acids and proteins in food).

Prof. Marc Hendrickx is the head of the KU Leuven Laboratory of Food Technology, and Director of the 'Interuniversity Program in Food Technology' ('Master of Science in Food Technology'). His research focuses on process structure relations answering the question on how food structures can be generated and maintained throughout their life cycle. The work links with (i) process structure quality relations in the context of food quality design investigating the influence of the processes used and the structures obtained on biochemical, chemical and physical food quality aspects during processing and shelf life and (ii) process structure health relations investigating on how food structure can be steered to influence/ optimize nutrient bio-accessibility and digestion of plant-based foods. The research approach includes kinetic and mechanistic aspects and quantitative methods for process impact evaluation. The research approach integrates reaction mechanisms, chemometrics (fingerprinting) and kinetics at different length scales and time. He focuses on fruit-, vegetable- and legume-based foods and ingredients.