Food Quality and Safety Research Group

Food Quality and Safety Research Group has started its activities since 2003 (1382) by implementing some research projects, which aimed at improving the health and safety of food in collaboration with production units, organizations and related regulatory bodies. Nowadays, the high level of health among people in a community is one of the most important indicators of community health and development.  Todays, as most people do not have a balanced diet, dietary products have a special place in the food industry.

 Dietary food products can be effective in various ways to prevent and control chronic non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, obesity, etc.). Therefore, conducting a research on dietary food products has been considered as a top priority in this research group recently.

The main activities of the group are as follows:

* Developing, optimizing and designing food quality and health monitoring methods

* Identifying, controlling and determining the allowed amount of pesticide residues, contaminants and pharmaceutical compounds in foods

* Investigating the effect of biological, technological and environmental factors on food quality and health

* Standardizing and developing quality and hygiene management systems and ensuring the food safety

Research orientation:

Currently, the role of food in human health and nutrition is considered very important in many societies. Thus, focusing on the primary role of food as a source of energy and growth has now shifted to the biological role of its components in human health and the market for food production and consumption has emphasized on super healthy, extra useful foods. Changes in consumer demand have led the food industry to produce new products that meet the customer requirements; in many countries, this demand is increasing due to the rising value of health care, constant increase of life expectancy and the desire of older people to improve their life quality.

Low-calorie foods can be distinguished suitable foods for consumers on specific diets (specific medical problems such as diabetics). They also can be beneficial to enhance the community health as a group of healthy foods with lower levels of fat and sugar and higher fiber. The results of various researches have clearly shown that consumers are very interested in this new food group. Besides, women are more likely to consume low-calorie and sugar-free products than men.

Therefore, considering the potentials of Food Quality and Safety Research Group and the importance of gaining competitive advantage over competitors and drawing the attention of active food industries with high potentials in producing of dietary products, as well as the importance of cereals in the daily food basket, this group has focused its future activities on "dietary products of baking industry".

Capabilities and activities performed:

* Optimizing the formulation and production of dietary and healthy food products

* Standardization (standard formulation) of new dietary products, especially cereal and confectionery products

* Optimizing the formulation and production of healthy fiber supplements and using them in healthy food products

* Training and giving information to raise community awareness and promote the right culture of food consumption

* Using image processing techniques, software calculations (fuzzy logic, neuro-fuzzy, fuzzy regression, etc.) and pattern recognition methods in classifying, evaluating and modeling the quality of foods

* Producing new packages to increase health, quality and shelf life of foods

* Assessing the quality and healthiness of extra useful foods

* Holding short and medium-term courses, seminars and specialized workshops

* Consulting with food production units to solve the problems related to product quality and production lines

* Optimizing low-calorie cake formulations to reduce sugar

* Investigating the effect of different starches on delaying the staling process of microwave cooked cakes

* Examining the effect of plant resins on the physicochemical and sensory properties of low-calorie cakes

* Optimizing low-calorie cake formulations using stevia sweetener, inulin and fiber supplements

* Investigating the effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium bifidum on the reduction of aflatoxin M1 in the simulated model of the human stomach and intestine

* Determining the most appropriate method of combating bacteriophages in the industrial production process of fermented dairy products (yogurt)

* Identifying and controlling the causes of undesirable flavor and aroma in pasteurized buttermilk product

* Determining the amount of sulfur dioxide residues in important varieties of raisin in Khorasan-e Razavi Province

Address: Food Science and Technology Research Institute, Khorasan- Razavi ACECR Central Organization, Ferdowsi University Campus, Azadi Square, Mashhad

Phone Number: 051-31997431