Fermented foods and flavour play a crucial role in human diets and food acceptance. Our group focuses on the biotransformation of food materials and side-streams for better nutrition, flavour and sustainability. Beneficial microorganisms including probiotics and enzymes are exploited to maximize their biocatalytic potential for developing novel food products and ingredients. Our themes of research include application of probiotics as starter cultures in food and beverage fermentations, alcoholic beverage fermentation by Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeasts, fermented sauces and flavourings from food processing side streams, flavour biotransformation and characterization, and food waste biovalorisation.
Current Research Projects
Bioconversion of chicken carcasses into flavourings
Biotransformation of soy whey into functional beverages
Fermentation of salted whey into sauces
Biovalorisation of coffee waste (spent coffee grounds)
Fermented wheat gluten sauces
Microalgae as alternative protein sources
Characterization of coffee, tea, citrus, honeybush and honesuckle flavour compounds