Division of Plant Product Quality

The specific traits of a plant determine what the plant can be used for. Wheat is an excellent crop for baked products due to a specific type of proteins that no other plant contains, and that helps the dough to raise and keep its shape. Fruits, vegetables, or bread that look appealing, smell, and taste good make consumers more prone to buying the products. We are studying content and composition of various components in crops and how these components can result in a higher quality of the end-product.

We use modelling to be able to predict which crop, cultivar, cultivation method, and post-harvest handling that is the best choice regarding the desired quality of the end-product, and we are studying the prospects of controlling the content of specific components. We are analysing horticultural crops (fruits, vegetables, root crops) as well as agricultural crops (cereals, oil plants, potato, hemp, and other industrial crops). The plant material covers all from old cultivars and landraces from different parts of the world to modern cultivars from Sweden and other countries.

Our research is focused on food production, but we are also interested in how to use side-streams from different production lines, including food processing, to get higher-value added products that can be used in the pharmacological, food, chemical, and packaging industries.

Many of our research projects are within these fields:

• Post-harvest quality of crops used for food production
• Healthy components in crops used for food production
• Quality aspects important for industrial production
• Variation in the quality of the end-product depending on plant material and cultivation method
• Side-streams for production of packaging material and chemicals