The department conducts research across the entire food value chain—from primary production to consumption—to manage and enhance food quality traits relevant to consumer perception, nutritional value, health effects, and processing suitability. Our research generates new knowledge on the sustainable production and quality of fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, dairy, meat and egg products, forming a strong foundation for high-level knowledge dissemination in these areas.
Cultivation techniques
Plant physiology
Crop quality
Postharvest performance
Global change impacts on plant-based food production
Product development
Organic production
Food Safety (analysis of natural food contaminants and in vitro toxicity assessment)
Sustainable food systems and circular resource use
Sensory and consumer science
Biotechnological and functional food innovation
Hybrid products
The department has modern and advanced facilities supporting a wide range of physiological, analytical, and technological research activities, including:
Research fields, stables, controlled environments, state-of-the-art greenhouses and storage facilities
In vitro laboratories for cellular studies
Comprehensive analytical platforms (HPLC, GC-MS, Q-TOF, ion trap, MALDI TOF/TOF, high and lowfield NMR, ESR, chromatography systems, DSC, FTIR)
Sensory science laboratories
Photosynthesis and root laboratories equipped with advanced instrumentation
The department is organized into five science teams:
Plant, Food & Sustainability
Differentiated & Biofunctional Food
Food Chemistry
Food Technology
Food Quality Perception & Society
PhD students are affiliated with the team most relevant for their project. Many projects involve collaboration across teams, enabling knowledge exchange and interdisciplinary research—one of the department’s central strengths.
