Food Science

Last changed: 05 September 2023
A sun-ripened wheat field. Photo.

At SLU we research sustainable development throughout the life cycle of food (including drinking water), from primary production to processing, distribution and consumption.

We often apply an interdisciplinary perspective to solving complex issues relating to sustainability, climate and health.

Food science mainly covers the following areas at SLU:

  • food raw material
  • food processing
  • food technology
  • food safety
  • food microbiology
  • human nutrition
  • quality assurance
  • product development
  • product properties
  • marketing, innovation and management
  • sustainable food supply

SLU's definition of food science

Food science includes knowledge and understanding of the composition, properties and functionality of both the raw material and the final food product. The subject applies basic sciences to study different aspects of food, such as underlying principles behind both product destruction and the possibilities of improving food quality.

Food science also includes food technology, which is the application of the food science bases on the food in the industrial refining process. Food technology is the doctrine of what happens to the food chemically, physically and technically in different process steps, eg. during heat treatment, processing, packaging, storage, distribution and cooking.

Contact a food science researcher

At SLU, many people work with food research. Read more below to get in touch with researchers in different areas!

Lutz Ahrens

Associated Professor in Organic Environmental Chemistry at at the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment
Research area: Organic pollutants in water and air
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Beatrix Alsanius  

Professor at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: Microbial interactions in horticultural value networks, which among other comprise food safety and -quality, enteric and other human pathogens related to horticulture crops and products, plant health and microbiological control of plant diseasaes, fertility of soil and growing media, and organic compounds
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Mariette Andersson   

Researcher at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Design plants to produce tailor-made compounds that provide benefits to our health and / or our environment, using biotechnology.
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Roger Andersson

Professor at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Dietary fiber and starch. Roger has worked mostly with cereal products, but also other vegetable foods. An important purpose is to find and explain the relationship between the chemical, technological and nutritional properties of the polysaccharides in both food raw materials and consumer products.
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Erik Andreasson

Professor at the Department of Plant Protection Biology
Research area: The ability of plants to manage stress and diseases
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Sofia Boqvist   

Assistant Professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health
Research area: Veterinary public health, microbial food safety and risk analysis, and epidemiology, focusing on zoonotic infections
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Anders Carlsson

Professor at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant breeding with a focus on biotechnology
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Linley Chiwona-Karltun

Researcher at the Department of Urban and Rural Development
Research area: Insects as food
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Annie Drottberger

PhD student at the Department of Work Science, Business Economics and Environmental Psychology
Research area: How important it is for successful gardening companies to quickly absorb new technological innovations
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Lena Ekelund Axelsson  

Professor at the Department of Work Science, Business Economics and Environmental Psychology
Research area: Business management
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Mattias Eriksson 

Researcher at the Department of Energy and Technology
Research area: How the food system can become more sustainable through reduced food waste
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Anders Glynn   

Professor in toxicology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health
Research area: Human exposure to chemicals / elements in food and drinking water.
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Åsa Grimberg

Researcher at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant protein production, breeding of faba beans and development of new oil crops
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Oleksiy Guzhva

Researcher at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: New technological developments for agriculture, for example, sensor technology, computer vision, IoT and digitizing, smart stables
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Sara Hallin

Professor at the Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology
Research area: Molecular microbial ecology in soil and water purification processes
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Su-lin Hedén

Researcher at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Food and feed
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Per Hofvander

Researcher at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant breeding
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Monika Johansson

Researcher at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Milk raw material as a base for processed dairy products.
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Eva Johansson    

Professor at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Combining knowledge within agronomy, environment, plant material and processing to obtain the most suitable plant-based biomass for the production of food, feed, materials, chemicals and biogas.
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Selvaraju Kanagarajan 

Researcher at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant breeding
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Anders Karlsson   

Professor at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant breeding with a focus on biotechnology
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Sammar Khalil

Researcher at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: microbial interactions in horticultural production chains with a focus on biological control
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Ramune Kuktaite    

Researcher at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant breeding
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Stephan Köhler

Professor at the  Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment
Research area: Preparation of drinking water in a changed climate
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Carl-Johan Lagerqvist  

Professor at the Department of Economy
Research area: Decision making and management
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Maud Langton   

Professor at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Food structures and properties
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Åse Lundh 

Professor at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: The quality of the raw milk
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Johan Lundqvist

Researcher at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health
Forskningsområde: Drinking water research and human exposure to chemicals in drinking water and other foods
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Christopher Malefors

PhD student at the Department of Energy and Technology
Research area: Agricultural technology and systems
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Ali Moazzami

Researcher at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Organic Chemistry
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Lars Mogren

Researcher at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: The importance of the cultivation method for the quality of outdoor vegetables
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Emina Mulaosmanovic

PhD student at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: Colonization of E. coli (EHEC) via damaged sites on leafy vegetables
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Elisabeth Müllner   

Researcher at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Metabolites - "end products" of the cellular process that reflect the interaction between genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic, proteomic factors with environmental and lifestyle factors.
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William Newson

Researcher at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant proteins for both food and industrial applications, such as biodegradable plastic
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Lotta Nordmark

Lecturer at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: Horticultural production physiology, production of wine in colder regions
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Volkmar Passoth

Researcher at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Yeast as a resource for producing biodiesel, food and feed ingredients
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Jana Pickova

Professor at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Metabolism of fish lipids and the importance of fish lipids quality for human health
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Thomas Prade

Assistant Professor at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: Integration of food, feed, material and energy production from agricultural crops and waste products
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Stefan Roos

Researcher at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Food and feed
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Anna Karin Rosberg 

Assistant Professor at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: Gardening science with a focus on microbial communities linked to horticultural crops
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Kimmo Rumpunen

Researcher at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant breeders responsible for variety production of apple, currant and sea buckthorn
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Sabine Sampels

Researcher at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Quality of fish, meat and animal products, with focus on lipids, oxidation and antioxidants
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Gulaim Seisenbaeva  

Researcher at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Nanotechnology as an innovative tool against insect pests
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Ingrid Strid

Researcher at the Department of Energy and Technology
Research area: The environmental impact of the food system with a special focus on food waste, often with life cycle analysis as a method
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Sara Spendrup

Lecturer at the Department of Work Science, Business Economics and Environmental Psychology
Research area: Gardening and business economics
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Most Tahera Naznin

Assistant Professor at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: Urban horticulture and food production
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Karin Wiberg

Professor at the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment
Research area: Improved water quality and sustainable use of water
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Jean W.H Yong

Professor at the Department of Biosystems and Technology
Research area: To produce plants with a reduced dependence on mineral fertilizers by supplying organic material containing natural biostimulants
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Galia Zamaratskaia

Assistant Professor at the Department of Molecular Sciences
Research area: Food chemistry, meat science, biochemistry and nutrition
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Li-Hua Zhu

Research Assistant at the Department of Plant Breeding
Research area: Plant breeding
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Examples of grants to SLU's food science research