Food Quality & Chemistry of Natural Products - Research

The Food Quality Department has received funding from the following programs:

Construction of composition tables of Greek Foods. EPET II on Nutrition. Cooperating Universities: University of Crete, School of Medical Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dept of Chemistry.

Biogenic Amines in Greek wines. PENED. Cooperating Universities: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dept. of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dept. of Chemistry.

Encapsulation of anthocyanins. Bilateral cooperation between Greece and Spain. Cooperating Institues: CEBAS, (Centro di Edafologia y Biologia Aplicada del Segura) Murcia, Spain.

Antioxidants and screening techniques, food analyses, chemical fingerprinting, trace analyses (residues in food) are the main axes of research and laboratory work within the department of Food Quality Management.

Antioxidants:

  • Phenolic extracts from various sources (plants, food including edible oils and wine, agricultural waste) are obtained and screened for antioxidant activity. The targets are: efficient antioxidants, high yields, easy and cheap extractions, environmental friendly solvent systems and /or efficient recycling.
  • Various methods for screening of antioxidant activity are dealt with. A new technique based on chemiluminescence has been set up and elaborated in our premises. The advantage of the method is that long and stable signals are produced. (Up to one minute)
  • Model systems to study the decay rate of antioxidants (quercetin, catechin, naringin etc) are studied.

Food:

  • Residues of pesticides are sought in various substrates like edible oils and fats, vegetables, fruits. Some of these analyses are included in the field of application of a Quality Assurance System according to EN 45001 / ISO 17025
  • Analyses of various food ingredients (vitamins, triglycerides, sterols, sugars, flavours etc) are performed on a routine and / or research level.
  • Wine, honey, olive oil are products, the chemical fingerprint of which is studied and recorded in view of creating data banks for eventual use of identification in the case of products of appellation of origin: the phenolic, the sugar, the volatile fingerprint. The possibility of use of LC/MS and GC/MS techniques in our premises assists enormously these projects.
  • Construction of composition tables of Greek Foods. EPET II on Nutrition.
  • Cooperating Universities: University of Crete, School of Medical Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dept of Chemistry.
  • Biogenic Amines in Greek wines. PENED.
  • Cooperating Universities: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dept. of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dept. of Chemistry.
  • Encapsulation of anthocyanins. Bilateral cooperation between Greece and Spain. Cooperating Institutes: CEBAS, (Centro di Edafologia y Biologia Aplicada del Segura) Murcia, Spain.
  • Creation of transgenic cotton plants, resistant to the fungus “Verticillium”. EPET II. MAICh was a subcontractor for the identification and quantification of gossypols in cotton samples.
  • Enzymic modification of natural antioxidants in view of maximising the recovery from the exploitation procedures of industrial waste and in view of optimising their properties. EPET II. MAICh was a subcontractor for the performance of the antioxidant tests and also for the contribution to structural elucidations by LC/MS.
  • Contribution to the identification of Greek honey. Funding from the EU and the Hellenic Ministry of Agriculture within the frame of EU Regulation 1221/97.

Last update: 03 of February, 2012