Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry KU Leuven

🤩 Visit our lab on the #DayofScience 🥼 On November 24th we open our doors for the public! Discover our research in our own laboratories on Dag van de Wetenschap and become a #FoodScientist for the day. 🧐 Curious about what we will do? Have a sneak peek below! 👇 🗺️ You can find us at Landbouwinstituut, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Heverlee. More information about the day itself: https://lnkd.in/eSGSJvPQ

🤝 We welcome back our colleague Ines Pynket, and welcome Maria Moutkane and Colleen Precious Kelebogile MUDAU from the Institut des Molécules et des Matériaux du Mans - UMR CNRS 6283 (Le Mans Université) to our lab in the framework of a Research Foundation Flanders - FWO TOURNESOL joint mobility project. 🧪 Stay tuned for scientific updates on the project!

📢 Webinar Alert! 🍞 Mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 6th, 2024, 14:00-15:30 CET, as we bring you an insightful HealthFerm Webinar on the Microbiology and Technology of Sourdough Production. 🎟️ The webinar will be held in English, and it's free to join 👉 https://lnkd.in/e3t-jfQN Get ready to learn from leading experts who will explore the fascinating science and technology behind this traditional fermented food. 🧑🏫 Meet Our Speakers: Christophe Courtin (KU Leuven): Introduction to sourdough and its significance Luc De Vuyst (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): Unveiling the microbial aspects of sourdough production Kati Katina (University of Helsinki): Delving into the technological and sensory dimensions Valery Gutsal (Chr. Hansen): Applying this knowledge in an industrial context The session will be moderated by Jan de Vries, Communication Manager of the HealthGrain Forum. 🌍 About HealthFerm: HealthFerm is a European research project investigating innovative fermentations of pulse- and cereal-based foods and their health benefits. While fermented foods are often linked to improved health, there's still much to discover about their actual benefits beyond well-known products like yogurt. Our project is breaking new ground with human intervention studies to understand how fermented grain-based foods interact with the human gut microbiome. The goal is to design innovative plant-based foods with optimized health benefits through a community-science approach. Join us to explore the science behind sourdough and uncover how traditional techniques meet modern innovation. See you there! 👩🔬👨🔬 #HealthFermEU #Sourdough #Fermentation #Microbiology #FoodTechnology #GutHealth #Webinar #FoodScience #SustainableNutrition #EUFunded

🍞 Did you know that selecting wheat miller’s bran based on its sub-aleurone protein content can increase the loaf volume of bran-enriched bread, such as wholemeal bread? 👉 This is because the gluten protein content in the sub-aleurone cells of wheat bran varies depending on the wheat cultivar and the level of nitrogen fertilization. To this day, there is no selection of the wheat bran incorporated into bran-enriched bread. However, selecting miller’s bran based on the sub-aleurone protein content could be an opportunity to reduce the need for commercial gluten supplementation in bran-enriched bread. Moreover, selecting miller’s bran based on its protein content could already suffice, as the protein content of miller’s bran is a good predictor of its sub-aleurone protein content. 📄 We delve into this in our latest publication in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry: "Selection of wheat miller’s bran based on the sub-aleurone protein content allows an increase in the quality of bran-enriched bread" by Wisse Hermans, Yamina De Bondt, Lily Gemoets and Christophe Courtin. Thanks to Research Foundation Flanders - FWO for the support! 🔎 Access to full publication: https://lnkd.in/eYwuv7aU For more information, contact Wisse Hermans at wisse.hermans@kuleuven.be #kuleuven #newpublication #gluten #protein #wheat #bran #bread #FWO #FoodScience

🎉 Celebrating 20 years of Children's University! 🎉 👩🔬👨🔬Last Saturday, we were thrilled to welcome curious young scientists who explored the science behind bubbles in food and drinks. 🧼 We started by discovering what’s needed to create foam, how soap affects surface tension, and even made super stable and large soap bubbles! 🥚 🧁 Next, we delved into how bubbles are formed in food and how different “foam friends” and “enemies” influence foam stability. To wrap it up, we crafted a delicious scientific chocolate mousse! 👏 It was an absolute blast, and we’d like to extend a big thank you to KU Leuven for hosting, especially to Lisa Castro for organizing and Geert Vanden Wijngaert for capturing the beautiful moments 📷. #FutureScientists #ChildrensUniversity #Kinderuniverisiteit #Foams #Bubbles #FoodScience #Education #LFCB #KULeuven

💡 Research spotlight: #EffSep project The EffSep project (November 2019 – January 2024) explored innovative and sustainable approaches to recover macronutrients from high-moisture food by-products. The project considered the processing chain from storage and preservation over nutrient recovery towards the functionality of the produced ingredients. 🥔 Nine months after the closing event of the #EffSep project (30/01/2024), we are happy to give an overview of our case study on #potato #trimmings, a by-product from potato fries production. This case study covers this integrated approach, starting from storage, towards the recovery of functional potato #proteins: 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 1🔎 explored the addition of #organic #acids as a green and cheap alternative to conventional #stabilisation methods such as drying. The impact on the microstructure, protein content, protein extractability, and microbial stability was evaluated during eight weeks of storage. 👉 Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/eBNgjeem 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 2🔎 introduced a method based on size-exclusion #HPLC that allows quickly characterising the #extractability and #aggregation state of proteins in potato matrices. In that study, the method was used to investigate extractability changes after ball milling and microwave drying potato trimmings. 👉 Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/eX_JuZpN 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 3🔎 used advanced #microscopic techniques to study the structural organisation of potato trimmings and potato proteins in this matrix. With this knowledge, microstructural changes after storage using different preservation and extraction methods were assessed during the EffSep project. 👉 Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/e5XvK5KC 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 4🔎 showed that cell disruption by temperature-controlled high-intensity #ultrasound treatments increases the protein #recovery from potato trimmings. In contrast, these treatments have a limited impact on the foaming properties of the recovered proteins. 👉 Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/eiC2JNFF 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 5🔎 compared the #foaming properties of proteins recovered from potato trimmings to commercial potato protein isolates. Moreover, in-depth insights into factors determining potato proteins' foaming and air-water interfacial properties were obtained. 👉 Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/eaG9riyU Follow our page to stay up-to-date on coming publications from EffSep and other projects! Universiteit Gent - KU Leuven - UHasselt Faculty of Bioscience Engineering UGent #foodresearch #plantprotein #potatoprotein #foam #research #flandersFOOD #VLAIO #FBW

Can starch anneal during kilning of green malt? 🤔 #Newpublication Our latest publication, "Assessing the occurrence of barley starch annealing under heat, moisture, and time conditions relevant for kilning," by Daan Gielens, Lander Haesaert, Charlotte De Schepper, Niels Langenaeken and Christophe Courtin explores this! 🌡️💧⏱️ Using an I-optimal design, we found that starch in green #malt can anneal, raising peak gelatinisation temperature by up to 2.7°C - driven mainly by incubation temperature. 🌡️🌾 This increase could be a concern for brewers to ensure high resource efficiency! 🌾🍺 🤔 Curious to learn more? You can find the paper here: https://lnkd.in/e4pDeNUM 🙏 A special thanks to VLAIO - Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship for the financial support! #VLAIO #Starchgelatinisation #Malting KU Leuven

✨#Conference news✨   Next week, the LFCB will attend the 3rd NIZO Plant Protein Functionality Conference, 22–25 October in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. 👉 Will you be joining us there? 🤝 🎤 On 24/10, Ben Van den Wouwer will present his work on the impact of temperature-controlled #ultrasound treatments on the extraction and foaming properties of proteins from #soybean #okara. This work is in collaboration with VEG-i-TEC (UGent). We thank VLAIO - Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Flanders' FOOD for funding and supporting the #EffSep project. Co-authors: Kristof Brijs, Arno Wouters, and Katleen Raes. We gratefully acknowledge Research Foundation Flanders - FWO for providing a travel grant to attend this conference. #NIZO #plantprotein #functionality #conference #Apeldoorn 

Happy #WorldBreadDay! 🥖🍞🌾 At the Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry (KU Leuven), we are passionate about cereal and bread research and committed to better understand the science behind one of the world’s most beloved staples 🌍. We perform research along the complete cereal value chain, from characterising the raw materials and the interactions between dough constituents, to directing the breadmaking process for enhancing the properties of diverse bread types 🔬🍞. We aim to gain novel insights to obtain healthier, tastier, and more sustainable bread products and thus help shaping the future of bread! 🎯 Join us in celebrating World Bread Day 🥳, check our bread-related papers in the comments 📚⬇️, and follow our page to stay tuned 🔔. #CerealResearch #FoodScience #Sustainability #BreadInnovation

We are celebrating the newest cookie doctor 📣 #NewPhD 🎉 Last Friday, Leonardo Mulargia successfully defended his PhD entitled “Hypothesis based modulation of in vitro digestibility of starch in cookies” 🙏Special thanks to the promotor and co-promotors (Jan Delcour, Arno Wouters, Elien Lemmens) and all jury members! Congratulations Dr. Leonardo Mulargia🎓 #Cookies #Starch #Invitrodigestibility #research