More efficient food production systems

How can our lab help you reach the Green Deal goals?

The research group VEG-i-TEC wants to facilitate the implementation of technological innovations for the industry, which are often (too) large or complex to handle themselves. The focus is on the evaluation of these (innovative) technologies and to optimize water and energy use, reduce waste production, obtain a high level of food safety and (organoleptic) quality, proper process monitoring (with (new) sensor technology) and hygienic design. In the case of water, the water quality for discharge as well as for reuse in the process, is very diverse, but as important. It is also ensured that any new additional streams of (interesting) components can be purified from the water and valorized and that the unwanted micropollutants are removed or pose no danger to consumers and the environment. The research is really based on a circular economy approach.

About our lab

The research group VEG-i-TEC with focus on vegetable (water) process technology is situated at the Department of Food Technology, Food safety and Health at the faculty of Bioscience Engineering of Ghent University, Belgium. The group combines expertise from food science, food chemistry, food microbiology and food & water process technology. Researchers interact closely with diverse stakeholders at the local, national and international level to improve vegetable processing taking into account the water and energy consumption.

The VEG-i-TEC research building will be erected on the UGent Campus Kortrijk (Graaf Karel de Goedelaan, Kortrijk, Belgium) with ample of laboratory spaces close-by.

The research building contains flexible spaces designed as:

  • a process and wastewater treatment hall in the broadest sense and tailored for the entire food industry
  • a hall for the processing of vegetables and potatoes from harvested to packaged product, to which modular mobile pilots for water treatment can be connected
  • storage space at different temperatures
  • fermentation space for solid state and (fed) batch fermenters
  • supporting analytical/microbiological laboratory

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