Research laboratories

QualiSud is specialized in the field of food processing. Its activities range from the post-harvest development process of food to appraisal of sensory quality in the mouth, to its nutritional quality, its health benefit, its harmlessness and its technological properties. The dynamic mechanisms involved in establishing this quality require a good knowledge of the food matrix and of its interaction with the environment. The unit brings together the multi-field skills required to tackle these issues. The strong restrictions on the Southern countries in terms of energy cost, access to water, manufacturing capacities and maintenance of equipment, specificity and variability of raw materials, mean designing robust, economical processes in accordance with the qualities of the raw material and the finished product. The paths of optimization of existing technologies and the design of new food processes are both studied within the unit.

UMR QualiSud centres its research activities on six scientific actions:

• Food matrix and relation with sensory quality
• Reduction of postharvest losses of horticultural crops
• Bio-guidance of processes to enhance functional properties of food
• Control of microbial flows for the prevention of mycotoxins along the food production chains
• Transfer and reactions
• Engineering of food systems