The SAXS / WAXS instrument at KU FOOD

The Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen (KU FOOD) has invested via FOODHAY in the X-ray device Nano-inXider/SAXS (Small Angle X-Ray Scattering), which can examine structures in food at the nanoscale.

“SAXS can above all give food researchers and the industry new insights into the physical structure of food and how it connects to e.g. taste and nutrient absorption,” says associate professor Jacob Kirkensgaard , who is responsible for the equipment and contact person for research collaborations involving the Nano-inXider instrument.

He experiences great interest in the new opportunities among companies, where the focus is particularly on structures that can create a good mouthfeel in plant-based foods that have a different protein structure than animal foods, and therefore have to be processed differently.

“A hot topic is how to create gelled protein networks in all kinds of plant-based products. Here, for example, it can be interesting to look at how the protein structure is in yogurt, which many would say has a good mouthfeel – and gelling structure. If we know how the structures are created in the yogurt at the nanoscale, we can perhaps transfer it to the plant-based alternatives and thus pave the way for some greener eating habits,” says Jacob Kirkensgaard further.

Source: Department of Food Science (FOOD), University of Copenhagen