Research Activities

The staff in the Department continue to do active research in various areas of endeavours. This has resulted in a number of conference presentations and publications in both national and international journals.

Research Focus/Areas:

Postharvest and Food Processing Technology

• Storage Systems and Methods to Maintain the Qualities of the Focused Food Commodities to Prevent Postharvest Losses
• Processing Technologies which Entails Size Reduction, Extraction and Mixing
• Unit Operations such as Drying, Blanching, Pasteurization, Refrigeration and Freezing

Food Product Development

• Value Addition to Food Commodities in the Country Through Developing Novel Food Products
• Improving Traditional Food Products in Terms of Convenience
• Developing Ingredients with Functional Properties from Indigenous Food Commodities (Okro, Cassava, Sweetpotato, Millet, Sorghum, Maize, etc.)
• Formulating Healthy Juice Blends from Fruits and Vegetables and Utilization of their Residue or Waste in other Product Formulations
• Sensory Evaluation of Processed and Unprocessed forms of the Focused Food Commodities

Food System, Safety and Quality

• Spectral measurement of food and chemometric modelling
• Isolation and Characterization of Food Biopolymers/Hydrocolloids from Indigenous Food Materials (E.G. Okra, Sweetpotato, Pumpkin etc.) and their Functionality for Potential Applications
• Development of HACCP Plan and Food Risk Assessment
• Nutritional Composition(Proximate, Minerals, Vitamins and Antioxidants), Microbiological/Toxicology (Total Coliforms, Yeast and Moulds) and Physicochemical Properties (pH, Total Soluble Solids and Rheology) Determination

Current Projects

• Artificial intelligence and food fraud detection
• Aflatoxin in Groundnuts/Peanut - Feed the Future Innovation Labs and Collaborative Research Support Programs
• Street Foods Project - KNUST, Food Research Institute and University of Copenhagen
• Strengthening root and tuber value chain in Ghana - Ghana-Denmark Pilot Research Cooperation Programme  (PRCP)
• Yam Storage Project - AUSAID  Research  Cooperation
• Okra pectin project
• Akokono project
• High Quality Cassava Flour and Composite Bread, IFAD sponsorship with McGill and IITA Collaboration
• Gari Processing
• PICS 3 Project