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Food

Food research is the usual term for research concerning those stages of the food chain that come after "slaughter and harvest". To this can be added nutrition, toxicology and hygiene, which do not quite so obviously belong to any particular link of the chain because they can affect several different parts of it.

Swedish food research comprises the equivalent of ca. 950 work-years divided between food enterprises, universities and research institutes. Of the ca. 350 work-years at universities, university colleges and research institutes, approximately a quarter are funded by industry.

The research areas
Food research can be divided into areas such as diet/health, food physics, chemistry and biology, food safety, process and production technologies, and a number of smaller areas such as energy, working environment, product development and economics. Regarding state-funded research at universities and institutes, ca. 31, 24, 14 and 14 per cent goes to the first four areas respectively. Geographically, most state funding goes to Lund and most private funding to Gothenburg. The latter includes the industry's basic funding and development project at the Swedish Institute of Food and Biotechnology.

Lund, Gothenburg and Uppsala are the main centres of food research but there is also research and education in this area at Stockholm and Umeå, and to a certain extent at Linköping and Kalmar. At Örebro university there is, for example, a professorship in the culinary arts. In Stockholm there is food-related R & D at the Karolinska Institute, the Stockholm School of Economics and the Royal Institute of Technology. It is difficult to give a true picture of the differences between the localities, but the main emphasis of the research is different at each.

Geographical profile
In Lund it is the departments and divisions at Lund University that dominate food research. Applied nutrition and food chemistry, engineering and technology are important areas, as is applied microbiology. Research concentrating on food is also represented in the areas of economics and the social sciences. The Swedish Institute of Food and Agricultural Economics is situated in Lund. Co-operation is well developed in the region. At SLU at Alnarp comprehensive research is carried out into horticultural products.

In Gothenburg activities are divided between Chalmers University of Technology (CTH), Gothenburg University and the Swedish Institute of Food and Biotechnology (SIK). Co-operation between the different units takes a variety of forms. Food research at Gothenburg University occurs mainly in the medical faculty. SIK is in its capacity as the national institute for food research responsible for conducting research directly related to the food industry; this includes, process and measurement technologies, environment, sustaining quality, hygiene and product safety.

In Uppsala there is food research going on at Uppsala University as well as at SLU, and also at the National Food Administration. The main emphasis is on research in chemistry, biology and food safety related to raw materials, especially milk, cereals and meat. At SLU there are departments of food science, hygiene and toxicology. There is also research into diet/health and safety at Uppsala University and the National Food Administration. Co-operation takes place, for example, under the umbrella of Uppsala Food Centre (ULC) The Centre for Clinical Testing of Food is also located in Uppsala (KPL).

R & D in the food industry
It is estimated that in the Swedish food industry R & D represents an equivalent of ca. 700 work-years at a cost of ca. 500 million kronor. However, the industry's share of R & D more has more emphasis on development than that in the public share. The total investment the food industry makes in R & D is low compared with the average for Swedish industry.

Updated 2003-06-05