Food Safety and Microbiology

The Food Safety Centre works with several different projects related to improvement of food safety and shelf life in the meat industry. The main areas are: Hygiene during slaughtering and meat processing, improved food safety and shelf life of fresh meat and processed meat e.g. by new processing methods and ingredients in processed meat.

• Hygiene during slaughtering is important to consider to avoid contamination of the carcass, ensuring long shelf life and high food safety. We work on solutions to improve the hygiene by changing the procedures used in the industry or by developing new solutions for specific operations on the slaughter line.
• Preservation is important to reduce the growth of pathogens and spoilage organisms. At the same time, consumers ask for products with a low salt content and a minimum of chemical preservatives. Therefore, we work on finding new natural preservatives or new methods to eliminate micro-organisms in processed meat.
• Processing like curing, fermentation, drying, heating and packaging are used to produce processed meat with good quality, long shelf life and high food safety. The trend in meat processing is to minimize time and reduce the amount of energy used. Thus, it is important to document how this minimal processing affects the survival/inactivation of pathogens and how processing, meat and ingredients interact.

As an intern, you will be part of the team, collaborating on solving the tasks included in the project. We expect the work activities to be targeted towards specific interests, although the main focus is on developing a solution.

As a thesis student, you will begin by clarifying your expectations. This to ensure that, when you start working on your tasks, they will not only be relevant for you, but also for our projects, and this will lead to relevant discussions and an exchange of ideas.