The Department of Food Engineering and Process Management of Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS-SGGW) is one of the biggest and best life-sciences universities in Poland with more than 200 years of tradition. It conducts a multi-faceted business and scientific – research aimed at solving current problems of the national economy, especially in agriculture and related fields. WULS-SGGW carries out interdisciplinary research focusing on the course and optimization of heat and mass transfer-based unit operation and design of innovative products. One of the most important research domains includes the problem of water state in food and food drying enhancement by the application of pre-treatment (e.g. sonication and pulsed electric field application) and/or by utilization of different drying methods (air drying, infrared drying, microwave assisted air drying etc.). The Department is a strong unit in the field of determination of impact of different processing techniques on physicochemical properties of food (texture, bioactive compound concentrations etc.). Research carried out currently at the Department centres on combination of emerging technologies (ultrasound, pulsed electric field) with well-known food processing techniques to enhance both their course, kinetics and quality of the final product to fulfil the requirements of producers, consumers and reduce their environmental load.

Role in FOX:

• Leading the Czech/Polish Food Circle: “Sustainable, low temperature drying technologies for soft fruits, vegetables, mushrooms and their derivatives”
• Analysing the impact of conventional and unconventional drying techniques preceded by innovative nonthermal pre-treatment methods on product quality and process kinetics on laboratory scale
• Supporting the overall dissemination and communication activities