German Institute of Food Technologies

German Institute of Food Technologies(DIL)

Abbreviated name of the German Institute of Food Technologies, DIL in forest-green colour with the microcellular graphic in two green colours and the official name of the DIL in black letters (below).

Official logo of the German Institute of Food Technologies
Abbreviation DIL
Motto Knowledge for superior foods
Formation 1983 [1]
Type Institution
Legal status Registered association
Purpose Research & Development
Headquarters Quakenbrück, Germany
Location
Region served
 Germany, Worldwide
Official language
 German, English
Director
 Dr.-Ing.Volker Heinz [2]
Staff
 approx. 150 [1]
Website www.dil-ev.de

The German Institute of Food Technologies (ger. Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik e.V. - DIL) is a non-governmental and self-financing research institute supported by more than 120 members from fields of food production, mechanical engineering, process engineering and metrology. The DIL was founded in 1983 and is situated in the county of Osnabrück, one of the regions with the highest numbers of full-time employees and highest density of food industry enterprises in Germany.[3]

The research focus of the DIL is to develop innovative methods for food production, quality assurance and process optimization. Beneficiaries of new insights in food technology are small and medium-sized enterprises. Stated as main objective is the improvement of efficiency and increase of competitiveness of companies from the food industry.

According to own sources, the institute finances itself by 90% through external funds, out of which 55% are used to cooperate directly with members of the DIL.[4]

History

In May 1985 a new building was planned for the DIL in the Professor-von-Klitzing Street, where the foundation stone was laid on September 1985 by Birgit Breuel, who was Secretary of Commerce then. The Minister-President of Lower Saxony at that time, Ernst Albrecht, inaugurated the new building at the turn of the year 1986/1987.

In 1988 the institute was renamed into its present name "German Institute of Food Technologies" and its legal form was changed from membership cooperation to registered association.[5]

On 20 Mai 2009 the foundation stone for the expansion of the DIL building was laid by Friedrich-Otto Ripke, the Secretary of State for agriculture, nutrition and consumer protection. The former Minister-President of Lower Saxony Christian Wulff and Hans-Heinrich Ehlen were thanked for their personal contribution to the grant which enables the German Institute of Food Technologies to cooperate and link itself with further research institutes in the county.[5][6]

As part of DIL's agenda for 2015 the current building had to be expanded. The state of Lower Saxony had agreed to support the Artland municipality with a subsidy of €15 million to enable local agribusinesses and food production companies to develop their international competitiveness.[5]

Business divisions

Product innovation

New trends in markets and direct orders from companies serve as drive and guideline to develop appealing, healthy food products for all market segments: confectionery, baked goods, dairy and meat products, snacks and convenience products. The development process is also governed by a comprehensive analytical characterization of the structure of ingredients. Physical analysis in thermal, rheological and physiochemical tests enable possibilities to identify and characterize microstructures such as foams, emulsions and suspensions.[7]

Process technology

The focus of this business field is set to investigate in more efficient methods to process food production. Main goals include energy reduction, automation of technical processes and the use of new technologies to transform materials. The following areas are highlights of the process development:

Food safety

Products are tested upon their safety to avoid unforeseen incidents such as contamination of food. Raw material but also final products are being tested according to legal requirements and regulations in order to be safe for the consumer. Main areas of focus are quality management, chemical- and microbiological analysis. Although the food producer alone carries the responsibility for the production of safe food and the implementation of the necessary measures, the DIL can support food producers through quality controls and seminars about hygiene management.[9]

Center of Food Physics

The Center of Food Physics (ZLP) is the latest business division of the DIL ; it started operation in mid-2011. On behalf of its customers, the ZLP investigates the relationship between structure and function and transfers its findings on structure formation mechanisms into process technology. The scale-up of technical and industrial applications is conducted in cooperation with other DIL divisions in order to be able to process complex R&D tasks for its customers effectively and to a high level. While chemical analysis is concerned with the determination of the quality and quantity of substances and material systems, physical analysis applies expert knowledge, advanced measuring and examination methods and tailormade analysis concepts to characterize materials and material systems. Since structures are the key to understanding properties, this area is of particular importance. The work of the ZLP is methodology-oriented, which means that the central elements are the development and application of measuring techniques for physical characterization. The measuring methods will then be adapted to the respective material systems. The existing expertise and the available measuring and examination systems of the industry and other research institutes can thereby be offered as a service to minimize the gap between research and application.[10]

Research

Bioeconomy

Since 2012, the Bio-Economy division has been a new research focus at DIL. It serves as an interface between research platforms and business divisions. Cross-thematic and cross-sectoral research activities have been established to promote the structural change from an oil-based to a bio-based industry along with major opportunities for growth and employment. At the same time, international responsibility needs to be taken on the issues of the global food supply, the biomass-based supply of raw materials and energy, and climate and environmental protection. DIL is continually working to pave the way for bio-based food production. As part of these efforts, natural resources shall be used and new ways of using renewable raw materials are to be developed. This will be made possible through the development of new, bio-based production processes. This objective not only serves to preserve our living space, but also improves product quality and is good for our health. The division has its own research projects planned for 2013.

Structure and functionality

The quality of food is determined by their structure. Therefore, an optimization of food structures leads an improvement of long-term quality of food. Based on test on structure generation and the interdependency with the quality of food the DIL tries to increase the shelf-life of products.[11]

Proteintechnologyy

When the Bio-Economy division was founded in 2012, it was accompanied by an extensive realignment and expansion of the research platforms. As a result, meat technology was removed from the Process Technology business division, the biotechnology focus was placed on enzyme and raw material research, and a new research platform was founded for feed technology. Together, these three areas comprise the Protein Technology research division. These newly created capacities are the key to an integrated approach to global problems in the area of Bio-Economy.

Robotics

New application areas for robotics are being researched, far away from the traditional image of robotics where robots are mostly used for packing processes. Safe and hygienic handling of unpacked and packed food products are main highlight in this field. Through cooperation with food producers, robotics engineers and manufacturers the DIL establishes new functions for robotics.[12]

Process analysis

The optimization of existing (production) processes always increases the competitiveness of the entrepreneur. The implementation of advanced process analysis into existing systems allows the performance of the plants to be optimized further. On an daily basis sensor technology provides new and improved options for the collection of measuring data. Processing data can consequently be compiled with much higher precision and at shorter intervals. This allows the optimization of production parameters such as quality, pieces/minute, reject rate – no matter whether it's anticipatory (e.g. by assessing the products introduced into the process) or downstream (e.g. control at the end of each process stage). This is where the value of the information becomes most visible. Many production plants are still not yet operating to their performance capabilities. There are many possibilities for process analysis to further improve the quality achieved so far.[10]

Cooperations

Germany

The Lower Saxonian competency center for the food industry (NieKE) is a network of cooperation between the German Institute of Food Technologies, The Institute of Spatial Analysis and Planning in Areas of Intensive Agriculture (ISPA) of the University of Vechta, DIALOG - The Center for Transfer of Information and Technology at the University of Oldenburg, the Competency Center Functional Food (KKF) and The Research and Technology Contact Center (unitransfer) at the University of Hanover. The aims of this cooperative network are knowledge sharing between the members and the support of small and medium-sized enterprises.[13][14]

In May 2009 the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück and the DIL signed an agreement for a long-term cooperation for future research and education. As result of this cooperation a state-wide new academic course was established for the fall semester 2008; the Bachelor of Engineering “Food Production Engineering and Business”. The German Institute of Food Technologies functions as one of the main coordinating bodies.[15]

International

Along with the University of Groningen, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), the DIL founded the ICCF (International Competence Center Food and Research Development) as research collaboration. This project was established to link closer cooperation and integration between the German and Dutch parts of the Ems Dollart Region.[13] The German Institute of Food Technologies operates worldwide with customers from Japan, China, India, Australia and the USA. Among DIL's customers are global players such as Mars, General Mills and Barilla.[13]

HighTech Europe

Official logo of HighTech Europe

HighTech Europe is an initiative of European research organizations, industrial associations and enterprises with the goal of setting up a European Institute of Food Technology in order to share competences and knowledge of research available in Europe and to strengthen the resident industry for global competition. Long-term goal of the network of excellence is to achieve a long-lasting integration of the European R&D activities into high-tech food processing.

The network is coordinated by the DIL and sponsored by the 7th EU Framework Programme EU research sponsoring. Currently, the network counts 22 members, 21 being from Europe and one from Oceania. Project aims have been implemented by creating and applying various knowledge transfer tools. Network partners identified potential innovations from the biotechnology, nanotechnology, information- and communication technology and other areas to be used by food industry especially small and medium enterprises. Result is a unique database for the food processing sector, the Food Technology Innovation Portal (www.foodtech-portal.eu). Further results and network activities are available on the project website

[16]

References

  1. 1 2 DIL: About DIL. Accessed on 21 June 2010.
  2. ↑ DIL: Contact partner. Accessed on 21 June 2010.
  3. ↑ DIL Business Statistics Accessed on 22 June 2010.
  4. ↑ DIL Introduction Accessed on 22 June 2010
  5. 1 2 3 CDL Lower Saxony Scientific Commission of Lower Saxony about the DIL Accessed on 22 June 2010.
  6. ↑ DIL Investment - € 15 million investment for Artland municipality Accessed on 22 June 2010.
  7. ↑ DIL Business Business Fields Product development Accessed on 23 June 2010.
  8. ↑ DIL Business Business Fields Process development Accessed on 23 June 2010.
  9. ↑ DIL Business Fields Business Fields Food safety Accessed on 23 June 2010.
  10. 1 2 DIL Annual Report Accessed on 11 June 2012.
  11. ↑ DIL Research Structure & Functionality Accessed on 23 June 2010.
  12. ↑ DIL Research Robotics Accessed on 23 June 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 DIL Brochure About DIL Accessed on 24 June 2010.
  14. ↑ NieKE About NieKE Accessed on 24 June 2010.
  15. ↑ University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück New cooperation with DIL Accessed on 24 June 2010
  16. ↑ HighTech Europe . Accessed on 23 July 2013.

External links

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