NMR relaxation tools for improving and protecting quality of dairy products

NMR-IMPROV proposes a radically new approach to investigating properties of dairy products by exploiting Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxation, including Fast Field Cycling and Time-Domain NMR methods. The core of the concept is to acknowledge that macroscopic properties of dairy products are largely determined by dynamics of individual molecular fractions (from macromolecules to water) present in the system. Revealing and understanding the dynamics and arrangement of molecular fractions consisting dairy products is essential for providing a foremost guideline for designing products of required rheological properties and texture, avoiding effects such as aggregation or phase separation, and assessing authenticity of the products.

The goal of NMR-IMPROV is to form an interdisciplinary and intersectoral network including physicists, chemists, mathematicians, food scientists and engineers and software and electronic engineers to develop NMR relaxation based means to gain knowledge on dynamical properties of dairy products on the molecular level. Relationships between NMR relaxation parameters and macroscopic properties of dairy products, investigated by conventional methods, will be established. The knowledge is meant to be exploited to address challenges of dairy technology associated with development and storage of products that are fermented, plant-based, personalized and manufactured from local raw goods. Moreover NMR-IMPROV aims at establishing NMR relaxation as a tool for evaluating quality and authenticity of dairy products.

NMR-IMPROV builds a bridge between specialists from academia, with deep expertise in NMR relaxation, and food scientists and engineers for the ultimate goal of transferring NMR relaxation from academia to dairy industry. This is to be achieved by profiting from the synergy and transfer of knowledge between the parties involved and intensive training of young researchers and industry members.