Food Chemistry

Dr. Christina DeWitt directs the Food Chemistry laboratory at the FAPC.  Her main interests are focused on food chemistry based value-added applications with respect to muscle and dairy foods and food processing by-products.  Basic research has investigated the functionality of muscle food proteins in dilute acid and alkaline conditions and biotechnological applications for protein using bacterial and mammalian tissue expression systems.  Applied projects have included studying alternative methods for meat enhancement, development of real-time PCR method for the detection of soy, producing value-added catfish products, extracting bio-active components from fruit and vegetable waste, and converting salmon biomass to energy via gasification.