NTU to open food safety research centre in Singapore

By RJ Whitehead

- Last updated on GMT

Professors Jorgen Schlundt and William Chen
Professors Jorgen Schlundt and William Chen

Related tags Research

A new research centre to develop more efficient and sustainable food technology is in the pipeline at a Singapore university.

Nanyang Technological University announced that it will open the NTU Food Technology Centre (Naftec) to bring greater expertise across South-east Asia in providing risk, benefit and sustainability assessment to support the industry and regulatory agencies.

To do so, the centre will perform research on antimicrobial resistance in microorganisms in food and patients in Singapore and across the region. 

Researchers there also aim to study the health effects of microorganisms in the human gut and learn ways to improve their composition, as well as assessing the sustainability of food production systems.

NTU provost Freddy Boey said that the centre will come at a particularly interesting juncture in the development of food science. 

We are starting to understand the importance of the different relevant entities in our food, such as microorganisms and active biochemical ingredients, and how these entities interact with our bodies​. 

NTU will join forces with national and international researchers to grow this new understanding and support novel food technology solutions for better food and a healthier population in Singapore and the region. We have great expectations of what this Centre can do​,” Prof. Boey added.

The announcement comes as new technology becomes available to deliver scientific breakthroughs, such as the introduction of systems based on international data exchange that can help implement new DNA sequencing databases. 

The centre, which will employ over 20 full-time researchers within the next year, will be led by Jorgen Schlundt and William Chen of NTU’s School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering.

Prof. Schlundt said that the university’s wider research will be applied to food science and technology. 

This includes state-of-the-art methodology to investigate chemicals and microorganisms in food and evaluate their health effects. This means we can start our food-related research right away and be internationally recognised​,” he added.

It has already started working with several Singapore agencies, including the Ministry of Health, the Agency for Science Technology and Research, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the Agri-Veterinary and Food Authority and the National Environment Agency. 

The centre will receive S$1.5m (US$1.1m) in funding a year from the university, and S$1.7m in government funding over the next three years.

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