Areas of Expertise
Industrial Technology Institute is pioneered in providing technology and process know-how of food and beverages to SMEs and even large-scale industries in Sri Lanka. Food Technology Section (FTS) of the institute is equipped with state of the art food processing and analytical laboratories, food pilot plant facility with advance pilot scale equipment and relevant expertise. The group of FTS scientists comprise of Food Technologists, Microbiologists, Food analytical experts, Food process/Chemical Engineers, Food safety and Quality experts.
Expert areas
- Postharvest Management of perishables, Cereals, Fruit and Vegetables
- Cereal based product technology
- Fruit and Vegetable based product technology
- Dairy based product technology
- Fish and Meat based product technology
- Functional food formulation
- Confectionery technology
- Food microbiology
- Food safety management
- Method validation
Services offered
- Develop new food products and process technologies through scientific research
- Technology transfer to MSMEs and large food industries and entrepreneurship development
- Contract projects in collaboration with food industry
- Consultancy, Technical support and Troubleshooting in food industries
- Provide information and special services to food industry
- Selection of Factory location based on food regulations to establish a new food processing facility
- Factory layout designing
- Upgrading existing food processing facilities introducing technology and quality management system
- Specifications on machinery and equipment
- Selection of suitable packing based on food matrix and designing of labels to comply with national and international regulations.
- Laboratory designing (food processing, microbiology, sensory)
- Technology need assessment and industry assessment
- Customized test services: Physical, Chemical and Microbiological analysis of food
- Testing of physical properties of cereals
- Brabender Amylograph
- Brabender Farinograph
- Brabender Extensograph
- Water activity
- Particle size evaluation
- Food and Feed analysis
- Can seam testing
- Can vacuum testing
- Pellet feed durability
- Pellet feed water stability
- Sinking property
- Digestibility study
- Testing of raw materials and finished product quality of functional foods.
- Chemical Analyses
- Total phenolic content
- Sugar analysis (Phenol sulphuric method)
- Fat analysis (Soxhlet method)
- Cell wall material extraction and characterization (e.g. Cellulose, Pectin, Lignin)
- Dietary fiber
- Amylose content
- Anti-diabetic related assays
- α-amylase inhibition assay
- α-glucosidase inhibition assay
- Anti-glycation assay
- Glycation reversing assay
- Methylglyoxal- BSA assay
- In vitro glycemic Index
- TLC method of screening Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors
- TLC method of screening Butyrylthiocholinesterase (BChE) inhibitors
- Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition assay
Butyrylthiocholinesterase (BChE) inhibition assay
- Anti-oxidant assays
- Nitric oxide scavenging assay
- DPPH radical scavenging assay
- ABTS radical scavenging assay
- Superoxide scavenging assay
- Nitric oxide scavenging assay
- Total polyphenolic content
- Total flavonoid content
- Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP)
- Ferrous iron chelating assay
- Lipid lowering assays
HMG-CoA reductase assay
Malic dehydrogenase assay
Bile acid binding assay
- Testing of physical properties of cereals
- Special services to food industry
- Sensory analysis via trained taste panel maintained at ITI
- Shelf life testing of final or packaged food products via real-time and accelerated methods.
- Thermal process validation of canned and bottled foods to comply with FDA, USA regulations.
- Nutrition labeling and health benefit analysis Food process validation in food industries
- Consultancy to comply with QMS including GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000
- Conduct training programmes, workshops and NVQ courses
- For exporters, industry participants, supermarket staff
- Farmers, Agro entrepreneurs
- Government officials related to food and agriculture
- University students, teachers and school children
- FDA approved international level training on “Better Process Control School” for canning and bottling supervisors in relevant industries.
Related Projects
Fruit and vegetables for sustainable healthy diets (FRESH: Postharvest and inclusive markets).
Spray drying of fruits, vegetable juices, tea and yam pulps. Development of powdered products through the spray drying techniques.
Development of data base on nutritional, chemical, molecular and morphological characteristics of selected traditional and widely consuming improved rice varieties of Sri Lanka: Suitability to use as chemical and molecular finger prints in identifying rice varieties at grain level.
Enhancing the nutritional status of people by introducing healthy food products from Jak, Pumpkin, Banana and Fish while reducing post-harvest losses of these commodities.
Chemical residues in bovine milk produced by medium and large-scale dairy farms and impact on public health in Sri Lanka.
Development of plant-based fungicide formulation to control anthracnose disease of mango and papaya.
Development of technologies to utilize waste whey in local dairy bio-processing industries aims to produce value-added and functional beverages.
The establishment of a facility for thermal process validation of canned food and low-moisture processed food operations in Sri Lanka
Study on the traceability of organic residual contaminants in dairy supply chain, assessment of risks and opportunities and dilating dairy product testing facilities at ITI.
Vegetarian food products containing non-synthetic additives processed using locally less preferred vegetables.
Utilization of selected underutilized and popular root and tuber crops grown in Sri Lanka to formulate healthy and novel food products and food ingredients aiming local and international market.
Development of milk-grain functional beverages and food supplements.
Establishment of inactivation kinetics for potentially harmful microorganisms associated with thermal processing of king coconut water and coconut milk
Development of novel juice extraction techniques for obtaining high quality extracts from underutilized agro-based commodities; the production of fermented and powder products based on these extracts and direct targeting and inactivation of food pathogens using nano-bio-sensing.
Formulating meat analogues and plant-based meat products using plant proteins and mycoproteins.
Determination of microplastic contamination of edible salts in Sri Lankan market & identification and quantification of the heavy metals associated.
Development of Nutritious and Healthy Food Corners for the Children.
Quality assessment of dried fish in local market.
Rapid determination of virgin coconut oil authenticity and quality.
Development and characterization of a certified reference material for nutrients, micronutrients and heavy metals from Sri Lankan traditional rice varieties for method validation and QA/QC activities.
Study on microbiological physicochemical characteristics and mycotoxin contamination in commonly consumed edible oils in Sri Lanka.