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Koen Dewettinck
Session 2: Sustainable Raw Materials and Processes
Ghent University, Belgium
Prof. Koen Dewettinck is senior full professor, head of the Food Structure & Function Research Group since 1999 and between 2014-2018 chairing the Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, of Ghent University (Belgium). He was also part-time professor at the University of Antwerp for many years and is adjunct professor at the Department of food Science of the University of Arkansas (US).
Within Ghent University his research group of around 30 people is involved in food design on a mesoscopic scale. Doing so he wants to answer the consumer requirements for innovative products that are tasty, healthy, convenient, and affordable. The main product groups of interest are dairy products and analogues, margarines/shortenings and their application in bakery products, cell-cultured meat, and chocolate and confectionary products.
In 2012 Koen Dewettinck founded the “Vandemoortele Centre Lipid Science and Technology”, UGent’s first joint-venture R&D centre, with Vandemoortele Lipids. Also in 2012 Koen Dewettinck was founder of Cacaolab the first entrepreneur-driven spin-off of UGent. The latter is a completely new infrastructure fully dedicated to chocolate research.
Koen Dewettinck is currently chair of the international “Food Structure and Functionality Forum”. More information about himself and his research team as well as ongoing and finished projects can be found on the website.