Food Chemistry and Technology Laboratory

The Food Chemistry and Technology lab is a research and analysis Laboratory that is devoted to excellence in learning and research in the field of food science and technology. It is being a fundamental part of the Agriculture and Food Engineering department, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur for the last three decades. It was earlier known as rice technology lab, later on the instrumentation, scope and the activities of the lab were widened and converted into Food Chemistry and Technology laboratory.
The major focus of this lab is Development of RTE Health Foods, Development of process technologies for novel food products, Health/ Energy Drink Mix, Process & Machinery development, and Shelf-life extension.
The laboratory is being used to conduct practical classes for B.Tech (Agricultural and Food Engineering), Dual degree( BTech + MTech ) and M.Tech (Food Process Engineering) and MTech + PhD students as the Food Chemistry and Microbiology lab and Food Science and Technology lab and for chemical and microbial analysis of raw materials and process food samples of Ph.D and Project scholars.
The Food Technology lab is rich in its range of Automatic laboratory equipments. Apart from the basic analytical equipments, it has a series of advanced research equipments like Antioxidant Analyzer, Rancimat, E. Nose, Colorimeter, Texture Analyzer, Fermenter, Sonicator, Rapid Fat Analyser, HPLC, FT-NIR, Automated Colony Counter, Spray drier, SCF extractor, Twin Screw Extruder, Fluorescence Spectrophotometer, Controlled Atmosphere Chamber, Headspace Analyser, High Pressure Processor and Atomic absorption spectrophotometer.
The professor in-charge of this lab, Dr H N Mishra, has over 25 years of professional experience in teaching & research. He is the former Head and Chairman of the Post Harvest Technology Centre, IIT Kharagpur and former president of AFST(I), Kharagpur chapter. . He published more than 235 research papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and has 3 Indian patents to his credit. Besides, he is on the editorial & referees boards of several reputed international journals & has guided more than 127 student research projects including 30 PhD research scholars.
This lab has produced over dozen of Ph.Ds and several graduate and post graduate students. Currently there are more than 15 Ph.D research scholars working in this lab.