Food and Ingredient Preparation and Food Innovation Laboratories

In the food product development team, we are equipped to prepare and test a wide range of food product categories from baked goods to ice cream to confectionery. 

Food and Beverage Laboratory (FABLAB)

Our food product development laboratory is complemented by state-of-the-art facilities at the Food Innovation Laboratory, a commercial-style kitchen space, based at Waite campus. 

Within the labs, we are equipped to perform food product development for a wide range of categories from baked goods to ice cream to confectionery. 

Our equipment

Equipment available includes (but is not limited to):

  • blenders and food processors
  • probe homogenisers
  • overhead stirrers
  • stand mixers
  • pasta makers
  • commercial style gas stoves
  • induction cookers
  • ovens (proving, combi, fan-forced, and microwave)
  • sous-vide circulators
  • deep fryers, air fryers
  • dehydrators
  • freeze dryer
  • snap, standard, and walk-in freezers
  • soft-serve machines
  • vacuum sealer
  • a bench-top autoclave and canning press for canning
  • a plethora of domestic and commercial cookware

Milling facilities

Ingredient preparation can be key to product development and innovation. We have several pieces of equipment available for ingredient preparation like distillation and small-scale size reduction depending on the application.

  • Milling equipment

    Perten 3100 Laboratory Mill

    A workhorse hammer mill for milling laboratory samples >50 g. The hammer mill is powerful enough to mill extremely hard seeds including hulls down to a particle size of <0.8 mm or <0.5 mm. The mill also works well for homogenising vegetative mass including leaves and stems for further analysis.

    UDY Cyclone Mill

    A smaller version of the Perten 3100 that is easier to clean between samples and is ideal for sample preparation.

    Retsch ZM200 Ultracentrifugal Mill

    A general duty mill for homogenisation of soft to medium-hard and fibrous materials. This mill grinds to a number of particle sizes and is useful for preparing samples for nutritional analyses.

    LHB 6SM14A-Type Grinding Machine

    Suitable for wet milling of fibrous materials like leaves and stalks or dehulling/polishing of grains like rice and soybeans

    M70 Oil Screw Press

    A workhorse screw press suitable for cold-pressing oil from various feedstocks like oilseeds. This screw press is suitable for continuous oil pressing rather than small scale batch testing.

    Melanger / Refiner

    Uses rotating stone surfaces to reduce particle size in liquid particle suspensions with repeated passes over several hours.

    Essential Oil Distiller

    Uses steam to separate and extract essential oils from plant materials, which results in both an oil-soluble essential oil fraction and a water-soluble hydrosol fraction, both of which can have interesting properties and can be used in foods, beverages, or other products.