Prague’s Institute of Chemical Technology is home to one of Europe’s leading food technology departments, which has helped put the Czech Republic at the cutting edge of food R&D.
The department is working with a small mushroom producer to analyse the properties of betaglucane, a biologically active polysaccharide that is found in various vegetables. Jana Copikova, head of the department of carbohydrate chemistry and technology at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT)’s faculty of food and biochemical technology, wants to find out whether this substance can improve human immunity systems. “Cultures that consume a lot of mushrooms such as the Chinese and Japanese tend to have long life spans, so we are investigating this.”
Prague’s Institute of Chemical Technology is heavily involved in identifying new properties of various polysaccharides, which could be of great benefit to food producers eager to tap into current consumer concerns of health and nutrition.
