CSIR-Food Research Institute: annual report 2013

Abstract

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana has reiterated that all its thirteen Institutes must aggressively pursue the generation of their Internally Generated Fund (IGF), so that they could wean themselves off Government subvention. The CSIR-Food Research Institute (CSIR-FRI) in pursuit of this quest generates technologies that are aimed at meeting the demands of the private sector and socio-economic development of the country. Its vision is to be the leading research Institute in the area of food processing technology. It is tasked to provide technical and analytical services, contract research, collaborative research and consultancy services to governmental agencies, micro-medium and multinational agro-food processing industries, and international development agencies. The Institute maintained its accreditation status to ISO 17025 test methods under the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS). It has purposefully positioned itself to primarily conduct market-oriented applied research and provide technical services and affordable products to be available and profitable to the private sector and other stakeholders as its main objective. The targeted goal of the Institute for the past year is to assist in poverty alleviation through the creation of opportunities for generating and increasing incomes within the micro, small, medium and large-scale agro-food industries; contribute to food security, foreign exchange earnings and the application of cost-effective food processing technologies that are environmentally friendly. The management of the Institute per the objectives has strategically reset its programmes in line with the local commodities of the country as Root and Tuber products; Fruit and Vegetable products; Fish, Meat, Poultry and Dairy products; Grains and Legumes products. CSIR-FRI continued with its development of cassava, plantain, cocoyam, yam, kokonte, cowpea, soybean, fermented flours, among others to ensure that local staple food is safe. The Institute also continued providing services which include design and fabrication of food processing equipment, analytical services, training programmes such as product development (nutrition, sensory analysis, recipe development and shelf-life studies), mushroom cultivation and spawn production, microbiological and chemical safety and quality control of foods; consultation and out-sourcing services, such as the establishment of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) system for food industries; post-harvest management, etc. Fifteen (15) scientific articles were published in nine (9) refereed journals as output of scientific research. Some of the research activities carried out include Survey on Consumption of Vegetables and Fruits in a Coastal District in Ghana; Performance and Acceptability of Legume-Fortified Yam Flours; Heavy Metal Analysis of Fruit juice and soft drinks bought from Retail Markets in Accra, Ghana; Effects of pre-treatments and storage condition on physicochemical properties of taro (Colocasia esculentaJ flour; Relationship of sensory and instrumental aroma measurements of dark chocolate as influenced by fermentation method, roasting and couching conditions; Baseline data of cassava and yam processed products by SME's, large and household processors in Ghana; Health implications of late night eating. Major collaborators of the different projects carried out at the Institute included the United Nations-Food and Agricultural Organization (UN-FAO), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Natural Resources Institute (NRI) of UK, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana, Legon and agriculture and industry related CSIR Institutes. As part of income generation effort, the Institute generated a net total income of GH¢410,118.00 which represented 5% of its total income for the year