Scientific background

At the Slovak Republic’s Nutritional and Food Industry Research Institute Biocentre, internationally renowned experts and scientists developed the Eyor Wheatgrass Juice.
In the product they merged the ancient herbal culture with the delicate production technology of this age. The Eyor Wheatgrass Juice represents the highest degree of quality on the nutritional supplement market.


Prof. Dr. Šilhár Stanislav PhD.
The Director of the Slovak Nutritional and Food Industry Research Institute Biocentre.
A member of the Natural Sciences faculty of the St. Cyril and Methodius University.


For over 20 years, he has been conducting research and development in the fields of food technology, natural food industry raw materials and food quality and safety. In these fields he had published over a hundred scientific and professional publications and is the originator of 3 patents. He had participated in the development of the food quality policy of the Slovak Republic; he was an integral member of the management team. He deserves a great deal of credit in the foundation of the Slovak Food Regulatory agency as well the preparation for the registration of many national products (Skalický Trdelník, Slovak Brindza, Slovak Parenica). He is the supervisor of courses accredited at the Agrarian University of Nyitra, gives university lectures at the Department of Biotechnology and Food Science. The topics are: the foundations of proper hygienic practices in food production, the network to support the quality of the food industry, food safety and quality legislation, policy on quality, food safety in the practice of farm price subsidies.


The main profiles of the research institute

  • The development of methods suitable for the analysis of impurities and natural toxins in foods
  • The development of methods suitable for the analysis of nutritional additives and natural ingredients in food
  • The examination and development of mathematical models of changes in Vitamin C content of foods during storage
  • The processing of individual food consumption data, compiled for the European Food Safety Authority and the national diet census
  • The risk assessment of food impurities
  • The expansion and monitoring of the nutritional information database
  • The development of methods for the speedy identification of disease causing bacteria in food
  • The development of PCR based methods (DNS enzyme amplification) to identify food allergens

 

The Nutritional Research Institute has its own Test Laboratory

At the test laboratory the frequency of impurities is analysed in food industry products, drinks, natural waters and vegetables, before and after they have undergone inspection.

 

Recently numerous research projects, supported by the European Union, have been conducted at the Institute

International research projects conducted at the nutrition research institute:


EuroFIR (European Food Information Resource network) member

The Sixth Research, Development, Technology Development and Demonstration Frame Program of the European Union to assist in the generation of research fields and innovation

EuroFIR’s primary goal is to develop an online portal of exceptional quality, providing up-to-date nutritional sales data throughout Europe, for the first time at a single location. The portal ensures access to the relevant database, e.g.: how much antioxidant is present in a given plant. Through the portal we can access nutritional information.
The EuroFIR network includes 49 universities, research institutions, small and medium sized enterprises from 27 countries.


COST research project participant
The potential health effects of warm-processed foods

"COST" is a European intergovernmental research fund which assists international cooperation among research projects financed from national sources of funding. COST creates a scientific network, enabling the cooperation of given countries in the broad operational fields of research and technological development.



BIOTRACER research project participant

The goal of the 46 project participants, of 4 countries, is the perfected bio-traceability of microorganisms within the food chains and fodos themselves, with the assistance of the European Commission.



Study concerning the heat resistance of the Enterobacter Sakazakii strain of bacteria, studied with molecular-biological methods



The development and effective application of methods to control genetically modified organisms in agriculture and food production




Polymerase chain reaction application in food safety.



The mitigation of acrylamide in foods via the application of enzymes (acrylamide is a potential carcinogen)




Impact of acrylamide elimination on sensory and chemical properties of products



Study of ionising radiation effects on food matrix by electron paramagnetic resonance.



The description of the antioxidant properties of foods, active biological ingredients




Nutritional Term Database
With its “predecessor” the database has been collecting information on experiments conducted in Slovakia since 1976; the database has been expanded with the most important and most useful research on food and food ingredients over the course of the past 34 years:

  • External properties – length, weight, etc.
  • Protein content – complete protein content, animal and vegetable proteins, artificial protein, gluten, amino acids
  • Lipids – complete fat content, individual fatty acids, cholesterol
  • Carbohydrates – complete carbohydrate content, sugar, starch, fibre complex, organic acids
  • Minerals
  • Vitamins
  • Calculated ingredients
  • Nutritional value




Food and nutritional research periodical
On a quarterly basis the nutritional research institute publishes a periodical which concentrates on fundamental and applied research concerning chemistry, physics, microbiology, nutritional aspects, bioactivity, quality, safety and food technology.