Baewha Women's University Develops Advanced Hygiene and Safety Technologies for Agricultural Products

Development of Biofilm Reduction and AI-Based Hazardous Factor Identification Technologies

Technologies are being developed to reduce hygiene issues that may arise during the agricultural product processing stage and to quickly identify hazardous factors.

A view of Baewha Women's University in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Baewha Women's University

On October 2, Baewha Women's University announced that Professor Guk Moo-chang and his research team from the Department of Food and Nutrition are participating in the Rural Development Administration's research project, "Development of Technologies for Automatic Collection and Utilization of Hazardous Factors and Hygiene Safety Data at Each Stage of Post-Harvest Management of Agricultural Products," aiming to advance the hygiene and safety management technologies of food processing facilities.

This research is being pursued to enhance food safety for the public and to strengthen the competitiveness of the agricultural product industry. The project is led by Professor Um Ae-seon from the Department of Food and Nutrition at Hanyang University, with the involvement of Professor Guk Moo-chang, Professor Lee Min-seok from the College of Life Sciences at Korea University, Professor Shim Soon-mi’s team from the Department of Food Engineering at Sejong University, and Farmzone Co., Ltd.

Professor Guk’s research team is conducting studies with the goal of establishing a biofilm safety management system for surfaces of food processing facility equipment. Biofilms are complexes formed when microorganisms adhere to surfaces together with extracellular polymeric substances.

The research team has isolated more than 400 strains from samples collected at food processing facilities where agricultural products and eggs serve as main ingredients, in order to assess their potential for biofilm production. They are also discovering substances that inhibit or decompose biofilms in strains that are closely related to food.

This is significant as it demonstrates the potential to develop biofilm reduction technologies that can be applied on-site, going beyond traditional cleaning and sanitization-based management methods.

Professor Shim Soon-mi's research team at the Department of Food Engineering at Sejong University is conducting rapid analysis of hazardous factors using hyperspectral cameras. Hygiene and safety analysis performed on samples collected over one to three years from agricultural and egg processing plants resulted in approximately 52,000 measurements of the internal and external foreign matter reflectance of agricultural products and processed goods, leading to the establishment of an AI machine learning-based rapid classification and prediction model.

In particular, the research confirmed the industrial applicability of the technology by accurately distinguishing foreign materials such as paper, vinyl, and plastic, which are similar in color, in egg-based processed foods like omelets and egg crepes.

A representative from the Rural Development Administration stated, "This study has opened a new path for data-driven management of hazardous factors at each stage after the harvest of agricultural products," adding, "Not only will this help ensure the safety of food for the public, but it will also improve trust in farms and enhance export competitiveness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.