Laboratory of Food Microbiology
Laboratory of the Department of Microbiology
Laboratory of Food Microbiology was formed in 2016 as a result of work on the scientific project of the Croatian Science Foundation "Conservation of microbial diversity associated with the production of Croatian traditional game meat sausages: biotechnological and safety characterization - miCROgame". The activity of the Laboratory of Food Microbiology is related to the research of microbial diversity of traditional, fermented foods with an emphasis on the identification and characterization of beneficial microbiota and the selection of functional starter cultures. Furthermore, the Laboratory's research is focused on determining the microbiological safety of food, monitoring antibiotic resistance of bacteria in the food chain and inhibition of pathogenic microorganismsby application of bee products and active compounds extracted from the plant material and agricultural by-products. A collection of more than 2000 lactic acid bacteria isolated from milk, cheese and sausages, which, after detailed characterization and selection, can be applied as a starter or bioprotective cultures, has been formed and stored in this Laboratory.
Within this Laboratory more than 25 scientific papers were published from 2016 until 2021, of which ten in the Q1/Q2 category and more than 25 bachelor and master theses, as well as one doctoral thesis. In the same period, five scientific, three commercial and one teaching project were realized or are in progress of which assoc. prof. Mirna Mrkonjić Fuka, Ph.D. is the leader, as well as the main researcher and founder of the Laboratory.
Head of the laboratory: