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Title: Professor of sensory science
Location: LSU AgCenter School of Nutrition and Food Sciences Sensory
Services Laboratory
Strategic Goal Focus: Support small business startups and workforce development through FOODii, the Seafood Safety Lab, industry-based credential programs, our intellectual property commercialization program and other mechanisms.
Witoon Prinyawiwatkul studies how we interact with the food we eat, and he uses this knowledge to help consumers, agricultural producers and the food industry. His lab helps develop healthier choices by reducing sodium or adding nutrients to popular foods. Prinyawiwatkul also works to create new products that reduce waste for farmers, ranchers or aquaculture producers. Recently, his lab developed an ingenuous way to utilize catfish bone to improve calcium levels in fried fish while also creating crisps made from catfish skins, resulting in high-protein snacks. The lab also has pioneered the use of less expensive protein sources derived from insects. Prinyawiwatkul, along with faculty and students in the Sensory Services Lab, can then test these innovations with volunteers from throughout the Baton Rouge area.
His work produces high-quality, healthier products. At the same time, it is reducing waste material so that companies and the entire industry can increase the profits. Instead of trashing materials or making a low-value product, he is creating innovative ways to upcycle or recycle them into a more valuable product.
“When you create healthier products such as the reduced-sodium products, that addresses a worldwide problem. In the U.S., one-third of the population has hypertension, and some of that is because many consume food with high amounts of sodium. In our research, we have done a lot of work and published a lot of work to show this is what you can do to lower the amount of sodium in your diet. We provide the concept and show that it is possible.”
Prinyawiwatkul works to develop innovative, healthful food sources that not only reduce waste but also increase profits — that can help feed the world.
