Federal Institute for Dairy Research
The Federal Institute for Dairy Research (BAfM) in Kiel was an independent research institute of the Federal Republic of Germany until 2004, since then it has been part of the Max Rubner Institute .
Classification in the research network
It was one of eleven departmental research institutions of the Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture . The BAfM was tasked with developing the scientific basis for the quality, processing and marketing of milk and other foodstuffs as well as creating the prerequisites for a sensible use of these products for a healthy diet. The knowledge gained in this way was a decision-making aid in consumer , food and agricultural policy and was available to consumers and the agricultural and dairy industries. Together with the Federal Institute for Grain, Potato and Fat Research in Detmold and Münster , the Federal Institute for Meat Research in Kulmbach and the Federal Research Institute for Nutrition in Karlsruhe, the BAfM formed the “Product and Nutrition Research” research association.
As part of the reorganization of consumer protection , the four institutes of the research association were merged in 2004 to form a joint research institute, which has been called the Max Rubner Institute since 2008.
History of dairy research
State-organized dairy research in Prussia began in 1877 with the establishment of an agricultural research station. At first, dairy technology and economic issues were the focus of interest. The Microbiology played no role, although the practice of the dairy operation for a long time "the utmost cleanliness in the treatment of the milk and for the production of butter and cheese " prescribed. But after Louis Pasteur , the lactic acid fermentation on the replication of rod-shaped bacteria returned, Robert Koch significantly improved microbiological techniques and Joseph Lister in 1878, the first bacterial pure culture had made ( Bacterium lactis , today: Lactococcus lactis ) were the conditions for the recognition of the microbiological causes of Problems created in the manufacture of dairy products, particularly butter and cheese.
In 1889 a bacteriological department was founded, which in 1922 received the status of an institute for bacteriology within the newly founded Prussian experimental and research institute for dairy farming .
The institute was taken over into state administration in 1950 and renamed the Federal Institute for Dairy Research in 1966 ; the bacteriological institute became the institute for microbiology . The microbiological milk research in Kiel is closely linked to the names of the institute directors who worked at the institute during its existence:
- Hermann Weigmann (1889–1921)
- Wilhelm Hermann Henneberg (1922–1936)
- Andreas Lembke (1936–1975)
- Michael Teuber (1976–1990)
- Knut J. Heller (from 1992)
A diverse range of topics was dealt with during this time: For example, the production of starter cultures (originally called acid alarms ) for the dairy industry, the characterization and development of avoidance strategies for pathogenic and saprophytic microorganisms and viruses , questions of the influence of microorganisms on nutrition, and molecular biological characterization of bacteria and bacteriophages as well as the production of genetically modified microorganisms and their evaluation in the context of biological safety research .
Research topics
From 1992 the institute was headed by Knut J. Heller. Around 30 employees worked on the following projects in five working groups:
Desired microorganisms for the production of fermented milk products were characterized and efficient, safe and defined microbiological and biotechnological systems were developed and evaluated. This also includes studies on the biological safety of genetically modified starter bacteria. For example, employees developed defined surface starter cultures for red smear cheese such as Tilsiter , soft and sour milk cheese . They characterized the plasmid-coded properties of Streptococcus thermophilus and looked for new processes for yogurt production by selecting specific S. thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus strains, for example to obtain milder products with low acidification during the shelf life . The institute developed and evaluated detection methods for desired microorganisms. For example, starter bacteria and probiotics in commercial dairy products were determined by species and genus and the biological diversity of desired bacteria was recorded. Since the influence of such bacteria on the intestinal flora should also be assessed in the future, it has already been shown that yogurt bacteria can also survive the gastrointestinal passage in significant numbers. Another area of work was the avoidance of defective production caused by bacteriophage infections, for which phage monitoring was carried out in dairy farms. The bacteriophages relevant to the dairy industry were recorded and their interactions with the host bacteria were analyzed. Further topics of phage research were the importance of prophages for the physiology of the host cell and the role of transduction in horizontal gene transfer .
An important method for working on these questions was electron microscopy , which was carried out in Kiel for the entire research network. In the fields of work “bacteriophages” and “surface starter cultures”, various projects were carried out either directly with companies in the dairy industry, as part of joint industrial research, or in EU projects.
Teaching
Scientists work part-time in teaching in various areas at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel. This includes lectures at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences on bacterial transport mechanisms and the biology of bacteriophages as elective courses as well as a seminar on biotechnology . At the Faculty of Agriculture and Nutrition, employees of the institute participate in the Ecotrophology course in the modules “Microbiology and Hygiene” and “Biotechnology” as part of the Bachelor’s degree . In 2003, six diploma and three doctoral theses in the subject of microbiology and three doctoral theses from foreign scholarship holders in the field of nutritional science were prepared. The close cooperation between the university and BAfM was put on an official basis in 1998 with the conclusion of a cooperation agreement between the two institutions.
