September 2025
Extrusion CoP #14 – Legume Protein Composition Dictates Texturization in Hydro-Thermal Protein-Starch Interaction
For our September session, Dr Lavaraj Devkota gave a technical presentation entitled “Legume Protein Composition Dictates Texturization in Hydro-Thermal Protein-Starch Interaction”.
Presenter Bio:
Lavaraj Devkota is a food scientist and process engineer with nearly a decade of experience spanning academia and industry. He specialises in plant proteins and the development of plant-based meat and dairy analogues, with particular expertise in twin-screw extrusion and high-moisture extrusion (HME) product formulation. His work focuses on understanding structure–function relationships of food macromolecules and applying this knowledge to design innovative and commercially viable food products.
He obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering (Food Process Engineering) from Monash University in 2021 through a flagship Graduate Research Industry Partnership (GRIP) program. Since then, he has led industry-collaborative projects with companies such as Simplot Australia, Kraft Heinz ANZ, and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM, USA) as a research fellow at Monash University. His research also includes non-thermal technologies such as pulsed electric field (PEF) and ultrasound for mass transfer application and recently for protein and starch modification.
An active member of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology and the Australian Food Engineering Association, Dr. Devkota is passionate about bridging research and industry to advance sustainable food innovation.
