Phone                           (902) 896-3483

E-mail                           nannan@nsac.ca

Specialty Areas

Functional foods - microencapsulation of probiotics, berry fruit antioxidants, food flavours in fermented foods, legume/cereal food formulations to enhance protein quality

Education                   

B.Sc., Food Science, University of Ghana
M.Sc., Food Science, Dalhousie University
Ph.D., Food Science, University of Ghana and University of Copenhagen

As a Senior Food Scientist, Dr. Annan leads research in the development of new bio-products utilizing Atlantic Canadian agricultural and marine-based bioresources. She is involved in the development of new value-added natural products within the sectors of nutraceuticals, animal feed supplements, cosmeceuticals and functional ingredients. Some of her recent work includes producing concentrates from fruit berry pomaces such as blueberry and cranberry with high antioxidant capacity as natural health products for the food and beverage industry.

Nana has been a recipient of an NSERC post-doctoral award and worked at the Food Science Department, Dalhousie University, on the ‘Microencapsulation of Probiotic Bacteria' and their survival in simulated gastric and intestinal juices and dairy foods. She also led microbial research studies aimed at establishing management tools and indicators that can be used to help predict potential influent water quality changes at the Pockwock watershed in Halifax. The study was funded under an NSERC/Halifax Regional Water Commission project at the Centre for Water Resource Studies, Dalhousie University. She worked for several years in Ghana as a senior research scientist involved in formulating high protein-energy weaning foods using locally available cereals and legumes such as maize and soybeans.

Nana's special interests include food product development and food analytical chemistry. Her doctorate thesis involved the use of food derived microbial starter cultures to accelerate traditional spontaneous food fermentations and to assess the effects of various combinations of starter cultures on the aroma profile.