The Department houses ten research groups, the focus of which are food hygiene, environmental hygiene, toxicology, and monitoring of environmental health care. In addition, research is conducted in meat inspection and slaughterhouse hygiene.

Monitoring research complements well the research of molecular biology. Together they provide a strong area of expertise in food and environmental hygiene.

The research is closely connected to the practical problems arising in food safety. The foundation of high-quality research is up-to-date research methods, a focus area for competence in researcher education. One important focus area of the department is research in functional genomics, which enables, for example, recognition of genes responsible for the cold tolerance of bacteria.

Top research

Research conducted at the department is regularly evaluated by international committees. In the latest evaluation in 2012, the department received outstanding scores of 24/25. During the previous evaluations committee particularly commended the department on the management of research, researcher education program, and industry connections.

Research groups led by professor Johanna Björkroth, Marja-Liisa Hänninen, and Hannu Korkeala were a part of the Academy of Finland designated Centre of Excellence in Microbial Food Safety Research from 2008 to 2013. Professor Raimo Pohjanvirta's research group was a part of the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Health Risk Analysis of the National Public Health Institute from 2002 to 2007.