Ph.D., P.Eng., C.Eng, C.F.S., OC, O.Ont, F.C.I.C, F.C.A.E., F.C.I.F.S.T., F.A.O.C.S., F.I.A.Fo.S.T., F.E.C., F.R.S.C.
Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto
Contact
Phone: (416) 978-4137
Fax: (416) 978-8605
Email: diosady@chem-eng.utoronto.ca
Research Areas
Food process engineering, separation processes, nutraceuticals, micronutrient fortification
Consulting Activity
Technical advice on food processing, production of food proteins, edible oils and oil products, nutraceuticals, essential oils and spices. Laboratory planning. Support of insurance claims and litigation.
About
Levente L. Diosady is an Honour Graduate (1966) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto . He is a registered Professional Engineer, and a designated Consulting Engineer in the Province of Ontario . After graduation he returned to the University of Toronto , where he obtained his M.A.Sc. (68) and Ph.D. (71) degrees in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry.
In 1972 Dr. Diosady joined the Cambrian Engineering Group as a process engineer, and in 1974 he was appointed Director, Research and Development for the Company. In this capacity he was responsible for establishing the company’s research and contract analytical laboratories. He initiated an ambitious program of process development in the areas of edible oil processing and environmental control. Under his direction the laboratory group had grown to 35 scientists and technicians by 1979, and performed some 10,000 contract analyses monthly in the food, feed and environmental control fields.
In addition to his research and development duties he participated in several engineering projects. In 1974 he reviewed the environmental treatment systems of the mining and ore processing complex of Ecstall Mining in Timmins, and initiated a major water and air management program at the site. He was responsible for the design of a major pilot-plant for Environment Canada, and the process design for the POS Pilot Plant Corporation facilities in Saskatoon. He supervised the design and construction of several industrial waste water treatment systems.
In October 1979 Dr. Diosady was invited to the University of Toronto, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry as Associate Professor, where he joined Dr. L.J.Rubin in establishing the first Canadian engineering program in food process engineering. Together they developed four undergraduate and three graduate courses, and initiated a multi-faceted research and development program. Dr. Diosady was promoted to Professor in 1985. In 1990 he has been appointed Adjunct Professor in the University of Guelph, School of Engineering.
Professor Diosady’s research interests include vegetable oil processing, edible-oil refining and catalytic hydrogenation, extrusion, protein extraction by membrane processes, advanced separation processes, micronutrient fortification of food and meat curing. He is the author of over 120 publications in refereed journals, and presented the results of the group’s research at some 80 international scientific meetings in Canada and abroad.
His research has resulted in patents for a nitrite-free meat-curing system, and for a novel approach to canola processing. The rapeseed extraction process developed by Professors Diosady and Rubin received a Canada Award for Business Excellence in the “Inventions” category in 1987. In 1990 their nitrite-free meat-curing system was selected by the Institute of Food Technologists as one of the ten best food products or processes for 1989.
For the past ten years he has been active in developing techniques for fortifying salt with iron and iodine for the prevention of micronutrient deficiency diseases, which adversely affect some 2 billion people. Tests in Ghana with 5000 subjects demonstrated that replacement of household salt with double-fortified salt resulted in a 30% decrease in anemia in children after eight months. The technology has now been tested on a small scale in India, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya. Large scale tests with 250,000 subjects are planned for next year in Nigeria and Kenya, by the Micronutrient Initiative and UNICEF. He is now working on triple fortification with Vitamin A, iron and iodine.
Dr. Diosady is a member of the Expert Committee on Food Engineering, and is a past member of the Canada Committee on Food, Expert Committee on Refrigeration and Preservation Technologies and past-Chairman of the Expert Subcommittee on Energy, all of Agriculture Canada, and a member of the Expert Committee on Food, Expert Committee on Grains and Oilseeds, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs. He was a member of the panel that established the criteria for bio-engineering for PEO, and is on the review panel for food engineering for CEQB.
He has been an active member of several scientific societies, including the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology, Institute of Food Technologists (U.S.A.), American Oil Chemists’ Society, the Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering and he is a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada. He is the past president of the Canadian Section of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, and the Food Engineering Section, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology. He serves on the editorial board of two scientific journals in Taiwan and Hungary.
In addition to his academic activities, Dr. Diosady continues to consult in the areas of food processing, trace organic analysis, laboratory planning, and R & D management. He is the President of Food BioTek Corporation and a Director of Chemical Engineering Research Consultants Limited. He represented the academic sector on the Board of Directors of SGS-ICS, a firm specializing in certification of manufacturing operations to the ISO 9000 series of standards.
Dr. Diosady is active in the cultural activities of the Hungarian-Canadian community: he is a founding director and Secretary Treasurer of the Hungarian Research Institute of Canada, a research ancillary of the University of Toronto; a founding director and executive director of the Rákóczi Foundation, Vice President of a non-profit housing corporation and past president of the Hungarian-Canadian Engineers’ Association.
Complete CV available upon request.