The new expertise group will share the needs of industry with each other and the IFR in order to “underpin the industry with the best science available,” said Professor Tim Brocklehurst, head of food & health network at the IFR.
Speaking with NutraIngredients at the recent Nutraformulate conference and exhibition in the UK Brocklehurst said the institute had received many enquiries from industry on the topic of structuring foods in a health context, and as a result had set up the new expertise cluster group.
“Industry has come to us a lot and said we really want to understand more about the ways in which our work at the institute on structuring foods and health, can be applied industrially in making foods that have specific functions,” said Brocklehurst.
The structuring foods for health expertise cluster will form part of the wider food and health network set up by the IFR to try and bridge the gap between its own research activities and the industry application of such science.
“It’s all about being led by what the industry needs are, and then the science at the institute focusing on what are the underpinning science elements that we can talk about, that provides the underpinning of foods industrially,” explained the food & health network chief.