IFR: the future on a plate

IFR is publicly funded and can undertake the kind of long term fundamental research that cannot economically be undertaken by industry, but will lead to product and processing innovations in years to come. Past breakthroughs include pioneering work in the 1930s on controlled atmosphere storage to enable the transport and increased shelf life of foods. Research from the 1970s underpins UK policy on dietary fibre and work from the 1990s informed policy on fruit and vegetable consumption.

Peer through the glass today and you gaze into a crystal ball, where foods with high-fat mouth feel and taste are significantly lower in fat than today, where processes currently used for luxury goods are ubiquitous, retaining nutrient content while ensuring microbial safety. Scientists are winning the fight against food allergies and food poisoning bacteria. And some food components with particular benefits are present at higher levels or are more bioavailable. Eating a range of foods with a special ingredient even helps reduce appetite.

The IFR future is not exclusively focused on food, because fundamental research can be applied to other areas. For example, work on the stability of bubbles in foams and emulsions led to a new suggested therapy for gas embolisms in blood vessels that can cause brain and cardiac injury.

IFR scientists’ expertise in gut biology is opening the door to new ways to deliver drugs and vaccines. Encapsulation work has led to new drug delivery technology for gastrointestinal disease, while current work with lactic acid bacteria could lead to a novel delivery system for anti-AIDS drugs and cheaper, more effective vaccines for streptococcal disease.

The transition from fundamental research and new scientific discoveries to innovations in processes and products can take a huge investment of time and money. IFR Innovation steers that process.

IFR Innovation

Established at the beginning of last year, IFR Innovation is the arm of the Institute responsible for exploitation and knowledge transfer activities. These include our Exploitation Platforms, the Food and Health Network, the development of intellectual property, and the recently established IFR Extra, which gives the industry easier and quicker access to IFR expertise than ever before.

The six Exploitation Platforms are commercially driven science areas with business plans. They fall into three types:

Technology Platforms

These are based around discreet technologies which have originated from the mainstream research programme. With largely external funding, these technologies are being developed to the proof-of-principle stage at which point new start-up companies will be formed or the inventions licensed to third parties. The two Exploitation Platforms in this category are the Model Gut, headed by Dr Martin Wickham and MRI, which is based around a portfolio of novel applications of magnetic resonance imaging, for use in on-line quality inspection and for medical applications. MRI is headed by Dr Brian Hills.

Applied Science Platforms

These Platforms are aimed at exploiting our science for the benefit of a range of stakeholders (e.g. industry, DEFRA, EU) and operate in a ‘conveyor belt’ mode, linking basic science to real-world applications.

The aim of the Sustainability of the Food Chain Platform is to innovatively exploit food-chain residues and co-products which would otherwise become food waste. By understanding the molecular basis of plant structures, this Platform will be able to invent new approaches for disassembly and to create novel and marketable ingredients. The Platform is led by Dr Keith Waldron.

Launched in 2006, the Microbial Ecology Platform focuses on food safety microbiology, food spoilage and food decontamination, and on the bio-conversion of food waste streams, using beneficial microorganisms. Current research projects are funded by government, industry and the European Union. This Platform is headed by Professor Tim Brocklehurst.

National Resource Platforms

IFR has been proud to be the home for the National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC) which is a valuable national resource. The NCYC has also established itself as an Exploitation Platform to make its services more widely available, and to offer commercial yeast identification services; the supply of fully authenticated yeast cultures for both challenge-and product-testing; rapid and precise identification services for contaminant yeast strains by DNA sequence analysis and commercial safe-deposit services for yeast cultures.

Additionally, NCYC maintains a strong link to basic research and looks to contract research on both a short- and long-term basis, resulting from exploitation of novel yeast strains in industrial innovation. NCYC is headed by Dr Ian Roberts.

We also have a considerable track record in establishing and managing food compositional databases. These form the basis by which dietary intake and adequacy are measured, and risk assessment made to inform policy and are of strategic national importance. We have compiled the UK’s Food Composition Datasets in close co-operation with the Food Standards Agency including the 6th Edition of McCance & Widdowson’s, ‘The Composition of Foods’ (2002) and the integrated dataset published in 2007. We have also coordinated the European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) Network of Excellence and EuroFoods (linked to the International Network of Food Data Systems; INFOODS).

We have now established Food Databanks under Mr Paul Finglas as our sixth Exploitation Platform to manage the UK food composition database and related activities in close co-operation with the Food Standards Agency. This platform will further develop and exploit specific EuroFIR outputs, including databank systems and software to deliver food composition information (including labelling) to a variety of users including industry, consumers and regulators. It will seek new funding opportunities from national (FSA, DEFRA, DTI, Welcome and industry) and international (European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), DG Sanco, EU FP7 and industry) sources.

Although a relatively recent development, the Platforms are showing increasing commercial success, and a steady stream of patents is emerging. Although Exploitation Platforms represent our most commercially-driven science and are most-outward looking, all IFR science programmes expect to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and to work with industry to some extent.

There are three ways that industry can get involved with IFR science:

Fundamental research

When fundamental science pioneered at the institute has a potential industrial application, a consortium of companies can help develop that application in a pre-competitive climate. This could mean collaborating on a project through the Defra LINK programme, funding a CASE studentship or becoming a partner on an EU-funded project.

IFR research on the effects of food structure on microbial growth led to the discovery that in gelled foods, such as cheese, sausages and paté, bacteria grow as colonies. This makes them more adaptable and resistant to food preservatives. IFR developed a gel cassette system to study this type of growth and offers training in its use. Two to four people undergo this training each year, enabling them to take the technology to labs throughout the world.

The same team of scientists are using recent discoveries to minimise the attachment of bacteria to prepared fruit and vegetables. Once they attach, bacteria are hard to remove. In a Defra-LINK project, research is underway to develop masking agents to stop them attaching in the first place.

ComBase is an example of fundamental research packaged to make it useable by industry. ComBase is a freely accessible database on all major foodborne pathogenic and spoilage bacteria, showing how they respond to different environments. It has become an essential tool for anyone interested in the microbial safety and quality of foods.

In some research areas, such as the mechanisms behind health benefits of particular food compounds, direct engagement with industry used to be minimal. But with food and health higher on the agenda for the consumer, such research is becoming increasingly important for the UK economy. In current industry collaboration, IFR scientists are working to identify new fruit varieties with high levels of polyphenols, known to provide cardiovascular, digestive health and cognitive health benefits.

In another EU-funded project called Health Structuring, the safety, texture and nutritional content of foods are being studied together for the first time. Agronomic practices, storage conditions, processing and food formulation all have an effect on the bioavailability of micronutrients and the sensory properties of ready-to-eat foods. The aim is to increase fruit and vegetable consumption by producing more attractive ready-to-eat products based on fruits and vegetables. Few people manage to reach the recommended daily intake of 600g, despite the known health benefits.

Such projects involve research with a relatively long timescale for industry, which is why public money is available. For example, LINK aims to accelerate the commercial exploitation of government funded research and is typically 50% government funded.

For increased industrial interaction, IFR established the Food and Health Network in 2001 and is on the steering group for the new Diet and Health Research Industry Club (DRINC), established by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council last year.

FHN

FHN is a membership-based organisation offering a variety of ways for industry to interact. These can range from informal networks and workshops to highly focused discussions on generic issues.

The network has increased our presence at major food events, run regular conferences across the country and offers FHN Direct as a means of exploring possibilities of working with industry.

FHN Direct

FHN Direct provides a bridge between industry scientists and institute scientists. Through this working relationship, individually targeted solutions to problems are identified. The relationship starts with a one-to-one surgery covered by a confidentiality agreement.

The problem can be solved by an industry-funded studentship or other project proposal.

IFR Extra

In April, IFR Extra was launched specifically to undertake smaller pieces of work for industry. The key areas covered by the service are: food and environmental forensics, polymers, factory health and safety, food safety and microbiology, consumer science, and physical properties (such as texture) and the effects of processing.

“A collaboration with industry might involve anything from instrumental expertise to a study with human volunteers to test a health claim,” says Dr. Reg Wilson. “Our independence and our knowledge are valued by industry and consumers alike. Demand is set to grow and we have the capacity to meet it.”