Campden BRI set to welcome PepsiCo Vice President at its annual food and drink industry event in June

Campden BRI has announced that the keynote speaker at its annual industry event, ‘Campden BRI Day 2014’ on Wednesday, the 11th of June will be the Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of PepsiCo Global Research and Development, Dr. Mehmood Khan.

Dr. Khan leads company-wide research and development at the global food and drinks giant, whose iconic household brands include Pepsi, Tropicana, Copella, Quaker Oats, Walkers Crisps, Doritos and Snack-a-Jacks. As Vice President, he leads a worldwide team of experts in nutrition, medicine, research, science, marketing, ingredient sourcing and product innovation.

He will be discussing the profound changes and challenges occurring in the global Food and Beverage market place and will explain how PepsiCo’s Global R&D organization is a catalyst; transforming PepsiCo (one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies) and its portfolio (which feeds a billion consumers a day on every continent) to deliver on today’s business and market priorities as well as the growth opportunities of tomorrow.

Dr. Khan has a unique ‘crossover’ role in the food and drink industry, essentially bridging the link between research and development and core businesses and leading brands within the health and wellbeing sector and is focused on developing PepsiCo’s nutrition brands in this key, growing category.

Campden BRI Day is one of the premier annual events in the food and drinks industry calendar. Boasting a prestigious history over six decades, the must-attend event regularly attracts around 500 senior food and drink industry leaders and experts and leading food and drink trade press journalists.

The day will feature over 40 interactive exhibits – providing an insight into the latest technical developments to help food and drink firms grow and prosper as well as a

networking buffet lunch to make new industry contacts and catch up with old contacts and colleagues. There will also be ample opportunity to tour the process plant and sensory area.

In addition, the winners of the UK heats of the major food innovation student competition, ‘Ecotrophelia 2014, run by Campden BRI and the Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST) will be announced on the day, with the opportunity to meet all the UK finalists, representing the next generation for the food and drink industry and view their innovative concepts for new product development.

Steven Walker, Director General of Campden BRI, said: “We are proud that Campden BRI Day has become one of the must-attend events in the food and drink industry’s calendar and are thrilled that we have secured such an eminent industry expert and speaker from one of the largest food and drink organisations in the world. This demonstrates the importance of Campden BRI Day and we are very much looking forward to his keynote speech and benefitting from his expert insights into our industry and the challenges it currently faces.”

It is free to attend Campden BRI Day; however pre-registration is essential. For further information on the event (including a short video with highlights of the 2012 event) and to register, please visit http://www.campdenbri.co.uk/campdenbri-day.php.