Member Research Forums

Leatherhead Food Research is the partner of choice for scientific research and consultancy services for the global food industry. We tailor our services to meet the challenges and demands of a fast changing and competitive global marketplace.

Our Membership of over 1000 food and beverage companies worldwide spans the food supply chain from multi-national food manufacturers to small ingredient suppliers. Our business is built on the twin pillars of scientific expertise and value added consultancy.

This is a programme of research projects agreed and driven by our Members. It is run by the Research Advisory Committee and is funded from our subscription income. The results are available to all Members and provide both practical and cutting edge applied technology. Members need to have registered on the web site and be logged in to be able to view the archive of research reports.

The Research Advisory Committee comprises of the Chairman Alistair Penman, the Chair of each of the five forums and invited industry experts.

Each of the five forums represents one of Leatherhead's key areas of expertise. A Leatherhead Food Research expert acts as liaison for each forum committee. The committees have 10-20 food industry representatives, one of which is elected as Chair.

Food Innovation Platform

Food Ingredients Forum:

Understand the influence of hydrocolloids and ingredients on structure, stability and texture of food, drink and pharmaceutical products
Understand and exploit nutritional benefits associated with hydrocolloids and ingredients for development of healthy products
Understand the relationship between hydrocolloids/ingredients and processing
Exploit hydrocolloid & ingredient functionality to generate new concepts for the future

Contact Dr Pretima Titoria

Confectionery Products Forum:

Applied research for the chocolate and sugar confectionery industry
Understanding the effect of ingredients and processing
Studying shelf-life and quality issues relating to confectionery
Developing methods including accelerated shelf-life tests that can be used to study quality and processing issues
Relating microstructure to product quality characteristics

Contact Persis Subramaniam

Consumer & Sensory Science Forum:

Research into novel sensory applications
Shelf life research using sensory evaluation and consumer research
Identifying best sensory and consumer practices
Evaluation of reduced sugar, salt and fat foods and beverages
Understanding the perception of texture of food and drink products
Consumer understanding of current developments in food industry
Sensory and consumer evaluation with children and elderly

Contact Cindy Beeren

Nutrition Platform

Nutrition & Health Forum:

Carrying out human volunteer studies - satiety, glycaemic response & bioavailability
Studying the effects of diet on health
Identifying health enhancing properties of foods
Identifying and evaluating key nutrition trends which impact upon the food industry
Assessing research methodologies to establish best practice
Translating nutrition research on key topics into a clear and usable format for Members, including reference to nutrition & health claims regulation where relevant

Contact Sarah Hull

Food Safety Platform

Food Safety:

Allergens - assessment of allergenicity of processed foods
Assessment of novel technologies for measurement of food adulteration, additives, contaminants and allergens in food
Assessment of novel techniques for measuring spoilage or pathogenic micro-organisms in food (including viruses)
Microbial physiology in foods covering: microbial growth, survival, toxin production, adaptive resistance and recovery
Food preservation
Food processing method validation

Contact Dr Evangelia Komitopoulou

To learn more about our Members Research Forums, and Membership in general please contact Rosemarie Bramble.

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