Campden BRI has launched 10 new research projects that will investigate the latest hot topics in food and drink. These are funded and will be steered by its members to maximise industrial and commercial relevance.

The new research projects include:

Next generation methods for microbiological and chemical food safety: This project will assess novel and improved microbiological and chemical analytical methods that are used to monitor food hazards and spoilage issues.

Rapid methods for hygiene determination: This research project will look mostly at rapid non-microbiological methods for identifying hygiene hazards and compare these with existing validated methods to understand their capability and suitability to different environments, contaminant types and production technologies.

Microbiological shelf life testing - new approaches: This project will reconsider the methods and procedures used to define microbiological shelf life, define the best practice and updat Campden BRI’s Guideline 46 on the evaluation of product shelf life for chilled foods.

Functionality of novel ingredients from natural sources: Active components from plants and cereals could be used to replac chemically synthesised materials that are used in food processing. We will research the functionality of novel ingredients in specific products and compare them to existing additives with similar functional properties, such foaming, emulsifying, rheology modifiers and waterbinding.

Novel natural preservative systems for use in drinks, sauces and other high aw foods: At present few effective natural preservatives are permitted for use in food and drink manufacture. This project will practically assess potential novel preservatives to understand efficacy and whether other processing steps are needed to ensure they effectively extend shelf-life.

Inactivation of bacterial biofilms - new approaches: Organisms in biofilms can more resistant to a number of microbiological measures than planktonic cells. This can pose challenges for cleaning and CIP systems. The aim of this project is to define the resistance of key spoilage organisms in their biofilm state and establish and optimise procedures to decontaminate and/or remove biofilms.

Design and modelling of the impact of food structure on food texture: Making reformulated products that have the same texture and structure as the original product can be time consuming and require the use of costly pilot production facilities and sensory panels. This project will develop a way to model the effects of differences in structure so it’s easier to design products with a desired structure and understand how process conditions can be used to create the required structure for a range of product types.

Clean label sugar reduction: This project aims to take an alternative approach to sugar reduction. It will explore how far sugar can be removed before product quality is compromised to an unacceptable level or functionality is lost and the need arises to intervene via the use of clean label and/or processing solutions to optimise the level of reduction that can be achieved.

Mitigating food fraud - best use of analytical screening tools: Companies are required to comply with BRC Global Food Safety Standard 7 (Chapter 5.4) by minimising the risk of purchasing fraudulent or adulterated food raw materials and to ensure that all product descriptions and claims are legal, accurate and verified. In some situations, testing of high risk raw materials and ingredients by using suitable tests will be needed. This project will use analytical screening approaches to show best practice for preparation and use of authenticity calibration.

Sampling for hazards: a practical guide: This project will describe and discuss sampling for different hazards associated with the food industry, such as microorganisms, chemicals, allergens, etc and provide suggested ‘best practice’ for different sampling situations.

The research projects were chosen by Campden BRI members, who each year decide how the company should spend over £2 million in research. Members can then help to steer the research via the Member Interest Groups.

The ten new research projects complement about 40 existing ones.