Research

The needs of the food and drink industry are constantly evolving, driven by new technologies, consumer demand and competitive, regulatory and sustainability pressures. Our research programme is therefore designed to address emerging challenges and opportunities.

Within this, our research themes are focused on delivering commercial benefits to our members. Food safety is the core research theme at the heart of what we do. Our diet and health, digitalisation and sustainability themes address industry needs – whilst always focusing on ensuring affordability.

For each research area, our Scientific and Technical Committee will set challenges, from which the Executive Leadership Team will put out a call for projects to technical colleagues. Senior management will review the responses, and approved projects will have milestones and deliverables defined. Regular updates will be given to members (via Member Interest Group meetings) on the overall progress of projects and the technical outputs.

We work closely with academic institutions and welcome suggestions for studentships, as well as encouraging undergraduate students to work with us as part of their studies. For example, the Food Consortium Collaborative Training Partnership (CTP) brings us together with food manufacturers and academia to support a cohort of PhD studentships through their studies and to provide industry specific training.

To complement our core research offering, we also encourage our members to work with us to access external funds such as Innovate UK.