Nutrition and health - Member Interest Group

Scope

Nutrition and health issues related to the food and drink industry – and in particular those aspects impacting on product and process technologies.

To share non-confidential information about issues, roles, trends and knowledge gaps within nutrition and health between its members and members of other Campden BRI MIGs
To provide guidance to Campden BRI on priority areas of nutrition and health in the context of food production, manufacturing and distribution
To help create, develop and steer Campden BRI projects in response to nutrition and health as a driver for process and product innovation

Nutritional aspects of raw materials and ingredients, for example:

Crop and livestock breeding to optimise the nutritional content of raw materials and derived ingredients
Understanding the impacts of agronomic and husbandry practices and of post–harvest handling on nutritional content
Novel ingredients of nutritional importance – scope of use, legality, technical challenges of incorporating into products

Nutritional aspects of manufacturing and processing, for example:

Process optimisation to improve nutritional content of products (including, for example, bioavailability, fortification)
Storage and handling of raw materials during manufacturing, with regards to nutritional impact
Impact of packaging and onward distribution of product on nutritional properties

Nutritional aspects of product, packaging and process innovation, for example:

Product formulation and reformulation to help meet nutritional needs whilst maintaining consumer acceptability (e.g. cost, portion size, taste and texture)
Awareness of new ingredients and technologies to assist development (or re-development) of products in response to nutrition as a driver
Developments in packaging technology that support management (e.g. preservation) of nutritional content

Understanding consumers' perceptions of and responses to nutrition-related issues, for example:

Research into consumers and the influence of nutrition and health as a driver, including demographic groups, personalised nutrition and health needs
Use and impact of communication methods (e.g. labels, menus, mobile technology, apps, QR codes), marketing, branding, claims and specific terminology (e.g. ‘added’, ‘natural’) – with regards to diet related issues
Consumer self–management of diet–related issues (e.g. allergies, intolerances, special dietary needs)
Understanding the impact of factors such as ‘message fatigue’ and ‘pseudoscience’

Regulatory controls relevant to nutrition and health, for example:

Labelling declarations and nutrition and health claim
Anticipating and responding to new developments with legislation, government policy and industry voluntary measure
Alignment of regulatory changes with industrial practices in food and drink production, manufacturing, distribution and sale

Nutritional analysis and testing of raw materials, ingredients and products, for example:

Innovations in relevant analytical technology
Developments in interpretation and understanding of analytical data, including comparison of analytical versus calculated nutritional information

Knowledge management for nutritional and health, for example:

Knowledge exchange amongst industry nutritionists including horizon scanning of nutrition and health related issues and of the ‘nutritional landscape’ more generally
Nutrition research, its practical relevance and its translation for industrial application