Food & Health Network Knowledge Sharing Day
at
Institute of Food Research
23rd June 2004

The Food & Health Network Knowledge Sharing Day was an opportunity for members to discuss activities across all Clusters of the Network and to share knowledge with IFR scientists and other members. The day also saw the launch of the new Food Allergy Cluster. The meeting was chaired by Jo Belsten, who has recently taken over the role of Food & Health Network Co-ordinator.

An update on Cluster activities, including key achievements and future plans, was presented by each of the Cluster Co-ordinators during the first session. The Predictive Microbiology and Risk Analysis (PRIMA) Cluster, led by Tim Brocklehurst, has covered a wide range of topics, resulting in a number of collaborations between individual members and IFR. Steve Ring and the Barriers Cluster members have focused of a specific area and are developing a LINK proposal. The Quality throughout Shelf-Life Cluster has wide-ranging interests, and David Hibberd has addressed this with topic days, the next of which will cover imaging techniques. Andrew Smith outlined the activities of Food Waste Cluster, which include an international conference on the issue, TotalFood 2004. The Food and Nutrition Cluster, led by Richard Faulks, has, in its first year, started to address some of the many issues currently facing the industry.

The second session considered IFR's three research themes (food safety, nutrition and food materials), and how these relate to current and up-coming issues faced by the food and beverage industries. Mike Gasson discussed IFR's expertise in the understanding of the major food poisoning and food spoilage bacteria, including significant collaborations with the USDA. Nutrition is highly topical issue for the food industry, and Ian Johnson described how IFR is working to increase our understanding of the health implications of individual foods and wider dietary regimes. This activity is essential for an industry facing increased regulation of product health claims. Reg Wilson brought these two topics together illustrating how and understanding of the physical properties of foods can inform the rational design of new products to provide food matrices that maximise the safety and nutritional quality of foods whilst still maintaining the taste and textural attributes demanded by the consumer.

Food allergy was the topic of the afternoon session. Clare Mills gave a brief introduction to IFR's internationally recognised expertise in the area, and gave an overview of her research into protein biochemistry of allergenic proteins. Claudio Nicoletti gave an insight into emerging understanding of the immunological initiation of allergy, which is an essential prerequisite for the rational design of low-allergenicity foods. The potential of lactic acid bacteria as oral delivery vehicles of modulators of the immune response was introduced by Sean Hanniffy. His research offers potential for prevention and treatment of food allergy, an area likely to be of huge interest to the neutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. The session closed with a discussion of the proposed activities for the cluster, and how it will address the issues faced by industry.

F&HN members can download the presentations from the members-only section of the website (www.foodandhealthnetwork.com). Presentations are available to non-members on CD-ROM for £125 (refundable against subsequent membership); please contact enquiries@foodandhealthnetwork.com