Food & Drink sector funding priorities according to industry and academia

The Food & Drink industry and academia voted for the areas and research challenges included in the report which should be targeted for future funding.

This data was collected by the Professional Food Science, Engineering and Technology Group (ProFSET) which surveyed its members.  Out of 111 respondents, 40 were from academia and 71 from industry, all related to the delivery of the UK food and drink agenda.

Members of ProFSET include the Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST), The Institute of Physics (IOP), The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), The Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE), The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), The Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM), The Society of Dairy Technology (SDT), The Nutrition Society (NS).

Top 5 funding priorities for Food & Drink industry and academia

1. Exploiting under-utilised crops that suit UK agronomy under changing climatic conditions.
2. Solutions for turning current waste streams into useful cost neutral or higher value commodities.
3. Improve resource efficiency with reduced greenhouse gas emissions in reimagined food processing (e.g reduction of heating then cooling or wetting then subsequent drying steps across the food chain).
4. New heating and cooling technologies that do not use fossil fuels.
5. Water recovery and re-use technologies.

Top 5 funding priorities for Food & Drink academia

1. Exploiting under-utilised crops that suit UK agronomy under changing climatic conditions.
2. Consumer behavioural psychology and effective communication / education of nutritional benefits throughout life.
3. Gut microbiome and its effect on host metabolism and energy balance. In the longer term, understanding and predictably influencing these interactions.
4. Water recovery and re-use technologies.
5. Improve resource efficiency with reduced greenhouse gas emissions in reimagined food processing (e.g reduction of heating then cooling or wetting then subsequent drying steps across the food chain).

 Top 5 funding priorities for the Food & Drink industry

1. Exploiting under-utilised crops that suit UK agronomy under changing climatic conditions.
2. Solutions for turning current waste streams into useful cost neutral or higher value commodities.
3. Improve resource efficiency with reduced greenhouse gas emissions in reimagined food processing (e.g reduction of heating then cooling or wetting then subsequent drying steps across the food chain).
4. New heating and cooling technologies that do not use fossil fuels.
5. “Right-first-time” manufacturing including sensor development, fast prototyping (e.g. additive manufacturing, fast coding to adjust quickly to product change requirements), traceability and measuring of raw material quality throughout the supply chain.

Read the Food industry priorities for a sustainable food system 2023 report