Two food and drink research centres, CCFRA and BRI, have merged to strengthen their resources and help companies in the industry innovate and ensure the safety and quality of their products.
Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association and BRI said that they can now offer a wider range of expertise, skills and facilities to members, which between them already include Nestlé, Kraft Foods, Britvic, the Fosters Group and Cargill.
The two membership-based oragnisations are based in the UK and will now become Campden BRI.
Campden BRI’s director-general, professor Colin Dennis said that the move will “improve efficiencies for both members and clients” as they combine resources.
Its clients will benefit from “state-of-the-art” laboratories for food and drink microbiology, hygiene, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, brewing and cereal science and packaging technology. There is also a purpose built consumer and sensory science facilities.
The company also boasts of “extensive” food process hall and pilot plant, including malting and brewing, retorting, chilling, milling, baking, hygiene and packaging.
Jeremy Davies, director of corporate services, CCFRA, told FoodNavigator.com: “CCFRA has a broad base and works with many products, on issues ranging from hygiene and process validation top analysis and consumer studies.
“This breadth will add strength to BRI's considerable specialist skills, experience and facilities in the science, technology, production and analysis of beer and wine.
“At the same time, this expertise of BRI's will considerably strengthen CCFRA's base in the area of alcoholic drinks”.
Davies said that CCFRA has seen several trends in research requests recently and added: “Food safety assurance is always high on industry's agenda - including faster and better methods for detecting hazards such as foodborne pathogens or allergens.
“There is also considerable interest in process efficiency and sustainable operations - reducing energy consumption, minimising waste, and assessing sustainable packaging options for example.
“We are also doing a lot of work on ingredient functionality - understanding how ingredients work and how this can be objectively measured.”
He said that product safety, process efficiency and sustainability are also the main drivers in the brewing industry.
Company background
CCFRA turnover for 2007 was about €17,000,000 and it has 320 staff. Its membership is at around 1700 companies from across the world.
Campden's research is aimed at helping companies in the food supply chain to assure the safety and quality of their products, innovate with new products, and maximise production efficiency.
The subscriptions paid by members are used to carry out research relevant to the scientific and technical needs of industry.
Recent examples include new DNA-based methods for assessing food authenticity and for rapid identification of foodborne pathogens, new methods for testing functionality of ingredients such as egg, and how on-pack information contributes to consumers' sensory expectations
BRI, turnover for 2007 was €4,300,000 and it has 60 staff. Its members are associated with the global alcoholic beverages industry.
In the past BRI has worked with Pursuit Dynamics to develop a 'PDX' device that offers brewers substantial energy savings during boiling
Other recent research interests at BRI included looking at the suitability of novel products (bottles) for maintaining beer quality.