Food Research Ireland - Department of Agriculture

Over the last decade, institutional research has been vibrant in this
priority area. DAFM have funded in the region of 71 projects addressing
food for health and nutrition; as well as cob-funded four programmes
with the Health Research Board under the Food and Health Research
Initiative. This funding has led to expertise, capability and facilities that
have delivered functional ingredients and foods as well as techniques to
validate nutritional claims in vitro and in vivo. Irish scientists are leading
Europe in the development of food consumption and lifestyle databases;
these resources are of national importance to policy makers and the food
industry in providing a platform for a national strategy for health and
wellness. Interpreting these data is the job of our nutritional scientists.
Together with the agencies and the food industry they have identified
key areas of importance to the health of the population e.g. salt
reduction, fortification of food with folic acid, vitamin D etc. FIRM have
invested significant recourses in the area of food and health for over 15
years and the capability generated has led to collaborative funding with
the Health Research Board, the Marine Institute and more industryfocused
funding from other agencies, e.g. Enterprise Ireland.
FOOD BUSINESS AND CONSUMER SCIENCE
Insights into consumers’ behaviour and attitudes are key areas of
expertise for Irish researchers who generate knowledge on consumers’
wants, needs and perceptions, which are useful in developing and
marketing new products and in assessing consumer and industry
acceptability of novel food technologies. Understanding the market and
consumer, supports new product development, innovation
management, strategic market planning, marketing channels, and
relationship management.
New product development involves a number of areas of expertise
including retail, branding, modelling business processes, process
innovation and innovation management and understanding the
consumer. Irish researchers have worked directly with food companies
to identify new market opportunities.
Risk perception is the subjective judgment that people make about the
characteristics and severity of a risk, for example a food safety scare or
the introduction of a novel technology (high pressure processing).
Researchers have worked together to understand how and why
consumers perceive risk and have developed successful communication
strategies. In addition, an online survey called Longitudinal Monitor of
Food Risk Perception was set up to monitor the perceptions, attitudes
and behaviour of Irish people to a variety of food risks.
Food business researchers work extensively on the dynamics of food
supply chains for the benefit of stakeholders; and on understanding retail
activity, trends and performance. Food economics and the impact of
national and international regulation and policy on the agriculture and
food industry is also a focus of Irish researchers.
FOOD SAFETY
A wide variety of research is undertaken in the identification, detection and
control of food-borne pathogens and spoilage organisms. Researchers
within the Centre for Food Safety have expertise in many areas including
detection and surveillance of Enterobacter sakazaki, Campylobacter,
Salmonella, Yersinia enterocolitica, Escherichia coli, Toxoplasma gondi,
microbial quantitative risk assessment, microbial genomics and
bioinformatics. The UCD Centre for Food Safety is the designated World
Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Research, Reference
and Training on Cronobacter. The Centre for Food-borne Zoonomics (CFZ)
(www.cfz.ie), was established in 2007 and is led by a group of food safety
experts. These scientists are working closely with the food industry and
regulatory agencies to reduce the incidences of food-borne poisoning
associated with Gram negative pathogens, including Salmonella and VTEC.
The research focuses on the genomic and proteomic responses by
pathogens to stress. The network is a collaborative research effort between
a number of research institutions and the DAFM laboratories.
Food Research Ireland
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