Consumers and Health
CAFRE offers expertise and support for the food industry, focusing on consumer insights, reformulation for healthier products, nutritional profiling, sensory analysis, alternative proteins, and bio-fermentation.
Our specialists provide technical guidance and practical advice to companies of all sizes, from small start-ups to large food manufacturers. CAFRE has expertise in a range of topics including new product development, health-focused reformulation, sensory testing and organoleptic improvements, and development of food and drinks using alternative proteins.
Businesses can develop product concepts in the CAFRE Food Innovation Centre’s commercial kitchen and sensory suite before refining into market-ready products using the advanced facilities and equipment at the Food Technology Centre. These facilities include pilot-scale equipment for the production of a wide range of food products.
Sensory Analysis can be supported through the completion of focus groups, benchmarking studies, organoleptic quality control, discrimination testing for recipe engineering, and acceptability tests.
CAFRE also provides:
– Nutritional profiling of products for labelling purposes
– Guidance on the use of nutritional claims on food and drink products
– Guidance on the use of alternative protein sources and their impact on the overall properties of finished products
Sensory Analysis training can be provided at Loughry, or on-site at your company’s location, ensuring the training is relevant to your specific processing environment.
Dairy Technology Courses
Discover the range of one day practical dairy technology courses designed to refresh essential processing skills.
Food Facilities
Loughry Campus has a wide range of facilities which are used by students and agri-food businesses.
Key contact:
Dr Emanuele Armaforte
Senior Technologist (Food)
Emanuele.Armaforte@daera-ni.gov.uk