Food research has huge potential, says Coughlan

THE nature and extent of food-related research was described yesterday as exciting in its nature and in its possibilities.

Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan said this type of research offers the prospects of an ever closer alignment between food production on one hand and health concerns and conditions, lifestyle factors, food safety and nutritional considerations on the other.

She was speaking in Dublin at the launch of Supporting Food Innovation, a publication that gives details of the achievements in publicly funded food research and development between 2001 and 2004 under FIRM, the Food Institutional Research Programme.

Ms Coughlan said the projects featured give a flavour of the public good research funded by her department and demonstrate the range and very high quality of research on food- related themes carried out by the research institutes.

Almost €55 million has been awarded to date for 115 project in 20 research institutes under the programme. It also funds RELAY, which has particular responsibility for disseminating the results of research carried out. Noting that the RELAY project was submitted by Teagasc, she paid tribute to the entire team for its commitment to the critical task of sharing the results of research with all stakeholders in the food industry.

With a database of over 1,250 companies and support agencies, RELAY acts as a key link between research institutes and universities and the food industry.

Scientists at the Teagasc Dairy Products Research Centre, Moorepark and University College Cork (UCC) have developed innovative technology for the production of a special form of bio-cheese that can suppress harmful bacteria in the mouth, aiding dental health.

Researchers at UCC and the Teagasc National Food Centre have also succeeded in improving the quality of gluten-free bread, biscuits and pizzas. This breakthrough has resulted in new recipes for high quality products for people allergic to the ingredients in wheat flour.

Innovative technology developed by scientists at the Teagasc National Food Centre has resulted in an improvement in beef tenderness that has the potential to deliver substantial benefits to the Irish beef industry.