College News

1 February 2006

Food Standards Agency funding in excess of £1m for research into food authentication

Funding in excess of one million pounds has been awarded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to Professor Peter Bramley, Director of Research and Head of Chemical and Bioanalytical Sciences in the School of Biological Sciences, at Royal Holloway, University of London. Three separate grants will fund Professor Bramley and his team to carry out research into improving methods of detection and authentication of meat and other food products to ensure that labelling is accurate and consumers are aware of what they are eating.

Consumers should be confident with their choice of foods and be able to buy according to particular requirements, be it for diet and health, personal taste, religious reasons, or cost. Food authenticity is the process of establishing whether a food matches its description. The description of food refers to the information given as to its name, its ingredients, its origin or processes undergone. If food is mislabelled, consumers can be misled as to the content of a product.

Professor Peter Bramley

 

The first research project will study the proteins present in a sample to determine meat species within mixed meat products. This will involve the use of mass spectrometry, highly specialised equipment, to establish the composition of the proteins and to assess if the meat is genuine and true to what the label shows.

The second project will focus on improving methods for identifying mechanically recovered meat (MRM) in processed food. Mechanically Recovered Meat is produced by mechanical means to collect edible muscle tissue attached to bones after removing premium cuts of meat. Producers are required to declare MRM in the list of ingredients used to make a product. The researchers plan to identify small molecules from the bone that enable improved surveillance methods for its detection and labelling of meat products for the consumer.

For the third project, Professor Bramley and his team will evaluate state of the art mass spectrometry procedures for the identification and quantification of genetically modified (GM) proteins in food sources.

Commenting on the projects Professor Bramley said: "We hope that once our research is complete, we will have established more accurate and robust ways of identifying the content of meat products and other foods, which should lead to clearer labelling and give the consumer more confidence before purchasing a product."

Ends

Notes to Editors

The FSA is holding a free research seminar on its Authenticity Programme Research Seminar on 23 February 2006 entitled Novel Methods to Authenticate Meat and Fish Products. For bookings contact: Ruth Hodgson by 3 February 2006 on tel: 020 7276 8151; Email ruth.hodgson@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

For further information on the research projects contact:
Professor Peter Bramley, School of Biological Sciences

Or

Royal Holloway Press Office: Alison Denyer on 01784 443967 alison.denyer@rhul.ac.uk or Naomi Weston on 01784 414480 naomi.weston@rhul.ac.uk