8 FOOD INDUSTRY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Mary D Earle and Richard L Earle INTRODUCTION The basic aim of food industry research and development (R&D) is to create new products and launch them successfully m the market Some specific aims of strategic R&D are to: reduce costs which lowers product prices; enhance sensory properties that make food more attractive; improve nutritional value to provide for dietary needs; improve food safety; add convenience; and offer greater choices of food items to consumers These benefits come either from constant gradual product improvement or a significant product step change The latter usually comes from new technology-crop, ingredient, process, storage-but it can also come from a new understanding of consumer needs R&D extends over the total food system and uses multidisciplinary research because of the great diversity in the biological sciences and technologies that are the scientific base of the food system The end is always consumer satisfaction, which includes not only the health and safety of the consumer but also the environment and those who produce the food The processing and manufacturing sections of the food industry include a few large multinationals and many small companies While the ultimate aim of all of their R&D is the same, their knowledge and resource bases are very different Small companies usually concentrate their R&D where they have strong specialist knowledge A large company needs research in many areas and is faced with the problems of integrating the research and coordinating it with the company's operating sections Both sized companies aim at effective product development and successful launching of new products Communication and complexity in L T Wallace et al (eds.), Government and the Food Industry: Economic and Political Effects of Conflict and Co-Operation, © Kluwer Academic Publishers 1997 126 the food system itself pose problems for both large and small firms Should government have a part in food industry R&D? The answer is yes because of three main interests: the protection of public health, the creation of wealth, and the enhancement of scientific knowledge All people are food consumers, and most are aware of the risks and benefits of food research and its technological applications Political pressure has been exerted for over 150 years to provide inexpensive and abundant food; for over 75 years to provide safe foods; and within the last 25 years, to produce food while sustaining the environment The food industry is always a substantial component of any country's industrial base and export potential Recent concerns about food increasingly extend across governments and trade areas, activated by issues such as hunger, famine, contamination problems, and the complexities of modem food science and technology RESEARCH IN THE FOOD SYSTEM The food system, which is an involved network, moves materials and products along a chain It includes production input people, farmers and fishers, processors, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and distributors For example, wheat from the farm is sorted and cleaned by specialized technology; then ground into flours and brans which are separated into flour, starch and glutens; the starch is treated to change its properties; and the flour, starch and gluten are recombined to make bread, cookies, extruded snacks, gravy powders, cake mixes, soup mixes, canned meals, and sausages For some raw food materials, the process may involve even more steps, while for others, the material can go almost directly to restaurants or retailers Hence, food research means many things, ,md often, the only common feature is that the final food product is eaten Production Research Everything starts with gathering or cultivating crops, raising or hunting fish, birds and animals Commercial farming produces most raw food materials and is also rapidly becoming important for fish cultivation Food production research includes design of the final foods, design of the raw materials to satisfy the next customer link in the food chain, and control of production to give consistent quality and food safety With increasing consumer demands for "natural" and "fresh" foods, there is corresponding pressure to start food product design in the field Recent developments in molecular biology related to plant breeding promise real possibilities for multidisciplinary research by molecular biologists, plant breeders and food scientists to design and develop specific foods These will be a source of step-change innovation Already, the apple industry is developing and launching a continuous stream of different types of apples (Braebum, Fuji, Pacific Rosp) The kiwifruit 127 industry is pOised to the same, and some chemical companies (Zeneca) are also active in using molecular biology research Ingredient design for processing started over one hlU1dred years ago by plant breeders producing high-protein wheats for breadmaking, and weak-protein wheats for cookie-making Tailoring examples include canola oil for nutritional foods, special maize for fiber production, highsolids tomatoes for tomato paste, and sheep and hog breeds for low-fat meat products Future multidisciplinary research will combine molecular science and plant breeding with food chemistry, nutrition, food physics and food engineering Ingredient Research In the last ninety years, process engineering research was the basis for the ingredient industry This industry grew through three stages: purification of raw plant, animal and marine materials; separation of the total material into fractions; and finally, treatment of these materials to give specific ingredient properties For example, with vegetable oils, first the colors and odors were removed, then the clear oil was separated into fat and oil fractions, and ultimately hydrogenated to give firm fats Today, there is a wide span of separation and treatment processes which offer consumers many different cooking and salad oils and fats The same sequence of R&D has occurred with both basic and minor biological food components: proteins, carbohydrates and lipids; flavor compolU1ds, colors, minerals and vitamins Chemical industry research introduced colors, flavors, vitamins, emulsifiers and stabilizers to the food industry Recent research has led, under consumer pressure, to new materials replacing basic fats and sugars to create low-calorie foods which still have the texture of fat and the sweetness of sugar Modem ingredient-industry companies anticipate consumer food notions Their goal is to continuously introduce new ingredients so tha t they, too, can keep ahead of competition As food manufacturers cut back in their research efforts, more is necessarily being done by the specialized ingredient processors This research area has, in tum, broadened their research programs Their research not only reviews new raw materials and processing possibilities, it also probes the development of final consumer products This research has concentrated m food structures, flavors, appearance and nutrition in its product innovation Business expectations of food manufacturers have consequently changed so that most now rely m food processors for final consumer products as well as new ingredients, new formulations and innovative processing methods Consumer Product Research Over time, consumers have moved from simply requiring enough raw food items for their own kitchens, to mandating certain characteristics in the food items: attractive appearance, acceptable eating qualities, convenience, value for money, nutrition, safety, environmental and social acceptability Each product combines these basic features in different ways Research aims to identify consumer needs and concerns, and then design products that will satisfy 128 them It requires a multidisciplinary group of scientists and technologists from consumer science, sensory science, nutrition, product development and process engineering All companies marketing conswner products have developed their own methods and systems for this type of research called Product Development Distribution Research Ever since the opening of the spice trade routes, there has been a movement of raw food materials over long distances Apples are distributed from the southern hemisphere to markets in the U.S and Europe, chilled lamb is shipped from New Zealand to the UK, and chilled pork from Thailand to Singapore More stable raw materials such as wheat and rice move from the U.S to China, vegetable oils are shipped from Malaysia to the UK and U.s., and sugar moves worldwide Not only food materials flow from one country to another, some materials may be grown in one country, processed in another, and manufactured in a third Some food products can contain 20 different ingredients, all from different countries Consumer products have to be stored and displayed for final sale, a potentially harsh environment because of fluctuating temperatures and light Research about storage and physical distribution tries to reduce costs, increase storage life and improve product quality at the end of the distribution chain There is an increase in research about "fresh" foods, intensified by consumers'desire for what they perceive as unprocessed foods However, even "fresh" food products are processed by controlling their packaging and certain environmental conditions so as to increase storage life while retaining original appearance and structure Con.