Welcome to the food science collection

This special collection of food science-related content created by Chemistry World and its partners explores the trends and drivers of scientific innovation in this important area of chemistry.

Contract research organisation Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL) share their insight and expertise on plant-based foods. With consumers becoming ever more conscious of nutrional content, and flexitarianism growing in popularity, the demand for meat-free products is increasing dramatically. As consumers look to make healthier choices in their diets, we’ve also seen the market for vitamin-fortified and immunity-strengthening products surge during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s clear that food manufacturers have to keep innovating. The desire for new foods, or improving and diversifying existing foods for different markets, brings with it a a complex and strict regulatory burden. Luckily, the experts at RSSL have shared their experience on what it takes to meet the EU’s novel food regulatory requirements. However, through changing times and chaning consumer habits, one thing has remained constant: the need for safe, consistent, and high quality food products. We look at NMR and other chemical analysis used to make sure we know what’s in our food.

Lastly, to complete the journey of ‘farm to fork’ we go back to the beginning of most food supply chains: agriculture. We explore how a software solution for organising chemical structure and biological study data from US-based Collaborative Drug Discovery helped a UK startup in the herbicide sector.