Services to business
Materials research
Properties in food contact and applications
Many food materials have complex properties. These properties can play a major role in how we perceive the texture and quality of food, as in biopolymers (such as starch gels, wheat gluten, polysaccharides and meat proteins) and colloids (like ice-cream and mayonnaise).
Similarly, polymers and films within food can affect the way water moves in the product.
Food also comes into contact with many materials, such as packaging which has to be able to withstand microwaving and oven temperatures, and lacquer in cans which may be in contact with food for up to two years.
Food machinery can have demanding requirements. It may need to resist fouling, be easy to clean and be hard wearing. New surface coatings can offer all these properties.
New needs for environmentally friendly products also drive the search for new materials.
Our work in understanding material properties and structure is supported by state of the art instrumentation, including microscopy. Techniques like infra-red and raman can map food components and picture microscopic structures in complex and problematic systems.
Our materials research can support the food industry
- assessing how the surfaces of polymers change
- improving barrier and anti-fire properties of polymers
- gelation mechanism
- corrosion of machinery and parts in food manufacture and disposal
