Ingredients maker Tate & Lyle is supporting a new three-year research project by the University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute aimed at helping people to make healthier, more sustainable food choices.
The Rowett Institute has been awarded a funding of £1.6 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for the project, which will investigate how issues around poverty, food insecurity and obesity may affect shopping habits.
The project will include gathering data from participants from across the UK, who will share their experience of living with food insecurity and obesity.
It will also monitor the shopping habits of around 1.6 million by collaborating with a 'large' UK retailer', Tate & Lyle added, without disclosing the name of the retailer.
'Healthy Food Choices'
Professor Alexandra Johnstone of Rowett Institute, added, “With the cost-of-living crisis it is only going to get harder for people to make healthy food choices, particularly those who are living with obesity and food insecurity.
"This is a vital piece of research, and we are very much looking forward to working with this excellent team on this extremely important topic."
The project will bring together a panel of consumers, policy makers, charities, food and drink producers, processors, and retailers, as well as expert academics to advise, co-develop and test strategies that can support future transformation within the UK food system, Tate & Lyle noted.
Industry Insight On Reformulation
As a food and drink ingredient solutions supplier on the panel, Tate & Lyle will provide industry insight on reformulation, as well as share its expertise on nutrition.
Dr Kavita Karnik, global head of nutrition and regulatory affairs at Tate & Lyle, said, “We are delighted to be able to offer our guidance, expertise and know-how for this important piece of research. We are a science-led organisation which helps big and small brands all over the world make food and drink healthier and tastier.
"Driven by our purpose of ‘Transforming Lives through the Science of Food’, we believe this research is essential to better understand food systems in the UK and provide real-world strategies of how dietary inequalities can be addressed within the food retail sector in an environmentally friendly way.”
The result of the research will be made publicly available at the end of project.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
