The Food Group is one of the Royal Society of Chemistry's many Interest Groups. The Interest Groups are member driven groups which exist to benefit Royal Society of Chemistry members, and the wider chemical science community, in line with the Royal Society of Chemistry's strategy and charter.
Aims
The aims of the food group are to promote the role of chemistry in food and enable transfer and sharing of information and networking between academia and the food industry. This includes analytical, biochemical, chemical, physical, nutritional and toxicological aspects of food and food ingredients and the composition and relationships between structure and functionality throughout the entire food chain in a way to enhance sustainability and food and nutrition security. We also aim to:
- foster an awareness of the importance of chemistry in the food chain
- encourage interactions between scientists and technologists engaged in food research and development
- help transfer such scientific research from ideas to applications
RSC Food Group Early Career Medal Winner 2021
The Food Group Committee was very pleased to award this year’s Early Career Medal award to Dr Oluwatobi Kolawole (Tobi) of The Queen’s University Belfast. Professor Chris Elliott presented the inscribed medal and certificate and Dr Kolawale will be invited to present a lecture on his work during a conference in 2022 at Burlington House, London.
Tobi graduated with first class honours in microbiology and was awarded a fully funded scholarship by the Commonwealth Commission to study a masters course in Advanced Food Safety at Queens University Belfast (2016-2017), graduating with a distinction. Thereafter, he completed his PhD in Biological Sciences at the Institute for Global Food Security as an Early Stage Researcher in the Marie-Curie ITN project – PROTECTED.
He is currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow within the Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast. His current research interest is focused on the influence of agronomic and climatic factors on the scale of mycotoxin contamination of agricultural commodities and engaging with stakeholders in the industry to ascertain the current shortfalls in mycotoxin control within the supply chains with the aim of providing practical mitigation strategies that will protect public health and address regulatory requirements. Tobi is also evaluating the impact of mycotoxins on environmental sustainability and their contribution to climate change as well as on food and feed waste.
Professor Chris Elliott presenting the award to Dr Oluwatobi Kolawole (Tobi) & proudly wearing their RSC T-shirts with the team at QUB
Scottish Metabolomics Meeting online event, 11-12 November 2021
Congratulations to Emma Hurst @emma_hurst91 (The Roslyn Institute) for winning the RSC Food Group best Early Career Researcher presentation at the Scottish Metabolomics
@ScotMetNet meeting for her Vitamin D studies and also to James Weatherill @jw_weatherill (University of Edinburgh) who won the RSC Food Group best Early Career Researcher flash presentation for his work on ion mobility-mass spectrometry
AgriFood Sustainability – Sustainability v Food Safety - What is our Appetite for Risk? RSC Agriculture Group online event on 23 November 2021
We have grown accustomed to the “precautionary principle” in food safety risk management. If there is no need for a hazard to be present in a food then it should not be present, even if a risk of harm has not been demonstrated or has been shown to be low.
In his talk at “AgriFood Sustainability: After COP, what next?”, John Points argued that our risk management approach needs reviewing if we are going to achieve our sustainability goals. Risk management need not automatically mirror risk assessment. Rather than manage each risk in isolation, a more holistic balanced scorecard is needed. The food safety risks of a proposed intervention should be considered alongside risks and benefits for multiple aspects, from carbon footprint and water use to ethical production and workforce conditions. This is illustrated by the debate whether recycled cardboard is suitable for use as food packaging and the different conclusions reached in different EU countries.
RSC Food Group Established Career Medal 2022
The RSC Food Group will be opening nominations for the Established Career Medal in January 2022. Anyone can be nominated by an RSC member, including non-RSC members and nominees can reside and carry out their research in any country. The winner will win a medal and a cash prize sponsored by Elsevier Publishing and details will be announced in the new year
Save the Date – Advances in Chemical Analysis of Food III 1 April 2022, Burlington House
The agenda and booking information will be released soon - but please save the date.
Relevant publications
Check out the latest Saltmarsh’s Essential Guide to Food Additives: Edition 5
Get Involved
We are always looking for new members who are keen to get involved and to help organise our activities. If you would like to find out more please contact the Secretary using the form below.
We also encourage you to connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (@RSC_FoodGroup).
We also have an online chemistry community for food at MyRSC for anyone who shares our interests.
How to Join
RSC members can join the Food Group by updating their details in the “My communities and subscriptions” tab of the online RSC membership area. Please click here to login and add to your list of Interest Groups.
Quick links
Awards
The Food Group awards two medals: the Early Career Medal (previously Junior Medal) and Established Career Medal (previously Senior Medal).
MyRSC Food Group
This group is open to anyone with an interest in food science. You will be required to register for MyRSC, then you can sign up to become a member of this group
Forthcoming events
Forthcoming events organised by the Food Group.
Contact the Secretary
For further information on the Food Group you can contact the Secretary, Mrs Kath Whittaker FRSC.
Support for interest groups
Useful information and resources for all RSC interest groups.
Committee
Chair
Mr Robert Cordina MRSC
Robert is currently Associate Principal Scientist at Mondelēz International R&D, responsible for Process Modelling and Computational Chemistry across their different food categories. He is also a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Malta, teaching food chemistry and food technology. In the past he used to work in the pharmaceutical industry as QC Manager.
Secretary
Mrs Kathryn Whittaker FRSC
Kath Whittaker has over thirty years experience in Food Industries, specialising in flavours and ingredients. She has held senior roles with Kerry Group and McCormick, and worked internationally, based in Budapest and Chicago. Kath combines her strategic understanding of organisations, with her sound technical grounding as an effective business partner, mentor and consultant.
Contact the secretaryTreasurer
Professor Peter Wilde
Prof Pete Wilde heads the food structure and digestion research at the Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich UK. He has been researching the physical chemistry of food structures for more than 30 years. His expertise is in understanding the role of colloidal and interfacial phenomena on the functionality of food structures. His current research focuses the fate of food structures during in vitro digestion to understand the physico-chemical mechanisms underpinning the impact of food structures health by controlling nutrient release and absorption. He has published over 140 papers. He is an Honorary Professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia and a Visiting Professor at the School of Food and Biotechnology at Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China. He is on the editorial board of Food Hydrocolloids and Colloids and Interfaces and is a committee member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Food Group.