Food Group

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

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.

Treasurer

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.