Joint initiative between Mondelez and Aston University aims to enhance flavours

An innovative collaboration has been launched between Aston University in the UK, and Mondelez International, aiming to refine flavours behind a wide range of products, including for confectionery, writes Neill Barston.

The joint venture aims to use next-generation filtration techniques surrounding food engineering, in a bid to make significant enhancements to meet consumer demand for ever-more creative store offerings. 

As the university explained, the initiative brings together scientists at the Aston Institute for Membrane excellence, with Mondelez’s snacks manufacturer’s Bournville-based R&D team, which is behind the company’s flagship Cadbury series.

According to those behind the project, the team will explore a range of applications for next-generation filtration techniques to support new approaches in food engineering. These were originally developed at Aston University for water and waste processing schemes.

Through PhD and research projects supported by Mondelēz, AIME researchers will focus on harnessing taste receptor proteins found on the tongue. These will be used to develop experimental techniques that can capture and filter specific compounds in food, like those responsible for flavour or aroma.  

Once developed, the technology has several potential uses including capturing favoured food aromas, as well as removing unwanted food compounds, such as those creating bitterness. This in effect would mean that higher content cocoa could be made without requiring additional sugar.

As the university observed, AIME was created as an ambitious  institute housing one of the UK’s largest groups of protein membrane experts, seeking to develop major industry solutions.

Commenting on the project, Professor Alan Goddard, AIME training and industry lead at Aston University, remarked:  “AIME’s strong track record and technical capability in extracting, stabilising and engineering membrane proteins into new industrial technologies form the foundation of a collaboration that could fundamentally change how the properties of food are engineered. This partnership is the first to apply Aston University’s advances in membrane science to pioneer commercially viable techniques in food manufacturing.”

Leesha Edwards, R&D senior process engineer at Mondelēz International, also welcomed the initiative as a core opportunity to drive innovation in terms of industry processes.

She said: “We recognise the value of partnering with local hubs of scientific expertise and talent. By bringing together the world’s largest chocolate R&D centre in Bournville with nearby Aston University experts, we will explore technological advances that benefit both our products and consumers and the local community in the West Midlands. Together, we look forward to developing ways to create exciting new flavours that cater to a range of different tastes.”