MMU to help food firms grow
FOOD and drink companies are set to benefit from a £1.4m research programme at the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).
Scientists and technologists at the university’s Manchester Food Research Centre plan to spend the next two years supporting dozens of food and drinks firms to help them innovate and grow.
The university is involved as part of the Food and Drink Growth programme, an £8m European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) project to support growth in 220 small and medium-sized companies in Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Cumbria.
The research centre’s role is to provide specialist technical support including workplace and online training to managers and technicians in companies such as Manchester-based Adesso Foods and the Bury Black Pudding Company.
Short courses will be available on legislation, food ingredients, new product development, nutrition and microbiology, food preservation and supply chains and marketing.
Nick Pinches of the Bury Black Pudding Company, which employs 60 staff, said: “The company is looking forward to working with MMU again. Without the financial, technical and strategic assistance through collaborations with MMU projects, we would not have achieved such rapid sales growth.”
Professor Charles Brennan, head of MMU’s Department of Food and Tourism Management, said: “Growth in the food and drink sector is crucial if the country is to come out of recession. The expertise of the Manchester Food Research Centre together with our first class science-based facilities offers a wonderful opportunity to utilise our theoretical knowledge to find applied solutions for all of our partner businesses throughout the North West of England and beyond.”
“Our intervention in terms of updating skills, transfering technological innovation to the industry and offering solutions to processing and sustainability issues will develop the financial viability of the region for many years to come.”
