Center Recognized by Waters Centers of Innovation Program for Research into Food and Flavor Chemistry

At a ceremony at the University of Minnesota, Waters welcomed the Flavor Research and Education Center within the Food Science and Nutrition Department at the University of Minnesota into its Centers of Innovation Program.

The Flavor Research and Education Center under the direction of Prof. Devin Peterson and Prof. Gary Reineccius strives to develop a science-based understanding of food flavor and related chemistry, in particular, flavor generation, characterization of flavor compounds, and flavor delivery in foodstuffs. Their research includes investigating the mechanisms of flavor development of whole grain foods, including both taste and aroma-actives, with the goal of better understanding the influence of whole grain composition (phenolic compounds) on the pathways of flavor development to support the production and consumption of more flavorful and healthy “whole” foods. The Center’s research is shared with its 19 member firms including Pepsico, Nestle and General Mills.

“The Center is an open innovation platform,” said Peterson.  “In food flavor research, a lot of work is sponsored by industry via one-on-one relationships.  The Center allows us to spread the cost of research across many different companies enabling the development of knowledge that would not be done otherwise.  Our goal is to bring companies together to work on common problems, and provide a basic understanding of those problems, so that they can take that information internally and use it to their own competitive advantage.”

Waters® liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry instruments are integral to their effort.

“For most of the last 30 or 40 years, we focused on aroma because aroma was considered the main aspect of flavor, in part because bench-top GC mass spectrometers enabled us to understand that dimension,” said Peterson.  “As technology has evolved, so has our understanding of taste and how we perceive flavor. Today taste and aroma are both considered essential to understand a flavor perception. Liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) technology has played a critical role in helping us understand flavor, from the characterization of taste compounds to mapping the pathways of flavor development.  LC mass spec is brilliant for characterizing flavor pathways in complex systems (food) by utilizing isotope-labeling techniques.  This technology has definitely provided novel understanding and insights.”

"The Centers of Innovation Program recognizes research excellence in all of its many forms. The understanding of food and how we perceive taste is a field of research as complex as any other and we commend Dr. Peterson and his team of scientists for taking this research to a new level,” said Dr. Paul Young, Senior Director, Food and Environment Business Operations, Waters Division.

In conjunction with the ceremony, the University of Minnesota, together with Waters Corporation, organized a symposium on Mass Spectrometry in Food and Flavor Research featuring presentations by Prof. Peterson and Prof. Reineccius as well as by scientists from General Mills and Pepsico.

About the Flavor Research and Education Center

Founded in August 2011 by Professors Devin Peterson and Gary Reineccius, the Flavor Research and Education Center uses cutting-edge technology and new analytical techniques to address current flavor challenges posed by its partners in the business community. It is the only center of its kind in the U.S.

The Center was featured in a recent article in Solutions, the online magazine of the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

About Waters Centers of Innovation Program

Waters Centers of Innovation Program recognizes and supports the efforts of scientists facilitating breakthroughs in health and life science research, food safety, environmental protection, sports medicine and many other areas.

more about Waters Centers of Innovation Program

Centers of Innovation profile on Dr. Devin Peterson

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