Meet Catherine Wall, R&D Specialist

What are your key responsibilities at the West London Food Innovation Centre?

Catherine Wall: I work closely with our product development chefs to either formulate or reformulate the food products that our startup clients bring to us, and then run analyses on these products to ensure they meet the client’s brief.

Please walk us through the process.

Let’s say a startup approaches us with a novel idea. They are having issues with the texture of their product – it is too crunchy, perhaps, and isn’t going to appeal to the markets they are targeting.

The first step is a consultation meeting where we discuss the problem and what we could do to help the client. We then put together a proposal where we may propose to substitute or eliminate an ingredient in the recipe to help reduce its hardness.

From there, the process is taken to the kitchen where we proceed to carry out the process of elimination or substitution.

Once this is done, the product is taken to the lab to be tested. We will run it on the Texture Analyser, which is able to give us a numerical value of its hardness.

This process is strengthened further by a Consumer Panel, where the product is put through sensory analysis. There will be six ‘sensory booths’ where the panel is presented with the new formulation and the control products to be tested.

The panel then provides their feedback before the final product is presented to the client for evaluation.

The entire process could take between five and seven days although of course, this would vary from case to case. At any given time, our teams are working on maybe two to three different projects.

What would you say are the benefits of working with the West London Food Innovation Centre?

What makes us stand out from other food product development centres is that we stay with our clients throughout the journey. 

We don’t just take their brief and then present them the results. We nurture them by exposing them not just to the product development process but also to the science behind it.

And that’s another standout feature of the lab: we bridge the gap between food and science.

There’s plenty of back-and-forth between kitchen and lab and client so that it helps them understand that science plays a big part in their processing journey. 

As we are part of the University of West London, we also have access to plenty of other resources. For example, we have the London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism, with a good number of professors and lecturers well-versed in food science.

What are some of the major challenges faced by food product businesses today and how does the lab help solve some of these?

One of the biggest challenges for businesses, especially the startup, would be cost. It can be very expensive to commission the services of a product development lab for analysis and testing.

And when they do, it is generally a regimented routine. You send in your products and then your results are given back to you without any real explanation. 

Another major challenge for businesses is a lack of access to equipment. And again, even if they do have access, it’s either: a) they don’t know what they are doing; b) they don’t know how to interpret the results; or c) it’s simply too costly.

All those challenges are met here.

As I mentioned earlier, we provide our clients with dedicated service throughout the food development process. And we have fully equipped labs and the expertise they need to get the product formulations right.

There is constant feedback and at the end of the process, we invite them into our facility where we hold a meeting to not just showcase the product but also explain the process and go through all results with them quite thoroughly. 

Please provide some examples.

What we see trending in the market today is vegan foods, plant-based proteins and issues around sustainability. On top of that, there’s also a lot of emphasis on foods that help improve gut health.

At the lab, we’ve worked with a lot of protein-focussed plant-based snack products. And with protein, some of the key issues are its functionality, its taste and texture. What we’ve done a lot is to help our clients through using different formulations to improve the overall feel and stability of their products.

In one case involving a health beverage, a startup came to us with a product that was fantastic in terms of its nutritional content but tasted horrible.

What we did was help the client with flavour development, while also being conscious of its functionality. For example, it’s pointless to create something that tastes fantastic but then there’s sedimentation at the end of the bottle. 

We were able to create a better overall product for the client, achieving both the flavour profile they wanted while also being nutritious.

To be able to meet your client’s needs, your teams must surely need to be on top of the latest food trends. How do you keep yourself updated all the time?

By attending regular seminars and workshops, going out into the markets to see the trends in the supermarkets, going to food shows, visiting food stalls, etc. 

And on the science behind the foods, what we’re doing is constantly reviewing new literature. 

What is your advice to food businesses facing innovation problems?

I would urge them to remember this: sometimes, even no result is a result.

If they’re at home, wracking their brains because they can’t seem to get the innovation or the recipe or product they really want right, they just need to come into the West London Food Innovation Centre and see the facilities that we have.

We have two highly-equipped labs, we have product development chefs and we have sensory analysis capabilities. So if the startup is struggling with the ‘imposter syndrome’, we can validate their product with our sensory analysis and give them the peace of mind they need.

You must remember that food product development and innovation is not a short-term thing… it’s a long-term process. At the West London Food Innovation Centre, we’re able to help food businesses get their feet off the ground to get started on that journey.