Moorepark Food Research Centre (MFRC) is a constituent of Teagasc’s Food Research Directorate. The mission of MFRC is to achieve excellence in research and in the provision of research-based technological support to food companies. The Centre undertakes public scientific research and provides technological services to the food industry with emphasis on functional foods, dairy, food ingredients and formulated foods and beverages. The programme consists of fundamental and applied research, technology transfer, industrial consultancy and training under the overall umbrella of an innovation management strategy which aims to ensure maximum generation of useful information.
MFRC contains over 100 personnel, many of who have third level qualifications in science and technology. Research personnel have extensive international research experience and linkages. Research facilities are of the highest standard having benefited from extensive capital development in recent years. A unique asset of the Centre is its pilot plant, an ultra-modern 2,500 m2 facility operated by the subsidiary Moorepark Technology Ltd. This is jointly owned with the major dairy processors and is widely used by industrial and public research technologists. Recent construction of new biotechnology laboratories provides the Centre with the most up-to-date facilities for molecular biology research. Further recent investments include the National Food Imaging Centre, consisting of scanning electron, confocal laser and atomic force microscopy. Plans are also advanced for the construction of a Food Biotest Facility for animal studies connected to functional food development using the pig as a human model. The research expertise of MFRC embraces many aspects of food science and technology as reflected in its Departmental structure which includes: Food Processing and Functionality; Food Cultures and Safety; Food Quality and Structure and Foods for Health. The Centre is regarded as being one of the top research centres internationally in its fields of specialisation.
The public research programme of MFRC typically consists of about 40 projects organised into the following programme themes: Food cultures, Food protection, Food structure, Bioactives for obesity, Gut health, Milk nutraceuticals and Animal biotechnology. These programmes relate to the 3 product groups for which the centre has responsibility: viz. Dairy Products, Food Ingredients and Functional Foods . Each programme consists of an inter-disciplinary team of food microbiologists, chemists and technologists, and teamwork between different specialisations is emphasised. MFRC researchers actively collaborate with a wide range of food research Centres and universities at home and abroad. Collaboration with University College Cork is particularly strong, of which the Science Foundation Ireland-funded Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre(http://www.apc.ie) is a key component. MFRC is a major partner in two recent new national food research programmes, The Marine Functional Foods Research Initiative and ELDERMET, a metagenomics- based project on the microbiota of the elderly gut.
Professor Liam Donnelly
Head of Moorepark Food Research Centre and Managing Director, Moorepark Technology Ltd.
