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The Institute of Food Research receives strategic funding from BBSRC

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Welcome to the
Institute of Food Research

IFR aims to fulfil a UK and international leadership role in delivering:

  • fundamental food & health research
  • applied and translational research in food & health for societal benefit
  • high level training in food and health research
  • effective networks with:
    • academic and research centres for research and training
    • food industry for strategic research and knowledge exchange

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IFR for Business

The Food and Health Network, IFR’s knowledge transfer portal.
www.foodandhealthnetwork.com

Food & Health Network

IFR Extra, a commercial subsidiary of IFR, providing food science solutions - fast!
www.ifrextra.co.uk
IFR Extra

Featured Video

A Biorefinery Centre based at IFR will enable scientists to explore new ways to make use of residual plant material from food processing and agriculture.

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IFR forms part of the
Norwich Research Park
IFR forms part of the Norwich Research Park

 

Welcome to the Institute of Food Research Food and Health Gut Health and Food Safety Exploitation of co-products and wastes The National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC) ComBase: Improving the microbiological safety of foods Food Databanks National Capability
Welcome to the Institute of Food Research1 Food and Health2 Gut Health and Food Safety3 Exploitation of co-products and wastes4 The National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC)5 ComBase: Improving microbiological safety6 Food Databanks7

Latest News Subscribe to the IFR newsfeed

  • Epigenetics, folates and the human gut
    May 2012
    IFR is exploring epigenetic changes in cells that line the human gut, which are linked to our vulnerability to developing cancer. Here, Professor Ian Johnson comments on DNA methylation, and on a new study from Nigel Belshaw’s group which suggests that prolonged exposure to increased, supra-nutritional doses of folic acid may cause these epigenetic changes in human cells.
  • UK-Vietnam Workshop on Biofuels
    April 2012
    Professor Keith Waldron has attended a UK-Vietnam Workshop on Biofuels, sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the British Embassy. Vietnam is a centre of rice growing and production, and the waste rice straw from this could represent a significant source of biofuels.
  • Beneforte broccoli finalist in national innovation competition
    April, 2012
    Professor Richard Mithen of the Institute of Food Research was a finalist in the BBSRC Innovator of the Year Awards for the development of Beneforte broccoli, a consumer product from UK plant research.
  • Exposure to stomach acid primes Campylobacter for intestinal infection
    April 2012

    New research from IFR shows that not only does the major foodborne cause of gastroenteritis Campylobacter have ways of surviving the acidity in the stomach, it responds and adapts to the acidic environment making it better able to colonise the intestine and enter host cells there.
  • New research to study toxin-producing E. coli strain
    February 2012
    Research led by Dr Stephanie Schüller at IFR and the University of East Anglia on the Norwich Research Park is to look at how strains of toxin-producing E. coli bacteria infect our bodies and cause life-threatening conditions. A better understanding of these strains will help to develop new ways of preventing the devastating effects these foodborne pathogens can have.
  • Understanding how bacteria come back from the dead
    February 2012

    New research involving a team of scientists from the Institute of Food Research has taken a detailed look at what Salmonella does when it enters a new environment, which could provide clues to finding new ways of reducing transmission through the food chain and preventing human illness.
  • Finding Campylobacter’s weakness
    January 2012

    Research at IFR led has combined experimental with mathematical modelling work to identify key genes and metabolic pathways needed for growth and survival of Campylobacter.
  • Investment in bioscience skills and training to help meet economic and social challenges for the future
    January 2012
    IFR is part of a consortium of research institutes on the Norwich Research Park that are to receive almost £4million of new funding from BBSRC to support the training of the next generation of scientists. The investment will fund 39 PhD students through a Doctoral Training Partnership award.

Go to the IFR News Blog

IFR Science

IFR is one of eight institutes that receive strategic funding from the Biotechnology and the Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

IFR science aims to meet the challenges of supplying safe, nutritious food that promotes healthy ageing now and in the future. IFR provides underpinning science for government and the food manufacturing industry.

Our science strategy aims to understand the working of the intestinal tract, how food-borne bacteria can cause human disease, and how the chemical and physical nature of our food influences health and can add value to the food chain. We have strategic relationships with other BBSRC institutes, the University of East Anglia and Imperial College, London.

IFR Science covers a number of research themes:

Food structure
Food bioactives
Exploitation of co-products and wastes
How the GI-tract functions
Microbial food safety
Boimathematical approaches in food safety & gut health

 

National Capabilities

BBSRC funds three ‘national capabilities’ that are hosted and maintained at IFR. 

National Collection of Yeast Cultures The National Collection of Yeast Cultures
Food Databanks Food Databanks
ComBase ComBase