AgResearch and the Riddet Institute collaborate

At Massey University in Palmerston North, a new “Food Science Centre” is to be built that will co-locate AgResearch, Massey University and Riddet Institute staff focused on food research. This will greatly improve collaboration, and significantly enhance the value that each organisation can add to New Zealand through their research on food science and nutrition. This is a major advance for food and nutrition sciences in New Zealand, and will benefit the Riddet Institute, it’s host university and AgResearch, a key partner in the Centre of Research Excellence. There will also be benefits to other Riddet Institute partners. AgResearch in collaboration with partners that include Massey University and the Riddet Institute was recently successful in securing funding for three food-focused programmes from MBIE’s Endeavour Fund. One example was a Smart Idea entitled “Harnessing ruminant milk proteolytic capacity to improve the nutritional quality and immune protective function of infant formula”. This is a great example of how the two organisations have “worked together” and an early example of how the ethos behind the new Food Science Centre will greatly improve that collaboration in the future. The Smart Idea is focused on protecting proteases naturally present in ruminant milks from processing and to use them to improve the nutritional quality of infant formula by making them closer to mother’s milk in digestibility and function.