Scientific product research 101: navagating academic research for the benefit of food and...

Health-minded consumers can find plenty of research to direct their eating habits. Maybe they're eating wild blueberries because they've read that the fruit reduces the risk of heart disease. Or perhaps consumers are embracing a whole-grain diet because it too may be heart protective. What consumers

Traditional commodities aren't the only ones pouring dollars into research grants. The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. recently announced the formation of the Wrigley Science Institute. The WSI, which is dedicated to studying the potential of chewing gum for weight management, concentration and stress relief, counts renowned university experts among its advisory panel. More than ever, food associations and companies are turning to universities for support. Universities have a lot to offer savvy food companies in cutting-edge research and even experimental food-processing laboratories.

"We're getting more of this because companies have smaller R & D departments," says Susan Brewer, professor of food chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "It's cheaper to farm it (R & D) out to universities. Companies can pick the university that specializes in the things they're interested in," says Brewer, whose specialty is meat science.

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Although there may have been a stigma to industry-funded research at one point, that's rarely true now, say food scientists. "Between [hurricane] Katrina and the Iraq war there's been a lot of pressure for funding [in other areas]. We can't expect the government to do all the research we'd like," says David Schmidt, president and chief executive officer of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation based in Washington, D.C. "Why not encourage companies to help fund research?"

Most large universities are equipped to provide a wide variety of support services, from help with patent applications to human nutrition experiments. But there are also university regulations and expectations to deal with. Here are some things to consider:

Decide what you want

Simple as that seems, food companies don't always know, and the answer determines who you're going to approach, the sums of money you may be expected to contribute and potential outcomes.

"Companies come to me and say they want their products tested but they don't know what they want from their product," says Mary Ellen Camire, a product development expert with the Institute of Food Technologists in Chicago.

"I have to talk to the company. I want to know whether it wants to get a product ready for market or tease out a health benefit, or both," says Camire, who is a professor in the food science and human nutrition department at the University of Maine in Orono.

Know how the research departments function

The University of Maine, which does a lot of development work for small food companies in the state, is usually approached for its services through the university's office of industrial cooperation. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) has a Food Processing Center that similarly assists companies in the state. Brewer says collaborations at the University of Illinois unfold in a number of ways. A food company can approach the university or a researcher may contact a company or commodity.

"It depends on who is most aggressive," says Brewer. "If it's faculty, it's a member who needs to fund research. If it's a food company, it has a problem and needs research help." Since Brewer has contacts in the meat industry, she's apt to make the call. Food companies that want input on product development or marketing usually demand secrecy. That may influence a university's decision to get involved.

Some schools are set up for it

For example, at Nebraska, a client comes to the food processing center with his project and signs a confidentiality agreement.

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"We have researchers who don't even share information with each other," says Rolando Flores, head of UNL's department of food science and technology and director of the Food Processing Center. The scientists work at the UNL Food Processing Center on a fee-for-service basis. For their projects, they aren't concerned with publishing or attaining tenure. Universities, however, are primarily in business to educate their students and set them on the path to paying jobs. They're more likely to approve research that isn't confidential and that can be published, says Brewer.

Scientists have to be discriminating

It's important to evaluate whether an overture will help a researcher develop skill and expertise, says Flores. "It can't be a shotgun approach," he says.

Whether or not a researcher is able to publish his findings is subject to negotiations as with anything else in the corporate-university agreement. The biggest issue is the right to publish a negative outcome.

"It used to be that negative results weren't published," says Camire. That's changed. Even results that work to a company's disadvantage have some benefits and the food industry understands that, Camire says. By doing preliminary work, a company is more likely to achieve a positive outcome, say food scientists.

"From a marketing standpoint, who has the incentive to fund bad research? You want to make it unimpeachable," says Schmidt. Follow the scientific magazines to find researchers who are tops in a particular area, says the IFIC foundation president.

"Get their advice on your scientific protocols, know what you should expect from the research," Schmidt says.

The Wheat Foods Council has been working with researchers at prestigious universities for years, according to its president, Marcia Scheideman.

"Often the researcher in some particular area will hypothesize that something's happening and will contact the Wheat Foods Council and ask for funding," says Scheideman. The Wheat Foods Council selects scientists who can get their studies published. Before committing any money, Scheideman reviews the researcher's previous work.

"We take a look at whether the researcher has been able to publish in the past. Are they really considered experts by their peers? Are they on the speaking circuit?"

Because the council has limited funds, it has specific criteria. "Studies that require thousands of people over a long time require thousands of dollars. [Instead] we do small studies for relatively short periods of time and encourage people to repeat it. If the results are good, you can repeat [the experiment] with larger groups," Scheideman says. So far, the Wheat Foods Council has been fortunate in its investments.

"The results have been better than anticipated," says Scheideman. As for the issue of industry funding: "I think people are getting comfortable with industry-funded research as long as the research is tight and is in a peer-reviewed journal. There are certainly zealots who criticize research funded by the dairy industry or wheat industry, but I'm comfortable," says Scheideman.

RELATED ARTICLE: Food company or commodity research

Are researchers more likely to accept assignments from food companies or from commodity associations? That depends, says Susan Brewer, who developed a University of Illinois model HAACP training program for small meat processors.

"Big companies have people who keep track of the literature and have an idea of what's working and what isn't.

"If you [the researcher] want to be on the cutting edge of problem solving, working with an association doesn't give you any advantage. You will have to support the whole industry, so the agenda is broader," says Brewer.

RELATED ARTICLE: Ethical issues

Consumers and members of the media may be skeptical when researchers disclose that their studies have received money from the company or association whose products are under investigation.

They question whether it's possible for a scientist to be unbiased when his institution is getting money from a source with something to gain.

Not only is it possible to be independent regardless of the funding, it's imperative, say the parties involved.

"... The scientist better follow clear professional guidelines for not compromising integrity," says Amy Barr, with Marr Barr Communications, a nutrition communications company in the Denver area.

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Scientific publications also have strict requirements about funding and disclosure. For example, to be published in the journal Science, from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), authors must divulge all affiliations and funding sources.

The Harvard School of Public Health and the International Food Information Council collaborated on guidelines to communicate emerging health science. Among the questions they pose in their guidelines are whether funding sources are fully disclosed and whether the scientist is "reasonably confident" of the study's objectivity and independence.

The Institute of Food Technologists has standards for its member experts who regularly speak to news media. They must show in advance they have no vested interest in that pursuit, nor any financial interest, according to Jim Klapthor, media relations manager for the Chicago-based organization.