Dr Maria Charalambides is taking part in a government-funded project on reducing salt and fat in baked cheese.
The project, based in the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University, is supported by a grant from Innovate UK.
Food manufacturers Greencore are leading the initiative, with Arla Foods and Imperial College London as additional partners. Dr Maria Charalambides from Imperial’s Department of Mechanical Engineering is co-supervising the work of a postdoctoral researcher based at Sheffield Hallam.
The research aims to reduce salt and fat in products containing baked cheese by 10 and 20 per cent respectively, which could help the NHS cut its spending on diet-related illness.
As part of the project, Dr Charalambides plans to study and compare the mechanical behaviour of standard and novel design cheeses: “The mechanical properties are important as they relate to deformation and fracture processes that happen in the oral cavity, which in turn affects the sensory perception and consumer experience”, explains Dr Charalambides.
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Nadia Barbu
Department of Mechanical Engineering
