Ireland-based Kerry Group is establishing Health and Nutrition Institute that aims to provide insight into the science and policy of health, taste, nutrition, and general wellness.
The institute, which is supported by Scientific Advisory Council, is being set up to be accessible to nutritional professionals and an online portal is also being launched to facilitate the same.
The Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute is being incepted with three guiding principles which include educating health and wellness trends and providing knowledge about nutritional considerations across life stages; to be able to get in touch with global scientific community on regulatory and policy concerns and evolution of scientific research; to help advance scientific knowledge to deliver better tasting, nutritious food and beverages and to develop Kerry's nutrition research program.
Improving nutritional quality of food has become the need of the hour with the growth of health challenges such as diabetes, obesity across the globe. The focus has now come to providing nutritional food and beverage choices without moving away from convenience. Despite the challenges, taste remains a predominant factor in consumer's food choices. 41% of consumers globally give first preference to taste when it comes to making a food choice.
This means that manufacturers cannot isolate the nutritional factor. It has to be coupled with good taste in order to be accepted by general public.
Kerry Global Nutrition director Satya Jonnalagadda said, "The challenges we are facing in terms of public health are varied, complex and are at a global scale.
"Action is needed at industry, social and individual level to tackle crises, such as the obesity epidemic. As a taste and nutrition leader, we want to help guide the development of evidence based products that will have a significant impact on health and still taste great."
Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute will be supported by Scientific Advisory Council, which has qualified leaders on board namely Sharon Donovan, professor of Nutrition at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Christine Loscher, associate professor of Immunology at Dublin City University; Joanne Slavin, professor of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota.
These members would be imparting their knowledge on scientific advancements in general wellness and nutrition for technical and nutritional innovation.
