OREANDA-NEWS. Nandi Proteins Limited ("Nandi") and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh today announced the awarding of a ?1 million grant from Innovate UK under its "Optimising Food Composition: Fat, Sugar, Salt and Fibre" competition. The competition is designed to promote collaboration between individuals, companies and partner organisations to drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. The grant will enable the development of new processes and products that lead to the availability of healthier food choices for consumers, and open up new market opportunities for the industry. The project is also supported by Devro plc and Kerry Group plc. 

This work is based on an innovative process developed by Nandi, which has been shown to impart fat-mimicking properties to proteins. Working with Nandi, Heriot-Watt University will undertake the characterisation of the novel fat replacers as well as the formulation and sensory evaluation of healthier food products. 

Professor Stephen Euston, Heriot-Watt University commented: "Heriot-Watt has a strong tradition of working at the industry-academia interface and carrying out research of practical relevance to UK industry. We are pleased that the strong links we have built with the UK food industry, and in particular with Nandi, will be strengthened by this new collaboration." 

Dr Gordon Paul, Group Head of Research, Devro plc commented: "Devro has a strong commitment to working with our customers in partnership to promote sales and growth in the sector. This project will allow us to assist in bringing new concepts and technology to the market, promoting healthier options through collaboration with academia, a local SME and a key customer in the UK. We look forward to supporting this important work over the next 3 years."

About Frontier IP Group plc

Frontier IP specialises in assisting institutions and companies in the commercialisation and exploitation of their intellectual property.  It establishes formal and informal relationships with sources of exploitable IP, principally universities.  Its core business is building and growing a portfolio of equity stakes in spin-out companies by taking an active involvement in the commercialisation and funding of these businesses. 

About Nandi Proteins Limited

Nandi is an established UK-based protein technology company, specialising in developing a platform technology which improves the functional properties of proteins in food manufacturing. Our technology enables food manufacturers to significantly reduce the sugar, fat and additive content in consumer foods.  Nandi exploits its patented technology and know?how to improve the functionality of protein?based food ingredients. The structural change in proteins during heat treatment is manipulated to add value to common naturally occurring proteins, which have a wide range of applications in the food industry.