6.00pm Tuesday 20 November 2018

Lecture Theatre 1, EIT, Gloucester Street, Taradale

Dr Marian McKenzie

Senior Scientist, Food Innovation

NZ Institute of Plant & Food Research

Admission:   Gold coin donation

Consumers have changing attitudes toward the food they eat, and are increasingly focused on flexibility of food choice, aligned to their lifestyle, the environment and personalising foods to their own health drivers. New Zealand is moving beyond commodity-based food production and into the production of premium foods. Within this space we need to consider the importance of consumer thinking and drivers, particularly around protein-rich foods.

This talk will firstly consider the future of protein-rich, plant-based foods and the opportunities for New Zealand to diversify from our traditional meat and dairy production base. Secondly, it will focus, as a case study, on current research from the Premium Potato Foods research programme, which investigates consumer desired traits and the production of added-value potato products for the benefit of New Zealand’s potato industry.

Dr Marian McKenzie is a member of Plant & Food Research’s Food Innovation portfolio and leads the Premium Potato Foods programme. In recent years the programme has focused on investigating consumer perception of potato flavour and identifying the metabolome that informs that flavour, as well as identifying mechanisms that lower the glycaemic impact of potato.

Dr McKenzie completed a PhD in plant physiology and molecular biology at the University of Otago, before taking up a Postdoc at Massey University and then a permanent position at Plant & Food Research. She has a background in plant biochemistry and molecular biology and has recently sought to align these areas with human sensory and health research.