Services and Facilities
Services
Our team of food product development experts offers consulting to food businesses on product innovations, improvements, adaptations, and/or market testing.
Culinary consultation
Our Culinary Research Chef assists with ideating, developing, or improving your recipes
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Past project examples:
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Created smoked fish recipes for marketing frozen trout fillets
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Adapted a quick bread recipe into a gluten free version to highlight the functionality and taste of pulse flours
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Assessed a condiment recipe to detect technical issues and suggest improvements
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Strategized ways to upcycle a production byproduct (cocoa bean shells) into new products
Food scientist consultation
Our Food Scientist assists with product technical issues/troubleshooting
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Past project example:
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Determined the cause of a product's ingredient clumping issue and offered solutions
Extrusion consultation
Our Extrusion Manager assists with development of extruded products and conducts ingredient testing
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Past project examples:
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Developed lentil puffs, pasta, couscous, and texturized vegetable protein
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Compared the quality of extruded products made with different ingredients (different suppliers, treatments, etc.)
Sensory evaluation
We conduct large-scale consumer sensory tests (120 panelists) to help you analyze the marketability and competitiveness of your products
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From the tests, we can discover the following insights:
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The overall liking, liking in appearance, flavor, and texture of your products, compared to your competitors’ products
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The price consumers are wiling to pay and the likelihood of purchase for a marked pricing for your product
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The sensory attributes of your products (e.g., are there any flavor or textural difference between your organic crops and conventional crops)
Interested in working with us? Please complete our industry project intake form, and we'll be in touch soon!
If you are a Montana food business working with Montana-grown crop ingredients, our
services may be available to you complimentary of a Montana Department of Agriculture
program. Learn more here.
Facilities
Food Extrusion Unit
Our researchers work with food companies to develop extruded products such as puffed
snacks, breakfast cereals, pasta, and plant-based meat analogues. We specialize in
recipe formulation and product analyzation. P.C. MSU Communications.
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Hannon Hall Lab
Our lab features state-of-the-art instruments including a rapid visco analyzer, water
activity meter, and texture analyzer, and software to create, administer, and analyze
survey data, generate nutrition fact labels, and create reports.
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Hannon Hall Kitchen
Hannon Kitchen provides a space where our researchers can create recipes in an environment
equivalent to a commercial product development kitchen.
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