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Services

Our team of food product development experts offers consulting to food businesses on product innovations, improvements, adaptations, and/or market testing.

photo collage of food ingredients and products and people working in the lab kitchen and

Photo credit: Top-center, top-right, bottom-left, and bottom-center images by MSU Communications. Top-left and bottom-right images by Rebecca Soule.

Recipe Development 

Led by Culinary Research Chef, Rebecca Soule, our culinary team assists with ideating, developing, or improving recipes for food service, product marketing, value-added processing, and more. 

Expert Consultation 

Our experts, including Food Scientist Dr. Wan-Yuan Kuo, address product technical issues and troubleshooting. 

Extrusion Processing 

We provide recipe and process development for extruded products using our pilot-scale twin-screw extruder

Sensory evaluation 

We conduct large-scale consumer sensory tests to analyze product marketability and competitiveness. 

  • Overall liking, appearance, flavor, and texture comparisons 
  • Purchase likelihood and the price consumers are willing to pay
  • Sensory attributes 

Work With Us

Please click the button below to complete our application, and we'll be in touch soon. We look forward to collaborating with you!

Montana food business using Montana-grown crop ingredients could receive complimentary services through a Montana Department of Agriculture program. Learn more here.

Client Testimonials

Not only was working with the team at MSU easy, informative, and fun, we've been given a range of products to add to our business that highlights Montana products AND are delicious - the whole experience was incredibly valuable.

Kaya Patten-Fusselman of Livingston Food Resource Center

Working with Chef Rebecca and the MSU interns was an exceptional experience. We learned something new every step of the way and learned how we could better use one of our primary waste products. The team went above and beyond, even presenting a delicious and beautifully curated brunch using our waste product as the main event. The flowers on the table were an excellent touch. Thank you for all your hard work!

Greg and T of Front Porch Chocolate

Chef Rebecca and her students provided us with an opportunity to create an outstanding product showcasing the many uses and flavor profiles of honeyberries (haskaps).

Melissa Allred of Aspen Grove Farms

We really enjoyed working with Chef Rebecca and her students.We especially appreciated the tasting experience they created using new grit blends that they procured for us utilizing ROC [Regenerative Organic Certified] ancient grains, lentils and oats that were grown on our ranch.The students were thoughtful, creative, and purpose-driven and helped to create a new blend for our Ancient Grain Grit company known as Gruff.

We would highly recommend partnering with them and look forward to future projects!

Crystal Manuel of Gruff Ancient Grain Grits

Becky’s Berries has wanted to produce a mustard for a lot time. It would complement the other products in our line and it’s something we consistently get asked for. After trying numerous times to put together the recipe we envisioned and not hitting the mark it was a Godsend that someone directed us to MSU Food Product  Development Lab. We shared our vision for the product with Chef Rebecca Soule and Sophia Seffrood, they totally got what we were looking for in a product, worked on it and nailed it to perfection. We are beyond pleased with the final results!

Becky Stahl and the staff at Becky’s Berries

We were having some issues with our Montana Mornings Granola. It was selling well; everyone loved the flavor – but when it was placed in a bulk / buffet setting it was crumbling almost to a powder. Wan-Yuan recruited and mentored chemical engineering student Simone Paul to work with me on this issue. For several weeks we worked with the team to re-configure the recipe. The result was amazing. A few changes created a better, more stable product – with no changes to the flavor. As a result, our bulk sales increased dramatically, including several resorts and restaurants across the state.

Deb Wheaton, Founder and Co-Owner at Gluten-Free Prairie

Facilities

Food Extrusion Unit

Grad student Edwin Allan giving a tour of the MSU 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

woman pipetting liquid into test tube

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

students making lentil crackers in Hannon 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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