Food Matters Live Podcast

With a growing climate crisis, and population, food and beverage brands are facing the difficult question of how to produce more while impacting the environment less. The need to utilise our natural resources sustainably has never been greater, and on this podcast we look back at conversations we've had with three well-known brands who are putting sustainability at the heart of their organisations. We speak to David Wilkinson, Senior Director Agriculture, PepsiCo Europe, Anna Pierce, Director of Sustainability, Tate & Lyle, and Katie Leggett, Sustainability Cheerleader, Innocent Drinks to find out how their brands are approaching their sustainability challenges in order to improve their credentials within their organisations and supply chains. Join the conversation on Table Talk. About our panel Anna Pierce, Director of Sustainability, Tate & Lyle Anna Pierce is the Director of Sustainability at Tate & Lyle, a 160-year-old business-to-business ingredient supplier. She is working to refocus the company’s sustainability programme on initiatives and partnerships that provide the greatest opportunity for positive impact in support of the its purpose – Improving Lives for Generations. She is leading Tate & Lyle’s efforts to infuse sustainability throughout the company’s operations. Anna joined Tate & Lyle after spending her career in various Environment, Health and Safety roles at General Electric. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science, a minor in Environmental and Occupational Science and Health, and an MBA from Gannon University. She also maintains accreditation as a Certified Safety Professional. Katie Leggett, Sustainability Cheerleader, Innocent Drinks Katie is the innocent drinks ‘sustainability cheerleader’ specialising in internal engagement and sustainability communications. Katie has worked with the WBCSD Sustainable Lifestyles team as well as in Corporate Responsibility reporting at ArcelorMittal. Katie joined the innocent sustainability team in 2014 and has since led their approach to human rights, made sure everyone at innocent has sustainability in their objectives and written innocent’s first ever ‘good all round’ report. Katie believes that – since a business is only made up of the people who work within it – it’s really important that sustainability teams invest time to make sure their colleagues are proud of, and can actively support, their company’s commitment to sustainability. David Wilkinson, Senior Director Agriculture, PepsiCo Europe David Wilkinson leads our Agricultural procurement team and is responsible for sourcing our direct agricultural raw materials across Europe and maintaining the relationships we have with our farmers – some extending 3 generations. Farmers are a key part of our business growing the crops that are at the heart of many of our core brands – whether it’s the potatoes that make Walker’s and Lay’s crisps, the oats that make Quaker, or the maize that make Doritos. David has worked for PepsiCo for 21 years and was originally an engineer by training. He now leads PepsiCo’s team of agronomy experts across the Europe sector and oversees PepsiCo’s Sustainable Farming Programme. He is passionate about the role companies like PepsiCo can play in helping farmers to meet the challenges facing the food industry – from adapting farming techniques in the wake of changing climate conditions, to growing more crops using less water, energy and carbon.

With the active lifestyle and sports nutrition markets growing exponentially, how will this group of consumers meet their dietary needs sustainably in the future? Insect cultivation uses a fraction of the land, energy and water required for traditional farming, and has a significantly lower carbon footprint. Crickets produce up to 80% less methane than cows and 8-12 times less ammonia than pigs, for example. Could insect protein be the sustainable solution for the climate-conscious active lifestyle consumer?Our guests on this episode of the Table Talk Podcast both think so. We're joined by Tim Boote, Founder, Protein Rebel and Antoine Hubert, Chairman & CEO, Ÿnsect, to hear how insects offer an alternative, sustainable source that is less impactful when compared to meat and dairy and offers a protein and vitamin-rich punch. Join the conversation on Table Talk.About our panelTim Boote, Founder, Protein RebelTim is the founder of clean and sustainable sports nutrition brand, Protein Rebel. Launched in August 2020, Protein Rebel focuses on natural ingredients and new types of proteins for endurance athletes and active lifestylers. The company uses plants and crickets as ingredients to help improve performance whilst reducing our impact on the planet.Tim’s background is in interim marketing for FMCG companies. He's worked for a number of organisations including PZ Cussons, Kellogg and Nandos Grocery. In 2019, Tim conceived the idea of Protein Rebel and started working on the business full-time. Tim has a keen interest in healthy eating and enjoys running and cycling. A few years' ago, he became increasingly aware of what he was putting into his body and the effect it was having on his performance and the planet. Searching for sports nutrition products, he struggled to find any with clean ingredients and which focused on sustainability. It was then he recalled the time he ate insects in Africa and how nutritious and sustainable they were. With some additional research it became clear that insects, especially crickets, are a superfood built for athletes. The first Protein Rebel product was soon born - a cricket and pea protein powder to support strength training goals.Antoine Hubert, Chairman & CEO, ŸnsectAntoine is Ÿnsect’s Chairman and CEO. He also leads the cooperative insect industry association, the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) and is Board Member of Protéine France consortium and LFD. Prior to co-founding Ÿnsect, Antoine worked on scientific projects in environmental risk assessment, biomass and plastics recycling. He is an agronomy engineer graduate from AgroCampus-Ouest and AgroParisTech. Together with Alexis, he co-founded NPO WORGAMIC and the company ORGANEO.

In the next 5 years, the top 20 global consumer packaged goods companies are expected to experience slower growth than their smaller category competitors. As consumer expectations and behaviours have shifted in recent years, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, food and beverage brands need to search for growth in new ways and different places. Will innovating and disrupting the establishment be the secret to growth for food brands, or will new partnerships and category convergence create the biggest opportunities? To help us answer these questions and more, we speak to global professional services company and technology leader Accenture to gain their perspective on the future landscape for food and beverage brands. Joining host Stefan Gates are Oliver Grange, Managing Director for Consumer Goods Strategy at Accenture and Giles Hanson, Director for ?WhatIf! Innovation, part of Accenture, to share their insight and predictions on how food brands will achieve growth in a new consumer landscape. About our panel Oliver Grange Oliver is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Consumer Goods practice. He helps executives in the consumer goods sector address major disruptive trends, innovate and transform their businesses for growth. Giles Hanson Giles leads the European Consumer Goods practice at ?WhatIf! Innovation, part of Accenture. He bring a human-centred perspective to help businesses build new cultures for growth.

It sounds cliche, but COVID-19 has completely changed the way many of us think about nutrition, what we need to support our immune health, and the relationship we have with food. Combined with the one in 20 who've had COVID experiencing a prolonged loss of taste and smell due to the virus, it's clear that the impact of COVID on nutrition and our enjoyment of food has been pronounced.In this episode of the podcast we look back at two key discussions we've had in a series of podcasts focused on how nutrition and our enjoyment of food has been impacted by COVID. In a fascinating look at COVID-related loss of taste and smell we join Barry Smith, Professor, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of London to hear about the latest research on the phenomena, and what can be done to help those who are suffering because of it. Then we join Philip Calder, Professor of Nutritional Immunology and Head of School of Human Development and Health at the University of Southampton to discover what we now know about how nutrition can support our immune health for the future. Join the conversation on Table Talk.About our guestsPhilip CalderPhilip Calder is Professor of Nutritional Immunology and Head of School of Human Development and Health at the University of Southampton in the UK. He is currently President of ILSI Europe. Professor Calder is an internationally recognised researcher on the metabolism and functionality of fatty acids with an emphasis on the roles of omega-3 fatty acids in immunity, inflammation and cardiometabolic disease. He has also conducted recognised research on amino acids, antioxidants, prebiotics, probiotics and natural products. His research addresses both life course and translational considerations and includes research in cell and animal models and in healthy humans and patients. Professor Calder has published over 600 scientific articles (excluding abstracts) and according to Web of Science his work has been cited over 33,000 times. He has a Web of Science h-index of 100, a Google Scholar h-index of 130 (i10 index 489) and has been included in every listing of Highly Cited Researchers. He has received many awards and prizes for his work including ESPEN’s Cuthbertson Lecture (2008), the Ralph Holman Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Oil Chemists’ Society (2015), the prestigious Danone International Prize for Nutrition (2016) and the DSM Lifetime Achievement Prize in Human Nutrition (2017). Professor Calder was President of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (2009-2012), Chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) (2012-2016) and President of the Nutrition Society (2016-2019). He is currently President of the Federation of European Nutrition Societies. He was Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Nutrition (2006 to 2013) and is currently Associate Editor of Clinical Science and Journal of Nutrition. He previously served on many Editorial Boards of journals in the nutrition, lipidology and biochemistry fields. Professor Calder has a long association with ILSI Europe having served on its Scientific Advisory Committee, as Scientific Co-Chair of one of its Task Forces, and as a member (including Chairing) several Expert Groups.Barry SmithBarry C Smith is a professor of philosophy and director of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study, as well as the founding director of the Centre for the Study of the Senses, which pioneers collaborative research between philosophers, psychologists and neuroscientists. He is also the UK lead in the study of the long term impact of the loss of taste and smell in Covid-19 sufferers.He has held visiting professorships at the University of California at Berkeley and the Ecole Normale Superiéure in Paris, and in 2012 he was appointed as the AHRC Leadership Fellow for the Science in Culture Theme, as well as Pro-Dean for new academic initiatives at the School of Advanced Study.

Global soils are the source of all life on land but their future looks bleak. Our soils are in crisis. Their health is declining to the extent that we are just one generation away from a soil system that is unable to meet the needs of the people that depend on it. We urgently need to find solutions to reverse the damage we've done to our soil in order to protect humanity in the future. In this episode we're joined by three experts in the field to find out the scale of the problem we face and what we need to do to save our soil. Joining host Stefan Gates are Professor Chris Collins, Programme Coordinator, Soil Security Programme, Dr Felicity Crotty, Lecturer in Soil Science, Royal Agricultural University and Richard Bardgett, Professor of Ecology, The University of Manchester. Join the conversation on Table Talk. About our panel Richard Bardgett, Professor of Ecology, The University of Manchester Richard Bardgett is British ecologist and Professor of Ecology at The University of Manchester. He graduated from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1987 with a degree in Soil and Land Resource Science, and then moved to Lancaster University, where he gained his PhD in 1991. He then held posts at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research and the Universities of Manchester and Lancaster, where he established the Soil and Ecosystem Ecology Group. Richard returned to The University of Manchester in 2013 where he is now Professor of Ecology. Until recenttly, he served as President of the British Ecological Society (2017-2019). Professor Chris Collins, Programme Coordinator, Soil Security Programme Chris is Chair of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Reading. He chairs the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee providing expert advice to the UK Government on how to protect the environment from chemicals. Chris was Natural Environment Research Council Soils Coordinator overseeing a multi-million pound research investment to improve our understanding of how soils resist, recover and adapt to land use and climate change. He was a member of the UK Natural Capital Committee 2018-2020. His research focuses on determining the factors controlling exposure of biota to environmental pollution. Dr Felicity Crotty, Lecturer in Soil Science, Royal Agricultural University Dr Felicity Crotty has been researching soil biology and soil health for the last twelve years. Felicity joined the Royal Agricultural University as a Lecturer in Soil Science and Ecology in 2018. She is a soil ecologist working with the aim of promoting soil health and sustainable agriculture and is particularly interested in investigating how agricultural management effects soil quality, focusing on soil biology (earthworms, springtails, mites and nematodes), physics (compaction and water infiltration) and chemistry (N, P, K and other nutrients). Through combining her expertise in all three areas of soil science she is trying to disentangle the real impact different management strategies have on soil health and farming sustainably. Felicity has current projects investigating the use of AI to identify earthworm casts, using sensors to detect earthworm movements in the field and monetising soil health. Felicity previously worked as the Soil Scientist at the Allerton Project (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust) working on the Sustainable Intensification Research Platform (SIP), SoilCare project (EU Horizon 2020), and Soil Biology & Soil Health Partnership (AHDB). Prior to this, she was a Post-doc at Aberystwyth University working on the PROSOIL and SUREROOT projects; she spent a year as a Post-Doc in Canada at Dalhousie University (Halifax) and Saskatchewan University (Saskatoon), experimenting on the fungal feeding channel within the soil food web. She obtained her PhD at Rothamsted Research (North Wyke) investigating the passage of carbon and nitrogen through the soil food web.

The Table Talk Podcast has had the pleasure of talking to passionate innovators from across the world of food, drink and nutrition. With plant-based food achieving significant growth in the past few years, the producers, platforms and personalities in the plant-based sector are among the biggest drivers of innovation and NPD in food. In this collection, we look back at three guests who've been doing their part to impact the way we view compassionate eating, and to offer tasty, healthy alternatives to traditional animal proteins. Meet Derek Sarno, co-founder of Wicked Healthy, LLC, and Executive Chef & Director of Plant-Based Innovation for Tesco PLC, to hear about his journey supporting plant-based innovation at Tesco, Chris Kerr, Founding Partner, CIO, Unovis Partners; CIO New Crop Capital; Co-Founder, Gathered Foods (US), to find out how he's helping to promote seafood alternatives to reduce the impact on our oceans, and Ria Rehberg, CEO of Veganuary to hear how the annual vegan pledge has managed to help save the carbon equivalent of driving around the world 15 times. Join the conversation on Table Talk. About our guests Derek Sarno Derek Sarno is the co-founder of Wicked Healthy, LLC, and also serves as Executive Chef & Director of Plant-Based Innovation for Tesco PLC, where he is leading the company’s efforts to bring delicious, unpretentious vegan foods to market. Prior to co-founding Wicked Healthy and partnering with Tesco, Derek served as the Senior Global Executive Chef for Whole Foods Market, where he oversaw global research and development for the company’s prepared foods department, worked with suppliers and leadership to develop and promote plant-based foods across the organisation, and served as Culinary Director for the WFM Academy for Conscious Leadership. Ria Rehberg Ria Rehberg is the CEO of Veganuary, a UK based charity that encourages people worldwide to try vegan for January and beyond. Since 2014, Veganuary has inspired and supported more than one million people in 192 countries to try vegan. Additionally Veganuary works with hundreds of businesses to drive up vegan food provision in shops and restaurants, and have made veganism more visible and accessible through their work with national and international media. Chris Kerr With almost thirty years of leadership experience with start-ups and venture capital investing, Chris Kerr has spent the last decade focused on impact investing in the plant-based foods sector. Chris is a co-founder of Gathered Foods and its Good Catch plant-based seafood brand and has worked with and helped launch many game changing companies in the plant-based sector, including Beyond Meat, Daiya, Alpha Foods, NUMU and many others. He is the Chief Investment Officer for Unovis Partners, which is the asset manager for New Crop Capital, one of the world’s most active investors in the plant-based foods and cellular ag technology sectors.

The pandemic has changed our day-to-day behaviours and following a year of lockdowns and restrictions consumers have adapted to new routines that have seen them spend more days and nights at home. With food at the heart of these new rituals, brands and manufacturers have tapped into the need for their customers to have indulgent experiences to break the monotony, with meal kits, subscription services, and delivery on demand taking the place of restaurants as consumers seek out indulgence and new experiences.With lockdown easing, what's next for brands and retailers who are providing these at-home indulgent experiences? Will people rush back to their previous habits of eating out, or will a new hybrid model take over? Joining Table Talk to discuss this fascinating subject is Suzanne Robinson, Director for Innovation in Consumer Goods and Retail at ?WhatIf!, an innovation agency that’s part of Accenture. She'll explain how consumer rituals have changed, what trends are developing and will continue to grow over the year ahead, and what opportunities there are for food brands and CPGs to get ahead of consumer demand for new indulgences. Join the conversation on Table Talk.About Suzanne RobinsonFormer UK MD for Happen Innovation, Suzanne is now Director for Innovation (CG&S) in Accenture’s Innovation Practice ?What If!, exploring emerging growth opportunities in the complex and yet exciting Future of Food world for CPG and Retail clients. Having worked with clients such as Nestle, M&S, Tesco she unites her commercially proven foresight and insight expertise with the extensive Accenture resources to help accelerate innovation in this mature, competitive & fascinating food and beverage space.

Oliver Bennett is a 28-year-old British driver who made his debut in the British Rallycross Championship in 2016 and fought for the title in the following season. Oliver is also the co-founder of Xite Energy, a brand bringing nootropic energy drinks to the mass market. Popular among Gen Z and E-sports athletes, nootropics support healthy brain function and mental ability. This podcast looks at the growing world of nootropics, as we chat to Oliver about why Xite entered the market and how the sector has developed, and will continue to grow. Why are so many E-sports athletes and Gen Z consumers embracing nootropics for cognitive health, and what can we expect from brands like Xite in the future? Join the conversation on Table Talk. About Oliver Bennett Oliver Bennett is a 28-year-old British driver with experience in rallycross competitions. In 2016 he made his debut in the British Rallycross Championship and the following season he fought for the title. He also made his debut in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, where he has competed in recent seasons. Bennett has also participated in a number of Americas Rallycross events and the Gymkhana GRID in Cape Town in 2018, where he put on a great performance. About Xite XITE Energy, which was born in Bristol UK, is only two years old but has already made huge waves in the highly competitive energy drinks market. The brainchild of university graduate and rally driver Oliver Bennett - who is racing in Extreme E for the Hispano Suiza XITE Energy Team - and co-founder Megan Jones. The product is designed to resonate with fellow Gen Z’ers by using nootropics (Cognitive amino acids that aid concentration and focus) natural caffeine (green coffee bean), natural flavours, pansax ginseng, L-tyrosine and L-carnitine – all designed to keep energy levels constant without the ‘highs and lows’ associated with most other energy drinks. The brand is also proud that 1p for every can sold goes to mental health charities.

The UK government is looking to ban all TV and online advertising for food and drink that are categorised as high in fat, sugar, or salt in an attempt to reduce obesity. What will this ban mean for the food industry, and will it have the impact that the government hopes it will? To explore this question we bring together two experts in the field, Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association and Phil Smith, Director General, ISBA. We discuss what the implications of the band are for manufacturers and brands, and we investigate the facts around advertising and obesity in order to determine how effective the ban might be. Join the conversation on Table Talk. About our panel Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association Stephen was appointed CEO of the Advertising Association in 2016. The AA promotes the role and rights of responsible advertising and its value to people, society, businesses and the economy, and all the key trade bodies, commercial media owners and tech platforms are members of the AA. Prior to joining, Stephen held management roles in four agency groups (Leo Burnett, WCRS/Engine and DDB/adam&eveDDB, Next 15). He also chairs youth marketing agency Livity, a social purpose-driven business that seeks to transform young peoples’ lives, especially from BAME backgrounds. He is a Governor of Ravensbourne University in London, the UK’s newest creative and technology university. Stephen is a past President of NABS and serves on the board of the History of Advertising Trust. He was IPA President (2003-05) where he led both their first ethnic diversity initiative and transformed its professional qualifications for new industry entrants, which over 20,000 people have now sat and passed in the UK and around the world. Phil Smith, Director General, ISBA Phil joined ISBA in January, 2017 and heads up the organisation. He’s responsible for ISBA’s strategic direction and its advocacy agenda. He leads the team of ISBA directors and looks after the day to day operation of the business. Before ISBA, Phil’s career in the UK and Europe has been in marketing, sales and general management, spanning a wide range of industry sectors, from consumer goods to grocery retail and from marketing technology to lottery and games. Phil holds a BA in Classics from Jesus College, Oxford. He is a keen runner, skier, year-round open water swimmer and is married with five children.

What are the key ingredients that the best future  brands share as they carve their path to success? Are there ways aspiring young brands can tap into their success as they are starting out? This episode of the Table Talk Podcast will ask the industry experts who judged the Future Brands competition at Food Matters Live to get their perspective on the recipe that helps fuel success.Joining our panel are  Emma Williams, head of Future Brands Origination and investing at Sainsbury's, and returning for the third time on the podcast is Andy Wardlaw Chief Ideas Officer at MMR Research. We'll also be hearing from some of the winners of the Future Brands competition to see what advice they have for aspiring young brands. Join us!Be recognised as a brand of the future, enter the Food Matters Live AwardsThe prestigious Food Matters Live Awards is back, celebrating outstanding innovations from across the food, drink and nutrition sectors.Spanning across 12 exciting categories, the shortlisted Food Matters Live Awards 2021 entrants will be announced on 10 June. From there, the shortlisted companies will be invited to discuss their products and innovations with the esteemed judging panel via video conferencing, giving the shortlist an opportunity to explain why they deserve to win. After the judging round, the winning entrants will be announced and celebrated during Food Matters Live, 29-30 June.Enter now: https://bit.ly/3hALdeKAbout our panelAndy Wardlaw, Chief Innovations Officer, MMR ResearchAndrew’s career in food and drink began with selling fish paste to local stores and wholesalers for the Shippam’s brand in the south of England. That was in 1992. Since then he has gone on to develop insight and ideas for Old El Paso, Haagen-Dazs and Nature Valley – all at General Mills, as well as stints at functional dairy brand Benecol and every little person’s favourite Ella’s Kitchen.Now he heads up ideas at the MMR Group, which helps brands develop products that are not just liked, but beautifully aligned across all moments of truth – across brand, pack and product - to create more powerful user experiences. MMR partners with over 2/3 of the world’s leading food and drink manufacturers and has had a very busy 2020 as companies invest in a new consumer landscape.He lives in Great Missenden, world famous for the writer Roald Dahl, which might explain his love to all things chocolate…Emma Williams, Head of Future Brands Origination and investing, Sainsbury'sEmma is Head of Future Brands Origination and Investing at Sainsbury's, Looking for the best challenger brands across food, drink, and non-food grocery to exclusively partner with and grow.