Staff Profile:Dr. Lisa Methven

Name:

Dr Lisa Methven

Job Title:

Lecturer

Responsibilities:

Areas of Interest:

The main focus of my research has been the flavour chemistry of meat and fish systems. The measurement and understanding of non-volatile compounds as both precursors of flavour and as tastants, is also a growing area of interest. I am interested in the understanding the impact of changes in flavour profile on the final sensory properties of foods and have recently worked on such areas as the umami characteristics of tomato, the impact of sulfur compounds on the volatile profile of salmon, and the contribution of semi-volatile compounds to the odour of cooked meat and fish.

I very interested in focusing my work on improving the flavour and taste of clinical nutrition feeds and hospital meals for older patients, with the aim of increasing food consumption and ultimately reducing malnutrition of elderly people.

Research groups / Centres:

Publications:

(Maiden Name : L Bates)

Oruna-Concha, M.-J.; Methven, L.; Blumenthal, H.; Young, C.; Mottram, D. S. 2007. Differences in glutamic acid and 5- ribonucleotide contents between flesh and pulp of tomatoes and the relationship with umami taste. J. Agric. Food Chem., 55, 5776-5780.

Blumenthal, H., Young, C., Oruna-Concha, M.J., Methven, L.,Mottram, D.S. 2007. Umami Taste Characteristics in Tomatoes. Proceedings of the Wartburg flavour symposium, in press.

Methven, L., Tsoukka, M., Oruna-Concha, M.J., Parker, J.K., Mottram, D.S. 2007. Influence of sulfur amino acids on the volatile and non-volatile components of cooked salmon (Salmo Salar). J. Agric. Food Chem. 55, 1427-1436.

Martin, F., Ames, J.M. Bates, L. and Steedman, I. 2000. The effect of tuber composition on potato crisp flavour. 2000. In: "Frontiers of Flavour Science ". Schieberle, P. and Engel, K.-H. (eds.) German Centre for Food Chemistry, Garching. pp. 509-512.

Bates, L. Ames, J.M., MacDougall, D.B. and Taylor, P. 1998. The use of a laboratory scale reaction cell and a quadratic response surface regression model to predict colour development in a starch-glucose-lysine model system. J. Food Sci., 63, 991-996.

Ames, J.M., Defaye, A., Bailey, R.G. and Bates, L., 1998. Analysis of the non-volatile Maillard reaction products formed in an extrusion-cooked model food system. Food Chem. 61, 521-524

Ames, J.M. Bates, L. and Defaye, A. 1997. The effect of pH on the volatiles formed in an extruded starch-glucose-lysine model system. Food Chem. 58, 323-327.

Ames, J.M., Arnoldi, A., Bates, L. and Negroni, M. 1997. Analysis of the methanol-extractable non-volatile Maillard reaction products of a model extrusion-cooked cereal product. J. Agric. Food Chem. 45, 1256-1263.

Bates, L., Ames, J.M. and MacDougall, D.B. 1994. The development and control of colour in extrusion cooked foods simulated using a model reaction cell, in "Developments in Food Engineering", Yano, T., Matsumo, R. and Nakamura, K. (eds.) Blackie Academic and Professional, London. 876-878.

Bates, L., Ames, J.M. and MacDougall, D.B. 1994. The use of a reaction cell to model the development and control of colour in extrusion cooked foods. Lebensm. Wiss. u. Technol. 27, 375-379.

Ames, J.M., Bates, L. and MacDougall, D.B. 1994. Colour development in an intermediate moisture Maillard model system, in "Maillard Reactions in Chemistry, Food, and Health", Labuza, T.P., Reineccius, G., Monnier, V.M., O'Brien, J. and Baynes, J.W. (eds). The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge. 120-1

Qualifications:

My undergraduate and postgraduate studies were both at the University of Reading. In 1996 I was awarded my PhD in Food Science with thesis entitled “Analysis of the Colour of an Intermediate Moisture Maillard System”. Previously, in 1990, I was awarded my BSc (Hons) First Class in Food Science.
Inbetween my academic studies and research I have worked in the food industry. From 1990 to 1992 I worked at Nestle Rowntree carrying out process development and recipe reformulation in sugar confectionery. From 1995 to 2003 I worked for United Biscuits where I became a project manager within the “Cereals and Starches” materials expert group, and later the Flavour Applications Manager for UB.

I took up my current position within the Flavour Research Group of the Department of Food Biosciences in 2003. I am responsible for delivering an understanding of flavour chemistry in food products to an international food company. Identification of key flavour compounds in food products using GC-MS and interpretation to understand mechanistic pathways is a fundamental part of the role. I also lecture Sensory Science to BSc and MSc students and advise on design of sensory evaluation protocols for department research projects.