Food Innovation Award: Dr. Maneka Malalgoda Acceptance Speech

The Food Innovation Award honours an individual or team for outstanding work in food innovation. To be eligible, the innovation must have been on the market for at least one year prior to nomination.

The recipient's current research focuses on several aspects of grain chemistry and processing. This individual’s team at the University of Manitoba is investigating food safety concerns in wheat, where acrylamide formation is being studied to identify cultivars low in their potential for the formation of this compound. The team is also investigating rapid analysis methods for asparagine, which is a precursor for acrylamide formation during processing and nutritional aspects and the processing quality of ancient grains such as perennial grains, especially intermediate wheatgrass, and ancient grains such as einkorn, emmer and spelt. Perennial grains present ecological benefits due to their extended root structure, however, in Canada, these grains have not been studied for their food potential.

Therefore, to address this knowledge gap, this individual’s team is spearheading research on perennial grains, specifically understanding how such grains can be used in a range of bakery applications and how the chemistry of these grains can be utilized to further enhance their applications in the food industry.

Furthermore, in the area of oat, which is a highly valuable crop in Canada, she is investigating the structure-function properties on oat proteins and using ‘omics’ technologies to further analyze the chemical properties of these proteins. With the growing interest in plant-based proteins, the outcomes of her work are highly relevant as they will help strengthen Canada’s global position as a leading oat exporter, especially for the protein ingredient market. Although grains are very important in our daily diet, specific grains can also pose the risk of triggering different allergenic reactions. In her work, she is also exploring this area, where she is studying different allergenic proteins in oat. She is also working towards the advancement of the Canadian barley sector, where in collaboration with microbiologists, she is studying how the biological control of Fusarium impacts barley end-use quality.

All in all, the recipient has invested a lot of effort in serving different sectors in the Canadian grain industry, including the wheat, oat and barley industries as well as emerging sectors such as ancient grain and perennial grain sectors. As exemplified above, she has made considerable contributions to the industry in a short time span and the ongoing work in her program demonstrates her continued commitment to the Canadian agri-food sector.