Prof Roy Goodacre receives prestigious food science prize in Denmark

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Professor Roy Goodacre from the Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology has been honoured in Denmark with the 2021 Nils Foss Excellence Prize for his pioneering research in metabolomics.

The annual award, named after the late founder of FOSS, a worldwide food tech company, was established in 2016 to recognize a globally respected scientist for innovative research that leads to "remarkable improvements" in the quality, safety, nutrition and sustainability of food.

Professor Goodacre is an analytical chemist and a prominent ambassador of applied analytical food science. He is best known for being a powerhouse in the field of metabolomics and has played a key role in establishing the international Metabolomics Society and the journal Metabolomics, where he is editor-in-chief.

Much of his work is centred on technological innovation, particularly in using Raman spectroscopy for applications to food security. He has developed a series of innovative Raman solutions to protect the integrity of our food supply chains. He has developed quantitative Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering – SERS – and he has recently been part of a highly successful interlaboratory trial for quantitative SERS. He has pioneered SERS for the identification of bacteria and used this method to detect carcinogens in food and unwanted boar-taint compounds in pork.

Commenting on the award Professor Goodacre said: “I couldn’t be prouder to be this year’s recipient of the Nils Foss Excellence Prize. It’s a wonderful reflection of our amazing research team in the Centre for Metabolomics Research and Laboratory for Bioanalytical Spectroscopy.”

Professor Goodacre received his €100,000 award at a prize ceremony held at the University of Copenhagen last week as part of the 2021 Food Analytics Conference.

Read more about The Nils Foss Prize 2021 awards here: Celebrating entrepreneurship – awarding excellence and talent within food science with The Nils Foss Prize