Meet Dr Lynsey Hollywood, Senior Lecturer and Manager of the Food and Drink Business Development Centre at Ulster University Business School
Dr Lynsey Hollywood has had a keen interest in the food industry since taking Home Economics at school. She studied for a BSc in Consumer Studies and was awarded a NIFDA scholarship to study food marketing at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. She was then offered a PhD scholarship in food marketing. “My PhD explored consumer behaviour in relation to the purchase of milk, to identify segments of consumers that could be targeted with added value milk products. After my studies, I worked as a Lecturer in Business Strategy at Ulster University, then took up a post at Queen’s University Belfast as a Research Fellow.” Lynsey’s next post was as lecturer on the BSc Consumer Management and Food Innovation degree at Ulster University. “I taught on this programme for five years and absolutely loved it.” In 2018, she became manager of the newly established Food and Drink Business Development Centre which was created to harness and promote all the food-related research activity undertaken across the Ulster University Business School (UUBS). “I am currently involved in a range of funded research projects, five of which are safefood funded.”
The aim of the UUBS Food and Drink Business Development Centre is to support local industry through academic and/or commercial research, and teaching. The Centre provides a range of facilities including the Consumer Insight Lab, which uses virtual reality technology to understand shopping behaviours; the award-winning Food and Consumer Sensory Testing suite for sensory evaluation and product development activity, and the Academy restaurant for testing menu concepts and upskilling. “We are in the process of launching our Market Intelligence lab which will house big data information, for example, shopper loyalty card data.”
Research to date within the Centre has focused on the themes of food innovation and product development, food safety, food retail and consumer behaviour. “We recently completed
two safefood studies addressing food safety. One study sought to understand consumers’ use of meat thermometers and the other addressed consumers’ use of smart devices while preparing food. Now, we have two safefood projects underway: one looks at how businesses are adopting to the new EU Legislation on food safety culture and the other is on foods that consumers bring to vulnerable patients in healthcare settings.”
The safefood-funded project on Food Safety Culture (FSC) is a collaboration between the team at Ulster University, University College Cork, Queen’s University Belfast and Dundalk Institute of Technology. “The term FSC has recently been included in the Commission Regulation 2021/382 which stipulates that all food businesses must show evidence of its implementation. Key attributes of a strong FSC include management systems, risk perceptions, leadership, communication, environment and commitment to ensure food safety. To date, there is limited academic research addressing FSC implementation therefore this study will explore whether a robust food safety culture exists among small food businesses on the island of Ireland and if not, why not?” Furthermore, she explains, the study will examine the attitudes and behaviours towards food safety culture amongst food business owners and staff and their commitment to prioritising it within their business.
Within the food safety culture project, Lynsey and her team have found that the demands faced by small food businesses mean they find it difficult to keep abreast of new legislative changes or updates and how they can implement these requirements. Additionally, high staff turnover and reliance on migrant staff means it can be challenging to ensure that their staff are up to date with their knowledge and understanding of food safety.
Lynsey believes the drive for sustainability across the industry can bring to light some key food safety issues. “While it is industry’s desire to reduce food packaging, consumers increasing demand for recyclable and reusable packaging will continue to present a food safety challenge of ensuring products are still safe for human consumption if new types of packaging are introduced.”
With the current ‘cost of food crisis’, the safety of food will become more important than ever as this, along with availability of ingredients, will affect supply chains, she adds. “Such demands may force businesses to identify new suppliers which may be further afield or based in other countries, meaning new standards and a clear understanding of their ingredient inputs and processing methods will need to be considered.”
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