The next time you find a particularly satisfying snack at the grocery store, you might want to thank the Acadia students working in Dr. Matthew McSweeney's lab. Acadia's Centre for Sensory Research of Food (CSRF) is hard at work cooking up delicious, nutritious, and innovative food products.
The CSRF tests a wide range of food and agricultural products for consumer consumption. Using different sensory evaluation techniques, they analyze consumer perceptions of a variety of products, from plant-based alternatives like seaweed, to crickets and 3D-printed food.
The aim of his lab is, according to McSweeney, to "help inform and advance the development of innovative, value-added products by the food industry that are nutritionally beneficial and well-liked by consumers."
"I like creating new food products that are well-liked by consumers and nutritionally beneficial. Additionally, I like to try to add value to ingredients that are currently considered to be waste and investigate the uses of new and novel ingredients."
In the CSRF, Acadia students get hands-on experience from research conception to paper publication. "Students are the driving force behind the CSRF, and it allows them to help solve real world problems that are occurring are in the food industry," says McSweeney.
The students are making a real difference in what is studied, and as a result, which products are developed. "A lot of my research has been based on my students' ideas on which new food/ingredient would be interesting to explore."
The Student Impact
The trajectory of students' research in the CSRF doesn't end at paper publication (though several CSRF student researchers can boast co-authorship on journal articles!). Current Acadia undergraduate, Emily Dolan, says one her favorite parts of working with Dr. McSweeney "has been recognizing products on store shelves from testing in the lab."
The work students are putting in at the CSRF is changing both what they see on the shelf during their weekly grocery runs, and the shape of their future studies and careers.
Mackenzie Gorman, a recent graduate from Acadia and researcher in the CSRF, says that the work allowed her "to develop quicker problem-solving skills and get exposure to the multitude of diverse challenges and roadblocks you must consider when designing your own research trials and interpreting your results."
"The more you experience new things, the more you want to learn new things, so working in Dr. McSweeney's lab has motivated me to stay curious about why traditional theories work, but also to be critical enough to find new solutions to existing problems."
Similarly, Emily says that she is "extremely grateful for the opportunity to participate in research as a student."
Allison Stright (BSc '24) says participating in the CSRF "will be helpful to her career." Through her work in the lab, she has "gotten experience in all steps of conducting research from the planning, to set-up, to data evaluation."
"As an undergrad I was already writing literature reviews, independently designing methodologies, and publishing some first-authored manuscripts," said Mackenzie. She added that these are "skills someone usually develops during graduate school" and that working in Dr. McSweeney's lab gave her a real "head start."
Get the Acadia Experience with Dr. McSweeney
In Fall 2024, Dr. McSweeney is teaching Sensory Evaluation of Food (NUTR 4223) and Understanding Food Science (NUTR 2333). In Winter 2025, he is teaching Food Product Development (NUTR 4733).
Follow along with the work of the Centre for the Sensory Research of Food on X!
