Having worked both for a food product development magazine and in R&D with food manufacturers, I’ve noticed areas where there is great discrepancy between the world of trade media and food industry reality.

For one, I believe the academic world is not well represented by trade publications covering product development. R&D is, in the end, a scientific endeavor, with its practitioners holding degrees, many times advanced, in food science and related fields. Such R&D professionals often remain tied to universities and linked to professors. Paul Lachance, Ted Labuza, Howard Moskowitz and many other professors are part of food science “lore” and integral to a food science culture linking industry, government and academia...but not necessarily trade publications.