Food Consortium IDLA Partners

Diageo is part of a British multinational alcoholic beverage group headquartered in London, England. Our products are produced and sold in more than 180 countries, and we are the largest producer of Scotch whisky globally. We operate from more than 140 sites across the UK and abroad. Our core brands include Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Baileys, Tanqueray, and Guinness, among over 200 others, many of which are globally recognised. Many of these brands are built on technological innovation, and strong collaborations with universities are central to our R&D efforts. Diageo is proud to participate in the Food Consortium Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award (IDLA) to help develop the next generation of scientific leaders and drive innovation across the food and drink sector.

pladis is one of the world’s fastest growing snacking companies and its portfolio includes much loved brands including McVitie’s, GODIVA and Ülker. pladis also owns regional brands Jacob’s, Go Ahead, Flipz, Turtles, BN, Verkade and many more products across sweet and savoury biscuits, wafer, cake, and chocolate.

Formed in 2016, pladis is the proud steward of over 300 years of family baking and confectionery experience. The expertise of its 16,000-strong global workforce spans 27 bakeries across 11 countries and is founded on collaboration, agility and resilience. As a responsible business, delivering the highest quality products and exceptional service, pladis’ products have the potential to reach more than four billion people across the world.

As a global leader in premium chocolate, GODIVA was founded in Brussels in 1926 by master Belgian chocolatier, Pierre Draps. It has an established global footprint across more than 100 markets where customers can expect to find GODIVA products in many fine retailers, online, and, depending on the market, at brick-and-mortar locations like boutiques and cafes.

GODIVA Company was acquired in 2008 by Yıldız Holding of Türkiye. pladis and the GODIVA Company are wholly owned subsidiaries of Yildiz Uluslararasi Gida Yatirimlari AS.

[Company description] Mondelēz International empowers people to snack right in over 150 countries around the world, with iconic global and local brands such as Oreo, belVita and LU biscuits; Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone chocolate; Sour Patch Kids candy and Trident gum. We have > 80,000 employees worldwide, with > 2,500 scientists and engineers within RDQ alone and 10 research and development centres across the globe.

The health and sustainability of the global food system is integral to Mondelēz’s business and our company has professionals working across all aspects of Food Systems often in partnership with academia, start-ups, suppliers and other businesses globally to make a positive difference. At Mondelēz International, we believe that developing the next generation of scientists, capable of working collaboratively across disciplines is critical to addressing the challenges facing the UK food sector. We are committed to developing our next generation scientists and have a long record in doing so, including extensive experience in doctoral training. Mondelēz currently have a successful CTP programme in place and we would look to extend learnings and apply these within The Food Consortium.

[Company description] Nestlé is the world’s largest food company with a broad portfolio of food and drink brands, and a global R&D organisation employing around 5,000 people. Connections to the broader Nestlé R&D organisation will give a broader cross-category focus to the projects we are proposing. Nestlé scientists have a strong reputation, with an output of circa 300 peer-reviewed publications and close to 200 patent applications per year. NPTC Confectionery has a long record of doctoral training, having sponsored over 100 students since the 1980s, primarily at UK universities. For many years we managed an ICP programme – the fore-runner of CTP.

[Company description] PepsiCo R&D centres are located around the world and leverage nutrition, food science, engineering and consumer insights to meet our strategy to continue to develop convenient foods and beverages as well as cutting-edge packaging and equipment. More than half of our team hold advanced degrees in areas including food science, microbiology, chemistry, physics, nutrition sciences, toxicology, agronomy, mechanical and chemical engineering, computational modelling and more.

To meet our 2025 goals and further accelerate PepsiCo’s expansion of more nutritious products, we use a set of science-based nutrition guidelines called the PepsiCo Nutrition Criteria (PNC). These criteria are based on dietary and nutrient recommendations from leading global and national nutrition authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Academy of Medicine and dietary guidelines from numerous countries. The PNC sets standards for nutrients to limit, and nutrients and food groups to encourage that are based on the latest science and country-specific dietary guidelines. Participation in the CTP allows these goals to be underpinned by rigorous scientific research.

Nomad Foods is the leading frozen food company in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Our portfolio of iconic brands, including Birds Eye, Ledo, iglo, Findus, and Frikom, have been serving European households for generations and stand for food that is great tasting, high quality and convenient. We are headquartered in the UK, listed on the NYSE ($NOMD) and were formed in 2015 following the acquisition of iglo Group.

[Company description]