Dr Michael Mullan has been retired for several years but still continues to provide consultancy services on a pro bono basis if you have an interesting problem or project. These include:

 Recruitment of professional staff. Few people understand how colleges and universities select students and deliver science-based qualifications and what an employer can realistically expect from a graduate. What literacy and numeracy skills can you expect from an employee with Functional or Essential Skills? Are scientific and technological knowledge and skills important in a particular post? What about an On Line, time-limited, objective assessment to screen out the technically less qualified?


 Validation and audit of HACCP schemes. e.g. have you a science-basis for your thermal process? Can you convince your EHO that you have a valid HACCP plan?
 The manufacture of a wide range of food products.
 Ice cream and gelato manufacture e.g. do you want all your flavours to have the same sweetness and ‘scoopability’ or hardness at the serving temperature? Do you want to replace expensive imported mixes with locally sourced alternatives and save potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds / dollars per year? Have you problems with rapid melting or texture? Do you have recipes that you want converted to % MSNF, % fat, % sugar etc. so that you can optimise them for taste, texture or cost? You may also want to 'tweak' composition to develop new products? Do you want to replace or reduce fat and/or sugar in formulations and want to know the issues from PhD - trained scientists?
 Preventing or eliminating spoilage in acidic products through process design. This also includes pharmaceutical products ie.g. mouthwashes.
 Training. Particularly, advanced science and technology training for groups or individual senior staff e.g. one to one fast track training for senior mangers.  IT training also included. Validation through major European universities as part of a CPD process may also be an option.

Discussing HACCP plan


 Pathogen control. Optimisation of thermal processes. Use of phages in biocontrol. Pathogen modelling.
 Cheese manufacture, optimisation of yield and resolution of problems e.g. strategies for accelerating maturation. DSFT can also help you develop new cheese varieties. We can also advise on the compositional parameters required to prevent the growth of listeria and E. coli  in cheese.
 Isolation and exploitation of the antimicrobial proteins in bovine milk e.g. in mouthwashes, toothpaste, calf milk replacers, baby foods.
 Bacteriophage control in fermented dairy products.
 Grant applications and project appraisal. Cases for R&D funding.Project appraisal.
Desktop research.  Interested in developing a new product or concerned about a potential risk, then consider commissioning a confidential research report.
Editing and revision of reports translated into English. Want the use of scientific English in a research report, paper or thesis rewritten to reflect best practice in scientific-writing?
Biofilm control. 
Statistical analysis and sampling plans.

For more information and to enquire about consultancy services click here.