University of Reading and Yeo Valley Farms (Production) Limited KTP 24_25 R1

A spoonful of fruit conserve can turn a stable yogurt into a ticking clock, and this project will map exactly how that happens. Yogurt is a delicate gel network of proteins and bacteria. Adding acidic fruit pieces disrupts that structure, accelerating whey separation, texture loss, and spoilage. Current shelf-life predictions are often generic, failing to account for how real-world ingredients—like a swirl of strawberry jam—change the product’s internal chemistry over days and weeks. This project will systematically track those structural changes using lab measurements, then build a custom computer model that predicts how long a given yogurt formulation will remain palatable. If the model works, it will give Yeo Valley a practical tool for product development: a way to test new recipes in silico rather than through weeks of physical trials. That could reduce food waste, speed up innovation, and help manufacturers set accurate, honest best-before dates. The work is applied—it targets a specific industrial problem—but the underlying science of how acid, protein, and bacteria interact in a semi-solid matrix could also inform broader food-structure research.