Case Study Punjab Kitchen

Using the latest technology to find new ways to make meals more appetising for stroke patients, who have difficulty in swallowing all but pureed foods, was one of the inventive projects that utilised the University of Teesside’s academic brain power via the KTP scheme.

Punjab Kitchen at South Shields is a market leader in devising novel ways to make hospital food look more attractive to stroke patients and others suffering from dysphagia, the disease that makes it difficult for people to swallow anything but soft pureed foods.

They knew, however, that they couldn’t afford to stand still for a moment if they were to maintain their strong position in their market place.

Marilyn Jeffes, [pictured], was employed as a KTP Associate working at the leading edge of development of new ways to re-texture and reshape pureed meals for people suffering from dysphagia; so that instead of looking like ‘gloop’ or ‘baby food’, the different foods retain their shape and taste, ultimately looking a lot more appetising, although in a soft, easy-to-swallow form.

Marilyn, a graduate from Teesside’s MSc in Food Technology, worked with the Managing Director of the firm, Mr Ishaq, to develop new recipes and enhance the factory’s quality management systems.

Mr Ishaq said, “We got in touch with the University through the manager of their Food Technology Centre, because we wanted help to devise a recipe calculator to increase the batch sizes without having an affect on flavours.

Employing Marilyn certainly took quite a bit of the workload off my shoulders, particularly in new product development and tailoring different meals to certain patient groups.We are already a market leader and intend to stay that way.”

At the end of the KTP programme, Marilyn was retained and employed as Technical / Quality Assurance Manager within Punjab Kitchen.