Services and Facilities
Services
Our team of food product development experts offers consulting to food businesses on product innovations, improvements, adaptations, and/or market testing.
Photo credit: Top-center, top-right, bottom-left, and bottom-center images by MSU Communications. Top-left and bottom-right images by Rebecca Soule.
Recipe Development
Led by Culinary Research Chef, Rebecca Soule, our culinary team assists with ideating, developing, or improving recipes for food service, product marketing, value-added processing, and more.
Expert Consultation
Our experts, including Food Scientist Dr. Wan-Yuan Kuo, address product technical issues and troubleshooting.
Extrusion Processing
We provide recipe and process development for extruded products using our pilot-scale twin-screw extruder.
Sensory evaluation
We conduct large-scale consumer sensory tests to analyze product marketability and competitiveness.
- Overall liking, appearance, flavor, and texture comparisons
- Purchase likelihood and the price consumers are willing to pay
- Sensory attributes
Work With Us
Please click the button below to complete our application, and we'll be in touch soon. We look forward to collaborating with you!
Montana food business using Montana-grown crop ingredients could receive complimentary services through a Montana Department of Agriculture program. Learn more here.
Client Testimonials
Not only was working with the team at MSU easy, informative, and fun, we've been given a range of products to add to our business that highlights Montana products AND are delicious - the whole experience was incredibly valuable.
Kaya Patten-Fusselman of Livingston Food Resource Center
Working with Chef Rebecca and the MSU interns was an exceptional experience. We learned something new every step of the way and learned how we could better use one of our primary waste products. The team went above and beyond, even presenting a delicious and beautifully curated brunch using our waste product as the main event. The flowers on the table were an excellent touch. Thank you for all your hard work!
Greg and T of Front Porch Chocolate
Chef Rebecca and her students provided us with an opportunity to create an outstanding product showcasing the many uses and flavor profiles of honeyberries (haskaps).
Melissa Allred of Aspen Grove Farms
We really enjoyed working with Chef Rebecca and her students.We especially appreciated the tasting experience they created using new grit blends that they procured for us utilizing ROC [Regenerative Organic Certified] ancient grains, lentils and oats that were grown on our ranch.The students were thoughtful, creative, and purpose-driven and helped to create a new blend for our Ancient Grain Grit company known as Gruff.
We would highly recommend partnering with them and look forward to future projects!
Crystal Manuel of Gruff Ancient Grain Grits
Becky’s Berries has wanted to produce a mustard for a lot time. It would complement the other products in our line and it’s something we consistently get asked for. After trying numerous times to put together the recipe we envisioned and not hitting the mark it was a Godsend that someone directed us to MSU Food Product Development Lab. We shared our vision for the product with Chef Rebecca Soule and Sophia Seffrood, they totally got what we were looking for in a product, worked on it and nailed it to perfection. We are beyond pleased with the final results!
Becky Stahl and the staff at Becky’s Berries
We were having some issues with our Montana Mornings Granola. It was selling well; everyone loved the flavor – but when it was placed in a bulk / buffet setting it was crumbling almost to a powder. Wan-Yuan recruited and mentored chemical engineering student Simone Paul to work with me on this issue. For several weeks we worked with the team to re-configure the recipe. The result was amazing. A few changes created a better, more stable product – with no changes to the flavor. As a result, our bulk sales increased dramatically, including several resorts and restaurants across the state.
Deb Wheaton, Founder and Co-Owner at Gluten-Free Prairie
Facilities
Food Extrusion Unit
Our researchers work with food companies to develop extruded products such as puffed
snacks, breakfast cereals, pasta, and plant-based meat analogues. We specialize in
recipe formulation and product analyzation. P.C. MSU Communications.
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Hannon Hall Lab
Our lab features state-of-the-art instruments including a rapid visco analyzer, water
activity meter, and texture analyzer, and software to create, administer, and analyze
survey data, generate nutrition fact labels, and create reports.
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Hannon Hall Kitchen
Hannon Kitchen provides a space where our researchers can create recipes in an environment
equivalent to a commercial product development kitchen.
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