Maame Yaakwaah Blay Adjei - From Wine to Wisdom: a Flavourful Career in Food Science

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Dr. Maame Yaakwah Blay Adjei is a leader in food science and sensory evaluation. She is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Ghana, and lead consultant at Sentinel Foods, PAMP Ghana Ltd, Ghana - contributing significantly to food science research and education in Africa.

With over 20 years of experience across both academic and industry sectors, Dr. Maame Yaakwah Blay Adjei has worked in various organizations, including Charles Sturt University in Australia, GlaxoSmithKline, and Leatherhead Food Research, both in the UK.

She believes that what we consume has a profound impact on our overall health and has focused her research and development on sensory evaluation and consumer science. She previously worked at Charles Sturt University as a Lecturer and Subject Coordinator before returning to Ghana to join the University of Ghana.

As a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, she has contributed significantly to enhancing the department's research profile and the quality of food science education. Her work spans from developing novel sensory evaluation methods to improving local food products.

She holds a Ph.D. in Wine Chemistry and Wine Sensory Science from Charles Sturt University, Australia, a Master of Research in Food Science from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Food Science from the University of Ghana.

Dr. Maame Yaakwah Blay Adjei has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers in reputable journals, with her research focusing on areas such as consumer preference mapping, sensory attributes of foods, and innovative methods in sensory science. Her work on Relative Preference Mapping (RPM) has been particularly influential in the field.

Beyond her academic achievements, Dr. Adjei is passionate about industry collaboration and knowledge transfer. This shines through her role as Principal Investigator on several projects, including the "Technology Centre for quality dairy improvement in small holder dairy farming," which led to the setup of state-of-the-art laboratories and processing plants at the University of Ghana.

She is committed to professional development and serves as the Vice President/Treasurer of the African Network of Sensory Evaluation Research and as a member of various professional associations, including the Institute of Food Science and Technologists.

Maame Yaakwaah Blay Adjei on LinkedIn

Transcript (Semi-automated, forgive typos!)

Danielle:Maame, welcome to the show.

Maame: Thank you, Danielle. It's a pleasure to be here.

Danielle:Great. Well, can you start by explaining us a bit more about your background and how you became involved in sensory science?

Maame: Thank you. Where do I start from? I always tell this story to my students that I didn't know there was a science to tasting because when I was little, I would make all these food experiments and then get people around me to ask questions: "How much do you like it?" "What do you think is wrong with it?" It wasn't until I got to university that I realized that it was a science. I stumbled into food science. I didn't plan to do food science because I was going to be a medical doctor, which is what a good Ghanaian child becomes if they do well in school. But I was disappointed I didn't go into medical school. I came across a course in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science. It said you could convert animal raw materials into finished goods. I was like, wow, I didn't know this was a science. This is something that people do. That was my introduction to food science. I thoroughly loved it, and I knew this was my passion and my calling. I just worked in food science my whole life since. This was how I got into food science. Sensory science, I discovered in my final year when I studied the packaging of plantain chips. And then from there, I went to do my master's, which was also in sensory science. And my supervisor said, "You'd be better off in industry than sitting in a laboratory." So he sent me off to Leatherhead. From there I went to GSK and then to Australia and then back home. So that's how I got into sensory science.

Danielle:Very diverse experiences already. I would like to take a step towards more Africa and how the food development landscape is over there. I would like to understand a little bit more about that, in particular in also to sensory science. What are the unique challenges and opportunities there?

Maame: Well, I can speak for Ghana because this is where I've done most of my work, but I don't think it's much different across Africa, well, at least within the West Africa region, because we have very similar challenges and everything. The product development space is still very much led by the small and medium-scale industries. We still have a lot of cottage industries. We do have a few international companies and stuff, but mostly individuals trying to do their own thing, trying to make a living and experimenting. This is the landscape we're operating. We don't have the big corporates doing a lot of R&D here. We have more small-scale, and medium-scale industries trying to come up with products that can become commercial. This is a good opportunity to discover new flavors, new textures, and things that are very unique to our culture. It also presents a lot of opportunities for us to explore the sensory properties of our local foods, which will then help us to develop new and amazing things that can be sold to the world.

Danielle:I see. Yeah. Are there some specific foods or culinary traditions that you think give these unique sensory experiences, and maybe more specifically for Ghana or Africa as a total?

Maame: I think more recently, I've become very aware about the diverse textural properties of our food. We have a lot of staples that we consume in Ghana, at least. They come in all sorts of textural complexities, which is an area I've always been in the flavor part of sensory science because I work with beverages a lot. But coming home with that mindset, I've just realized how texturally different our products are. From our staples, they look at our vegetables, indigenous crops, and they provide this wide array of textural interest from a sensory point of view that it is an area I would to explore. But of course, we don't have enough capability yet for us to all go into all the very diverse and unique areas we can look at. Then also recently, I've been involved with the Feed the Future project, looking at indigenous fruits and vegetables in Ghana. It's actually across West Africa. We're trying to profile all the different indigenous fruits and vegetables with the aim to develop new products that are unique and interesting. It's just been a very amazing experience because products that we didn't think of, a particular one, Kontomere, which is the, should I call it the African spinach. It's a very common vegetable, but now we get the opportunity to profile it in different forms when we've cooked it, when we've blanched it. For me, it's just an amazing experience that we get the opportunity to get to understand the properties of our food. They come in so many different ways, diversity. Another popular example is Bissap, which is sorel or hibiscus calyces. One of my undergraduate research was to look at the geographical locations they've come from, and we were lucky to be able to do a profiling of it. Seeing the geographical differences expressed in the products was just fascinating that they seemed on the broad look, they looked like the same thing, but then you can see these distinct variations in them. From someone with wine in the background, I think this is fascinating because you can have such an array of different products that you can't even begin to think about. We haven't had an opportunity to explore this extensively, especially from the sensory point of view. Also in our part of the world, we do consume a lot of fermented products. We have fermented cereals. We have fermented fish. Fermented beef, or meat products. And from a wine chemistry point of view, we know that once there's fermentation, you can see this beautiful bouquet of flavors and aromas that come up. And these could be used to enhance products in so many different areas. So these are just maybe a snapshot of the diversity that we get to play.

Danielle:Yeah, very interesting. All those different textures and flavors. I wish I could try them already. No, but yeah, very interesting. You also have been actively helping young entrepreneurs and startups to develop these successful food products. Can you talk a bit more about that, about the type of support and guidance that you provide?

Maame: I think I am quite passionate about young people and their development. I think the Ghanaian youth is just very enterprises or very entrepreneurial. It's something we're born to be. But we've also gotten caught up in this formal education of entrepreneurship that I think we may be losing touch with what is innately in us. When it comes to how we support them, one of the ways I literally like to do, I have the opportunity with my teaching to always try to build confidence that you know enough and you can contribute positively to the world. But we do have some specific projects that we're running. Currently, one that is passionate to me is the Yogurt Innovations for Youth Entrepreneurship. With this project, we are trying to give young people a platform to help them make all the classic mistakes that entrepreneurs in the food industry start with, in a safe environment where they're not scared to make their mistakes with the hope that this will build the confidence they need to step out and try it on their own. To add to that, we are trying to document the process or the journey of these people who get the opportunity to do this project. We've only had one case study, and the idea is to use this to build confidence in young people that it's okay to make mistakes. It's fine. You don't need to be perfect. You can still do it, and there's room for growth.

Danielle:Yeah, that's so important indeed, because if you don't do that, you never try anything. To get that confidence and to be as long as my intention is good a mistake, it's part of the journey.

Maame: Exactly.

Danielle:Very nice.

Maame: These are two of the main ways we're doing. And aside that, we have two laboratories where we always take young, freshly graduated students who have to do national service. This is a composure in Ghana and this gives them an opportunity to get to work in a real-life experience. We give them projects that are live projects with industry interest and people's livelihoods depend on it. So they get a taste of the real world before they then have to go and look for work to do. So these are a few ways that we're trying to involve students and young people to empower them.

Danielle:Can you share a success story of an entrepreneur or startup that you worked with and highlight how sensory science played a role in their product development?

Maame: Thank you for the opportunity because I wish I could list 5,000 different projects we've worked on that were all successful. But I think product development is a very, very difficult journey. The three that come to mind. I call them successful because they were learning experiences for me and growth experiences for the entrepreneurs I worked with. But only one of them has, should I say, the expected outcome of a product going on the shop. Even with that one, it's still in the commercialization phase. The reason I like this is… The one which is having a positive outcome is a cereal product that required reformulation and optimization. We used our sensory tools to help with this. We use a consumer-led approach and use consumers to try to understand how they would use such a product, what they thought. It was really exciting seeing the results of the knowledge outcomes being implemented in the product. We also got the entrepreneur interested or believing in the results to actually commercialize the outcome. That was really nice. But before that, my first experience in using sensory tools to guide product development, I say it was a learning experience. For me, it was successful because eventually, the entrepreneur came to even talk to my students about her journey in product development. This was one of my first experiences with a local beverage drink. We spoke about it. Her challenge was not sensory, but after we did the first trial, we realized that was a sensory issue, so I drew her attention that, even though you do know one sensory, I am going to do the sensory work anyway. That led to a seven-year journey into this particular product. Just yesterday, my student who worked on it for her master's actually did an industry brief on it, which I was super excited that we finally come this far just using the sensory insights at a small stage. It's nice to be able to blend and use the knowledge and the insights that come from sensory testing. It was really nice.

Danielle:A great example.

Maame: I think it's more about the trust level the entrepreneur has in the results. Also, the level of risk they are willing to take, and then perhaps a bit of personality. I'm doing it perfectly. I really don't need to change anything.

Danielle:Yeah, I see.

Maame: That was nice.

Danielle:Nice. It's nice to hear this. Well, it's also an exciting year because you are organizing, I think, the first AfroSense symposium?

Maame: It's actually the second AfroSense, but it is the first regional conference for the ANSWER Network.

Danielle:I see. It's in November, huh?

Maame: It is in November. It's the 27th and 28th of November.

Danielle:In Ghana?

Maame: Yes, in Ghana. Accra, which is the capital. When you land in Ghana, you don't need to go any further. It will be at the university campus as well.

Danielle:What are the goals of this symposium? What do you hope to achieve?

Maame: The main aim is to build a network on the African continent where sensory scientists can leverage on each other's skills and learnings to impact the food industry, and not just food because we know sensory is beyond just food. It's about networking, capacity building, and also just showcasing what we have been able to achieve with the resources available to us and build a growth network that will help increase the work of what we do.

Danielle:Good. Yeah, exciting. Do you already know what the key topics will be in the conference?

Maame: Yes, we have a very good lineup. On the first day, we're going to look at what's happening across Africa from the different continents. Insights from the East, West, North, and South. We've got speakers coming from all of these areas to share what the landscape looks like in the field. Then we're going to break it. We really want industry participation, so we want to see what the industries are doing in the field of sensory science and also what academia is doing. We'll look at classic things like descriptive analysis, consumer methodology. We are also trying to build the nutrition and holistic well-being of consumers in this. We want to look at things like sensory perception and diseases, for example. How nutrition interventions and how they view sensory science to make these nutrition interventions as well. We'll have keynote speakers in these fields as well.

Danielle:Wow. So very, very broad in that sense.

Maame: The idea is to showcase the broad nature of sensory science and how it permeates every part of our society. That's what we hope to achieve.

Danielle:Yeah, interesting. You mentioned already a few things, a few topics, but I'm curious to hear in your view, what are the future trends or areas of research that you see as most promising for the development of sensory science in Africa?

Maame: I think what I would love to see in the future is to use sensory evaluation to change the narrative of what Ghanaians and Africans consider as quality. Because we've always been a very price-sensitive country or continent. Everything quality is about how much it costs. But I think it goes beyond that. I hope that we get to a point where we are designing methods that suit our continent that help us bring out what the consumer actually is experiencing as quality and use these as the scales that we use to measure the food and the other products that we sell. I'm beginning to get more interested in quality grading and developing skills that help us to measure the quality of the fruits that we have because we have not placed the sensory quality on them. It's something that we don't even consider. I think this would change the landscape and add value to the products we already have.

Danielle:It's partly also education about that quality indeed is not equal to price, but that quality is really about the sensations that people-

Maame: Exactly.

Danielle:Or the nutritional value?

Maame: Yes, the nutritional value. This is where I think we would be making a big difference within our community. Then people will begin to take sensory science a bit more seriously because currently, it's not something that industry worries itself about very much. Once it's safe and it's making money, that's enough. But that also opens up a big influx of imported goods, which sometimes are not as the same superior quality as we could develop, and just need to change this narrative.

Danielle:Yeah, a lot of food for thought, literally as well. Yeah, you already mentioned it, but I still want to ask this question because how do you envision the role of sensory science in shaping this future of food culture in Africa? You already touched upon it, but maybe...

Maame: Just a little bit more. I think just something like developing terminology. If we know how to describe the products we already have in a language that we can relate with. If we know how to define the food landscape with words that have meaning to the consumers, I think this is something that we can encourage young people or young scientists to be interested in the field. We need to define our foods because if I'm buying any product overseas, you would get a full description of what it is, so you can even taste it before it goes in your mouth. But we don't have that luxury here because we're still eating very fresh, which is good, but at least we should educate ourselves with what the palate is telling us.

Danielle:Yeah, that's very interesting that you bring this up indeed, because a while ago, I spoke with Julia Sick, and she's from Europe, and she did as part of her PhD also this whole part of teaching children about senses, about their experiences. So it's everywhere. It's not common. It's not solely an issue to tackle in Africa, but it's all over the world, it seems, that people need to have the language to describe what they perceive, and that helps in appreciating the food and understanding.

Maame: Yeah. I believe that if we can appreciate the food for the senses, the sensation is given as we may be able to tackle a lot of the other nutritional or even health things that we are concerned about, the nutrition security, because it can control things like overeating or giving people the right foods to eat because they can now express themselves in how they perceive the fruits they are consuming and understand what is making them like this or not that, which can help develop products that are more suitable to our climate as well.

Danielle:Yeah. I am looking at the time and we need to start with the questions that I always like to ask at the finishing of the podcast, because with all your experience in the field and very broad experience, what advice would you like to give young researchers and professionals who are interested in pursuing a sensory science career in Africa?

Maame: The first thing is that sensory science is a very young field. It's so young that globally, we are still defining ourselves, defining our methods, defining our terminology. For young people, it's not a difficult science. This is something my students run away from. They will take any free lectures, but if it has to do with sensory science, I don't know. Some people say it's the statistics, but I don't know, maybe it's just me. But it is a very fun field. I couldn't think of a more practical subject to do because then it's the fun part of food, really. It's the part you're eating. It is a fun field. It's really practical and it's not difficult academically to pursue. For young people, my encouragement would be they need to be open and willing to learn. They need to express themselves, and they can apply anything to it because sensory science cuts across every sphere of our life. Food, non-food, luxury products, everything. You can apply technology, you can apply AI. There's no limit to it. As a young field, it gives a lot of opportunity for growth so that It's not like a stringent or, how do you say? Like a straight jacket thing. There's room to grow and express yourself within the area and also define your own little niche which you want to be working. The only thing is that they would need to work to carve a path for themselves because it is still a young field and there are so many areas that have yet to be just discovered and defined. They can create their own niche and carve a path for themselves.

Danielle:Yeah. So you need to be having this entrepreneurial drive in order to set your scope of this area. I like how you said about sensory, and how you talked. I heard somebody once say, sensory science is the science of life. And you also mentioned it a little bit.

Maame: My favorite term is it's an experience science. You just have to experience it. You can't write a formula for it. You just have to experience it. For me, there's this excitement about it.

Danielle:Are there any, advising people, are there any networks, resources, or organizations that you recommend to people who look to get more involved in sensory?

Maame: Of course. ANSWER is still a young network in Africa, the Africa Network for Sensory Evaluation Research. But we are trying to build capacity, build a network for African sensory scientists so that they have a platform to collaborate. But there are more established networks that if someone is interested in sensory science, they can get resources from. There's Pangborn, and there's the E3S, which is doing really well with the conferences. We have sensory networks on all continents currently, and all the networks have come together to form the Global Sensory Science Group. There is interest globally in sensory scientists pushing to make it a very professional and very well-understood science. Locally in Ghana, your go-to place if you want to know anything about sensory sciences is the University of Ghana, we have the Sensory Evaluation Laboratory. We're very proud that we have the first purpose-built sensory evaluation laboratory, which we built in 2016. So any support, any trainings, we offer trainings there for people who want to be tasters, people who want to be trained to taste, to build their own panels. If you want just general reading material and information or an experience, you can come to the lab and we can help you.

Danielle:Wow. So there is a lot to-

Maame: There is a lot of stuff.

Danielle:Very good. I have one final question, Mamme. If people listen to this podcast and want to get in contact with you, what is the best way? Should they write an email? Should they connect on LinkedIn? How do you prefer to get contacted?

Maame: For direct contact, I think email is always best because I don't check my LinkedIn as often, but LinkedIn is just as good as well.

Danielle:Okay, we will add your information to the podcast so that people can easily contact you.

Maame: Thank you very much.

Danielle: Thank you so much. It was a very interesting conversation.

Maame: Thank you very much, Danielle. The pleasure is all mine and thank you for the platform to showcase what we're doing in Ghana and Africa as well.

Danielle: You're welcome.