John is a faculty member of the Food Science Department, Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand. He is a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry and of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology. John has a BA (economics), BSc(Hons) in chemistry and PhD in food technology from Massey University and an MBA (technology management) from Deakin University.

John’s early career was with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Palmerston North where his team first isolated the unique factor in sheep fat responsible for muttony aroma (4-methyloctanoic acid, dubbed “hircinoic acid”) and he worked on non-enzymatic browning, volatile flavour release from foods and bioactives for the Stolle Milk Corporation joint programmes.

In 1990, he joined Otago university and teaches in food composition, processing, quality management and lipid chemistry. His research interests are in food compositional analysis and adding value, especially involving fats and oils (including antioxidants, lipid composition, modification to produce derived products, stability measurements, volatiles released etc.). MSc and PhD students have and are studying olive oil fractionation, flaxseed oil characterization, transesterification with phenolic acids (to produce antioxidants), bioactive peptides, alternative protein sources, fish oil composition, stabilization and analysis of oxidative products, biofuel production, nanoencapsulation of bioactives, frying oil stability and lipid derived flavors in meat.

John’s interest in food quality management led to several technical auditing assignments under the ISO protocols. In 1996 he visited Guangzhou to appraise the Mead Johnson milk powder facility and advise on infant formula production. His interest in functional beverages stemmed from research into using flaxseed components for developing a chocolate flavoured drink that could possibly carry a health claim for fibre and protein content and also provide essential omega-3 ALA. Isolation of a protein/mucilage fraction from the defatted flaxseed cake produced a good coating for nanoencapsulation of the cold pressed flaxseed oil for enrichment of ALA into food products. This theme was developed into adding green tea extract (containing EGCG, a powerful antioxidant) by way of nanoencapsulation using soy lecithin liposomes into dairy products including development of cheeses and a yoghurt beverage. Simulated digestion showed that the catechins could be recovered from the digesta in much greater quantities than if the antioxidants had been added in the free form where it was shown that they interacted with the milk proteins and lipids.