Our history
As a company, Bia Analytical was established in June 2020 to support the food sector in detecting food fraud by providing ISO 17025 accredited authenticity testing services. Bia Analytical has been operating since 2018 at Queen’s University’s Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) in Belfast.
The catalyst behind Bia Analytical came as a result of the Horsemeat Scandal report by Prof. Chris Elliott in 2014. As a result of this and other high profile cases of food fraud, we identified a market for the provision of commercial integrity and authenticity testing for food and drinks.
Following a review of existing lab-based methodology, we highlighted the opportunity to create a faster, more reliable testing process that could then be simplified to reach a broader user base within the commercial sector.
Our journey
2009/10
IGFS team receive Innovators Award Project
Our first step into authenticity analysis. This is a project with PerkinElmer on Raman analysis of oil adulteration.
IGFS team receive Seed Award Project
A project with Thermo using Antaris II NIR on contamination of cereals.
2010
2011
IGFS team awarded R&D Grant InvestNI
An InvestNI funded project using Raman for contamination issues in oils used in animal feed and NIR for melamine adulteration of soya meal.
QSAFFE (Quality and Safety of Feeds and Food for Europe) project funded
An EU FP7 Funded project, coordinated by Queen’s University, using NIR and Raman for country of origin and contamination issues with feed ingredients.
2011
2012
FSA Project
A Food Standards Agency sponsored project using NIR and Raman to detect Sudan dye adulteration of chili powders.
Horse Meat Crisis
Prof Chris Elliott appointed by UK government to undertake review into the Integrity and Assurance of Food Supply Networks. This is a catalyst for growth of our authenticity testing activities.
2013
2014
InvestNI Proof of Concept Project funded – lab based testing
InvestNI funded project using FTIR to detect adulteration of oregano – this is the development and validation of the lab-based testing service we use today.
InvestNI Proof of Concept Project funded – investigation of the use of portable platforms
InvestNI funded project using handheld NIR to detect adulteration of herbs which forms the basis of our potable testing development progamme.
2016
2018
IGFS research team successful in getting onto the ICURe programme.
We discovered through this accelerator programme that our work has commercial value. We surveyed key customers, gained their insight and officially launched Bia Analytical.
Company successfully applies to InnovateUK for ICURe follow on funding
We accelerated our growth further by securing additional funding.
2019
2020
Bia Analytical trademark secured and we begin trading under the name of Bia Analytical.
Commercialisation of our services continues with further significant investment.