Dr Aurélie Bechoff
+44 (0)1634 88 3071
Dr Aurélie Bechoff has been working as a food technologist at the Natural Resources Institute since October 2009. In her earlier years at NRI as a PhD student (2005–10), Aurélie brought an original contribution to research on the extent of pro-vitamin A carotenoid degradation in sweet potato during its drying and subsequent storage, as part of the HarvestPlus-funded project Reaching End-Users with biofortified sweet potato in Uganda and Mozambique. This led her to coordinate a HarvestPlus- funded project (2012-15) that investigated the provitamin A retention of biofortified yellow cassava in Nigeria during traditional processing. This was followed by an IMMANA-FCDO funded project called NUTRI-P-LOSS on the development of a methodology for estimating nutritional postharvest losses, from harvest to market, for cowpea, maize, and sweet potato in Zimbabwe and Uganda (2016-19). To expand her skills in nutrition, Aurélie completed part-time an MSc in Nutrition for Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2017-19). As a result, she became more involved in nutrition projects in LMICs e.g. Agrinatura-EU funded projects such as the 2FAS project on food fortification and the Nutrition Research Fund (NRF) on design gaps of nutrition interventions. Over the years Aurélie has also grown expertise in sensory and consumer research for low-middle-income countries (LMICs) e.g. as part of EU-funded projects AFTER (2011-14) and GRATITUDE (2012-2015) and BMGF-funded CGIAR-RTBFood project (2017-2022) on linkages between breeding traits and consumer acceptability of root and tuber crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Aurélie coordinated a project on the feasibility of developing local ready-to-use therapeutic food formulations for Sierra Leone (2019-20), which resulted in commencement of exciting research in this area: through collaborations in Kenya and Israel funded by UKRI and UUKi, projects (2022-25). Currently Aurelie also coordinates a follow-up Methods and Metrics for Innovative Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) funded project called NUTRI+4AID (2023-24) that validates the tool previously developed and applies it to humanitarian value chains. She leads the NRI component in the ERANET-funded SAFOOD project that seeks to develop more resilient food systems for fruits & vegetables in West Africa (2021-25) in the face of climate change. Her main interest is on the development of sustainable food systems and local formulations to efficiently tackle acute undernutrition in children and micronutrient deficiencies in LMICs. Aurélie personally knows the four recipients of the 2016 World Food Prize in biofortification, as they were collaborators in the first HarvestPlus implementation project and one of them confided to her that her contributions played a role in their achievement. Dr Bechoff has worked in more than 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and in South America. French is her mother tongue, and she speaks fluent Spanish.
Having been a part of NRI for nearly two decades, first as a PhD student and then as a member of staff, I have recently started to grow an area of work that is core to my research interest: the development of sustainable nutritious food systems including local formulations to treat acute infant malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa.
My scholarly contributions predominantly revolve around publications in nutrient loss, sensory evaluation, and consumer research. Initially, the research was narrowly focused on provitamin A and traditional African processing (HarvestPlus). Then, it broadened to encompass diverse nutrients, nutrient-rich crops, and multifaceted food systems, with the IMMANA initiative.
I am primarily affiliated to the “Food systems and Nutrition” Research group, and secondarily to “Postharvest Innovation for Sustainable Food Systems Research Group” and “Product Development”.
Specialised topics in Nutrition: BSc Nutrition and NRI MSc in Food Innovation “Tackling undernutrition by the use of ready-to-use therapeutic food”
Nutritional Postharvest Loss Estimation Methodology for Humanitarian Aid (NUTRI+4AID). Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Action (IMMANA) (PI) Total £250,000. 2 years. (2023-24 – subjected to no-cost extension). Partners: University of Zimbabwe, International Potato Center (Uganda), Mood Technologies. Rationale: No methodological tool exists to measure nutrient loss along food aid food systems. Aims: Develop a prediction tool and methodology to estimate nutritional postharvest losses on humanitarian value chains.
Strengthening African Food Systems in the face of climate change and Food insecurity. (SAFFODS) EU-ERANET-funded. (PI of the NRI component - £131,000) 4 years (2021-25). Partners: CIRAD (France), ISRA BAME (Senegal), UNA (Ivory Coast). Rationale: African food systems need to be made more resilient. Aims: to strengthen food systems for fruits & vegetables in Senegal and Ivory Coast in the face of climate change and food insecurity. Results: we have collected data on nutrient changes in mango value chain in Ivory Coast.
OMICS and bioinformatics applied to plant alternative protein formulations to decipher malnutrition (Call 1) & Strengthening food systems in plant-alternative proteins to address infant malnutrition in Africa (Call 2) Universities UK International (UUKi) UK-Israel Mobility Exchange (PI). Call 1: £70,400. 10 months. (2023-24). Call 2 :£92,950. 10 months (2024-25). Partner: HUJI. Collaborators: Peter Akomo international consultant, Anastasios Tsaousis, University of Kent.
Rationale: Acute child malnutrition is a major public health issue i.e. in poor settings in LMICs. We are looking at ways to address it in a sustainable manner by building a sustainable food system and better understanding the mechanisms of malnutrition and its recovery using high-level research tools. Aim: Develop local plant based alternative RUTFs more sustainable for LMICs and understand better the underlying mechanisms of malnutrition, links between diet, growth and bone development, and microbiome. Results: Building on a Innovate UK-KTN- GCRF AgriFood Africa Innovation Awards Round 2, this initiative is used to spearhead a Medical Research Council research proposal submitted in February 2024 and could lead to a scientific breakthrough giving critical insights on how diet could be modulated to optimise microbiome and gut development and address infant malnutrition.
Postgraduate student: MPhil/PhD Laura Utume supervised by Aurelie Bechoff, Dina Nikolaou and Andrew Westby. “Development of ‘safe for the gut’ ready-to-use-therapeutic-food (RUTF) to tackle malnutrition”
Assessing the designs of nutrition interventions to better understand the persistence of malnutrition in the Sahel EU. Nutrition Research Facility (through Agrinatura. (technical expert). 1 year (2023-24)
Rationale: Despite continued investments to improve food and nutrition security in the Sahel, there are high rates of malnutrition (stunting, wasting, and anaemia). Aim: The project examines how better designs of nutritional interventions could lead to improved nutrition and food security. Results: A scoping review and Key-informants interviews have been conducted bringing coherent insights about proposed design improvements.
- Bechoff, A., De Bruyn, J., Alpha, A., Wieringa, F. and Greffeuille, V., 2023. Exploring the complementarity of fortification and dietary diversification to combat micronutrient deficiencies: A scoping review. Current Developments in Nutrition, p.100033. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/38563
- Bechoff, A., Shee, A., Mvumi, B.M., Ngwenyama, P., Debelo, H., Ferruzzi, M.G., Nyanga, L.K., Mayanja, S., Tomlins, K.I., 2022, Prediction of nutritional postharvest losses along the crop value chain: a case study with three key food-security crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Food Security, 1-20. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/35223/
- Bechoff, A., Chijioke, U., Westby, A. and Tomlins, K.I. (2018). ‘Yellow is good for you’: Consumer perception and acceptability of fortified and biofortified cassava products. PloS one, 13(9), p.e0203421. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/21509/
- Bechoff, A., Tomlins, K. I., Chijioke, U., Ilona, P., Westby, A., & Boy, E. (2018). Physical losses could partially explain modest carotenoid retention in dried food products from biofortified cassava. PloS one, 13(3), e0194402. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/19739
- Bechoff, A., Tomlins, K.I., Fliedel, G., Becerra Lopez, L.A., Westby, A., Hershey, C., Dufour, D. (2016). Cassava traits and end-user preference: relating traits to consumer liking, sensory perception, and genetics. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 8:4, 547-567. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/15683
- Tomlins, K.I., Owori, C., Bechoff, A., Menya, G., Young S. and Westby, A. (2012) Relationship among the carotenoid content, dry matter content and sensory attributes of sweet potato. Food Chemistry, 131, 14–21. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/6889
- Bechoff, A. Poulaert, M., Tomlins, K.I., Westby, A., Menya, G., Young S., and Dhuique-Mayer, C. (2011) Retention and bioaccessibility of β-carotene in blended food from sub-Saharan Africa containing orange-fleshed sweet potato. Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry, 59, 10373-10380. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/6798
- Bechoff, A., Dhuique-Mayer, C., Dornier, M., Tomlins, K., Boulanger, R., Dufour, D. & Westby (2010b). Relationship between the kinetics of β-carotene degradation and norisoprenoid formation in the storage of dried sweet potato chips. Food Chemistry, 121, 348–357. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/3872
- Bechoff A., Dufour D., Dhuique-Mayer C., Marouzé C., Reynes, M. & Westby A. (2009) Effect of hot air, solar and sun drying treatments on provitamin A retention of orange-fleshed sweet potato. Journal of Food Engineering, 92 (2), 164-171. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/3869
- Awards: 2013: University of Greenwich Early Career Research Excellence Award (£5,000). 2009: Natural Resources International Fellowship. Postgraduate Research & Travel Fellowship. (£1,680 for field research).
- Professional society membership: Agriculture Nutrition and Health (ANH) Academy research network, International Society for Tuber and Root Crops
- Reviewer: Public Health Nutrition, Food Chemistry, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry, Journal of Food Quality, International Journal of Food Science & Technology, LWT-Food Science and Technology, Nature Foods.