The Dairy Science and Food Technology (DSFT) site was designed and created by Dr Michael Mullan. Originally the site was intended as a project aimed at exploring the use of the Internet as a means of communicating with students. DSFT gets around a million 'hits' a year and there are hundreds of links back to the site.
Dr Michael Mullan is a food scientist with industrial, research and teaching experience in many areas of food manufacturing. Michael is a graduate of Queens University Belfast (BSc (Hons) Food Science), University College Cork (MSc Dairying), the University of Glasgow (PhD) and the University of Twente (Certificate in Quality Management in Higher Education Institutions).
Michael Mullan is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (FIFST) and was the secretary, Deputy Chairman, and UK representative on International Dairy Federation Group F19, Indigenous Anti-Microbial Proteins In Milk. Michael is the Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Dairy Technology.
Michael Mullan was Head of the Food Technology Education Branch at the Department of Agriculture's (DARD), Loughry College for many years and had a joint appointment as a Lecturer in Food Technology in the School of Agriculture and Food Science (SAFS) at Queen's University Belfast.
Michael Mullan has worked across a range of food supply roles in DARD including the management of around £20M of EU-Peace projects including farmer-mentoring and group-based capital development projects. Currently, Michael Mullan is the owner of the Dairy Science and Food Technology consultancy.
Michael Mullan is also a member and director of the Society of Dairy Technology, a past chairman of Cookstown Wildlife Trust and a Past President of Cookstown Rotary Club. He has also served two terms as a School Governor. He became the Editor of the International Journal of Dairy Technology (IJDT) in January 2019.
Michael Mullan currently works part-time at Dairy Science and Food Technology Services on a range of consultancy matters. Michael does mainly desk-based research now but continues to collaborate with academics and their research students on phage control, phage lysin, phage enumeration, application of antimicrobial systems (in particular the lactoperoxidase system), thermal processing, use of compositional indicators to improve cheese quality and mathematical modelling of dairy product manufacture. Current projects include modelling Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis destruction during thermal processing and the use of TTI's in UHT processing.
Research, consultancy and professional interest areas
• The science and technology of the lactoperoxidase-thiocyanate-hydrogen peroxide system and its application in process control, product manufacture and nutrition.
• Factors influencing the yield and quality of cheese including open texture defects such as slits and cracks caused by gas production.
• Mathematical modelling in food technology including the optimisation of sweetness and hardness in ice cream / gelato.
• The exploitation of lactococci in cheesemaking.
• Biology, enumeration and control of lactococcal bacteriophages.
• Building high achieving teams using coaching and mentoring techniques.
• Curriculum development of food technology courses and the development of quality assurance processes in higher education programmes.
• Scientific referee for major journals including Journal of Dairy Research, Journal of Dairy Science, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Food Microbiology, Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, and the International Journal of Food Science and Technology.
Past/current membership of committees/groups associated with milk research and development
These include -.
• Secretary, deputy chairman, and UK representative on International Dairy Federation Group F19 (Indigenous Antimicrobial Proteins in Milk).
• Joint organiser and member of the Scientific Committee responsible for the International Dairy Federation Seminar on 'Indigenous Antimicrobial Agents of Milk - Recent Developments'. Uppsala, Sweden.
• Member of the organising committee of the joint Federation of European Microbiological Societies and International Dairy Federation seminar on the "Antimicrobial Proteins in Milk", University of Bath, Bath, UK.
• Member of the Society of Dairy Technology.
• Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology.
• Editor of the International Journal of Dairy Technology.