R&D Radio: Food Microstructure, Ultra-Processed Foods, and the Contract Manufacturer Formula Trap with Abbey Thiel
About this episode
Abbey Thiel discusses food microstructure, ultra-processed foods, and the challenges of contract manufacturing in the food industry.
In this episode of R&D Radio, hosted by food scientist Adam Yee, Adam sits down with Abbey Thiel, a food scientist, science communicator, and consultant with a PhD in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and postdoctoral training at Wageningen University. Abbey specializes in food formulation, ingredient functionality, and technical problem solving for food and beverage brands — with deep expertise in confections and frozen desserts. She is also the creator of the YouTube channel Abby the Food Scientist, a six-year-old channel with over 150,000 subscribers, and the author of multiple books including a food science careers textbook and a candy science coloring book for kids. Abbey started her channel during her PhD as a creative outlet — and what began as procrastinating on her dissertation became one of the most recognizable food science education platforms on the internet. Along the way, the channel turned into an unexpected client pipeline, with founders reaching out after finding her ingredient explainer videos at the exact moment something was going wrong with their product. Adam and Abbey get into all of it — from the fascinating science of sponge candy…
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