Rate My Professor Emily Fanning

Emily Fanning is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Food Science, Sciences Division, at the University of Otago, where she joined in 2025 following the completion of her PhD. She obtained her PhD in Food Science from the University of Otago in 2025, with her dissertation investigating chemical fingerprinting methods combined with multivariate data analysis to authenticate the geographical origin of New Zealand hops. Earlier, she completed a Postgraduate Diploma at the University of Otago and a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics and Nutrition from the University of Kentucky. Her academic and research trajectory reflects a strong foundation in food science, transitioning from undergraduate studies in nutrition to advanced research in food authentication and analysis techniques.

Fanning's research specializations include untargeted fingerprinting of foodstuffs for geographical origin authentication, identification and analysis of aroma compounds in food samples using gas chromatography mass spectrometry, and analysis of complex datasets through multivariate data analysis to create prediction models. She is currently engaged in projects related to flavour chemistry in dairy products and dairy waste streams. Key publications from her work are: Fanning, E., Eyres, G. T., Frew, R., & Kebede, B. (2025). Near-infrared spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis for the geographical origin traceability of New Zealand hops. Food & Bioprocess Technology (advance online publication); Green, S., Fanning, E., Sim, J., Eyres, G. T., Frew, R., & Kebede, B. (2024). The potential of NIR spectroscopy and chemometrics to discriminate roast degrees and predict volatiles in coffee. Molecules, 29(2), 318; Fanning, E., Eyres, G., Frew, R., & Kebede, B. (2023). Linking cocoa quality attributes to its origin using geographical indications. Food Control, 151, 109825; as well as conference proceedings such as Fanning, E. (2024). Key volatile and geographical indicators of New Zealand hops to establish 'Terroir'. Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science & Technology Conference. Her research outputs have garnered 61 citations on Google Scholar, contributing to the field of food traceability and authenticity.