EW
Eleanor Whitcombe
Head of Sustainability
Pod LeadIllustrative example pod · Institutional model
A worked example of how a UK food retailer or food-corporate Research Partner would set up a Pulse Pod. A cross-functional team — buying, technical, sustainability, brand, ESG and innovation leads — using the catalogue as a shared evidence lens for own-label briefing, supplier conversations and consumer-facing claims.
Pod members
A composite team intended to mirror the spread of roles a UK retailer or food-corporate Research Partner would typically pull in — sustainability, buying, technical, brand, supply-chain, category, nutrition, innovation, analytics. The Pod Lead chairs the working sessions and curates the shared evidence brief.
Eleanor Whitcombe
Head of Sustainability
Pod LeadJames Okonkwo
Senior Food Buyer · Fresh Produce
Priya Sharma
Technical & Nutrition Manager
Daniel Lockwood
Supply Chain Analyst
Catherine Ross
Brand & Communications Lead
Tom Bennett
Quality Assurance Manager
Amara Diallo
Senior Nutritionist
Rachel Holroyd
Grower Relations Manager
Marcus Patel
Category Manager · Plant-Based
Sophie Tan
ESG & Reporting Lead
Oliver Wynne-Jones
Innovation Lead
Hannah Brookes
Insights & Analytics Lead
Themed preferences
Each Pulse Pod sets shared themed preferences that calibrate the catalogue to its research focus. The Greenfield Foods pod is configured for evidence that supports own-label nutrient-density briefing, supplier-trial readouts and consumer-facing claims — weighted to systematic reviews and supplier-trial data that hold up under a Pulse Claims Check.
Sector focus
Fresh produce · own-label · supplier briefing
Geography
UK & EU sourcing footprint
Tier weighting
T1 & T2 prioritised; T3 surfaced for category review; T4 archived
Study designs
Systematic reviews, RCTs, supplier-trial data, retail-impact studies
Insights this pod tracks
Real Vitagri insights chosen as illustrative examples of what the Greenfield Foods pod's feed would surface. Browse the full set on the Insights index.
Why soil biology, not the certification label, is the primary determinant of nutritional density in food crops — directly relevant to supplier-brief refresh work.
Bionutrient Institute crop data 2018–2020 shows the spread within a single crop type is far wider than between varieties. Variety-only labelling tells the consumer almost nothing about density.
Diet-related chronic disease costs the UK £268bn per year. The retail-corporate case for soil-to-health intervention at the food-system level.
How the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 settlement maps onto nutrient-dense food production at scale — directly relevant to grower-relations briefing.
Currently working on
Updated as the pod's brief moves. A snapshot of what's in flight right now, not a roadmap.
May 2026 · Own-label nutrient-density story
The pod is consolidating evidence behind the upcoming own-label range refresh: how to brief growers on practices that lift mineral and polyphenol density, what consumer-facing claims survive the Pulse Claims Check, and how the supply-chain story squares with ESG reporting commitments. Output will land as an internal range brief and a supplier-facing technical note.
If your retailer or food corporate's brief maps to this kind of cross-functional work, the Research Partner programme is where to start. Access is application-based — we tailor it to your team, and research institutions and academics receive up to 75% off on application.
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