Husband and wife team Steve and Elizabeth Pearce, founders of Omega Ingredients have each received an Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Salford where they met as students.

They were among six alumni from the university honoured in recognition of their achievements in biochemistry.

Omega Ingredients, founded in 2001 and based at Great Blakenham, near Ipswich, creates natural flavours and fragrances for many leading manufacturers of food, beverages and cosmetics.

Salford and the university have been central to both of their lives – they met at the university in 1976 where Elizabeth was studying pure Biochemistry whilst Steve was reading Applied Biochemistry.

Elizabeth graduated in 1979 and Steve in 1980, two days before they were married at Swinton registry office in Salford. Their first child was born in Eccles, Salford in 1982.

Steve said: “I’d like to thank the University of Salford on behalf of Elizabeth and I for presenting us with these Alumni Achievement Awards.

“After many years of hard work and dedication since gaining our respective biochemistry degrees, we are delighted to receive this prestigious recognition for our achievements to date.

“Coming back to the university over 30 years since graduating to receive the awards is something we could have never imagined and it’s very fulfilling yet humbling to be a small part of the story of the University of Salford’s history.”

The awards were presented at a ceremony at the university’s MediaCityUK campus.

Steve added; “The university has a wonderful history and a strong reputation around the world and it’s a real green jewel in the heart of Salford. The changes it has seen since I graduated are tremendous and have ensured it is in good health today, and I hope we see more awards of this type recognising the future success of its alumni.”

Elizabeth said: “After building our careers over many years as biochemists in the food and beverages manufacturing industry we founded Omega Ingredients in 2001, which has been a great success.

“We are extremely proud of these awards and feel that they recognise the contribution of all of our past and present customers, colleagues and suppliers, so we’d like to thank them too for all their help and support in allowing us to follow our dreams.”

Colin McCallum, University of Salford executive director for university advancement, said; “Our 130,000-strong family of alumni all over the world is a huge credit to the University and the dedication of colleagues. Many former students are doing remarkable things and we felt it was time that we should recognise the impact that these special Salfordians have on the world.”

As an expert in recreating innovative “extinct and impossible” aromas, Steve Pearce has recreated the odour of “Cleopatra’s Hair”, “The Last Meal of a Condemned Man” and the smell of Moon Dust for an art exhibition.

Most recently Omega Ingredients was commissioned by Friends Reunited to create The “Scents of a Decade” of the 70’s (“Night Fever”), 80’s (“Vice”) and 90’s (“Take Spice”).

His work is featured in the BBC2 food science series ”E numbers – An Edible Adventure” with Stefan Gates, CBBC’s “Little Howard’s Big Question”, Channel Four’s “Food Unwrapped”, Channel Four’s “SuperScrimpers” in March where he compared designer and own label perfumes available on the high street, and most recently on the ITV Tonight “What’s in Our Food?” programme in August 2013.

Elizabeth Pearce also has an MBA from Nottingham Trent University and is an expert in Quality Management, consulting for companies as diverse as life boat manufacturers to specialist engineering companies producing racing car components.