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Issue 1 2010, Past issues / 22 February 2010 / Chris Cattini, Senior Scientific Officer, IFIS Publishing
The International Food Information Service (IFIS) produces the FSTA – Food Science and Technology Abstracts® database, a resource specifically developed for the food industry. The database offers unparalleled access to a broad range of food science and technology information relating to every aspect of the food chain, including all the major food commodities plus biotechnology, microbiology, food safety, additives, nutrition, packaging and pet foods.
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Featured news / 11 November 2009 / Watson-Marlow Pumps Group
St Helens-based Lea Green Foods is using innovative peristaltic pump technology from the Watson-Marlow Pumps Group to dose oil into vegetable trays with both precision and cleanliness. (more…)
Issue 3 2009 / 10 September 2009 / Adem Gharsallaoui, Temporary Associate Professor, AgroSup Dijon (France)
The food industry uses more and more purified natural and synthetic fragile substances today, and consequently, there is an increased need to protect these ingredients. Functional food ingredients, such as flavours, vitamins or antioxidants, are sensitive to environmental stress during manufacturing, storage and consumption of the food product. Furthermore, loss of bioactivity can occur during digestion in the stomach and intestine. Microencapsulation is a useful tool to preserve the beneficial properties of these food ingredients and to control their release at both the right place and the right time.
Historically, microencapsulation of food ingredients has been employed since the 1930s to encapsulate flavours by spray-drying using acacia gum as the wall material. However, the increasing complexity of food products and the rapid growth in functional foods seen toward the end of the 1990s continues to push researchers and manufacturers to develop novel encapsulation strategies and processes. Microencapsulation has found widespread use in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, but also in many food and beverage applications. Flavour encapsulation is the most well known application of this new technology in the food field. Flavour microencapsulation entraps very small amounts of flavouring compounds in a protective coating of another food grade material, creating micron-size capsules with a flavour profile suitable for a specific use in the food industry. For example, flavour-containing microcapsules can release the core material at the ideal time to provide the maximum impact for the consumer and/or develop a different flavour as the product is being chewed, or also, to formulate new flavour combinations. (more…)
Issue 3 2009 / 10 September 2009 / Pierre Schuck & Romain Jeantet, INRA and Agrocampus Ouest and Eric Blanchard, Laiterie de Montaigu
Pierre Shuck and associates discuss spray drying parameters of dairy products. In part one, featured in this issue of New Food, the authors discuss the rationale behind their studies and introduce a new method of spray drying. Part two will feature in our next issue of New Food and reveal the results and conclusions drawn by the authors.
In this study, a new method was developed to evaluate the ratio of bound to unbound water by using drying by desorption. The results, combined with thermodynamic and physico-chemical parameters (such as absolute and relative humidity of air, total solids and temperature of concentrate, air flow rate, etc.), provide more precise determination of certain spray-drying parameters such as inlet air temperature and mass flow rate. More than 50 experiments were performed to correlate calculated and measured parameters in a pilot plant (Bionov) using water, skimmed milk, infant formula milk, caseinate maltodextrin and other food concentrates. The results showed that the difference between the calculated and measured inlet air temperature was less than five per cent, the determination coefficient being close to 0.96.
The economic value of this system is obvious, because it is easy to anticipate the spray-drying parameters by using a controller integrating the water availability of the concentrate and certain thermodynamic parameters. Software based on this step was developed (SD2P®, Spray Drying Parameter Simulation and Determination) and registered at the APP (Association pour la Protection des Programmes). (more…)
Issue 3 2009 / 10 September 2009 / D. Labbe & N. Martin, Department of Food Consumer Interaction, Nestlé Research Centre
Refreshing in foods and drinks is a perception strongly related to mouth state after product consumption. Oral dryness and roughness are lingering perceptions negatively related to refreshing perception whereas mouth wetting perception is a positive driver of refreshing perception. Since saliva seems to be related to mouth wetting, we explored if salivary flow and saliva lubricating properties could be potential markers of refreshing perception. To reach our objective, we explored on saliva flow and saliva lubricating properties the impact of a water ice consumption optimised to be perceived more refreshing than a standard water ice. As key results, the optimised water ice induced the highest saliva flow rate and saliva production with the lowest friction coefficient. These results were validated by sensory evaluation, showing that the optimised product delivered after consumption the most intense salivating perception. Our finding seems to validate the positive association between refreshing and oral wetting perceptions. (more…)
Issue 2 2009 / 1 June 2009 / Antonio Nespoli, Semolina Pasta Industrialisation Responsible, Barilla G e R. Fratelli SpA
Pasta is apparently a very simple food, with one ingredient: semolina of durum wheat and one reactant: water. In its native state, the ingredient has two main constituents, which are proteins and starch. The reactant, together with mechanical and thermal energy, is necessary to modify their structure to obtain the final configuration. In Figure 1, a dried spaghetti section, the starch granules and the protein net formed are clearly recognisable. (more…)
Issue 2 2009 / 1 June 2009 / Sid Stone, Managing Director, InS Services
Some of you may have read details of the standard ISO 21469 which covers ‘Safety of Machinery – Lubricants with Incidental Product Contact – Hygiene requirements,’ and may wonder why the food industry or the lubricants industry need yet another standard to which they should adhere.
When this standard was introduced to the ELGI (European Lubricating Grease Institute), it has to be said it was less than well received by grease manufacturers from Europe and beyond, who thought it had no added value over ISO 9000 and other regulations and standards in existence.
The standard produced by the International Organisation for Standards (ISO) was said to be poorly constructed and added nothing to the safety or quality of the lubricants produced for the food industry. In fact, some delegates thought that many of the points were already covered by ISO 9000, HACCP or certainly by REACH.
Concern was expressed that the introduction of this standard by the large multinational companies would force smaller businesses to adopt it as a marketing tool even if it added no benefit to the company or customer. It was even suggested that it may be used as a ploy to force small companies out of the market place. (more…)
Issue 2 2009 / 1 June 2009 / Jasper Peters, Mars Nederland BV
The process technology landscape in the chocolate industry has changed markedly over the last decade. Following the key business trends, research and development in most organisations has incorporated all the key ‘buzzwords’, with focus given to terms such as efficiency, speed, low cost, flexibility, trade secrets, patentability, open innovation and so on. The sharp minded amongst the readers will have noticed that some of the keywords are, in fact, exact opposites. Efficiency and flexibility seem impossible to combine and secrecy seems to be the antithesis of open innovation.
Although the new winds started blowing in the process technology area in the late 1990′s, sustainability has always been key. The term sustainability is probably best known by consumers as the environmental and human impact of a business, although within the commercial world it means this as well as business longevity and should be key to a successful business. However, what if ethics and mutuality are already integrated in the development process? In the particular case study in this article, it is meant to put some gravity on a combination of all the earlier mentioned points but also the way of working and approach to achieve durable processes with regards to environment, speed, cost and ethics. How can we make a line or a machine that can make all kinds of products, at a wide range of speeds, with a low running cost and with minimal impact towards the environment and the planet? (more…)
Issue 1 2009 / 20 February 2009 / Sarah Krol, Business Unit Manager, NSF
Consumers today make well-informed choices about the food products they purchase. Savvy shoppers have access to a wealth of information and select their products based on brand recognition, nutritional labelling and differentiating attributes such as Certified organic, allergen-free and fair-trade. The food processing industry must continually evolve to keep pace with consumer expectations for safe, nutritional and innovative food products. For example, the demand for ready-to-eat food stuffs requires exceptional standards for cleanliness and hygiene in a food plant.
The popularity of organics and foods free of milk, soy, gluten, egg and nut allergens means that manufacturers must implement strict measures for ingredient traceability and segregation. The rising importance of sustainability and waste reduction has created demand for biodegradable, plant-based packaging, resulting in redesigned processes and machinery. As a consequence, modern food facilities and the processing equipment used within them are increasingly automated and complex. This greater reliance on innovative machinery design, automation and integration has prompted industry and regulators alike to recognise the importance of using safe, non-toxic, properly evaluated food grade lubricants to maintain food equipment. (more…)
Issue 1 2009 / 20 February 2009 / Professor Vibeke Orlien, Associate Professor Food Chemistry, University of Copenhagen
Consumers prefer food products, convenience products and ready-to-eat meals to have the taste of being freshly made. Moreover, it must be nutritious, safe, of high quality and originate from sustainable production. High-pressure (HP) technology can be utilised to its full potential as a minimal processing method to address consumers preferences and reflect the human ethics of natural, tasty, clean-label and eco-friendly products. For example, it is possible to produce chicken meat with improved oxidative stability and high water holding capacity and neutral milk gels with less sugar. The future new type of HP-food products may be just around the corner.
The perspective of producing high quality foods with an extended shelf-life by use of HP technology is based on the ability to inactivate bacteria and enzymes concomitantly with a minimum loss of nutritional and sensory quality. Investigations on the effects of pressure on microbial inactivation are reported in literature and HP-treatment is being used worldwide in the food industry as a preservation step in the production of cured meat products and fresh juices and other fruit-based products without destroying flavour and vitamins. The prospective of new types of food products by use of HP is due to the specific actions of pressure on food constituents. As a minimal process technology, HP does not break covalent bonds and thereby protects the small chemical constituents like flavour compounds and vitamins. Hence, HP affects only non-covalent bonds and can be used to modify macromolecules, like proteins, and thereby to change the functionality of food proteins. (more…)
Issue 1 2009 / 20 February 2009 / Fred van de Velde & Arno Alting, Project Managers Ingredient Technology, NIZO food research
Consumer awareness of additives drives the industry to launch natural and/or clean label products. Products without added flavours and colourings or with only natural flavours and colours are well known in the market. However, further cleaning of the product label is thorough as it focuses on functional additives and texturising ingredients, such as stabilisers, thickeners, emulsifiers and preservatives. Research at NIZO food research demonstrated that proteins are a unique source of clean label ingredients with opportunities to tailor their functionality, not only as texturising ingredients but also as preservatives.
Proteins are widely applied in food products for their nutritional and functional properties. Their physical functionalities include: jellifying, emulsifying, foaming and thickening. The texture of food products can solely be determined by the protein fraction. A few examples are jelly pudding, yoghurt, cheese and processed meat. In many others, E-number bearing ingredients are added to improve their texture, processability and stability, such as emulsifiers and stabilisers in ice cream, thickeners in desserts and fillings, and stabilisers and thickeners in (instant) soups and sauces. These functionalities can also be derived from proteins. Moreover, the potential of proteins as a source of clean label ingredients can be increased by selective tailoring of their functionality by physical, biochemical and enzymatic modification. This publication shows a number of examples in which proteins are used as a source of clean label ingredients. (more…)
Issue 4 2008, Past issues / 18 December 2008 / Carlo Cannella, Professor, Department of Medical Physiopathology – Food Science & Nutrition Unit, ‘La Sapienza’ University of Rome
Pasta has ancient roots that go back approximately 7,000 years to when humankind abandoned his nomadic lifestyle, started to cultivate the land and learned how to process grain. For many years, Marco Polo was credited with introducing pasta to Italy after his voyages in China, but several written documents deny this. In one of them, dated 1154, the Arab geographer Al-Idrin mentions ‘food made of strings’ called ‘triyah’ which was produced in Palermo. It is therefore thought that pasta, intended as ‘maccheroni’, actually originated in Sicily, around Trabia, near Palermo.
The production of pasta at an industrial level began in the late 700s around Naples, where the climate permitted the cultivation of grain and there were excellent conditions for drying the product in the sun. With the introduction of the process of drying by hot air, the production could finally spread to the rest of the country. (more…)
Issue 4 2008 / 3 December 2008 / Anuj Mistry, TLP Development Manager, Bel-Ray Company, Inc. and Chairman of ELGI- NLGI Food Grade Lubricants Working Group
Lubricants to be used in the production, processing, packaging and distribution of food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, personal care products and any other ‘clean’ products may be registered as meeting certain criteria that make them safe for use in these industries. A lubricant qualifies as food grade when, in the event of contamination, it is present in no more than 10 milligrams per kilogram of the foodstuff in question. It must also not cause any physiological hazard or affect the food’s odour and taste in any way.
Food grade lubricants are special blends of base fluids and additives and should be approved by the US FDA and registered by NSF International (in USA) and more recently by InS Services Ltd (in Europe) in the H1, HT1 and 3H category. ‘Food grade’ is the most common term used to describe such lubricants, however, lubricants are only considered to be food grade if they are ‘classified’ as such by independent organisations such as the NSF and InS Services. (more…)
Issue 3 2008, Past issues / 18 August 2008 / Klaus Zimmermann, Head of Product Technology Centres and R&D Centres, Nestec S.A. and Hilary Green, Head of R&D Communications, Nestlé S.A.
Nestlé Chocolate Processing Research and Development has a long 100 year history, and is an important part of Nestlé’s rich innovation heritage. The ‘grandfathers’ of Nestlé’s chocolate history were François-Louis Cailler, Charles-Amédée Kohler and Daniel Peter. The history of Swiss innovation in chocolate started in the 19th century with Daniel Peter’s invention of milk chocolate in 1875. The Nestlé label was used for the first time in 1904, following the merging of Kohler’s and Peter’s companies. Cailler’s company was subsequently added in 1911. We have come a long way since then.
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Issue 3 2008, Past issues / 18 August 2008 / Maarten Schutyser, Maykel Verschueren, Han Straatsma, Hadiyanto, Coen Akkerman, Peter de Jong, NIZO food research
Drying processes in the food industry often operate at a suboptimal level. The most important reason for this is that to obtain optimal drying, a complex balance must be found among variables such as energy costs, product quality, dryer design and safety. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic approach and concrete solutions. NIZO food research has developed a step-by-step optimisation approach that not only makes use of process and product scans, but simulation techniques such as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics).
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