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20 February 2009 | By 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…
20 February 2009 | By Gerard Downey, Principal Research Officer, Teagasc, Ashtown Food Research Centre
Globalisation has been a significant factor behind the financial meltdown in which we all find ourselves now, but it has also led to significant changes in the variety and origin of the foodstuffs which line our supermarket shelves. In previous articles, I have discussed some analytical responses to the concerns…
20 February 2009 | By Gijs A. Kleter, RIKILT – Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen University and Research Center
In the mid-nineties, genetically modified crops (GM) that had been obtained through recombinant DNA technology were grown commercially at a large scale for the first time. The agricultural area that is covered with these crops has since then grown steadily, reaching 114 million hectares globally in 20072. GM crops and…
20 February 2009 | By 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…
20 February 2009 | By Hanne Larsen & Annette Veberg Dahl, Research Scientists, Nofima Mat AS
The consumers want to see the product they are purchasing. The shops use special lighting in order to sell more, at the same time as prolonging the opening hours. The price the consumer pays for the combination of increased light exposure and the desire to see food products is that…
20 February 2009 | By Frank A. Manthey, Associate Professor, Durum Wheat Quality/Pasta Processing Laboratory, North Dakota State University and Gurleen K. Sandhu, Graduate Research Assistant, Durum Wheat Quality/Pasta Processing Laboratory, North Dakota State University
Traditional pasta is made from semolina and water. Its simplicity in composition has made it an inexpensive meal that is familiar to many people worldwide. The milling of durum wheat into semolina removes the bran and germ which are rich in dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals. To offset the loss…
20 February 2009 | By Michael Sulyok, Rainer Schuhmacher & Rudolf Krska, Centre for Analytical Chemistry, Department for Agrobiotechnology, IFA Tulln, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna
Since the introduction of atmospheric pressure ionisation liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (API-LC-MS) in the early 1990s, there was a continuous effort to further improve the performance of the LC-MS instruments concerning sensitivity and robustness. One result of this development is the trend towards methods that are designed to simultaneously analyse a…
20 February 2009 | By Leon Gorris, Senior Scientist Risk Assessment, Unilever and Yasmine Motarjemi, Corporate Food Safety Manager, Nestlé
This paper argues the case for increased awareness of the importance of training and competence in management of food and water safety, prevention of food-borne and waterborne illnesses and improvement of health and nutritional status. The challenge is huge as almost everyone needs to receive education commensurate with his or…
20 February 2009 | By Erik Hoornstra & Jacques Kastelein, TNO Quality of Life
Hygiene is a key focal area among food industry companies. At a time when producers are beset by a whole range of issues, this area demands investment. Ideally, the required level of hygiene should be adjusted in respect to the other requirements in the area of product quality and preservation.…
20 February 2009 | By 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…
20 February 2009 | By William D. van Dongen, Leon Coulier, Leo van Stee & Sander Koster, Analytical Research Department, TNO Quality of Life
Small organic molecules migrating from packaging or other food contact materials (FCM) may result in unwanted changes of the composition of the food. These molecules can be the ‘usual suspects', i.e. starting materials (non-reacted monomers) and additives but also by-products, reaction products, impurities, degradation products of additives and conjugation products,…
18 December 2008 | By 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…
3 December 2008 | By Dr Suzanne Jordan, Molecular Methods Manager, Campden BRI
Yeasts are a diverse range of organisms, many of which are beneficial to the food and drinks industry in fermentation and the flavour development of dairy, meat and beverage products. There are also strains that spoil products, resulting either in blowing packs or off odours and flavours.
3 December 2008 | By Leon Coulier & William van Dongen, TNO Quality of Life and Emma Bradley & Laurence Castle Central Science Laboratory, York
Many new developments in analytical chemistry are driven by needs for life science applications. Examples are the various –omics technologies, i.e. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics and the use of isotope labelling. Food analysis is often thought to be less complex when one thinks of the determination of specific contaminants…
3 December 2008 | By Professor Patrick Wall, Associate Professor of Public Health, University College Dublin
In the 1990s, a chronology of food scares, culminating in BSE, damaged consumer confidence in the safety of food, in the commitment of industry to produce safe food and in the ability of the regulatory agencies to police the food chain. These scares precipitated a review by many EU Member…
