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Using science to make the best chocolate

11 August 2006 | By Dr Stephen T. Beckett, Nestlé PTC York, UK

When Fry had his first chocolate factory in Bristol in 1847 (Figure 1), it produced the only manufactured chocolate bar and so was obviously the best one. Looking around the world today, things have changed a lot. In the USA the largest selling chocolate bar is produced by the Hershey…

Introducing food ingredients

11 August 2006 | By Hilde Cnossen and Heereluurt Heeres, TNO Quality of Life, Food Legislation Affairs

Food legislation is a complex matter. Since the publication of the White Paper on Food Safety in 2000, a considerable number of Regulations, Directives and Guidelines on the safety of food and feed – including ingredients – have been published. For companies involved in food and feed and ingredients production,…

Savouring global growth in flavours

11 August 2006 | By Jonathan Thomas, Senior Market Analyst, LFI

The international flavours industry is highly competitive, even more so in recent times as the world’s leading food companies become larger and exert more control over their ingredients purchasing arrangements. In line with this, the flavours sector has itself consolidated, creating larger numbers of flavour giants with more diverse product…

Formulating toothfriendly beverages

11 August 2006 | By Albert Bär, Toothfriendly International, Basel, Switzerland

Ongoing discussions about diet and health; calls of politicians and consumers for healthier foods and debates about the benefit of advertising bans and restrictions of distribution, for example in schools, particularly threatens the manufacturers of beverages and confectionery. Such products are often loaded with sugar and are, therefore, destined to…

Insights from Finland’s top dairy

11 August 2006 | By Tanja Virtanen-Leppä, Packaging Development Manager at Valio Ltd

With the multitude of products on today’s supermarket shelves, there is increasing pressure among manufacturers to set themselves apart in the eyes of the consumer. Packaging has the crucial task of making that all-important first impression, which can mean the difference between a sale or not. It must be attractive…

The quicker, the better

11 August 2006 | By MC te Giffel, NIZO food research, Department of Health & Safety, The Netherlands

Control of production processes in the food industry has always focused on examination of end products. However, feedback of test results to the production process is generally not possible because it takes too long before the results of the analyses are known. Moreover, high numbers of samples have to be…

Certification, the future of food-grade lubricants

11 August 2006 | By Pat Presswood, Business Unit Manager, Nonfood Compounds Registration Program, NSF International

According to a recent research survey by Gantz Wiley Research, two of the leading issues facing the food processing industry today are regulations and food safety. As economies continue to grow, the need to move and supply safe food will also increase. With this said, regulations and programs must evolve…

Ensuring the quality of ice cream

11 August 2006 | By Chris Ing, Quality Assurance Manager, Wall’s UK

All year we look forward with anticipation to the summer; when the days are longer and warmer and we can enjoy a long-awaited holiday in the sun. Throughout Europe each region enjoys its own celebration of the season with barbeques, chilled drinks by the sea and picnics with friends, but…

Irish meat company invests in R&D

11 August 2006 | By Larry Murrin, Chief Executive, Dawn Farm Foods

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in the Republic of Ireland, Mr Micheál Martin, recently announced a major investment of €28m by Dawn Farm Foods Ltd. in Naas, Co. Kildare, with the support of Enterprise Ireland. The investment relates to the development of a state-of-the-art meat science innovation centre…

Protein-polyphenol interactions

11 August 2006 | By Richard Frazier, Lecturer, School of Food Biosciences, University of Reading and Rebecca Green, Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, University of Reading

Evidence has been reported that dietary consumption of plants and plant products that are rich in tannins, such as cocoa, wine, tea and berries, can be related to protective effects against cardiovascular disease and certain forms of cancer. These protective effects are assumed to stem from the antioxidant activity of…

State-of-the-art in GMO analyses

11 August 2006 | By Katervina Demnerová and Kamila Zdenvková, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Institute of Chemical Technology Prague and Jaroslava Ovesná, 2Reference Laboratory for the Identification of Genes in Genetically Modified Organisms, Research Institute of Crop Production, Prague-Ruzynev

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are the products of modern biotechnologies. The name GMO was first used years ago to describe micro-organisms that had genes from other species transferred into their genetic material by the transformation. Applied to crops, the term refers to any genetic plant type that has had one…

Listeria monocytogenes – a recent history

11 August 2006 | By P A Voysey, Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association

Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogenic bacterium and one of six species belonging to the genus Listeria. This species is the only one believed to be pathogenic to man; however, not all L. monocytogenes serotypes have been linked with illness. The bacterium is very common in the environment. It has been…

Reducing acrylamide in bakery products

23 May 2006 | By Dipl.-LM-Ing.Achim Claus, Prof. Dr. Reinhold Carle and PD Dr.Andreas Schieber, University of Hohenheim, Institute of Food Technology, Section Plant Foodstuff Technology

Acrylamide is a food-borne toxicant mainly present in roasted, baked and deep-fried foods. To minimise acrylamide levels in bakery products, a comprehensive knowledge of the factors affecting its formation is indispensable. Based on this knowledge technological strategies may be developed. Due to the potential carcinogenic properties of acrylamide1 the announcement…

Analysing barley to beer chain

23 May 2006 | By Jari Rautio, Reetta Satokari, Kari Kataja,Anne Huuskonen, Heikki Vuokko,Arja Laitila,Annika Wilhelmson, Silja Home, Hans Söderlund and John Londesborough,VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

VTT’s novel TRAC system is a rapid, accurate and economic method to quantitate specific messenger RNA molecules and other gene transcripts. In the barley-beer chain, it can be used to characterise yeast condition, to monitor fermentation and malting and to measure the levels of harmful and beneficial microorganisms through the…

Creating an atmosphere for food

23 May 2006 | By Sabine Paulussen and Dirk Vangeneugden, Materials Technology Department, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Belgium

The use of polymer films for food packaging has drastically increased during the course of several decades. However, the specifications demanded for these polymer films have increased simultaneously, as well as the pressure surrounding environmental impact and production cost.Today, one of the key challenges is the development of food packaging…