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Strong food hygiene practices start with positive corporate culture
Leadership and efficient communication in food companies have a large impact on hygiene and food safety, according to research conducted at Ghent University.
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Plant-based diets could save a country billions of euros
Mediterranean diets with a daily portion of soya foods could alleviate the financial burden on a country's healthcare system.
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Going green: Tuneable colloidal colour blends from natural colourants
1 May 2014 | By Ashok Patel, Vandemoortele Centre for Lipid Science & Technology, Ghent University
Food colouring plays a determining role in the manufacturing of food products because the appearance of products is very critical for attracting new consumers and influencing their food choices. Food colouring involves the use of food grade colourants that belong to one of three categories: synthetic, nature-identical or natural colourants…
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Fresh produce rejections at EU border inspection posts
4 November 2013 | By Sigrid Van Boxstael, Liesbeth Jacxsens & Mieke Uyttendaele, Department of Food Safety and Quality, Ghent University
The consumption and coincident international trade of fresh produce has strongly increased during the last few decades. At present, the EU is one of the largest importers and exporters of fresh produce in the world. Despite the beneficial health effects of fresh produce, there is a growing awareness concerning its…
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EU FP7 Veg-i-Trade investigates pre and post-harvest practices influencing microbial quality and safety of leafy greens
5 September 2012 | By Maria I. Gil, Ana Allende and Maria V. Selma, Research Group on Quality, Safety and Bioactivity of Plant Foods, CEBAS-CSIC and Mieke Uyttendaele, Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Food Preservation, Ghent University
Fresh leafy vegetables (e.g. lettuce, spinach, escarole, cabbage and other baby leaves used in salad mixes) are an important part of a healthy diet. Global consumption levels are expected to increase in the future. However, due to recent disease outbreaks and rapid alerts attributed to fresh produce, concerns have emerged…
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Industry’s approaches to reduce acrylamide formation in French fries
7 July 2011 | By Raquel Medeiros Vinci, Frédéric Mestdagh & Bruno De Meulenaer. NutriFOODchem Unit, Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University
In 2002, The Swedish National Food Administration reported relevant amounts of acrylamide in several carbohydrate rich foods when baked at high temperatures (> 120°C) upon frying, baking and roasting. Toxicological studies demonstrated the carcinogenicity of acrylamide in animals and thus indicated potential health risks for humans. Consequently, in 1994, the…
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Fat bloom and cracking of filled chocolates: issues for the European manufacturer?
10 September 2009 | By Frédéric Depypere, Claudia Delbaere, Nathalie De Clercq & Koen Dewettinck, Laboratory of Food Technology and Engineering, Ghent University
The European chocolate manufacturing market, comprising over 2,000 companies and employing more than 200,000 people, has an annual turnover of approximately EUR 43 billion and exports chocolate for a value of more than three billion Euros. Specific for the European market is the large proportion (over 90 per cent) of…
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Use of molecular techniques in the food industry
1 June 2009 | By Mieke Uyttendaele and Andreja Rajkovic, Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Food Preservation, Ghent University
Microbial analysis in foods is an integrated part of management of microbial safety in the food chain. Both competent authorities and individual food business operators use microbial analysis for monitoring of the actual situation and trend analysis in order to detect emerging risks. For compliance testing to defined microbiological criteria…
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A farm to fork approach to lower acrylamide in food
13 June 2008 | By Frédéric Mestdagh and Bruno De Meulenaer, Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium
In 2002, Swedish researchers discovered that within certain foods, significant levels of acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen formed during heating processes such as frying, roasting or baking. Free asparagine and reducing sugars were indicated as the most important precursors. Over the past few years, significant progress has been made to…
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Molecularly imprinted polymers for selective extraction of mycotoxins in food
28 February 2008 | By D. De Smet, S. De Saeger and C. Van Peteghem, Ghent University, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Laboratory of Food Analysis, Belgium
This article highlights the possibility of using molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for the selective extraction of mycotoxins in food, instead of immunoaffinity columns which are based on the binding of an analyte, to the corresponding antibody. An overview of MIPs, developed for mycotoxin analysis, will be presented.
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Mycotoxin determination in foodstuffs
7 March 2007 | By S. Monbaliu, S. De Saeger and C. Van Peteghem, Ghent University, Laboratory of Food Analysis
This article focuses on the main principle of the liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) determination of mycotoxins in foodstuffs. It also provides an overview of recent developments in mycotoxin analysis.
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Reinforcing innovation clusters in the European food industry
6 November 2006 | By Bert Vermeire, Xavier Gellynck, Ghent University and Joep Koene, Development Agency East Netherlands NV
Until recently, the food industry was considered to be a traditional industrial sector with a low capacity for innovation, mainly due to the ‘basic’ character of food products. However, the globalisation of the food market in addition to changing consumer preferences profoundly affects the food sector. Nowadays, innovation is put…
