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Articles

Open innovation and technology scouting

13 May 2011 | By Simon Woolford, Jasper Peters & Matt Hogan, Mars

Open innovation has grown as a topic of interest over the last few years – the phrase is broad and ambiguous enough that many people have claimed its importance for doing business in the new millennium, while at the same time drawing very different meanings from the term. Chesborough coined…

Emerging technologies for food refrigeration applications

13 May 2011 | By Savvas Tassou, Head of School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University

Refrigeration is used in all stages of the food chain, from food processing to distribution, retail and final consumption in the home. The food industry employs both chilling and freezing processes where the food is cooled from ambient to temperatures above 0°C in the former and between -18°C and -35°C…

Methods to evaulate packaging performance

13 May 2011 | By Emma Hanby, Innovation Advisor, Campden BRI

Food packaging is core to managing the delivery of innovative, safe products to the consumer. The consumer has an increasing awareness of the impact of packaging on the environment. With the advent of the Courtauld Commitment to reduce the amount of packaging materials being sent to landfill, an increasing number…

The quality and safety of flexible packaging materials

13 May 2011 | By Kata Galić, Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb

Food contact materials (FCMs) comprise a broad and complex area, using many different types of materials and articles, as well as many different chemical substances such as additives in the materials and articles. The intent of packaging is to maintain its function of protecting the integrity, quality, freshness and safety…

Screening of acrylamide contents in potato crisps using VIS and NIR technology

13 May 2011 | By Vegard H. Segtnan and Svein H. Knutsen, Nofima AS, The Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research

Acrylamide is considered a potential carcinogen and is present at elevated concentrations in different types of heat-treated foods. It is formed during baking, frying and roasting of raw materials from plant origin, particularly potatoes and cereals. Acrylamide is one of the reaction products in the Maillard reaction between the acrylamide…

Overview of food preservation technologies

13 May 2011 | By Dr Paul Gibbs & Dr Evangelia Komitopoulou, Food Safety, Leatherhead Food Research

The control of microbial access and growth in foods from ‘farm to fork’ is important to ensure consumer health and well-being and minimise losses of foods through spoilage. Whilst it seems almost impossible to achieve a good and consistently hygienic production of raw materials, there are many different ways of…

The ‘Sense-Award’ scoring system: Objective adjudication for a multi category food awards competition

13 May 2011 | By Maurice G. O’Sullivan, Mary P. O’Sullivan and Joseph P. Kerry, Food Packaging Group, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork and Derek V. Byrne, Department of Food Science, Sensory Science, University of Copenhagen

Increasingly, food preference has become based on the mantra ‘we taste therefore we eat’, with consumers consistently seeking quality information across the product spectrum1. Thus, the use of ranking indications from food awards has become important to a product’s impact in the marketplace, particularly artisanal foods2. However, do these awards…

The role of microstructure in texture perception

13 May 2011 | By Fred van de Velde & H. Jan Klok, NIZO Protein Centre, NIZO food research and Tristan Laundon & E. Allen Foegeding, North Carolina State University, Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences

Foods are eaten not only for their nutritional value but also for the pleasure of eating. Food producers reformulate their products to comply with consumer trends on fat, salt and sugar reduction as well as to reduce the number of additives. The number one goal is to maintain consumer acceptance.…

Bottling operations

13 May 2011 | By Gareth Godley, Bottling Team Leader, MolsonCoors Brewing Company

As a nation, the way in which we enjoy alcoholic beverages is changing. We drink more at home, when we eat we favour wine and with the current squeeze on disposable income, we are putting more emphasis on low prices in our purchasing decisions. Traditional pubs are closing at an…

New EHEDG Subgroup on Conveyor Systems

3 March 2011 | By Jon J. Kold, Regional Chairman EHEDG Denmark and Chairman of the EHEDG, Subgroup Conveyor Systems

A new guideline for the hygienic design of conveyor systems will be based on solid Danish and European experiences with hygienic design of conveyor systems to be used in the food industry. In January 2011, the newest EHEDG Subgroup Conveyor Systems became active at a large kick-off seminar, which took…

Controlling Microorganisms: Problems at the food safety / risk manager interface

3 March 2011 | By Olivier Cerf, Professor Emertius, Alfort Veterinary School

The present approach to food safety relies upon implementation of good hygiene practices and the application of HACCP principles against hazards in food. In use for some time almost everywhere around the world, these principles are mandatory in many countries and familiar to the European food industry. Now, a new…

Food Grade Lubricants: Invest now, save in the future

3 March 2011 | By Jessica Evans, NSF Nonfood Compounds, Registration Manager, NSF

On 4 January 2011, United States President Barack Obama and Congress passed the Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernisation Act into law. This measure reflects a significant change in the United States food safety laws. This legislation mandates preventive measures by growers, processors and distributors, providing for increased inspections…

Monitoring the shelf life of minced beef meat using NIR and MIR spectroscopy

3 March 2011 | By Nicoletta Sinelli and Ernestina Casiraghi, DiSTAM, Department of Food Science and Technology, Università degli Studi di Milano

The meat processing industry has shown an increasing demand for fast and reliable methods to determine product quality characteristics during the last few decades. Traditional quality analyses based on chemistry and microbiology have several drawbacks, the most significant of which are low speed, use of chemical products, high manual dexterity,…

PCR technologies for the detection of pathogens in the food industry

3 March 2011 | By Geraldine Duffy, Head of Food Safety Department, Teagasc Food Research Centre

Food safety is critically important to the public health of the consumer and the economic sustainability of the agri-food sector. The consumer wants assurance that food is safe and for the food industry the economic implications and loss of goodwill associated with a food poisoning incident or scare has increased…

Microstructure characterisation of processed fruits and vegetables by complementary imaging techniques

3 March 2011 | By Adrian Voda, Jaap Nijsse & Gerard van Dalen, Unilever Research & Development and Henk Van As, Wagningen University and John van Duynhoven, Unilever Research & Development & Wagningen University

The assessment of the microstructural impact of processing on fruits and vegetables is a prerequisite for understanding the relation between processing and textural quality. By combining complementary imaging techniques, one can obtain a multi scale and real-time structural view on the impact of processing on fruits and vegetables. Fruits and…