Food processing and preservation traces its origins in the early Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisation. Some of the most common examples of processed food included the production of beer and wine. Since then, a lot of developments occurred while a science dedicated to food has established itself.
Food science and technology involves a number of disciplines of applied sciences such as biology (e.g. understanding microbial physiology of food systems), biotechnology (e.g. producing foods with added nutritional value), chemistry (e.g. analysing key components such as vitamins), engineering (e.g. developing food manufacturing for process control), applied mathematics (e.g. modelling of microbial populations in food products), material Science (e.g. developing novel packaging material/ analysing food structure), microbiology (e.g. assessing food safety and hygiene), nutrition (e.g. producing foods that address specific health needs), physics (e.g. designing and optimising food processes like pasteurisation and sterilisation), sensory (e.g. understanding consumer preferences in relation to flavours and other attributes) and toxicology (e.g. assessing the safety of chemical components or food additives).
But why do we really process food? Food processing was a huge innovation as it transformed perishable (e.g. fresh milk), unpalatable (e.g. some plants) or hardly edible (e.g. raw grains) items into safe, nutritious, flavourful, digestible, stable and enjoyable foods (e.g. dairy products like cheese, etc.).
Processing can vary from simple cooking to fermentation, drying, curing, pasteurisation, dehydration, smoking, etc. Nowadays processing is also applied to increasing its availability, convenience (e.g. read-to-eat salads), health and wellness, as well as sustainability.
Innovation in the food industry has been positioned as a societal challenge with high potential for sustainable competitiveness and growth. This requires the development and further application of technologies for a sustainable food chain; safe foods and healthy diets for all. Particularly, with increasing productivity in order to meet the demands of a growing population, but also with making the market more financially viable and attractive to the growth of new food businesses.
The University of Malta and our research group (as part of the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition and the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking) are involved in several national and international research projects in food processing, predictive microbiology and non-thermal technologies. Our most recent activities involve the development of ultrasound technology for the decontamination of fresh produce and the assessment of the antifungal potential of selective nanoparticles. We are also involved in international education activities that focus on quantitative tools for sustainable food and energy in the food chain (Q-Safe project) and microbial risk assessment and sustainable intervention technologies for controlling food safety and stability (SUIT4FOOD project) funded by Erasmus+.
As the French gastronome Anthelme Brillat-Savarin quoted back in the 19th century: “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”
Did you know?
• A salt solution conducts electricity, while a sugar solution does not.
• Rabbits and parrots can see behind themselves without even moving their heads!
• A hippopotamus may seem huge and heavy but it can still run faster than a human.
• Sneezing with your eyes open is impossible. Try it!
• The only elements that are liquid at room temperature are bromine and mercury. However, you can melt gallium by holding a lump in the warmth of your hand.
• If you pour a handful of salt into a full glass of water, the water level will actually go down rather than overflowing the glass.
For more trivia see: www.um.edu.mt/think
Sound bites
• Thermoelectric devices, which can generate power when one side of the device is a different temperature from the other, have been the subject of much research in recent years. Now, a team at MIT has come up with a novel way to convert temperature fluctuations into electrical power. Instead of requiring two different temperature inputs at the same time, the new system takes advantage of the swings in ambient temperature that occur during the day-night cycle.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180215124853.htm
• A new type of all-terrain microbot that moves by tumbling could help usher in tiny machines for various applications. The ‘microscale magnetic tumbling robot’, or μTUM (microTUM), is about 400 by 800 microns, or millionths of a metre, smaller than the head of a pin. A continuously rotating magnetic field propels the microbot in an end-over-end or sideways tumbling motion, which helps the microbot traverse uneven surfaces such as bumps and trenches, a difficult feat for other forms of motion.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180214150235.htm
To find out more interesting science news, tune in Radju Malta on Saturday mornings at 11.05 am and listen to Radio Mocha.