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PhotocourtesyofAgriculturalResearchService,USDAFOODI30TECHNOLOGY FeatureFood Research Trends2003 and BeyondThirty-five scientists responsible for peer review of research papersin IFTs journals tell what food research they seeand foreseehappening in their areas of expertise.Neil H. Mermelstein, EditorFOODTECHNOLOGYn the recent past, Food Technology published a number of articles inwhich experts in food science and technology described what theyexpected to happen in their areas of expertise over the next few years.In “Research Priorities Move Toward Healthy and Safe” (December 2000,p. 42), 38 chief research officers of major food companies discussed theresearch areas that their departments are involved in, and in “A LookInto the Future of Food Science & Technology” (January 2002, p. 46),representatives of each of IFTs 26 Divisions told what they foreseehappening in their respective Divisions area of expertise over the nextfew years.To vary the source of experts even further this year, I asked the scientif-ic editors responsible for peer review of research papers in the Institute ofFood Technologists journalsJournal of Food Science, Journal of Food Sci-ence Education, and Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safe-tyto tell what food research they seeand foreseein their areas of ex-pertise. In this article, 34 of the editors provide their views (arranged al-phabetically by author and journal), and Owen Fennema, IFTs Editor-in-Chief, IFT Scientific Journals, provides an introduction. The result is acomprehensive overview of the state of research in all aspects of food sci-ence and technologyincluding education, which is obviously the startingpoint for all food research. I hope you find it interesting and stimulating.Forecasting the FutureBy Owen R. FennemaWhen considering discussion of this topic, it seems ap-propriate to ask: Is this discussion worthwhile? and, Isspeculation of this type likely to be reliable?The answer to the first question is clearly yes. Foodcompanies spend millions of dollars annually on researchand development, and the results can be highly pleasing orsadly disappointing, depending on whether the funds are wisely allocated.Wise allocations are based on company strengths, careful analysis of exist-DECEMBER 2002 VOL. 56, NO. 12ing trends, and accurate forecasts re-garding the firms future capabilities andconsumer preferences. Companystrengths and future capabilities can, ofcourse, be assessed by company person-nel; however, outside help is highly ben-eficial for acquiring the other kinds ofinformation. One source of outsidehelp, but obviously not the only one, isarticles of the kind presented here.The second question is more compli-cated, since it entails two sub-questions.First, what specifically are we speculat-ing about? Products? Processes? Modesof product delivery? Modes of market-ing? Threats? Consumer behavior? It isdesirable, of course, to consider all ofthese, because to focus on but one ortwo entails the risk of missing whatmight be most important. Second, spec-ulation involves the future, but the timeframe has not been specified. It is onething to speculate about what is likely tohappen next year but quite another todo the same for the next decade. Longer,of course is better, provided that thespeculation is reasonably reliablebutthe more distant the forecast, the moreunreliable predictions usually are.Those participating in this articlewill, I believe, offer predictions that arequite reliable because each is highlycompetent in his or her field of special-ization. So I suggest that their commentsare worthy of your careful attention.I would like to mention two pointsof overriding importance for the foodindustry in general. One is the historicalpattern of advances in food technology,and the other is the impact of companymergers.Unlike in the electronics industry,where mind-boggling innovations arealmost a daily occurrence, changes infoods and food processing are typicallyevolutionary. Abundant evidence clearlyindicates the difficulty (impossibility?)of persuading consumers to adopt revo-lutionary changes in the food they con-sume. A few examples provide conclu-sive support for this statement: The ability to preserve food by ion-izing radiation was developed morethan a half century ago, yet the processis not widely accepted, even though itsability to greatly inhibit food spoilageand lessen transmission of disease hasUnlike in the electronicsindustry, where mind-boggling innovations arealmost a daily occurrence,changes in foods and foodprocessing are typicallyevolutionary.been clearly demonstrated and its safetyhas been more rigorously establishedthan those of either thermally sterilizedor dehydrated foods. The ability to rapidly improve foodsof plant and animal origin by recombi-nant DNA technology was developedmore than a decade ago, but products somodified are still vigorously resisted bymany consumers, even though this tech-nology provides many important ad-vantages and extensive research hasfailed to indicate any risk to humans. Consumer acceptance of pasteur-ized milk was slow, begrudging, and ac-companied by many protests, eventhough this means of processing milkextended its shelf life and freed it ofpathogenic organisms, a serious prob-lem with raw milk at the time pasteur-ization was introduced, and entailedonly minor disadvantages. Managers ofR&D and marketing who ignore the re-solve of consumers to reject modifica-tions in food and food processing savethose that are evolutionary imperil thefinancial well-being of their firms.Mergers in the food industry haveoccurred steadily over the past severaldecades, and there is no reason to sus-pect a change in this trend. Large com-panies spend substantial amounts ofmoney on R&D and marketing, skillful-ly assess consumer preferences, and tai-lor their products for the mass market.Where does this leave small and medi-um-sized food enterprises that are lessable to support R&D and marketing ac-tivities but are extremely valuable to thenational economy because of their im-portant role in job creation? They canand do survive and often prosper byidentifying local or niche markets toosmall to be of interest to their largercompetitors, by innovating (evolution-arily, of course) in ways that larger firmsconsider too risky or, in some instances,by becoming low-cost producers. It isimportant that these small and medi-um-sized food enterprises focus onthese courses of action when adminis-tering their modest funds for R&D andmarketing.Owen R. Fennema is ProfessorEmeritus of Food Chemistry, University ofWisconsin, Madison.VOL. 56, NO. 12 DECEMBER 2002Realizing thePotential ofNanobiotechnologyBy Carl A. BattHow many angels candance on the head of apin? While this vexingquestion has been thefodder of philosophersand theologians, a prac-tical answer eludes us. Two confound-ing factors are how small are angels andhow small can we make the head of apin. In medieval times, angels were be-lieved to be the smallest possible physi-cal object. A more approachable chal-lenge came in 1959, when Richard Feyn-man asked, “Why cannot we write theentire 24 volumes of the EncyclopediaBritannica on the head of a pin?”(http:/ The challenge of mov-ing around single atoms has been met,but the issue of making it practical re-mains (D.M. Eigler and E.K. Schweizer, average computer chip carries aseries of electrical circuits that are sosmall thousands can fit on the head ofpin. Advances in nanotechnology nowallow wires to be built that are literally aFOODTECHNOLOGY 3132Food Research Trends2003 and BeyondEditorial affiliations ofthe participating authorsJournal of Food Science(print and online journal)Owen R. Fennema, Editor-in-Chief, IFT ScientificJournals Concise Reviews and Hypotheses in FoodScience sectionDaryl B. Lund, Scientific EditorAssociate Editors:Carl A. BattBarbara O. SchneemanHarjinder SinghJames Swi-Bea WuRichard Whiting Food Chemistry and Toxicology sectionDavid B. Min, Scientific EditorAssociate Editors:Manfred KrogerPatricia A. Murphy Food Engineering and Physical PropertiessectionM. Anandha Rao, Scientific EditorAssociate Editors:H. Douglas GoffDallas G. HooverFu-hung Hsieh Food Microbiology and Safety sectionElliot T. Ryser, Scientific EditorAssociate Editors:Mansel W. GriffithsVijay K. JunejaSamuel A. PalumboAhmed E. Yousef Sensory and Nutritive Qualities of FoodsectionAssociate Editors:Dennis D. MillerHerbert StoneComprehensive Reviews in Food Scienceand Food Safety (online journal)Editorial Board members:Todd KlaenhammerJames N. BeMillerMichael P. DoyleColin DennisFelix E. EscherDietrich KnorrJosef L. KokiniJournal of Food Science Education(online journal)Wayne Iwaoka, Scientific EditorAssociate Editors:Grady W. Chism IIIFaye M. DongRichard HartelCheryll ReitmeierShelly J. SchmidtRonald E. WrolstadFOODTECHNOLOGYfew atoms wide. Eventually, practical cir-cuits will be created with a series of indi-vidual atoms strung together like beadsserving as switches and information stor-age devices.Nanobiotechnology seeks to developdevices using the very same tools andprocesses that are being exploited by themicro- and nanofabrication industry tostudy biology at the nanometer scale.There are three compelling reasons topredict that nanobiotechnology will havean impact in the future:1. The development of more portable,more robust devices that can be deployedin the field. Sensors can be developed anddeployed that will be small enough to bedistributed and collect data from a widearea. Given the state-of-the-art in microand nanofabrication, sensors as small as aparticle of dust could be created. Thechallenges are in powering these devicesand the effective distance that they cantransmit their signal. Applications infood safety are in the area of hand-heldpathogen detectors.2. The creation of novel analytical de-vices capable of interrogating single mol-ecules. These devices will have unprece-dented sensitivity and specificity by vir-tue of their ability to isolate single mole-cules in an exceedingly small volume.Novel approaches to optical or electro-magnetic interrogation schemes will be akey factor. We will be able to characterizeeven smaller quantities of chemicals thatare of value to the flavor industry.3. The fabrication of separation mod-ules that force molecules into confinedenvironments. Unique separation effectscan be realized that afford a more rapidand in some cases a more specific separa-tion based on the behavior of moleculesin a microfluidic environment. Novelseparations of chemicals that are impor-tant to the food ingredient industry willbe possible.All of these developments will have animpact on food science and the design ofthe next decades food systems. Onewould still hope, however, that food willstill be what it should bea gastronomi-cal experience of the senses, somethingthat we enjoy from preparation to con-sumption.Carl A. Batt is Director, Ludwig In-stitute for Cancer Research Partnership,and Co-director, Nanobiotechnology Cen-ter, Project Leader, Alliance for Nanomedi-cal Technologies, Cornell University, Ith-aca, N.Y.Studying FoodStructureBy H. Douglas GoffThe field of foodphysics as a specific dis-cipline or curriculumsubject has not receivedthe attention in NorthAmerica that foodchemistry has, although many impor-tant interactions in foods, dictatingstructure, texture, stability, etc., are de-termined by physical interactions. Incontrast, the biennial Food Colloidsmeeting in Europe, under the auspicesof the Royal Society of Chemistry, re-ceives hundreds of abstracts per year,and the published proceedings are animportant part of the library of any re-searcher in this field.However, there is a well-developedand increasingly important researchdiscipline that studies physical proper-ties at the macromolecular and particlescale in complex food structures. Wehave much to learn from physical prop-erty studies that are solidly built onprinciples of physics. Most of the time,foods that are characterized, for exam-ple, as multicomponent or particulatedispersions are not in equilibrium, andit is the kinetics of structural changethat dictates success in the marketplace.Recent research papers have focusedon such topics as the properties of edi-ble films and gels, the glass transition incarbohydrate-based dried or frozenfoods, formation and stability of emul-sions and foams, etc. The effects of nov-el processing techniques such as high-pressure processing on structural fea-tures of processed foods have also beenrecently studied.Research techniques are also gettingmore sophisticated, including increas-ing use of oscillatory rheometry for vis-coelasticity measurements, a wide rangeof microscopy and light-scatteringtechniques for quantitative structuralanalyses, and complex calorimetricanalyses for thermal properties andglass transitions, to name a few. I be-lieve we will see an increasing apprecia-tion of the discipline of food physics inthe next few years and that it will ma-ture to be recognized as a distinct fieldof study.H. Douglas Goff is Professor, Dept.of Food Science, University of Guelph,Guelph, Ontario, Canada.continued on page 34DECEMBER 2002 VOL. 56, NO. 1234Food Research Trends2003 and BeyondFighting FoodSafety ProblemsBy Mansel W. GriffithsThe Centers for Dis-ease Control and Preven-tion has estimated thatabout one-third of the in-habitants of the UnitedStates acquire a food-borne infection annually. The WorldHealth Organization has reported thatglobally 2.1 million people died from en-teric diseases in 2000, with diarrhea beinga major cause of malnutrition in infantsand young children. This high prevalenceof diarrheal diseases in many developingcountries suggests that there are signifi-cant food safety problems in those partsof the world.In developed countries, changes in ag-ricultural practices and food processinghave resulted in large foodborne diseaseoutbreaks. For example, in 1994, an out-break of salmonellosis in the U.S. causedby contaminated ice cream affected about224,000 people. The aging populations inmost industrialized countries means thata greater number of people are at risk ofcontracting infectious diseases. Thus,problems related to food safety will re-main with us for some time to come.There have been several consultationexercises conducted to prioritize foodsafety research (e.g., www.asmusa.org/acasrc/pdfs/Colloquia/Foodsafetyreport.pdf). Many of these have recognized theimportance of research on microbial ad-aptation. Certainly, to effectively combatfood- and waterborne illness, more needsto be known about the way that microor-ganisms interact with each other andtheir environments. We know that bacte-ria “communicate” with each otherthrough the production of moleculescalled pheromones. This conversation al-lows bacteria to respond to their imme-diate environment. These responses mayinclude triggering the formation of bio-films to protect them from adverse envi-ronments or promoting the expression ofvirulence factors so that, for example,they can effectively adhere to and colo-nize the intestinal tract of their host. Aswell as intraspecies communication, sig-naling pathways that allow interspeciescommunication are being identifiedthrough which nonpathogenic bacteriacan control gene expression by potentialpathogens. By interrupting the conversa-tion between microorganisms, it may bepossible to limit spread in the environ-FOODTECHNOLOGYment and prevent infection.To help reduce contamination at allpoints in the food chain, we need a betterunderstanding of how microorganismsinteract with their environment. We needto better understand the processes thatallow microorganisms to survive stress,whether it is starvation induced by a nu-trient-limited environment such as water,or acid- and temperature-induced stressin foods. We are now beginning to builda picture of how microorganisms interactwith food matrices. Using fluorescent orTo help reducecontamination at allpoints in the food chain,we need a better under-standing of howmicroorganisms interactwith their environment.luminescent labeling, it is possible totrack bacteria in plants, food, and evenlive animals. This enables the identifica-tion of niches that promote survival ofthe organism and will ultimately lead tobetter intervention strategies to reduceincidence of foodborne pathogens.Much of the information that we re-quire will come through the utilization oftechnologies such as DNA and proteinarrays so that we can gain an understand-ing of how foodborne pathogens work atthe molecular level.Mansel W. Griffiths is Chair in DairyMicrobiology and Director, Canadian Re-search Institute for Food Safety, Dept. ofFood Science, University of Guelph, Guel-ph, Ontario, Canada.OptimizingHurdlesBy Dallas G. HooverAreas such as nano-technology and pro-teomics have real futuris-tic potential, but thequestion is how far intothe 21st century will ittake for research productivity and re-sultant applications to be realized inthese areas? Certainly, I have yet to seeany manuscripts for publication in thesebasic areas of research applied to someaspect of food production in the com-mercial realm.Currently, research trends involvingthe development of nonthermal pro-cessing technologies and active, antimi-crobial food packaging are more-matureareas that have evolved to a point shownby manuscript flow and preliminarycommercial evidence (and in the case ofhigh-pressure processing, an expandingsegment of actual products). Consumerinterest continues to supply justificationfor research involving new-generationprocessed foods that are flavorful andsafe, with fresh-like sensory qualitiesand appealing nutritional value. Re-search that optimizes the hurdle ap-proach by incorporation of multiplenonthermal processing technologies,minimal applications of heat, and pre-servative components such as bacterio-cins (i.e., the so-called natural preserva-tives), in accompaniment with packag-ing possessing enhanced functionaltraits, can be expected to continue forthe next several decades.In step with these nonthermal pro-cessing developments will be the neces-sity to compare the nonthermal process-ing control measures with traditionalthermal processes to confidently predictsafety requirements for these new-gen-eration foods. Additional science-basedreview of the safety of these new prod-ucts is required to deal with regulatoryissues of international trade. This pro-cess review, along with the competitivesearch for improved minimally pro-cessed foods, will drive a substantialportion of food research efforts beyond2003.Dallas G. Hoover is Professor, Dept.of Animal and Food Sciences, Universityof Delaware, Newark.Shifting to Nontradi-tional ProcessesBy Fu-hung HsiehFood engineering willcontinue to evolve. Tra-ditional food processingresearch such as baking,blanching, canning, dry-ing, extrusion, evapora-tion, frying, and pasteurization, etc., willcontinue to be conducted and find newapplications. However, more and morefood engineering research will be shiftedDECEMBER 2002 VOL. 56, NO. 12future.do.36Food Research Trends2003 and Beyondto nontraditional processing and non-thermal processing, such as microwaveand radiofrequency processing, ohmicand inductive heating, high-pressureprocessing, pulsed electric fields, high-voltage arc discharge, pulsed-light tech-nology, oscillating fields, ultravioletlight, ultrasound, and pulsed X-rays.This shift will accelerate, in particular,with the recent discovery that high levelsof the possible carcinogen acrylamideare detected in many carbohydratefoods that are fried or baked at hightemperatures.New and innovative extraction, sepa-ration, and purification processes willbe developed by food engineers for phy-tochemicals and for biologically activecomponents from genetically engi-neered plants and animals. They willalso contribute to the characterizationof the pharmacokinetic and pharmaco-dynamic properties of functional foodsand nutraceuticals.Finally, food engineers will explorenew appli
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