Editorial and News

Abstract

Our theme for September, food and health, covers an enormous range of food science and nutrition topics including links between diet and noncommunicable ‘lifestyle’ diseases, personalised nutrition for specific groups within a population, the effects of epigenetics (changes caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself) on diet and health, the influence of gut microorganisms on digestion and the provision of nutritious, healthy food products. Obesity in the UK is rising at an alarming rate and government measures adopted so far to encourage calorie reduction have failed to make an impact on this epidemic (p28). Recent figures show that childhood obesity has reached the highest point since records began (p4) and this is of particular concern as the younger the age of the child when he or she becomes overweight, the higher the risk of future obesity. Obesity represents a major threat to public health and a huge cost to the National Health Service. New government initiatives are planned to try to derail this upward trend. Groups within society sometimes have a specific need for dietary supplementation, for example, the elderly often require a specialised diet in terms of energy and protein intake and vitamin supplementation (p23). We are likely to see increasing trends towards personalised nutrition as genetic profiling becomes more common and diets are tailored to the needs of an individual. The Internet of Things (the interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data) is allowing the development of apps to support and measure individual diets. Food manufacturers are working to develop products that are lower in sugar, salt and fat and to reduce portion size (p32). At the same time, they need to address the sustainability of their products, which creates additional challenges in terms of ingredients sourcing, for example animal vs plant protein. The rise of vegetarianism and veganism has prompted new research into plant sources of key proteins and vitamins (p5). Improving the diet and health of the nation will depend on a wide range of strategies being adopted simultaneously. While food manufacturers and food service outlets can reduce calories and enhance the nutritious value of their products, education and ‘nudge’ behaviour will be needed to influence people's dietary choices and food intake. email mb@biophase.co.uk Levels of severe obesity in children aged 10 to 11 years have reached the highest point since records began, according to new figures published in July 2018 by Public Health England (PHE)[1]. This trend has been decades in the making – reversing it will not happen overnight. Analysis of the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) between 2006 to 2007 and 2016 to 2017 details trends in severe obesity for the first time. The programme captures the height and weight of over 1m children in Reception (aged 4 to 5 years) and Year 6 (aged 10 to 11 years) in school each year. The findings also show stark health inequalities continue to widen. The prevalence of excess weight, obesity, overweight and severe obesity are higher in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived – this is happening at a faster rate in Year 6 than Reception. The rise in severe obesity and widening health inequalities highlight why bold measures are needed to tackle this threat to children's health. The Department of Health and Social Care recently announced the second chapter of its Childhood Obesity Plan to help halve childhood obesity by 2030. Main actions include mandatory calorie labelling on menus and restrictions on price promotions on foods high in fat, salt or sugar. These measures will go out for consultation later in 2018. PHE is also working with the food industry to cut 20% of sugar from everyday products by 2020, and 20% of calories by 2024. It aims to help families to make healthier choices through its Change4Life campaigns – the free Food Scanner app reveals the sugar, fat, salt and calories in popular foods and drinks. Unhealthy weight in childhood can result in bullying, stigma and low self-esteem. It is also likely to continue into adulthood, increasing the risk of preventable illnesses including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. ■ The Food Standards Agency has successfully completed a pilot using blockchain technology in a cattle slaughterhouse[2]. It is believed to be the first time blockchain has been used as a regulatory tool to ensure compliance in the food sector. A block chain is a type of database that takes a number of records and puts them in a block (rather like collating them on to a single sheet of paper). Each block is then ‘chained’ to the next block, using an encrypted signature. This allows block chains to be used like a ledger, which can be shared and checked by anyone with the appropriate permission. In this pilot both the FSA and the slaughterhouse had permission to access data, giving the benefit of improved transparency across the food supply chain. A further pilot took place in July that allowed farmers to access data about animals from their farm. Further work is planned to replicate this in other plants and ensure that all those across the supply chain get the full benefit of the new way data is managed and accessed as ‘permissioned’ data to the FSA, slaughterhouse and farmer. The approach has been to develop data standards with industry that will make theory reality. If the use of blockchain technology continues to show success in pilots, then the FSA believes that its permanent use would need to be industry-led because the current data model is limited to the collection and communication of inspection results. Having established a Food and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) collaborative group last year, the FSA continues to work with DLT experts from government, food sector, technology industry and academia on the use of blockchain, including regulatory compliance of food. ■ A new project has been launched to examine how the Internet of Things (IoT) could transform the food industry through innovations such as ‘smart’ cooking appliances, data-driven supermarket refrigeration networks and enhanced food traceability systems[3]. The project is funded by a £1.14m grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to nurture and grow the UK's food manufacturing digital economy. The Internet of Food Things (IoFT) Network Plus will bring together data and computer scientists, chemists and economists to investigate how artificial intelligence, data analytics and emerging technologies can enhance the digitalisation of the UK food supply chain. The network, led by the University of Lincoln in partnership with the universities of Southampton, Surrey, East Anglia, and the Open University, will examine the application of the IoT in connected homes of the future – for example smart refrigerators that trigger a grocery order when food items run low, or cooking devices that could help us live healthier lives. It will also examine the traceability of food and how machine learning and artificial intelligence could be utilised to extract value from the vast amounts of data available across the whole food supply chain, improving efficiency and reducing food waste. Businesses and researchers nationally will be able to participate in workshops, run annual conferences to share best practice across the sector and bid for funding for pilot studies, projects and reviews. Collectively these initiatives, which will run until May 2021, will contribute to progressing the digitisation of food manufacturing in the UK. The aim is to specifically engage with the whole food and digital innovation chain. The project will combine interdisciplinary contributions from food science and technology practitioners, policy makers, engineers, management specialists and colleagues in social and behavioural sciences. The inclusion of food retailers like Tesco within the consortium provides access to data sets demonstrating consumer behaviours. Alongside academic expertise, the project will involve industry specialists from a range of areas, such as the global engineering company Siemens, IoT and machine management solutions’ firm IMS Evolve, supermarket chain Tesco, the rural agricultural consultancy Collison and Associates and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Regulators, such as the Food Standards Agency and GS1, an international agency that sets data standards for bar codes, will also have input and consumers will be engaged through representative bodies. ■ Scientists at the University of Kent have discovered that the vitamin content of some plants can be improved to make vegetarian and vegan diets more complete. Vitamin B12 (known as cobalamin) is an essential dietary component but vegetarians are more prone to B12 deficiency as plants neither make nor require this nutrient. A team, led by Professor Martin Warren at the University's School of Biosciences, has proved that common garden cress can take up cobalamin. The amount of B12 absorbed by garden cress is dependent on the amount present in the growth medium. The observation that certain plants are able to absorb B12 is important as such nutrient-enriched plants could help overcome dietary limitations in countries, such as India, which have a high proportion of vegetarians. It may also be significant as a way to address the global challenge of providing a nutrient-complete vegetarian diet, a valuable development as the world becomes increasingly meat-free due to population expansion. Researchers worked with teachers and pupils at Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, who grew garden cress in media containing increasing concentrations of vitamin B12. After seven days growth, the leaves from the seedlings were removed, washed and analysed. Vitamin B12 is unique among the vitamins because it is made only by certain bacteria and therefore has to undergo a journey to make its way into more complex multi-cellular organisms. The research highlights how this journey can be followed using the fluorescent B12 molecules, which can also be used to help understand why some people are more prone to B12-deficiency. The research is published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology[4]. ■ Campden BRI has developed a new method to rate the chilli heat of complex products, such as ready meals and cooking sauces[5]. The calibrated method uses the company's highly-trained panel of taste testers to provide retailers and manufacturers with a consistent way to rate their products as mild, medium, hot or very hot. Ingredients and even the colour and texture of a product will influence the perception of hotness. Campden BRI's method takes these factors into account and is reported to provide a consistent and reliable heat rating for food products. Samples are evaluated individually in sensory booths under coloured light to mask any differences in the colour of the products. Three major retailers, Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury's, have joined forces with plastic packaging manufacturer, Faerch Plast, and recycling and waste management company, Viridor, to put recycled black plastic into new food grade packaging[6, 7]. The aim is to provide a circular economy solution to a previously challenging material that was difficult to recycle and to reduce the amount of virgin plastic entering the economy. The solution developed at the Viridor recycling facility enables accurate detection of the black pigment in packaging items, such as food trays, which have previously been hard-to-recycle, and separates them for shredding, melting and re-use in new packaging. Initially 120 tonnes of black plastic (8m items) will be recycled in the UK each month starting from July 2018. The volume of material will be steadily increased over the next 18 months with Viridor's specialist plastics recycling facility at Rochester in Kent becoming a centre of excellence for the initiative. The black plastic from household mixed waste recycling will be recycled into high quality mixed coloured ‘jazz’ flakes to create food grade packaging. The flakes and pellets will be taken to Faerch Plast's manufacturing facility in Ely, Cambridgeshire, where they will be used in new packaging solutions. The key to the project was the collaboration across the supply chain, with the retailers creating the sustained demand for the recycled material and recycled plastic packaging. The supermarkets all started to use the recycled black plastic for their own brand products from July. However, more work is needed to achieve high and sustainable levels of tray recycling with further investment required in commercially viable waste collection systems and sorting and recycling facilities for PET pots, tubs and trays. All the partners are signatories of WRAP's UK Plastics Pact, which aims to achieve a 20% reduction in food and drink waste across the UK and a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from food and drink consumed in the UK. The Pact sets out clear ambitions for a more responsible and resource-efficient approach to plastics by all sectors and provides the framework for collaborative action. ■ The British Poultry Council (BPC) has released its 2018 Antibiotic Stewardship Report[8], which highlights the achievements made by the British poultry meat sector's drive to deliver responsible use of antibiotics to safeguard the efficacy of antibiotics across the supply chain. The poultry meat sector became the first UK livestock sector to pioneer a data collection mechanism and share antibiotic usage data with the Government's Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD). Data collected by the BPC is published every year as part of the UK-Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance (UK-VARSS) Report. The BPC collects and monitors usage of all antibiotic classes in the UK poultry meat industry aiming to promote and apply best practice throughout the supply chain. It has facilitated sharing of best practice on responsible use of antibiotics with other livestock sectors in the UK and across the world. The BPC is working with animal and human health experts to develop a methodology for rapid on-farm diagnostics to increase speed of antibiotic sensitivity testing and to ensure early diagnosis. The aim is to use the diagnostic and sensitivity testing tools used in human medicine to better map bird health and welfare, evaluate the impact of disease control programmes and implement robust surveillance. The BPC is also supporting scientific research into examining the link between antibiotic use and resistance in the poultry production chain, understanding patterns of transmission and tackling antimicrobial resistance. The BPC claims that UK poultry farmers and veterinarians need antibiotics in their toolbox to preserve the health and welfare of the birds. It argues that responsible use of antibiotics is about more than reduction targets and that zero use is neither ethical nor sustainable as it goes against farmers’ duty to alleviate pain and suffering. A team of scientists lead by Brunel University London are developing a molecular test and a smartphone app that, when used together, can detect six key pathogens in poultry[9]. Backed by £615,000 from the UK government's Newton Fund, Brunel will work with the University of Surrey and Lancaster University to develop the tests over the next three years. The new hand-held device and smartphone app will be tested by farmers in the Philippines but could subsequently be rolled out to farmers in other developing countries. It should help farmers act fast before disease can spread and potentially infect people. It also cuts out the need to send samples away for expensive laboratory tests. Farmers in the Philippines will collect samples from their birds using a largematchbox-sized instrument that screens the DNA and RNA. The device connects wirelessly to the app to display the results, which can also feed into a central store to help track outbreaks across the islands. The whole process takes less than an hour. Near-patient molecular diagnostics have been very important in improving human health, but such technology in animal health on farms is less advanced. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines and other poorer countries make a living farming poultry, so disease outbreaks can devastate their economies. DIARY 12 September 2018 NEWTRITION X – INNOVATION SUMMIT PERSONALISED NUTRITION Venue Luebeck, Germany Web https://foodregio.de/en/event-calender?vid=134 18-21 September 2018 EFSA CONFERENCE – SCIENCE, FOOD, SOCIETY Venue Parma, Italy Web https://conference.efsa.europa.eu/ 2 October 2018 NPD AND INNOVATION SUMMIT – MAKING FOOD BETTER Venue Coventry, UK Web foodbevinnovation.com/ 4-6 October 2018 21ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOOD TECHNOLOGY & PROCESSING Venue London, UK Web https://foodtechnology.insightconferences.com 23-27 October 2018 IUFOST INDIA 2018, 19TH WORLD CONGRESS ON FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Venue Mumbai, India Web iufost2018.com/index.php 12-13 November 2018 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING AND FOOD SECURITY Venue Frankfurt, Germany Web https://agri-foodsecurity.agriconferences.com/ 20-22 November 2018 FOOD MATTERS LIVE Venue ExCeL, London Web foodmatterslive.com/ 21-22 November EHEDG WORLD CONGRESS ON HYGIENIC ENGINEERING & DESIGN Venue ExCeL, London Web ehedg-congress.org/home/ 27-29 November 2018 HI EUROPE AND NI Venue Frankfurt, Germany Web figlobal.com/hieurope/