Food Science And Technology Research Articles

What Is Considered Healthy Eating? An Exploratory Study among College Students of Nutrition and Food Science.

In modern industrialized societies, the focus on healthy eating has increased significantly across multiple sectors, including the media, public policy, expert opinion, and public awareness. The aim of this research was to explore the perceptions of healthy eating and the barriers to adopting a healthy diet among undergraduate students in Human Nutrition and Dietetics (HND) and Food Science and Technology (FST) degrees in Spain. An exploratory and descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a qualitative and quantitative methodology and convenience sampling. Two focus groups and a questionnaire were utilized (300 participants from all academic years completed the survey). Differences in definitions of healthy eating and perceived barriers were found between genders and students at different stages of training (p < 0.05). In their understanding of healthy eating, the students placed importance on balance, variety, moderation, and individual factors. Although students considered it easy to follow a healthy diet, family's eating habits, time availability, and emotional states were found to be the main barriers to the implementation of healthy practices. The obtained data supports the need to critically address perceptions of healthy eating throughout the training of nutrition and food science professionals. The insights obtained on the perceived barriers highlight the importance of considering both individual and environmental factors.

Is There a Convergence between the Food Classification Adopted by Food-Based Dietary Guidelines and Food Science and Technology?

The World Health Organization (WHO) proposed the dietary guidelines presented as the Food-based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG). The FBDG classify foods according to their origin, nature, nutrient source, food group, and processing level. Food science and technology (FST) ranks food according to its origin, perishability, nutrient source, processing, food group, and formulation. This paper aimed to compare the convergence points for food classification according to the FBDG and FST. This study was carried out in two phases. The first step was identifying the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG). For each of the FBDG, food items were grouped as fruits, vegetables, cereals, sugars, fat and oils, legumes, foods from animals, dairy products, and others. The second step aimed to identify and describe the different food classification systems. The search was performed on PubMed®, Science Direct, and Web of Science and websites of international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Codex Alimentarius. Our results show that the points of convergence between the classifications were the classification in terms of origin (animal and vegetable), nutrient sources, and food groups. However, inconsistencies were observed for the distribution of food items in each group in the 98 surveyed FBDG. As for nature, there was a convergence for in natura, minimally processed, and processed foods. However, the criteria adopted for minimally processed and processed foods described in the FBDG differ from those considered by the FST. FST also does not recognize the classification of foods concerning the level of processing.

Perceptions of Food among College Students in the Field of Food Science: A Food Sustainability Approach

The complex concept of food sustainability has become crucial in all spheres of life. Dietitians, food scientists, and technologists are in a unique position to promote sustainability in food systems. However, the perceptions of food sustainability among food science professionals and college students are under-researched, particularly in Spain. The aim of this study was therefore to analyze perceptions related to food and to food sustainability in a sample of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (HND) and Food Science and Technology (FST) students in Barcelona (Spain). An exploratory and descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out using qualitative and quantitative methodology and convenience sampling. Two focus groups and an online questionnaire were conducted (300 participants completed the survey, 151 from HND and 149 from FST). Although the students expressed concern about food sustainability, their dietary choices were primarily associated with or influenced by taste/pleasure and health/nutrition. The issue of sustainability seemed more internalized by women than men, whereas the generalized conception of a sustainable diet was essentially based on environmental aspects, with socioeconomic dimensions largely overlooked. The concept of sustainability should be promoted among food science students in all its multidimensionality, and actions need to be implemented that bring sustainability closer to students' social practices, which should be incorporated into all university education and that is taught by professors duly trained in the subject.

Scientometric-based Knowledge Map of Food Science and Technology Research in India

The study aims to explore domain specific knowledge map in the area of Food Science and Technology (FST) using scientometric tools and techniques. The study was based on the data extracted from Scopus in this area for the period 2011–2020. Global research output shows a highly skewed distribution with research concentrated in a few countries. The top two countries China and USA accounts for almost 25% of the global research output; India with 3.44% of output is ranked at 7th position globally. Indian papers are not making significant impact globally as seen through citations. One interesting characteristic of Indian research activity is high co-authorship. Highly cited Indian papers exhibit high degree of international collaboration underscoring that international collaboration is a significant factor in making global impact. The Indian research activity is also highly skewed in terms of institutions and authors involved. Most of the papers are concentrated in a few journals. The co-word analysis of highly cited papers based on keywords helps to identify topics which have high contemporary relevance. Antioxidant effects of plant foods, dietary health benefits, food processing, food safety and security, food bioactive compounds, malnutrition, functional foods were areas addressed prominently in the highly cited papers. The study is thus able to bring different facets of research activity in this area in India situating it within the global context.

Twenty-Five Years Study (1995-2019) of Food and Bioproducts Processing: An Overview of Research Trends

In the current study, we presented an overview of the publication profile of Food and Bioproducts Processing (FBP), a leading international journal on food processing. The detailed analysis was made to measure its scientific progress from 1995 to 2019 by identifying publication trends, most cited articles, leading institutes, and profolic countries. The publication dataset and citations information were retrieved from the Scopus bibliographic database hosted by Elsevier. Several scientific achievements were observed in publications (n=1548), impact factor 3.726 or CiteScore 6.10, and the citations (a total of 33,663) over the 25-year time frame. The factorial analysis revealed that the journal research focuses on two clusters. The first cluster focused on moisture determination, spray drying, mathematical models, thermal processing foods, food products and food processing, and the second cluster focuses on research areas of the dimension of surface properties, organic solvents, response surface methodology, antioxidant activities, flavonoids, solvent extraction and fermentation. Although citations have increased significantly need wider publicity of the work. The most cited articles were identified with the interdisciplinary research within food science and technology and added to reinforce science advancement within the field. Overall, these findings highlighted the evolution, progress, quality, and efficiency of the journal and provided early-profession researchers/specialists with an opportunity to lead more inventive studies in food science and technology (FST). © 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Response Surface Optimization of Dietary Iron, Calcium and Vitamin C in Soyamilk for Complementary Feeding

Response surface methodology (RSM) is a collection of tools developed in the 1950s for the purpose of determining optimum operating conditions. In this work, a three level three factor (33) factorial design that metamorphosed to the response surface design with two augmented central point was employed. In its applications a secondary data from the department of Food Science and Technology (FST), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), containing the mineral components of soymilk for complementary feeding of infants was used. The analysis for the First Order (FO), Two Way Interaction (TWI) and the Polynomial (PQ) model was carried out and the augmented response surface analysis was performed. Following the path of steepest ascent, an optimality condition from the surface and contour lines shows that dietary iron is significant for varying the colour content, while calcium was significant for varying the ash and moisture content. It was then recommended that for optimal colour content in the soymilk, 3.07mg/100ml of Dietary Iron, 154.1mg/100ml of Calcium and 24.23mg/100ml of Vitamin C should be used, for optimal ash content in the soymilk, 2.22mg/100ml of Dietary Iron, 152.03mg/100ml of Calcium and 13.53mg/100ml of Vitamin C should be used while for optimal moisture content in the soymilk, 2.9858mg/100ml of dietary Iron, 335.71mg/100ml of Calcium and 25.48mg/100ml of Vitamin C should be used.

Industrial waste in the food science and technology area

In recent years, due to the potential of its properties, the use of industrial waste has generated interest of study in the academic community in the area of Food Science and Technology (FST). The goal of this work was investigate the importance of food industrial waste by bibliometric tools in articles, reviews and proceeding papers published in the last 28 years. It was verified that the research on industrial residues in the area of FST has evolved over the years, being more remarkable from the year of 2006. The research found 1453 documents published in 183 journals. The 7 most productive countries were analyzed, with Brazil being highlighted due to greater predominance of publications in the area. It was observed that antioxidant activity, extraction, optimization, by-products and purification have attracted great attention to food and/or cosmetic industries.

Monoacylglycerols and diacylglycerols for fat-based food products: a review

The flexibility of monoacylglycerol (MAG) and diacylglycerol (DAG) attracted the attention of researchers to learn more about MAG and DAG in food science and technology. The objective of this paper is to serve a review or summarize the production (especially enzymatic glycerolysis), characteristics, and application of MAG and DAG, especially for fat-based products. The characteristic of MAG and DAG related to melting and crystallization properties, polymorphism, microstructure, and rheology are presented and discussed. The applications of MAG and DAG include their use as fats/oils rich in MAG and DAG, margarine/shortening, surfactant/emulsifier, and organogels are also provided. Various studies have shown that MAG and DAG can improve the characteristics of various fat-based food products.

Indicadores de produção científica e relação universidade-empresa em ciência e tecnologia de alimentos: o caso da Unicamp

Historicamente o papel das universidades sempre esteve associado à formação de recursos humanos e geração de conhecimento científico e tecnológico. Contudo, a partir do século XX tais instituições ampliaram seu escopo de atuação e passaram a atuar diretamente como agentes do sistema de inovação. Assim, o objetivo deste artigo foi analisar indicadores relacionados com Produção Científica, Propriedade Intelectual e Relação Universidade–Empresa (U-E) na área Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos (CTA) da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Inicialmente realizou-se o estudo comparativo dos indicadores de Produção Científica em CTA e identificou-se as principais Universidades Brasileiras no campo da CTA. Posteriormente, avaliou-se os indicadores de Propriedade Intelectual e os indicadores relacionados com Relação Universidade-Empresa da UNICAMP. Os resultados demonstram que a UNICAMP é a universidade brasileira com maior desempenho com relação à Produção Científica em CTA, apresentou considerável aumento no número Doutores e de Grupos de Pesquisa durante a última década, e que para cada Grupo de Pesquisa em CTA da UNICAMP existe 0,95 empresa atuando em parceria. No entanto, não foram verificados consideráveis incrementos nos indicadores de Propriedade Intelectual relacionados com Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos durante o período analisado.

Food formulation and not processing level: Conceptual divergences between public health and food science and technology sectors

ABSTRACTObserved changes in eating and drinking behaviors in economically developing countries are associated with increase of obesity and related chronic diseases. Researchers from field of public health (PH) have attributed this problem to food processing and have created new food classification systems to support their thesis. These classifications conceptually differ from processing level concepts in food science, and state to people that food processing is directly related to nutritional impact of food. Our work aims to compare the concept of food processing from the standpoint of food science and technology (FST) and public health and to discuss differences related to formulation or level of processing of products and their impact on nutritional quality. There is a misconception between food processing/unit operation/food technology and formulation or recipes. For the public health approach, classification is based on food products selection and the use of ingredients that results in higher consumption of sugar, sodium, fat, and additives, whereas in FST, processing level is based on the intensity and amount of unit operations to enhance shelf life, food safety, food quality, and availability of edible parts of raw materials. Nutritional quality of a product or preparation is associated with formulation/recipe and not with the level of processing, with few exceptions. The impact of these recommendations on the actual comprehension of food processing and quality must be considered by the population.

Career path of food science and technology professionals: Entry to the world of work

The entrance in the job market of Food Science and Technology (FST) professionals was examined by a web-based survey conducted in Europe. The results highlight aspects that involve both the higher education and extracurricular qualifications and underline the different needs that education and training must fulfil. The field of higher education degree and gender affected the level of responsibility and the type of activity. FST professionals cover a wide range of tasks which require expertise that cannot be covered entirely by a single degree but these professionals show that are eager to expand their knowledge and skills.

Skill development in food professionals: a European study

The food sector is the largest employer in the European Union, yet it ranks low in innovation and few educated young people pursue food careers. Updating both the skills and the image of food science and technology professionals (FSTs) first requires understanding the current situation. This work compares the view of currently employed FSTs (3,007) with that of food science and technology (FST) employers (602) regarding skills and when and where they should be developed. European FSTs responded to a web-based survey in 2011 and 2012, and FST employers responded to an e-mail-based survey and/or attended brainstorming workshops from 2009 to 2012. Soft skills, especially those related with communication, were the best evaluated by both groups, whereas technical non-food skills were in the lowest positions. FSTs were judged qualified by their employers in some food skills (food safety and quality, product development, production), while others (engineering maintenance, consumer and nutritional sciences, environmental issues) were more poorly evaluated. In general, FSTs believe themselves to be well qualified by higher education programs, and most of them do not continue training once they are working, with the notable exception of those that achieve positions of high responsibility. However, employers appeared to disagree, recommending that education and training in soft, food and technical skills continue throughout working life. Additionally, they recommended more frequent reinforcement of soft than of food or technical skills. A competitive food sector requires FSTs of the highest quality, and understanding the view of FSTs and their employees can contribute to improved training and thus benefit the European food sector.

The Regulation of Food Science and Technology Professions in Europe

The regulation of a profession is justified when it improves consumer protection and public health. Higher education food science and technology (FST) degrees, widely offered in many universities in Europe open to a wide range of jobs in the food sectors where the employees could cover different positions, roles and carry out diverse activities dealing with the food production and the quality and safety of the food products. This work reviews the state of the art of the FST regulated professions requiring higher education qualifications in the European countries. The research was carried out by collecting specific information on regulated professions by contacting unions, professional associations, public servant categories/professions, and by visiting national and EU websites. The data collected for each regulated profession were: country, training/education required, date of implementation of regulation, professional training (if required), capability test (if required) and acts required by law to be signed by a regulated professional. Only professions that required a higher education diploma were included in this search. Few countries were found to have a regulated profession in FST, in particular: Food Engineering (Turkey), Food Technologist (Greece, Iceland, Italy and Slovenia), and Oenologist (Italy, Portugal and Spain). FST regulated professions in Europe are thus scarce and have a rather limited history. The Food Technologist in Italy and the Food Engineer in Turkey were found to be the only completely regulated professions found in Europe. Food and professional regulation have been evolved over the years and raised the debate on the regulation of FST professions. Academia as well as other policymakers has to further contribute to this discussion to keep high the standards for quality of education and training of the qualified workforce and professionals in the food sector.

The Regulation of Food Science and Technology Professions in Europe

The regulation of a profession is justified when it improves consumer protection and public health. Higher education food science and technology (FST) degrees, widely offered in many universities in Europe open to a wide range of jobs in the food sectors where the employees could cover different positions, roles and carry out diverse activities dealing with the food production and the quality and safety of the food products.This work reviews the state of the art of the FST regulated professions requiring higher education qualifications in the European countries. The research was carried out by collecting specific information on regulated professions by contacting unions, professional associations, public servant categories/professions, and by visiting national and EU websites. The data collected for each regulated profession were: country, training/education required, date of implementation of regulation, professional training (if required), capability test (if required) and acts required by law to be signed by a regulated professional. Only professions that required a higher education diploma were included in this search.Few countries were found to have a regulated profession in FST, in particular: Food Engineering (Turkey), Food Technologist (Greece, Iceland, Italy and Slovenia), and Oenologist (Italy, Portugal and Spain). FST regulated professions in Europe are thus scarce and have a rather limited history. The Food Technologist in Italy and the Food Engineer in Turkey were found to be the only completely regulated professions found in Europe. Food and professional regulation have been evolved over the years and raised the debate on the regulation of FST professions. Academia as well as other policymakers has to further contribute to this discussion to keep high the standards for quality of education and training of the qualified workforce and professionals in the food sector.

Students’ attitudes towards English: the case of Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University

This study aimed at exploring the attitudes of the students of Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University towards learning English in terms of cognitive, behavioral and emotional dimensions. The present study also attempted at investigating whether there is any significant difference in students’ attitudes on the basis of their demographic profile such as gender and field of study. A total of 105 students from three disciplines namely— Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Food Science and Technology (FST) and Fisheries (F) were administered a questionnaire as measuring tool. The collected data were then analyzed with SPSS. The results revealed that though respondents over all were positive in their attitudes towards learning English, the students of Fisheries showed the highest attitude towards learning English followed by FST and DVM. As for the gender variable, the female respondents showed higher attitude towards learning English than their male counterparts. However, statistical analysis revealed that these differences among the respondents of the three study disciplines and between their sexes were not significant

Evaluation of the perception and awareness of Food Science and Technology amongst high school learners in Limpopo province of South Africa

Important as Food Science and Technology (FST) may be there has been a general down trend in the number of students’ enrolment in educational institutions worldwide. Scarcity of food scientists and technologists in developing countries is a global and emerging critical problem requiring the attention of academia, industry and government in addressing global food security. One of the barriers to achieving ideal FST education is lack of motivation of high school learners (HSL), hence the need for this study to evaluate the perception and awareness of FST amongst HSL as a tool for promoting FST. Majority of the HSL from the Limpopo province gain entry into University of Venda, while others to tertiary institutions in the country and elsewhere in the world. This study, conducted between June and December 2011, covered all five districts in the province with 1539 high schools. Structured questionnaire was used to capture information from the HSL. Only 25% of learners are aware of FST as a discipline. Notwithstanding, 60.7% would want to enroll for FST at the University level. Periodic awareness activities, taking our product to the learners and also targeting teachers, will lead to better understanding of FST and invariably impact positively on HSL subscription to higher institutions. If developing continents like Africa will overcome food insecurity deliberate effort should be geared in making sure FST, as a discipline, receives the proper image and boost in enrolment. Key words: Food Science and Technology, high schools, learners, awareness, perception, food security, Limpopo province, South Africa.

Alignment of Assessment Objectives with Instructional Objectives Using Revised Bloom's Taxonomy—The Case for Food Science and Technology Education

Abstract: Nine food science and technology (FST) subjects were assessed for alignment between the learning outcomes and assessment using revised Bloom's taxonomy (RBT) of cognitive knowledge. Conjoint analysis was used to estimate the utilities of the levels of cognitive, knowledge, and the attribute importance (cognitive process and knowledge dimension) for learning outcomes and assessments. Lecturers for these subjects produced learning outcomes for ability of students to Understand (4.935) Procedural (3.316) as well as Apply (4.491) Conceptual (3.083) knowledge. Lecturers’ expected students’ to move beyond mere recall and recognition of knowledge to higher order cognitive knowledge of apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. However, the assessments tested students’ ability to Understand (4.791) Conceptual (4.168) as well as Remember (3.217) Procedural (0.581) knowledge resulting in a misaligned teaching and learning exercise. For all the subjects, emphasis was more (52.9% to 72.9%) on the cognitive dimension than on forms of knowledge in formulating the learning outcomes, whereas emphasis placed on the cognitive (33.3% to 62.5%) dimension and the knowledge (37.5% to 66.7%) forms in the questions differed from subject to subject. The cognitive weight in the assessment was more for Understand (1.781)/Remember (0.787) Conceptual (1.416) knowledge. RBT provides an assessment framework that can be used to assist instructors in going beyond factual knowledge and comprehension to include academic skills such as application, analysis, evaluation, and creation.

Bibliometric study on food science and technology: Scientific production in Iberian-American countries (1991-2000)

This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the scientific production in the food science and technology (FST) field for the period 1991-2000, in Iberian-America (IA). Eight selected IA countries contributed 97.6% of the IA production and accounted for a 6.6% of the world production. The most frequent document type is journal article published in English. Retrieved records display characteristical authorship patterns and preferred subject areas. Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Portugal determine the IA pattern of sources of publication. The fifty top ranked journals, 80% of which were indexed by the SCIE, encompass two-thirds of the IA production.

Growth of food science and technology literature: A comparison of CFTRI, India and the world

An attempt has been made to trace and compare the trends in growth of Food Science and Technology (FST) literature (periodical articles, patents, standards, theses and dissertations) produced by CFTRI scientists, by food scientists in India and by food scientsts of the world, covering a period between 1950 and 1990; to identify the best fitting growth models for actual and cumulative growth of data through regression analysis; and αt and α2t analysis; and to compute and compare the growth rates of FST documnets.