Test Kitchen Research Articles

Exposure to cooking emitted volatile organic compounds with recirculating and extracting ventilation solutions

Energy-efficient urban development leads to the compact design of apartments. Recirculating ventilation solutions are an attempt to minimize the space required for ventilation ducting, but more data on their performance are needed. Cooking is a major source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions. It is necessary to assess how well recirculating kitchen hoods perform in reducing the residents' exposure to cooking fumes compared to extracting hoods, and what airflow rates assure good removal efficiency. We have monitored the occupant exposure to several VOCs generated during the cooking of a model meal under different ventilation scenarios in a purpose-built test kitchen resembling the layout of a modern, open-space apartment. Time-resolved VOC emission profiles were measured using a proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The performance of activated carbon sorption-based filters for recirculating kitchen hoods in the removal of selected VOCs was also assessed. Alcohols, particularly ethanol, dominated emissions from cooking a typical Norwegian meal, but they also included acetaldehyde, acetone, carboxylic acids, and trimethylamine, among others. The use of recirculating kitchen hoods led to, on average, higher occupant exposure to VOCs compared to extracting kitchen hoods during and after cooking. This was in part due to the poor ethanol removal efficiency of the recirculating ventilation's air filters.

The EU DLT Pilot Regime for Digital Assets [pre-publication

On 23 March 2023, the DLT-Pilot-Regime came into force. It provides market operators the opportunity to offer blockchain-/DLT-based securities trading subject to full EU financial markets regulation. Although this piece of legislation has not attracted as much attention as the Regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCAR), the impact of the DLT-Pilot might be signification. In this article, we outline how the EU legislators have identified the shortcomings of current EU market regulation when applied to DLT-based trading, and addressed them one by one. If successful, the DLT-Pilot could become a ‘test kitchen’ for the development of DLT-based securities and crypto-asset trading in the EU. distributed ledger technology, DLT Pilot, financial instrument, MiCAR, regulatory sandbox, settlement system, multilateral trading facility

Binding and Liberating: Recipes for Environmental Narratives

Crafting narratives alternative to dominant discourses of natural-cultural depletion is one of the signature goals of the ecocritical “test kitchen.” This culinary analogy highlights deeper similarities: both recipes and eco-narratives create symbolic and material connections between people and the environment, which, in turn, enable transformative practices. But how can we craft messages that are generative of positive processes of transformation? Or, put it differently, what are recipes for eco-narratives? This article proposes a versatile method to test what uses of language and dynamics elicited by texts might produce environmental action. The culinary experiment draws on Italian second-wave feminism, a theoretical “cuisine” that has engaged with language to rework dominant relationships to others and to the world. Feminist strategies, including the practice of “starting from oneself,” the reclaiming of the personal as political, and the retracing of alternative genealogies, have used language as a means simultaneously of liberation and of reconnection with the material, embodied world. This liberating binding is repurposed as a key technique to craft and identify effective eco-narratives. Here, feminist strategies intersect with the chemical and social operations of cooking through discussion of three recipes tied to the author’s Mediterranean origins: a milk pudding, eggless fresh pasta, and a type of ancient-grains bread. Through the processes of binding and softening, common to preparations that employ starch, the analysis demonstrates that a starchy language used both to bind (us to material life) and to soften (power structures) has enormous environmental potential. While primarily serving scholars in Italian studies and ecocriticism, this culinary method invites adaptations across food cultures and gender identities.

Complementary feeding methods in the first year of life: a study protocol for a randomized clinical trial

BackgroundThe traditional spoon-feeding approach to introduction of solid foods during the complementary feeding period is supported by consensus in the scientific literature. However, a method called Baby-Led Introduction to SolidS (BLISS) has been proposed as an alternative, allowing infants to self-feed with no adult interference. To date, there have been no trials in the Brazilian population to evaluate the effectiveness of BLISS in comparison to the traditional approach.Methods/designTo evaluate and compare three different complementary feeding methods. Data on 144 mother-child pairs will be randomized into intervention groups by methods: (A) strict Parent-Led Weaning; (B) strict Baby-Led Introduction to SolidS; and (C) a mixed method. Prospective participants from Porto Alegre, Brazil, and nearby cities will be recruited through the Internet. The interventions will be performed by nutritionists and speech therapists, at 5.5 months of age of the child, at a private nutrition office equipped with a test kitchen where meals will be prepared according to the randomized method. The pairs will be followed up at 7, 9, and 12 months of age. Data will be collected through questionnaires designed especially for this study, which will include a 24h child food recall, questionnaires on the child’s and parents’ eating behavior, oral habits, eating difficulties, and choking prevalence. At 12 months of age, children will undergo blood collection to measure hemoglobin, ferritin, and C-reactive protein, saliva collection for analysis of genetic polymorphisms, and oral examination. Anthropometric parameters (child and maternal) will be measured at the baseline intervention, at a 9 month home visit, and at the end-of-study visit at the hospital. The primary outcome will be child growth and nutritional status z-scores at 12 months; secondary outcomes will include iron status, feeding behavior, acceptability of the methods, dietary variety, choking, eating behaviors, food preferences, acceptance of bitter and sweet flavors, suction, oral habits, oral hygiene behavior, dental caries, gingival health status, and functional constipation.DiscussionThe trial intends to ascertain whether there are potential advantages to the BLISS complementary feeding method in this specific population, generating data to support families and healthcare providers.Trial registrationBrazilian Clinical Trials Registry (ReBEC): RBR- 229scm number U1111-1226-9516. Registered on September 24, 2019.

Alternative proteins attract investment

Alternative proteins attract investment

To keep or not to keep? Sorting out leftovers from a refrigerator

Most literature on food waste shows that food that ends up in the garbage can is often no longer considered as enjoyable, or even as edible. In this paper, we decided to focus on assessments of whether leftover food is still considered as worth eating, to provide a better understanding of the production of domestic food waste. We constructed a pluridisciplinary approach, combining sensory analysis and sociology. The first part was conducted in a test kitchen under controlled conditions: 50 participants had to sort out and decide to keep or to throw away different types of refrigerated leftovers. The second part used in-depth interviews with half of these participants (N = 25) to explore their food habits and perceptions and handling of leftovers at home. The first section of the paper presents the theoretical framework of the study, which is grounded in practice theory. Then we detail the methodology and the results. We show that sorting out leftovers is a process mobilizing embodied knowledge and resulting from domestic practices implemented to avoid waste, such as storing or reusing leftovers. In the discussion, we analyze the sorting of refrigerated food products as a compound practice, situated at the intersection of provisioning, cooking, meal organization, and judgment of taste (Warde, 2013). Using this theoretical framework enables us to understand the heterogeneity observed in the outcome of the sorting process as the result of its weak degree of regulation. The sorting out practice is thus consistent with different modes of engagement such as food waste prevention, health maintenance, or providing enjoyable family meals. We conclude by providing suggestions of policy recommendations regarding domestic refrigeration, food storage, and assessment practices.

An Observational Study of Thermometer Use by Consumers When Preparing Ground Turkey Patties

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an intervention for consumer thermometer use by using a randomized experimental design and direct observation of meal preparation. The study was conducted in test kitchen facilities in two locations in North Carolina (one urban and one rural). Cameras recorded participants' actions at various locations throughout the kitchen and recorded the meal preparation from beginning to end. Before preparing the meal, a randomized treatment group watched a 3-min U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food safety video "The Importance of Cooking to a Safe Internal Temperature and How to Use a Food Thermometer." Participants in the control and treatment groups were observed while cooking turkey burgers and preparing a salad to determine whether a thermometer was used to check the doneness of the turkey patties. Following meal preparation, all participants responded to a postobservation interview about food handling behaviors. Treatment group participants were also asked about the intervention. A total of 383 people participated in the study (201 in the control group and 182 in the treatment group). Participants who viewed the video were twice as likely to use a thermometer to check the doneness of the turkey patties compared with the participants who were not exposed to the video (75 versus 34%) and twice as likely to place the thermometer in the correct location (52 versus 23%). Sixty-seven percent of participants who watched the video reported that it influenced their behavior in the kitchen. This study demonstrates the importance of timing and framing of a behavioral intervention for thermometer use and highlights considerations for the development of additional messages (e.g., proper insertion).

Global Air Quality Trekkers: Nandi Clean Kitchen Study

Indoor air pollution is a widespread environmental health challenge sub-Saharan Africa and is the leading cause of premature death in many sub-Saharan African countries. This pollution is primarily caused by the burning of biomass fuels inside an enclosed kitchen in order to provide heat for cooking. Global Air Quality Trekkers is an undergraduate engineering team within the EPICS department at Purdue that began in fall 2016. Our objective is to create a kitchen design that utilizes natural ventilation to mitigate the amount of air pollutants present in these kitchens, specifically in the Nandi community of Western Kenya. This year, our goal is to analyze the ability of nine different kitchen designs to reduce the amount of air pollution present. After this semester, the team will be traveling to Nandi, a community that has already begun to use these modified kitchens. After conducting research this semester on our West Lafayette test kitchen, we will be able to determine the most effective kitchen designs and share this with our project partners in Nandi. Additionally, we will be analyzing the effectiveness of different types of kitchens in Nandi, conducting surveys within the community regarding the new kitchen designs, and teaching an engineering module at the Tumaini school in Nairobi, Kenya. Overall, our hope is that these new kitchen designs will be adopted by more members of the community. These designs have the potential to improve the health of women and children, who are at risk for diseases such as COPD and pneumonia after many years of woodsmoke inhalation. Ultimately, our goal is for these designs to spread to other areas of Kenya, and improve the health of the people who live there.

Stratification of particulate matter in a kitchen: A comparison of empirical to predicted concentrations and implications for cookstove emissions targets

Household air pollution continues to be a global public health burden as 2.8 billion people still rely on open fires or inefficient cookstoves. The majority of morbidity and mortality are related to inhalation of fine particulate matter (PM), and many initiatives have focused on reducing PM emission and resulting exposure. For this reason, targets for emission rates to meet air quality guidelines have been set by the World Health Organization and International Organization for Standardization. These targets are based on a single-zone box model that assumes released particles are distributed uniformly throughout the kitchen. However, particulate matter is known to stratify vertically and therefore personal exposure to the cook and others in the kitchen may not be predicted accurately by a single-zone model. Therefore, this study compares empirical measurements of PM stratification to box model predictions to determine if the single-zone model is appropriate for predicting PM exposure at the expected breathing zone of the inhabitants. A test kitchen with a fixed ventilation rate and dimensions common to kitchens in rural areas was built and fitted with thirty HAPEx PM Sensors were evenly distributed at 4 different heights within the kitchen. Seventy modified water boiling tests were performed with a common rocket stove operating at known firepower and emissions rates in two testing phases at 10, 15 and 20 air exchanges per hour. Results showed stratification was less pronounced with increasing ventilation and with decreasing firepower. Measured concentrations at 15 ACH were compared to the predicted value from the single-zone model, showing equilibrium at a height of approximately 1.6 m. The box model over predicted concentration at heights lower than this, including a 23–63% excess at the 1.3 m high breathing zone of a typical standing cook. This implies that the current emission rate targets may be overly conservative under these conditions, precluding use of some types of biomass cookstoves that may actually be able to meet air quality guidelines. Future modeling and empirical studies should be conducted to understand under what conditions the use of the box model is appropriate, and when it should be modified for more accurate incorporation of the effects of stratification.

The Story of Crispy Golden Tofu

Sustainability initiatives in higher education can flourish as the result of collaborations among those engaged in teaching, research, and operations. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), the Food Science Department and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies teamed up with Wisconsin Union Dining Services for such an initiative. Building on previous work that estimated carbon footprints for menu items at a popular campus eatery, Ginger Root, this article tells the story of a new menu item created with sustainability in mind. First, this article describes the rationale for the new dish. Second, it reports how the dish moved from a test kitchen to a commercial kitchen. Third, it explains why the recipe cannot be made public. Finally, it describes what makes this vegetarian dish unique and compares its carbon footprint to the current meat-based best seller at Ginger Root.

An observational study of refrigerator food storage by consumers in controlled conditions

Europeans and North Americans produce a total of 95–115kg of annual food waste per capita, which corresponds to more than one-third of the total food production in these countries. One of the different assumptions presented in the literature is the food storage practices. With regards to food safety, poor and unhygienic handling as well as inappropriate storage conditions at the consumer level are critical issues. Consumers do not consider the nature of the food in the organization of the refrigerator. To investigate this assumption, a methodology was developed to study consumer behavior while placing food in the refrigerator. To approximate a home environment, the study was conducted in a test kitchen. Twenty consumers participated in the study. The experiments were filmed with different camera systems (four cameras fixed on the ceiling and one portable camera). The consumers were tasked with storing food from delivery bags in the refrigerator and in a kitchen closet. They also completed a questionnaire about their habits concerning food purchases and storage. This study reveals a wide diversity of behaviors for storing food in the refrigerator. The recommendations from the French Agriculture and Food Department are clearly not observed or even known. The main safety issues concern meats, ready-to-eat salads, and ready-made dough because they are sensitive to contamination with pathogens.

Passive wireless sensor systems can recognize activites of daily living.

The ability to determine what activity of daily living a person performs is of interest in many application domains. It is possible to determine the physical and cognitive capabilities of the elderly by inferring what activities they perform in their houses. Our primary aim was to establish a proof of concept that a wireless sensor system can monitor and record physical activity and these data can be modeled to predict activities of daily living. The secondary aim was to determine the optimal placement of the sensor boxes for detecting activities in a room. A wireless sensor system was set up in a laboratory kitchen. The ten healthy participants were requested to make tea following a defined sequence of tasks. Data were collected from the eight wireless sensor boxes placed in specific places in the test kitchen and analyzed to detect the sequences of tasks performed by the participants. These sequence of tasks were trained and tested using the Markov Model. Data analysis focused on the reliability of the system and the integrity of the collected data. The sequence of tasks were successfully recognized for all subjects and the averaged data pattern of tasks sequences between the subjects had a high correlation. Analysis of the data collected indicates that sensors placed in different locations are capable of recognizing activities, with the movement detection sensor contributing the most to detection of tasks. The central top of the room with no obstruction of view was considered to be the best location to record data for activity detection. Wireless sensor systems show much promise as easily deployable to monitor and recognize activities of daily living.

46th Mary McMillan Lecture: Not Eureka.

Lynn Snyder-Mackler, PT, PhD, ScD, ATC, SCS, FAPTA, for more than 25 years, has been a leader in developing evidence-based approaches for the rehabilitation of knee injuries, educating new physical therapy professionals and mentoring future rehabilitation scientists. She has received almost all of APTA's distinguished awards and is an international leader in physical therapy. Holding several positions and appointments at the University of Delaware, Dr Snyder-Mackler is Alumni Distinguished Professor of Physical Therapy, Academic Director of the Delaware Physical Therapy Clinic, Faculty Athletics Representative, and Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering. She is also a visiting researcher for the Norwegian Research Center for Active Rehabilitation. Dr Snyder-Mackler earned a bachelor of arts from Johns Hopkins University, a certificate in physical therapy and a master of science in organizational behavior from the University of Pennsylvania, and an ScD in applied anatomy and physiology from Boston University. Named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow in 2003, Dr Snyder-Mackler has earned many other APTA honors, including the Eugene Michels New Investigator Award, Golden Pen Award, Chattanooga Research Award, Marian Williams Award, Helen J. Hislop Award, Orthopaedic Section Steven J. Rose Award, and Section on Research John H.P. Maley Award. I thank President Rockar and the Board of Directors for honoring me (Fig. 1). While I may be in doubt that I deserve this honor over others, there is no question of my happiness in receiving it. We in Delaware have had a tough couple of weeks. Steve Cope, who used his innovative harness systems to give mobility to those with disabilities, whose test kitchen was our new University of Delaware physical therapy home at STAR Campus, died after a very brief illness on May 20. Our colleague and friend, Seema Sonnad, a world-renowned health services researcher who codirected the Value Institute at Christiana Care in Delaware, …

Field Testing of Alternative Cookstove Performance in a Rural Setting of Western India

Nearly three billion people use solid fuels for cooking and heating, which leads to extremely high levels of household air pollution and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Many stove manufacturers have developed alternative cookstoves (ACSs) that are aimed at reducing emissions and fuel consumption. Here, we tested a traditional clay chulha cookstove (TCS) and five commercially available ACSs, including both natural draft (Greenway Smart Stove, Envirofit PCS-1) and forced draft stoves (BioLite HomeStove, Philips Woodstove HD4012, and Eco-Chulha XXL), in a test kitchen in a rural village of western India. Compared to the TCS, the ACSs produced significant reductions in particulate matter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and CO concentrations (Envirofit: 22%/16%, Greenway: 24%/42%, BioLite: 40%/35%, Philips: 66%/55% and Eco-Chulha: 61%/42%), which persisted after normalization for fuel consumption or useful energy. PM2.5 and CO concentrations were lower for forced draft stoves than natural draft stoves. Furthermore, the Philips and Eco-Chulha units exhibited higher cooking efficiency than the TCS. Despite significant reductions in concentrations, all ACSs failed to achieve PM2.5 levels that are considered safe by the World Health Organization (ACSs: 277–714 μg/m3 or 11–28 fold higher than the WHO recommendation of 25 μg/m3;).

A Recipe for Proteomics Diagnostic Test Development: The OVA1 Test, from Biomarker Discovery to FDA Clearance

Although diagnostic test development remains challenging, novel technologies, including proteomics, genomics, and microRNA analysis, provide opportunities to identify biomarkers that in principle could accelerate the development of new diagnostic tests. Unfortunately, the literature is littered with initial biomarker discoveries that have failed to reach the clinic. We sought to identify a recipe that combines the basic ingredients of clinical research with novel analytical tools to create a new diagnostic test. In the test kitchen, we understood that the most important ingredient is the unmet clinical need. Having made the decision to develop a test for ovarian cancer, we discussed with clinicians what they felt were the most pressing needs in this field. Our initial instinct was to pursue ovarian cancer screening, but in our conversations with key opinion leaders, including Ian Jacobs (University College London), Bob Bast (MD Anderson), and Daniel Chan (Johns Hopkins University), we came to understand that because of the low prevalence of ovarian cancer, development of a screening test would require large studies that would exceed our budget and time constraints. Additionally, because a positive initial result in a screening test would likely lead to pelvic surgery, the test would demand a level of clinical specificity that we were unlikely to achieve. Our colleagues, however, identified a critical unmet need in the area of ovarian tumor triage. Although ovarian tumors are relatively common, only a fraction of them are malignant. Being able to identify the malignant ones preoperatively would permit better preoperative management of women with ovarian tumors. In particular, women with a high likelihood of malignancy could benefit from referral to specialist surgeons (e.g., gynecologic oncologists), who would be able to perform debulking and staging surgeries that form the basis of optimal care for ovarian cancer (1). Having identified the clinical question, we found …

The Great Chain of Being

THE GREAT CHAIN OF BEING / Gary Fincke "Three generations of imbecUes are enough." Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1927 1 Too Little Air There, on her carpet, we sat Our year-old sons, and my cousin Watched me count the handicaps In her firstborn until I froze Like four legs in the headlights. An accident, the doctor had Told her, too little air, citing The bride thesaurus of cause. 1 nodded like someone saving His job in an office of Ues: Her son crawled Uke he's Ughted On the huge, invisible web Of God. "My sister's boy has A problem, too," she murmured. "Both of us are moving closer To cities so this never Happens again." Too Uttle air In Pennsylvania, in Georgia. Too little air in the room Where we stared from one boy to The other, so quiet, so long, We might have been practicing Conservation, as if that room Had been sealed by landslide, and We were finding the essential, Slow rhythms of survival. 2 Vulcan and the Fire King Planet Vulcan had to be there, hidden between Mercury and the sun. What else, according to Newton, could vary an orbit? What better name For a planet so close to molten, in theory, The Missouri Review · 105 A hideout where Satan might be perfecting heU? But when Vulcan stayed unspotted, the mystique of Congruence stuck science to the keyhole until, Soon enough, the impetus of impatience brought The first sighting, the second, astronomers claiming Discovery. There, they said, pointing the lens. There. And there, the nineteenth-century, fireproof women And men headed playbUls by surviving tortures, Taking advantage of expectation's effect On the eyes, one way we tend the infrastructure Of error, relying, like Christians, upon The necessity of the unobserved, as awed As the audience for "Chabert the Fire King," who Qimbed into his personal woodstove with raw steaks And emerged, later, with a meal, well done, sitting To eat after visiting Vulcan's test kitchen. Soon enough, a royal family of magicians Could enter fire, reappear unscathed, dUuting The Bible with the commonplace of Ulusion. Soon enough, the frequent tracts on explanation, Scientists clamoring their revisionist clues Until, finaUy, the appearance of the cage Of fire, this woodstove open in front to appease The jaded. There, they said, there he is, beUeving Again, the Fire King standing in towering flames Like the personification of a planet. 3 The Little Moron In health class, eighth grade, we learned The descending categories Of the Stanford-Benet: You couldn't do worse, if you Made a mark, than idiot. We knew one who loved Urne soda And laughed at the end of a leash In his backyard. We saw imbecUes Bused in and out of half-days In the resources room, and we told, In the haUs, little moron jokes: The Uttle moron was playing 106 · The Missouri Review Gary Fincke With matches and burned the house down. "Your daddy's going to kül you When he gets home," his mother said, But the Uttle moron laughed and laughed Because he knew his daddy Was asleep on the couch. We laughed and laughed at everything The Uttle moron did. Why would He take his ruler to bed? we asked. He wanted to see how long he slept; And he wanted, joke by joke, To bring the dead metaphors To life—time, butter, and fire Flying out his busy window. "That wUl do," our teachers said. "Three generations of imbecUes Are enough," the Chief Justice said, In 1927, supporting The eugenics Record Office, Which wanted to sterilize everyone Deemed unfit. Harry Laughlin, Superintendent, hoped to eUminate, In two generations, the submerged tenth Of our population. He meant the blind, The deaf, the orphans and the homeless; He meant the poor and the stupid, And the Supreme Court backed him up, Finding a "clear and present danger" In the famUy tree of the Bucks— Who were Ulegitimate and poor; Who were Emma, Carrie, and Vivian Who made enough of these morons, Declared deficient at seven months After this expert testimony: "There is a look about the baby That is not quite normal, but What it is I can...