scholarly journals The Power of Food Science and Technology and Nutrition for Sustainable Planet Health: Food Processing Saves Lives

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fereidoon Shahidi

Food processing includes a chain of events that starts in the farm and continues to the serving plate. These may include washing, dehydration, blanching, heat processing, and packaging, among others. While processing is essential for providing a safe food supply by eliminating harmful microorganisms and certain undesirable components, as well as revealing the desirable flavor of food, there has been much recent attempt to condemn food processing. Thus, loss of certain nutrients during processing and use of additives in ready to eat food as well as high levels of salt, sugar and fat/oil have been noted as being responsible for many non-communicable diseases due to increased incidence of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  These have all been categorised as ultra-processed food but attention to the definitions and details is most important.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Talitha Silva Meneguelli ◽  
Leidjaira Lopes Juvanhol ◽  
Adriana da Silva Leite ◽  
Josefina Bressan ◽  
Helen Hermana Miranda Hermsdorff

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the association between food consumption classified by the degree of processing and cardiometabolic risk factors in a population at risk of cardiovascular disease.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study conducted with 325 adults and elderlies who present a cardiovascular risk factor. The food consumption was evaluated by a 24 h dietary recall, and it was classified according to the NOVA classification.FindingsIndividuals who presented a higher consumption of processed and ultra-processed food had a higher prevalence of abdominal obesity, waist/hip ratio (PR = 1.005; p-value = 0.049), waist circumference (PR = 1.003; p-value = 0.02) and high total cholesterol (PR = 1.008; p-value = 0.047), while ultra-processed had a higher prevalence of excess weight (PR = 1.004; p-value = 0.04), and abdominal obesity, waist/hip ratio (PR = 1.005; p-value = 0.04), waist circumference (PR = 1.004; p-value = 0.004) and waist/height ratio (PR = 1.003; p-value = 0.03).Practical implicationsAn association was found between the degree of food processing and cardiometabolic risk factors, even in a population that already has a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, reinforcing the importance of personalized nutrition orientation that considers the profile of the target population as well as types of meals.Originality/valueFood processing in itself can influence cardiometabolic risk and, as far as is known, no study has evaluated food processing in individuals who already have some type of cardiovascular risk. Also, consumption was assessed by the degree of processing between meals.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1223
Author(s):  
Ilianna Kollia ◽  
Jack Stevenson ◽  
Stefanos Kollias

This paper provides a review of an emerging field in the food processing sector, referring to efficient and safe food supply chains, ’from farm to fork’, as enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The field is of great significance from economic, food safety and public health points of views. The paper focuses on effective food production, food maintenance energy management and food retail packaging labeling control, using recent advances in machine learning. Appropriate deep neural architectures are adopted and used for this purpose, including Fully Convolutional Networks, Long Short-Term Memories and Recurrent Neural Networks, Auto-Encoders and Attention mechanisms, Latent Variable extraction and clustering, as well as Domain Adaptation. Three experimental studies are presented, illustrating the ability of these AI methodologies to produce state-of-the-art performance in the whole food supply chain. In particular, these concern: (i) predicting plant growth and tomato yield in greenhouses, thus matching food production to market needs and reducing food waste or food unavailability; (ii) optimizing energy consumption across large networks of food retail refrigeration systems, through optimal selection of systems that can be shut-down and through prediction of the respective food de-freezing times, during peaks of power demand load; (iii) optical recognition and verification of food consumption expiry date in automatic inspection of retail packaged food, thus ensuring safety of food and people’s health.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 2029
Author(s):  
Kouya Hattori ◽  
Masahiro Akiyama ◽  
Natsumi Seki ◽  
Kyosuke Yakabe ◽  
Koji Hase ◽  
...  

While poorly-absorbed sugar alcohols such as sorbitol are widely used as sweeteners, they may induce diarrhea in some individuals. However, the factors which determine an individual’s susceptibility to sugar alcohol-induced diarrhea remain unknown. Here, we show that specific gut bacteria are involved in the suppression of sorbitol-induced diarrhea. Based on 16S rDNA analysis, the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria increased in response to sorbitol consumption. We found that Escherichia coli of the family Enterobacteriaceae degraded sorbitol and suppressed sorbitol-induced diarrhea. Finally, we showed that the metabolism of sorbitol by the E. coli sugar phosphotransferase system helped suppress sorbitol-induced diarrhea. Therefore, gut microbiota prevented sugar alcohol-induced diarrhea by degrading sorbitol in the gut. The identification of the gut bacteria which respond to and degrade sugar alcohols in the intestine has implications for microbiome science, processed food science, and public health.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S1) ◽  
pp. s96-s97
Author(s):  
T.W. Graham

Liberia's 14 year civil war destroyed domestic agricultural production, veterinary and agricultural education, extension services and domestic food security. These losses severely limited domestic food production, and basic hygiene and sanitation: potable water, abattoirs, cold chain and food storage were greatly diminished. The average Liberian life expectancy fell from 45.8 in 1990 to 41.8 years presently. The population birth and death rate are two of the highest globally with a resulting population growth rate, of 2.7% per annum; this growth rate requires an immediate and concerted focus on domestic food production to alleviate nutritional inadequacy and hunger, trade imbalances and loss of foreign exchange credits. Food supply nationally is presumed adequate because of importation, though domestic production is inadequate. Unequal distribution precludes food security for all Liberians. Value chain augmentation, enhancing food availability across all sectors of Liberian society and ensuring distribution of a safe food supply needs critical development. Infant mortality remains one of the highest in the world (approximately 160/1000 births), much of which is attributed to food insecurity, food contamination and lack of uniformly available potable water. Recreation of Liberia's public health and food security requires redevelopment of disease monitoring and laboratory diagnostic capability to re-establish safe food production and handling practices across all sectors. This will allow determination of endemic disease burden for the principal livestock species: poultry, sheep, goats, cattle and swine. Creation of a national disease surveillance/monitoring system allows for targeted disease intervention, ensuring vaccination for correct serotypes and most critically prevalent diseases. Creation of community level training and support will target intervention of local diseases, but also allow for national prioritization of diseases. Targeting which are most prevalent or most likely to cause production limiting effects will require periodic surveillance, targeted vaccination, and chemotherapeutic intervention and evaluation of therapeutic success.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 615-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Phillips-Connolly ◽  
Aidan J. Connolly

The grocery store is ground zero in the tsunami of change facing Big Food. Consumers are changing how they relate to grocery stores, increasingly circling the perimeter, focusing on produce and preferentially choosing fresh, local, and new, even unknown, brands while spending less time in the processed food aisles in the center. The next generation, the millenials, are increasingly shunning traditional outlets when buying food. Traditional leading brands of processed food, backed by traditional marketing strategies (heavy advertising on traditional media, coupons, brand extensions, etc.) are failing to hold on to their customers. The challenges can be found throughout the food value chain, from new competitors for grocery providers to new delivery mechanisms, from changes in generational food preferences with social media platforms to express their preferences to farmers who increasingly can and want to communicate directly with the end-users who actually eat the food that they produce. This access to more information opens more options (and opportunities) to buyers and suppliers all along the food value chain. Barely 100 years old, the grocery store model is becoming obsolete, and with it the organization of the food value chain must be re-written. So what does that mean for Big Food and the food supply chain? What directions can the industry take to adjust to the new competitive realities? This paper offers direction and guidance for Big Food and other producers in the food supply chain.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqiu Yu ◽  
Xiaoxue Ren

This paper considers the price conflict problem between the online channel of a food processing factory and the offline channel of the food retailers in food supply chains by analyzing the pricing decisions and coordination mechanisms between the food processing factory and food retailers under the influence of a food quality information service. First, the Stackelberg game method and the Bertrand game method are used to optimize the pricing decisions with the goal of maximizing the profits of the food processing factory and retailer. The analysis shows that the food quality information service level is positively correlated with the price of the factory’s own channel, and the influence of the food quality information service level on the price of the food processing factory’s or the food retailer’s own channel is stronger than its influence on the price of a competitor’s channel. Second, the food supply chain members’ pricing decisions are analyzed using the case analysis method by considering practical problems in the food supply chain. The results indicate that the food processing factory should use the Stackelberg game to make pricing decisions. However, it is optimal for the food retailer to make pricing decisions under the Bertrand game, and the total profit of the food supply chain is optimized under centralized decision making. Finally, we use both the quantitative discount mechanism and the Stackelberg game method to analyze the profits obtained by the food processing factory and retailer. The results indicate that the food processing factory should implement a quantitative discount mechanism when the quantity discount coefficient is greater than 0.4, and the retailer should implement a quantity discount mechanism when the quantity discount coefficient is in the range of 0.25 to 0.4.


Food Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
M.A. Abd Razak ◽  
M.A. Ramli ◽  
M.A. Jamaludin

The approaching of megatrend 2050, challenges have emerged in the food sector and it is predicted that main issues would be the shortage of food supply and food contamination. In parallel to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), that by 2050, with the increasing human population, the food supply would be affected as the sources are inadequate to cater. This crisis requires a comprehensive solution – necessitate a better food security policy, food safety and food defence. In other words, a focused policy that deals with safe food ecosystem must be implemented and strengthen by relevant authorities. In the Malaysian context, the National Safety Policy (2017) outlined the security assurance for the nation’s food supply under Strategy 17. However, the focus of the policy is only on the preparedness of rice commodity that needs to be adequate, whereas, newer threats is making their way beyond that scope. Therefore, this review will discuss the potential of food terrorism, its concept and implication within the halal ecosystem. To achieve this objective, this study is qualitatively carried out by utilizing fully library research relating to food terrorism. The data is being analysed to conclude the findings. Based on the study, we found that food terrorism is indeed a real threat jeopardizing consumer safety, and moreover, causing negative implications towards the local, regional and global halal ecosystem. Therefore, proactive measures needed to be taken to ensure the security of food and this aligned with the objective of sharia to preserve human’s life by having adequate, nutritious, halal and safe food.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-16
Author(s):  
Hairil Akbar ◽  
Sarman ◽  
Muhammad Ichsan Hadiansyah

Efforts to achieve Indonesian citizen with quality are closely related to food and nutrition factors. Fulfillment of food and nutrition adequacy can be seen from the level of food provided and the quality and diversity of food and nutrition available. Approximately 70% of cases of food poisoning in the world are caused by ready-to-eat food, namely processed food, especially by catering businesses, restaurants, canteens, restaurants, or street food. Food poisoning is usually caused by the food being contaminated with bacteria or microbes. The purpose of this community service is to increase students' knowledge and understanding regarding selecting, processing, and serving safe food. Methods used consisted of counseling and health education on tips for selecting, processing, and serving food using the zoom cloud meeting application, with the target of Graha Medika Kotamobagu Health Institute students. The activity was held on Monday, October 12, 2020. The results of the community service activities showed that of the 34 students who participated in the activity, 80% of students knew and could mention tips on choosing, processing, and serving safe food. The implementation of social service is very important to increase knowledge in selecting, processing and serving food that is safe for consumption.


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