Editorial and News

Our June theme, innovation and collaboration, could not be more appropriate for the current COVID-19 pandemic, the food safety implications of which are discussed on p14. We have seen universities, industry, government and the public collaborating on an unprecedented scale to test new drugs and digital technologies and to develop potential vaccines. Only innovative science and international collaboration will help us to move out of this crisis. Tackling the problems of future food security, climate change and food and packaging waste also requires collaboration across the disciplines and between industry and academia. As we go forward, lessons learned and experience gained during the current crisis may produce changes in behaviour and new technologies that can be harnessed to help address some of these food system challenges. A number of organisations and networks, some new and some well-established, are providing a myriad of opportunities to make connections between companies, universities and institutes to build collaborations that can address the key problems facing the food system (p18, p22, p26, p29, p31, p36). Some organisations are also specifically encouraging the participation and engagement of consumers to provide input into collaborative projects (p18, p22, p36). A variety of funding sources are available to support innovative, collaborative research from pump priming exercises through to larger scale feasibility trials (p26, p31, p36). Networking events and conferences encourage the formation of partnerships for collaboration (p18, p31, p36). The education and career development of young scientists is a focus in some programmes (p26, p36). There is widespread recognition that scientists need to step outside the laboratory and understand the problems faced by industry. Cross disciplinary projects are bringing new fields of expertise, for example mathematics, to bear on food system issues (p31). Tackling these problems requires a holistic approach, which addresses the complex nature of the food system (p18). Urban farming is an area where considerable advances have been made to optimise use of resources (p18, p52). The new Horticultural Quality and Food Loss Network will be addressing food waste and innovation specifically in this sector (p26). Reducing food loss and waste is a key theme for many collaborative programmes, together with alternative proteins and foods with enhanced nutritional value (p18, p26, p31). This is an exciting time to be embarking on a career in food science as innovation has never been higher on the agenda for the food sector. email mb@biophase.co.uk Letters to the editor about any of the articles published in Food Science and Technology are welcomed. The funding will help the University to benefit consumers, farmers and those working in the food industry by supporting collaboration with other universities, research institutes and businesses across Europe to address challenges in the food system including environmental matters. Research being carried out by the University of Reading and partners across Europe includes innovative work, such as SeaCH4NGE, which is aiming to harness seaweed as feed supplements to reduce methane production by cattle. Other projects include the validation of organic milk by developing methods to distinguish organic from conventional milk, enhancing consumer trust of the dairy supply chain and the integration of different data sources to help famers make informed decisions about their crop management practices. Consumers will benefit from online courses and projects including how to demystify regulations of food labelling and why the gut microbiome could provide numerous benefits for human health as well as helping people understand the ‘truth behind the headlines’ of nutrition and health news stories. In addition, a range of projects will help the food industry to better communicate its essential work to the public, including looking at public attitudes towards animal protein products, which will incorporate plant-based ingredients to improve the nutrient profile, and a computer game to help farmers gain skills in precision farming in order to reduce pesticide and herbicide waste. Using data intensive global hydrological models, the researchers were able to quantify the water currently provided to crops, the type of water scarcity affecting the croplands and the regions of the world where additional water is available to expand irrigation sustainably. The study highlights the agricultural regions where investments in the water sector are needed to sustainably increase food production. Two thirds of lands suitable for irrigation expansion are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, East Europe and Central Asia. In addition to increasing the production of food, the researchers believe that expansion of irrigation on lands where there is economic water scarcity could at the same time be an important strategy for adaptation to climate change, contributing to more reliable and resilient agricultural production. Since the 1960s, global plastic production has increased from 1.5m to almost 400m tons per year. Macro and microplastics are widespread on land, in the seas and are even found in the air. For many species, plastics are deadly, through entanglement and ingestion, while microplastics are transmitted throughout the food chain. Virgin plastic feedstock is too cheap. The cost of plastics does not include the costs on environment and society from the original oil or gas through to littering on land or the ocean. Not including environmental costs is a market failure and a fundamental barrier to a greater demand for recycled materials. According to the report, these recommendations underpin measures currently under discussion in some Members States and at European level to either introduce a plastics tax or require minimum recycled contents. The results of a new study published in Food Quality and Preference show that people of Asian ethnicity are not only more likely to be ‘supertasters’, but they are also more likely to be thermal tasters and low sweet likers. The study also found that men are more likely to be high sweet likers, who prefer sweeter foods4. The research carried out at the University of Nottingham's Sensory Science Centre is the first to explore the association between ethnicity (Caucasian vs Asian) and different observed variations in taste perception, known as taste phenotypes. The Sensory Science Centre has carried out extensive research looking into the impact of taste phenotypes on perceived taste intensity, including PROP taster status, Thermal Taster Status and Sweet Liking Status. A supertaster is someone who has the ability to perceive a bitter taste from a compound called ‘6-n-propylthiouracil’ (known as PROP), which is linked to our genetic profile. A thermal taster is someone who can perceive a taste sensation when their tongue is heated or cooled, when no taste stimulus is actually present. A high sweet liker is someone who prefers super sweet foods. The human tongue is wrapped in taste buds (papillae). The small, mushroom-shaped bumps are fungiform papillae located on the anterior tip of tongue; they contain taste receptors that bind to the molecules from food so your brain can identify what you are eating. Taste perception occurs when certain compounds released from food dissolve in saliva and interact with taste receptor cells within taste buds. Most mammals are able to detect five different types of taste: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami, whilst some other sensations have also been identified as potential tastes including fatty acid, metallic, kokumi and calcium. For this study, 223 volunteers were invited to determine their taste phenotypes, as well as their ethnicity and gender, and understand how these factors played a part in their experience of taste. Their perceived taste intensity was measured by asking participants to indicate how intense are the taste solutions. Asian participants were found to be more sensitive to sour and metallic taste than Caucasian participants. This is an interesting finding, as it indicates that how consumers perceive taste intensity from food and beverages can be different across different ethnic groups. Perceived intensity of taste and other oral sensations have been shown to vary greatly among individuals and may be one of the most important determinants of food preference and consumption affecting nutritional and health status. The findings from the study could help inform new product development to appeal directly to people's taste buds, according to project leader, Qian Yang. The ability to grow safe, fresh food to supplement packaged foods for astronauts has been an important goal for NASA, since food crops grown in space experience different environmental conditions to those grown on Earth (e.g. reduced gravity, elevated radiation levels), which could impact safety and nutritious value. To study the effects of space conditions, red romaine lettuce, Lactuca sativa cv ‘Outredgeous’ plants were grown in Veggie Plant Growth Chambers on the ISS and compared with ground-grown plants. Multiple plantings were grown on the ISS and harvested using either a single, final harvest, or sequential harvests in which several mature leaves were removed from the plants at weekly intervals. Ground controls were grown simultaneously with a 24-72h delay using ISS environmental data. Comparison of flight and ground tissues showed some differences in total counts for bacteria and yeast/moulds, while screening for selected human pathogens gave negative results. Chemical analysis provided evidence of significant changes in elemental and antioxidant content, which may be an important factor to consider for nutritional value in future, long duration, exploration missions. The study also provided baseline data for continual operation of the Veggie Plant Growth units on the ISS. 16 June 2020 THE IOT & INDUSTRY 4.0 SUMMIT Venue online Web iotindustry40summit.com/ 12-15 July 2020 IFT20 ANNUAL EVENT & FOOD EXPO Venue virtual event Web ift.org/events/annual-event-and-food-expo 20-23 September2020 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY – ACHIEVING LOCAL AND GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY AT WHAT COSTS? Venue Montpellier, France Web globalfoodsecurityconference.com/ 12-13 October 2020 FOOD TECH MATTERS Venue The Crystal, London Web foodtechmatters.com/ November 2020 34TH EFFOST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Venue Israel Web effost.org/effost+international+conference/34th+effost+international+conference+2020/default.aspx 19-21 November 2020 ICN2 SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NUTRITION Venue Rome, Italy Web fao.org/about/meetings/icn2/en/ 1-3 December 2020 FOOD INGREDIENTS EUROPE Venue Frankfurt, Germany Web figlobal.com/fieurope/en/home.html