The Science of Food

Maximizing The Benefits Of Food

Opportunities are greater than ever before for cutting-edge science to improve food and agriculture. Chemistry, in particular, can help provide a safe, healthful, and sustainable food supply to meet a growing worldwide population.

In this International Year of Chemistry, the central science should be acknowledged for its necessity in growing, developing, improving, processing, and protecting our foods. Analytical chemistry, biotechnology, and food technology join forces to help feed both developing nations and more advanced economies. [MORE]

Learn more about food science at http://foodscience.psu.edu/futurestudents

 

The Trials of Transglutaminase—The Misunderstood Magic of Meat-Glue

From Cooking Issues - The French Culinary Institute's Tech'N Stuff Blog.

Transglutaminase (TG or TGase), better known to chefs as “Meat Glue,” has the amazing ability to bond protein-containing foods together. Raw meats bound with TG are often strong enough to be handled as if they were whole uncut muscles. TG is safe, natural, and easy to use. In the kitchen, TG is primarily used to:

• Make uniform portions that cook evenly, look good, and reduce waste
• Bind meat mixtures like sausages without casings
• Make novel meat combinations like lamb and scallops
• Produce special effects like meat noodles, meat and vegetable pastas (using gelatin as a binder), etc. Additionally, TG can thicken egg yolks, strengthen dough mixtures, thicken dairy systems, and increase yield in tofu production, among other useful applications.

More including some myths and truths about "meat glue" are presented. 

Vitamins may hitch a protected ride on corn starch

University Park, Pa. -- Vitamins and medications may one day take rides on starch compounds creating stable vitamin-enriched ingredients and cheaper controlled-release drugs, according to Penn State food scientists.

The technique may offer drug and food companies a less expensive, more environmentally friendly alternative in creating, among other products, medications and food supplements.

In a series of experiments, researchers formed pockets with corn starch and a fatty acid ester to carry oil soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A and vitamin C, into the body, according to Gregory Ziegler, Penn State professor of food science. [MORE]

Ursula V. Lay Ma, John D. Floros, Gregory R. Ziegler.Effect of starch fractions on spherulite formation and microstructure. Carbohydrate Polymers, 2011; 83 (4): 1757 DOI: [ Download article]

 

Science & Cooking Public Lectures

Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Science presents a public lecture series that discusses concepts from the physical sciences that underpin both everyday cooking and haute cuisine [errrr... now that would be food science!]. Each lecture features a world-class chef who visited and presented their remarkable culinary designs: Ferran Adria presented spherification; Jose Andres discussed both the basic components of food and gelation; Joan Roca demonstrated sous vide; Enric Rovira showed his chocolate delicacies; Wylie Dufresne presented inventions with transglutaminase. The lectures then use these culinary creations as inspiration to delve into understanding how and why cooking techniques and recipes work, focusing on the physical transformations of foods and material properties. Series accessible from YouTube and ITunes.

A Perk of Our Evolution: Pleasure in Pain of Chilies

Late summer is chili harvest time, when the entire state of New Mexico savors the perfume of roasting chilies, and across the country the delightful, painful fruit of plants of the genus Capsicum are being turned into salsa, hot sauce and grizzly bear repellent. Is "benign masochism" the root of our obsession with hot peppers?  [MORE]

But why are Chilli Peppers so hot?

The chemicals that cause the burning sensation in pepper come from a family of compounds called the capsaicinoids, this family all have the same functional groups, only varying by the length of the hydrocarbon chain. Of all the capsaicinoids, only two compounds are responsible for 80-90% content of pepper, these are capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin [MORE].  

 

Most imported olive oils don’t match ‘extra virgin’ claims

 July 20, 2010. Many of the olive oils sold in California retail stores are not the top-grade “extra virgin” oils that their labels claim they are, according to a landmark study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and in Australia.

The research team found that 69 percent of the imported oils sampled, compared with just 10 percent of the California-produced oils sampled, failed to meet internationally accepted standards for extra virgin olive oil.

The new study, the first of its kind by an American academic institution, examined olive oils labeled as extra virgin, and purchased in California supermarkets and “big box” retail outlets. A report detailing the study’s findings and the names of the brands evaluated is being released today by the UC Davis Olive Center and is available online at: http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/.

The science behind bread making

The science behind bread making centers around a complicated chemical process that occurs when flour is mixed with yeast. Learn more about bread making on Discovery Channel's "HowStuffWorks" show [HowStuffWorks Show: Bread Making ].

More bread and starch science from the Penn State Food Science laboratory of Dr. Donald Thompson  here:
Branched Starch Molecules: Contribution to Ordered Structures in Granular Starch and Dispersed Starch Molecules [PDF Download]

Better BBQ through chemistry

WASHINGTON — As summer winds to a close, backyard grillers may be looking back on their last barbecue and asking some rather pointed questions: Why was the grilled chicken so dry? Does eating charred meat really cause cancer? Why did Uncle Fred pucker and cringe after each sip of beer? [MORE]

Burning issues in food science - Freezer burn!

The scope of the term freezer burn varies widely in both scientific and lay literature. In the narrowest use of the term, freezer burn describes only the loss of moisture (also termed as dehydration or desiccation) from the surface of frozen foods over time during frozen storage, yielding an opaque dehydrated surface. In the broadest use of the term, freezer burn describes both the dehydration and associated degradation in color, texture, and flavor that can occur on the surface of frozen foods, over time during frozen storage. These undesirable quality changes are exemplified by the toughening and discoloration of the surface of meat and poultry products, such as color changes in beef from red to brown and in skinless chicken breasts from pink to tan; the shriveling of the surface of frozen foods, shown in for frozen green beans; and the occurrence of lipid oxidation, which negatively impacts food flavor. Freezer-burned food is safe to consume from a microbial perspective, but is of poor eating quality. If the freezer-burned area is not too extensive, you can simply cut the affected portions off before or after cooking. [MORE]

Is HFCS a source of mercury in the American diet?

The average American consumes about 50 grams of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) per day. Preliminary studies have revealed that products containing high amounts of HFSC also contain mercury, a toxic metal contaminant. "Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar," was assembled by health and environmental researchers. More on the study here.

The Corn Refiners Association responds to the charges by stating that the study is outdated. There is likely to be more on this story in the future. 

March 27, 2009 Update."New findings challenge studies linking mercury to HFCS - CRA"

Results from third-party testing conducted on high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) from all the production facilities in the US and Canada show that no quantifiable levels of mercury were detected in any of the samples analyzed, claims the CRA.

According to the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), the North American manufacturers of commissioned independent testing and expert review following recent reports alleging mercury findings in the food and beverage ingredient. [MORE]

More on HFCS (November 2009): Is HFCS Natural?