The Science of Food

That Stinky Cheese Is a Result of Evolutionary Overdrive

Like many biologists, Ricardo C. Rodríguez de la Vega searches the world for new species. But while other scientists venture into the depths of the ocean or the heart of the jungle, Dr. Rodríguez de la Vega and his colleagues visit cheese shops. “Every time we’re traveling internationally for a conference or something, we go specifically to the local cheese shop and say, ‘Give me the wildest blue cheese you have,’ ” said Dr. Rodríguez de la Vega, an evolutionary biologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris. The cheese they buy is alive with fungi; indeed, many cheeses require a particular species of mold to properly ripen. To produce Roquefort blue cheese, for example, cheese makers mix Penicillium roqueforti into fermenting curds. The mold spreads throughout the cheese, giving it not only a distinctive blue color but also its (acquired) taste. [MORE]

Unhealthy Fixation

Is genetically engineered food dangerous? Many people seem to think it is. In the past five years, companies have submitted more than 27,000 products to the Non-GMO Project, which certifies goods that are free of genetically modified organisms. Last year, sales of such products nearly tripled. Whole Foods will soon require labels on all GMOs in its stores. Abbott, the company that makes Similac baby formula, has created a non-GMO version to give parents “peace of mind.” Trader Joe’s has sworn off GMOs. So has Chipotle.

- The war against genetically modified organisms is full of fear mongering, errors, and fraud. Labeling them will not make you safer. [MORE]

Can We Trust Monsanto with Our Food?

The real truth about GMOs. By Nina Fedoroff of Penn State University

The World Food Prize laureates for 2013 were announced in June. They are Marc van Montagu, Mary-Dell Chilton and Rob Fraley. These scientists played seminal roles, together with the late Jeff Schell, in developing modern plant molecular modification techniques. Fraley is chief technology officer of Monsanto. Chilton is a Distinguished Science Fellow at Syngenta. Montagu founded Plant Genetic Systems (now part of Bayer CropScience) and CropDesign (today owned by BASF).

Scratch the blogosphere and you’ll be dumbfounded by this award. [MORE]

To Make Lemons Into Lemonade,Try 'Miracle Fruit'

Berry Turns Sour to Sweet By Altering Taste Buds; A Lure to Scientists

By JOANNA SLATER  Wall Street Journal  March 30, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. -- At a party here one recent Friday, Jacob Grier stood on a chair, pulled out a plastic bag full of small berries, and invited everyone to eat one apiece. "Make sure it coats your tongue," he said.

Mr. Grier's guests were about to go under the influence of miracle fruit, a slightly tart West African berry with a strange property: For about an hour after you eat it, everything sour tastes sweet. [MORE]

More from the New York Times "A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue" on Miracle Fruit parties.

2010 update: 'Miracle' Tomato Turns Sour Foods Sweet - For the past several years, Japense scientists have been developing bio-production systems to inexpensively churn out loads of miraculin — a natural taste-altering protein that makes sour foods seem oh so sweet. Their newest biotech reactor: grape tomatoes. [MORE]

Food Nanotechnology

The National Nanotechnology Initiative defines nanotechnology as “the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications.”

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has issued a Scientific Status Summary on potential applications of nanotechnology in the food industry. According to the Summary, nanotechnology as it applies to the food industry, may involve using biological molecules to detect food pathogens and other contaminants, to track food products, to develop controlled-release delivery of food ingredients such as flavors, antioxidants, and nutraceuticals. [MORE]

Is there a need for more safety information? This from an article in the March 2008 edition of Scientific American - "Do Nanoparticles in Food Pose a Health Risk?"

Also, FDA Readies for More ‘Nanoscale’ Challenges

Scientists aim for lab-grown meat

An international research team has proposed new techniques that may lead to the mass production of meat reared not on the farm, but in the laboratory [MORE].

Here's the original article in the Journal of Tissue Engineering

Genetic Engineering

Depending on whom you ask, the technology will either end world hunger or damage health and environment. Maybe neither... or both?

The GEO-PIE Project website explores the complex scientific and social issues associated with genetic engineering, to help readers consider those issues for themselves.

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