What perfect timing! Just an hour or so after beginning our lecture this morning on edible cannabis products, this article appeared on the Lincoln Journal Stat website. As we noted in class, Delta-8 THC products are now being sold in Nebraska and have been considered by local authorities to be …
Dorm Food in 2023
One of the most noticeable changes on college campuses over the past generation has been the availability and quality of foods served in dormitory dining halls and cafeterias. Back in the day, dorm food was very institutional and very boring. Meat from who-knows-where, canned vegetables, with lots of sauces to …
Fall is the air and that means …..
Since its introduction 20 years ago, Starbucks has sold nearly a billion Pumpkin Spice Lattes (aka PSL). If you include similar pumpkiny beverages from competitors, the total number is even greater. The Starbucks PSL’s are popular for a lot of reasons. Consumers certainly like the flavor – a unique combination …
Food Safety via Netflix
One of the most popular topics among documentary films is food. From “Super Size Me” to “Food, Inc.” to “The Future of Food”, many of these films take a very critical view of the food industry. The latest entry into this genre is “Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food”, …
Obesity and food science
As we finish our section on obesity, I alert you to this terrific article in Food Technology magazine from 2022. It describes the personal journey of Dr. Sara Bleich, a professor of Professor of Public Health Policy at Harvard and the former Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity at …
The Obesity Neighborhood
Public health authorities have claimed that environment contributes to the obesity epidemic. For example, there are several studies (here and here) where researchers showed a high correlation between the number of fast-food restaurants and the obesity prevalence. Here is another not-so-surprising study from 2021 that concluded proximity (1-3 km) of …
COVID, BMI and Public Health
During the COVID lecture, I noted that obesity was observed to be one of the main risk factors for disease severity and mortality. This was supported by data from several studies, as noted here and here. In the latter study, the researchers showed that although low BMI individuals were at …
I’ve got mail
On any given day, I receive 6-8 emails from food-or science-based organizations describing new information relevant to “issues in food science”. Below are a few just from this week. Note that this sampling covers several of the contemporary topics covered in this class. 1. From a food industry press release …
Hey mom and dad, guess what I’m studying?
The food business has and always will be market driven. We’ve already seen this play out for several of the topics covered in this class. If consumers want organics, the industry will make and sell them. If consumers want plant-based milk and meat, an entire industry will form to produce …
Impossible backlash?
You would probably not be surprised to hear that there has been plenty of criticisms about plant-based meats. We briefly discussed the labeling issue, and that has certainly been one source of contention. The meat industry has also argued that the environmental impact of animal agriculture has been over-stated and …
Organic everything – way beyond apples
As we begin our discussion on organic foods, we will address the reasons why so many consumers are willing to pay a premium for these foods. One of the main reasons is that organic foods are thought by consumers to be healthier than conventional foods. We will review the actual …
Food icons go organic
The list is long, so hold on to your peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As we will discuss in class, the organic category has become so large that almost every major food company has introduced, at one time or another, their own organic product line. Below are some of the …
Top Ten reasons why you should study food science at UNL
10. State-of-the-art building with modern labs, high-tech classrooms, and student lounges. And a coffee shop next door. 9. We speak Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Kinyarwanda, Nepalese, Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Tamil, and English. 8. We know the how to get milk out of an almond. 7. You …
The Food Allergen Generation
During one of the earlier lectures, we discussed how food science has changed in the past century, the past 50 years, and even in the past 20 years that you’ve been around. For your generation, in particular, the food allergen issue is one you’ve been hearing about probably since you …
Organic fraud
While I was at Whole Foods last week, I compared the organic apples with the conventional apples. They looked the same and may have tasted the same. Of course, the organics cost about 30% more. But really, other than price, the only thing that distinguished these apples was the display …
Communicating science? There’s an app for that!
Let’s first state the obvious: social media is how humans communicate in the 21st century. Period. We use social media to convey personal news and information among friends and family, we use it for business and pleasure, and of course we use it in our politics. Social media is now …
Thankful for food safety
This is the time of years when the food sections of nearly every newspaper and food website will contain articles on food safety and tips to make sure your holidays are disease-free. No matter, the odds are that there will be plenty of day-after stories of people eating under-cooked turkey, …
Plant-based milk and meat, GMOs and millennials
A few years ago, I attended the Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. One session featured lectures on how microbes and tissue culture cells can be used not only to make foods like meat and milk, but also plant-based leather and silk products. The lecturers noted …
When you need results yesterday
In just about every manufacturing industry, whether the products are cars, phones, or foods, it is absolutely essential that finished products meet quality expectations and safety requirements. However, for food, there is another critical requirement – namely, the methods used to validate safety must also be rapid. This is because …
Gut Health: Hype, Hope, and Science
Despite the promise and potential of probiotics and prebiotics for improving human health, there is also way too much hype. From “cures” for diseases, to anti-aging, to weight loss, to improved virility, these products are promoted for just about anything and everything. For lay consumers, it is hardly possible to …
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