The following is a highly debated question: who is responsible for food poisoning, the consumer or the manufacturer? Both parties play a part; the food may be wrongly distributed, but at the same time, the consumer might not have followed food safety rules, and they may not have cooked the …
The Importance of Evidence
I would have to agree with having strict regulations since this guarantees accuracy. More evidence might be many levels of difficulty higher, but as frequently said by many: “Better safe than sorry.” With strict regulations, health benefits are assured entirely and would have a definitive outcome. With the bar so …
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”, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Recalls
For reasons we will discuss in class, food recalls are now a very common occurrence. As mentioned earlier during the allergens unit, most food recalls are for undeclared allergens (e.g., when soy or milk or wheat or other allergenic ingredients) gets inadvertently added to a food. While these can be …
For real
During the next lecture, I will describe another way to correct a dysbiotic gut microbiome. It’s a rather unconventional medical practice now being used to treat antibiotic-resistant Clostridioides difficile infections. This organism, called “C. diff” in the popular press, causes a truly miserable disease. Patients who have this organism in their …
The $180 gut microbiome
We will start a new unit this week – on probiotics and prebiotics. But the larger context is really about gut health, and the microbes that reside in your intestinal tract. We’ll be considering questions like how they get there, their role in various diseases, and how to shift the …
Global warming and Prof’s nightmare
As we will discuss in class, climate change is already affecting important agricultural products. Whether its drought or warming or sunlight hours, these changes can have profound effects on crops as well as in animal agriculture. Unfortunately, several of these products are very dear to me, personally. Among the products …
Understanding food science
As we will discuss in class, ensuring that students, from K-12 to college, are science-literate is now recognized as one of the more important missions of our schools and universities. Given all the issues we’ve discussed this semester, a list that includes organic foods, GMOs, food safety, obesity, climate change, …
The western food industry in the developing world
We have been discussing how the food industry can play an important role in addressing the world hunger problem. Food scientists certainly know how to preserve foods and reduce spoilage and waste. Food scientists know how to develop pasteurization and other technologies to make sure foods and beverages are safe. …
Our sorry state of obesity
As we will hear in class, every year, the CDC releases obesity data that gets included in a report called the “State of Obesity”. The most recent report was released in September 2022. The news is nearly all bad. For example, over 42% of U.S. adults are now considered obese. …