Embodied food politics Carolan, Michael S
c2011., 2011, 20160429, 2012, 2016-05-06, 2011-04-01, 20110101
eBook
Drawing on a variety of case studies, this book explores the interrelationship between physical connections to and knowledge of food. This book inserts into the food literature living, feeling, ...sensing bodies and will be of interest to food scholars as well as those more generally interested in the phenomenon known as embodied realism.
This Special Issue collects research on and applications of the relationship between food, nutrition, and databases. The development of databases of nutrients, bioactive compounds, and metabolites ...are key tools for human health and public nutrition and represent resources for a wide range of applications in food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, epidemiology, and medicinal areas. The current research trends are highlighted.
Chitosan is a modified, natural biopolymer derived by deacetylation of chitin, a major component of the shells of crustacean. Recently, chitosan has received increased attention for its commercial ...applications in the biomedical, food, and chemical industries. Use of chitosan in food industry is readily seen due to its several distinctive biological activities and functional properties. The antimicrobial activity and film-forming property of chitosan make it a potential source of food preservative or coating material of natural origin. This review focuses on the applications of chitosan for improvement of quality and shelf life of various foods from agriculture, poultry, and seafood origin.
Food allergy represents an important food safety issue because of the potential lethal effects; the only effective treatment is the complete removal of the allergen involved from the diet. However, ...due to the growing complexity of food formulations and food processing, foods may be unintentionally contaminated via allergen-containing ingredients or cross-contamination. This affects not only consumers’ well-being but also food producers and competent authorities involved in inspecting and auditing food companies. To address these issues, the food industry and control agencies rely on available analytical methods to quantify the amount of a particular allergic commodity in a food and thus to decide upon its safety. However, no “gold standard methods” exist for the quantitative detection of food allergens. Nowadays mostly receptor-based methods and in particular commercial kits are used in routine analysis. However, upon evaluation of their performances, commercial assays proved often to be unreliable in processed foods, attributed to the chemical changes in proteins that affect the molecular recognition with the receptor used. Unfortunately, the analytical outcome of other methods, among which are chromatographic combined with mass spectrometric techniques as well as DNA-based methods, seem to be affected in a comparable way by food processing. Several strategies can be employed to improve the quantitative analysis of allergens in foods. Nevertheless, issues related to extractability and matrix effects remain a permanent challenge. In view of the presented results, it is clear that the food industry needs to continue to make extra efforts to provide accurate labeling and to reduce the contamination with allergens to an acceptable level through the use of allergen risk management on a company level, which needs to be supported inevitably by a tailor-validated extraction and detection method.
One of the recent, innovative, and digital food revolutions gradually gaining acceptance is three-dimensional food printing (3DFP), an additive technique used to develop products, with the ...possibility of obtaining foods with complex geometries. Recent interest in this technology has opened the possibilities of complementing existing processes with 3DFP for better value addition. Fermentation and malting are age-long traditional food processes known to improve food value, functionality, and beneficial health constituents. Several studies have demonstrated the applicability of 3D printing to manufacture varieties of food constructs, especially cereal-based, from root and tubers, fruit and vegetables as well as milk and milk products, with potential for much more value-added products. This review discusses the extrusion-based 3D printing of foods and the major factors affecting the process development of successful edible 3D structures. Though some novel food products have emanated from 3DFP, considering the beneficial effects of traditional food processes, particularly fermentation and malting in food, concerted efforts should also be directed toward developing 3D products using substrates from these conventional techniques. Such experimental findings will significantly promote the availability of minimally processed, affordable, and convenient meals customized in complex geometric structures with enhanced functional and nutritional values.
Biogenic amines have been reported in a variety of foods, such as fish, meat, cheese, vegetables, and wines. They are described as low molecular weight organic bases with aliphatic, aromatic, and ...heterocyclic structures. The most common biogenic amines found in foods are histamine, tyramine, cadaverine, 2-phenylethylamine, spermine, spermidine, putrescine, tryptamine, and agmatine. In addition octopamine and dopamine have been found in meat and meat products and fish. The formation of biogenic amines in food by the microbial decarboxylation of amino acids can result in consumers suffering allergic reactions, characterized by difficulty in breathing, itching, rash, vomiting, fever, and hypertension. Traditionally, biogenic amine formation in food has been prevented, primarily by limiting microbial growth through chilling and freezing. However, for many fishing based subsistence populations, such measures are not practical. Therefore, secondary control measures to prevent biogenic amine formation in foods or to reduce their levels once formed need to be considered as alternatives. Such approaches to limit microbial growth may include hydrostatic pressures, irradiation, controlled atmosphere packaging, or the use of food additives. Histamine may potentially be degraded by the use of bacterial amine oxidase or amine-negative bacteria. Only some will be cost-effective and practical for use in subsistence populations.
Innovative food processing technologies have been widely investigated in food processing research in recent years. These technologies offer key advantages for advancing the preservation and quality ...of conventional foods, for combatting the growing challenges posed by globalization, increased competitive pressures and diverse consumer demands. However, there is a need to increase the level of adoption of novel technologies to ensure the potential benefits of these technologies are exploited more by the food industry. This review outlines emerging thermal and non-thermal food processing technologies with regard to their mechanisms, applications and commercial aspects. The level of adoption of novel food processing technologies by the food industry is outlined and the factors that impact their industrial adoption are discussed. At an industry level, the technological capabilities of individual companies, their size, market share as well as their absorptive capacity impact adoption of a novel technology. Characteristics of the technology itself such as costs involved in its development and commercialization, associated risks and relative advantage, and level of complexity and compatibility influence the technology's adoption. The review concludes that a deep understanding of the development and application of a technology along with the factors influencing its acceptance are critical to ensure its commercial adoption.
The ultra‐processed food (UPF) concept first emerged 15 years ago, and is now studied worldwide in different contexts, for example, human health, food behavior, socio‐economic, food consumption, food ...scoring, and food system sustainability. Briefly, UPFs are defined as containing at least one marker of ultra‐processing (MUP). MUPs are (1) cosmetic additives, (2) aromas, (3) some highly processed carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and/or fiber, and (4) drastic processes directly applied to food such as extrusion cooking or puffing. The first three categories of MUPs are on the food packaging in the list of ingredients, and are extracted, then purified, from raw foods or coming from artificial syntheses, leading to a‐matrix/a‐cellular compounds. Therefore, the core paradigm to define MUP is extreme food matrix degradation, and for UPF, matrix artificialization. Besides, UPFs are more than just junk food, encompassing numerous industrialized foods, falsely presented as healthy, for example, animal‐based food analogs, but also organic, vegan, gluten‐free, micronutrient‐enriched, and/or light foods. In this way, UPFs are “high‐quality junk foods.” Otherwise, UPF being a holistic and indivisible concept by essence, we propose in this review to analyze ultra‐processing at four holistic levels corresponding to four important scientific issues: the food matrix, the dietary pattern, food system, and food scoring. We reached the main conclusion that UPFs should be first studied with a holistic and scientifically based approach, not a reductionist one. Otherwise, we take the risk of performing greenwashing and create still more new health threats at a global level.