Food

Providing every world citizen with sufficient and safe food, grown under sustainable constraints, is one of the Millennium Goals. In order to achieve this and to combine it with the growing demand for food, a partnership between different areas of science and technologies is needed. Good food also constitutes an important component of good health.

Overview5A Food process monitoring5B Molecular structure of food5C Food products and processes5D Microdevices

5 Food

New research based on food sciences, (molecular) biology, biochemistry and biophysics can strongly contribute to achieving this goal. These challenges in agriculture and food require an interdisciplinary approach of material sciences, life sciences, and social sciences.

For the material and life sciences it is particularly important to understand how molecules relate to system functionality. Research in this area focuses for example on molecules with sub-micron scale structures in food or processing devices acting on a micron scale. These devices break down food ingredients into their molecular constituents and control formation of sub-micron scale structures. Other research topics include the conditions during food processing and the resulting food quality properties, and a more precise monitoring of these conditions.

Theme coordinator
Prof. dr. E. van der Linden (Wageningen UR)

This theme contains the following programmes:

5A Food process monitoring and product quality assessment
5B Molecular structure of food
5C Food products and processes
5D Microdevices for structuring and isolation

Providing every world citizen with sufficient and safe food, grown under sustainable constraints, is one of the Millennium Goals. In order to fulfill this objective and to combine it with the growing demand for food, demands a partnership between different areas of science and technologies. Good food also constitutes an important component of good health. New research based on food sciences, (molecular) biology, biochemistry and biophysics can strongly contribute to achieve this goal. Within this theme, we propose research aimed at developing key elements of the solution.

5A Food process monitoring and product quality assessment

Micro and nanotechnologies offer unique opportunities to measure and detect molecules and organisms with higher specificity and sensitivity. Moreover these concepts provide better cost efficiency, speed and ease of use. In this programme research will be done to transfer these concepts to the economically important application field of food and nutrition. The results will enable the sector not only to monitor and control processes in the food industry more accurately, it will also provide tools to determine sensory qualities of food products and to effectively assess product quality and safety throughout the production and logistic chains.

The programme consists of three projects. Quality and safety of food products is the common denominator of the projects. One project aims at biological detection mechanisms for the detection of food borne pathogens and quantification of spoilage organisms. It focuses on quality and safety assessment in the various fresh food chains. The second project focuses on the measurement of molecules, e.g. in packaging, that correlate to specific product attributes like ripeness and quality status. It will provide the devices to present quality and safety information to the retailer and the consumer. The third project is directed towards the quantification of the ultimate food quality characteristic: appreciation by the consumer using assays based on human taste and olfactory receptors. The results will enable food companies and plant breeders to optimise their products and cultivars.

Programme Director:
Dr. ir. Maarten A. Jongsma (Wageningen UR-DLO)

5B Molecular structure of food

The modern consumer is increasingly seeking food products that can bring health benefits or prevent diseases. Ideally, health issues like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular health, growth and mental performance of children, and resistance to diseases are addressed by using food products rather than drugs. As a result, there is a growing demand for functional foods and accordingly, the market for such products is growing considerably every year. The world market for functional foods has increased to about 48 billion Euros in 2003. The Dutch market for health and wellness functional foods has a value in excess of 280 million Euro (2006).

One of the biggest challenges for the food industry is the formulation of high quality products with good appearance, texture and organoleptic properties containing incorporated health and functional ingredients. As a result, the demands on the improvement of existing food products and the development of novel ones are increasing to such an extent that ‘molecular engineering’ has become a necessity to fully control the product formation. This requires novel approaches based on new, fundamental technologies related to nanotechnology and advanced spectroscopies. The Netherlands have a strong tradition in food engineering, with an internationally highly competitive and innovative industry. The advanced design and analysis tools that have been, and are being developed, in academia and industry, can play a key role in strengthening the market position of Dutch food companies.

In this programme, the focus lies on the four main molecular constituents of food: proteins, lipids, (poly)saccharides, and water. Nanostructures of these materials are omnipresent in foods. These structures result from either controlled, directed assembly or form spontaneously from molecular building blocks. Insights into the intermolecular interactions that underlie these assemblies are essential for the rational design of novel food products. Indeed, the growing demand for functional foods is largely driven by the increasing knowledge of the relationship between food ingredients and their impact on human health and physiological functions. The design of functional foods, however, presents the food industry with enormous scientific and technological challenges. The formulation and delivery of bioactive lyophobic molecules (e.g. nutraceuticals like cholesterol-lowering sterols) is problematic due to their low solubility in water and limited solubility in common oils. Therefore, assuring optimal functionality of bioactive molecules is a major challenge for food companies in designing novel functional products.

The research projects proposed here aim at contributing to a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms and rules underlying food products. Such understanding, in turn, is expected to lead to the design and fabrication of novel functional foods that can deliver health and vitality benefits in products with excellent taste and stability through a fundamental understanding of the (supra-) molecular mechanisms at work.

Programme Director:
Dr. Krassimir P. Velikov (Unilever)

5C Food products and processes

This programme aims to support the Dutch food industry in the development towards sustainable food products and processes, while developing significant new functionality in products (aimed at combining better nutrition and better taste). The programme takes two scientific challenges as basis: multi-scale structure down to the colloidal scale, and (dynamic behaviour of) complex, concentrated systems.

The programme combines expertise on self-assembly and other phase behaviour of dispersed systems under flow, and characterization of the structure via imaging and investigation of the properties. Integration of all expertises is done in four clustered projects.

Projects 05C 01 and 05C 02 (Cluster A) consider the creation of hierarchically structured, protein-based (soft solid) materials from nm level and up, using a combination of self assembly and well-defined flow in concentrated systems. Project 05C.03 (Cluster B) focuses on emulsions, stabilised by particles, which can result in a solid product even when using liquid (healthier) oils. Projects 05C 04, 05 and 06 (Cluster C) investigate the creation of colloidal-size micro-domains, for use as encapsulates, and as separation agents. The full programme will enable a positive contribution to societal issues such as sustainability of food production and even animal welfare, providing a unique societal justification to the technology in society.

Programme Director:
Prof. dr. ir. Karin Schroën (Wageningen UR)

5D Microdevices for structuring and isolation

This programme aims to support the Dutch food industry in the development towards sustainable food products and processes, while developing significant new functionality in products. The Netherlands has a strong combination of micro-engineering oriented and food (-ingredient) manufacturing industries. Several unique developments in the last few years have shown the potential of microsystems in this segment.

This programme aims at realising very new processing concepts, novel products and mild isolation of ingredients resulting also in the reduction of usage of energy and other utilities. On the one hand it will generate better insight in the dynamics of multiphase fluids in microsystems, and on the other hand will enable larger scale application making use of those new insights, and knowledge of the behaviour of mesophase forming components in microchannels.

We will specifically explore emulsification and separation with microsystems. Microsystem emulsification can yield monodisperse emulsions under extremely mild conditions, at low energy consumption levels. We will give attention to the dynamics of spontaneous droplet formation and the interaction between many nozzles when scaling out. For separation, new engineering approaches are explored to make and apply membranes with highly complex outer geometries and incorporating other driving forces.

Programme Director:
Prof. dr. ir. Karin Schroën (Wageningen UR)