Engineering for Food Safety and Quality

Non-Technical Summary: With an increasing demand by consumers for fresh-like, healthy, nutritious and safe food, the US food processing industry is continually challenged. Furthermore, emerging pathogenic microorganisms, tolerant to conventional treatment methods, create a demand for improved and novel food processes. The industry must constantly redefine technology to assure wholesomeness in processed foods. Thus, new and existing technologies must meet the challenge and play a pivotal role in improving the quality of value-added food products. Without extensive research, it would be difficult for the industry to meet these demands. To effectively compete in the global markets, the US food industry requires ready access to the scientific knowledge, well prepared personnel with appropriate skills, and a continuous dialog between academic researchers and industry practitioners. Collaborations among engineers, food scientists and other experts across the nation can effectively address these needs of the industry by advancing technologies through research, preparing our future work force through educating the students, and bridging the gap between research and implementation through outreach. The stakeholders impacted by this project will include the food industry, federal regulatory agencies, and consumers. The mission of this multistate project is to advance technologies for the purpose of improving food safety, quality and security. This will be accomplished by virtue of collaboration and synergy among participating experiment stations and disciplines. The research outcomes of this project will be used to enhance education and outreach programs for stakeholders. <P> Approach: Obj. 1a Food engineers have been using various measurement techniques for estimating physical, rheological and thermodynamic properties of interest as a function of food composition and packaging material. Once reliable properties are measured, these properties provide critical input to the mathematical models (obj. 1c). Knowhow on engineering properties is also vital for successful technology development (obj. 1b) and assessment efforts including equipment design, microbial safety, instrumental and sensory properties of the processed foods. Obj. 1b For successful development of innovative processing technologies from concept to commercialization, a number of questions need to be addressed. Is the technology microbiologically safe Is the technology providing significant quality benefits over traditional processing during extended storage What are the scale-up challenges associated with the technology How uniform is the application of lethal dosage (pressure, heat, electric field etc) Obj. 1c Mathematical models based on transport processes and rate kinetics provide a significant boost to food safety and quality by making available predictive tools that provide information about specific products, processing conditions and/or microorganisms through what if scenarios. Obj. 2 This objective will be pursued through two specific objectives or activities. 1.Develop a set of learning outcomes for Food Science and Food Engineering students Approach Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the IFT core competencies identified for the area of food processing and engineering Compile a common set of learning outcomes from existing University programs and present them to the entire NC-1023 committee for discussion. Develop surveys for employers and/or alumni to help identify key core competencies of graduates from each program. Develop a final list of key learning outcomes for both food engineering and food processing curricula and example performance criteria for meeting these outcomes. Promote the inclusion of new topics and novel teaching approaches in Food Engineering and Food Processing Curricula 2. Assessment methods Approach: Each collaborating station will send teaching materials to the lead station in the appropriate areas. Subcommittees will be formed to compile materials and create a common format or template. Subcommittees will be formed to collaboratively develop new materials Several test stations will implement new and/or existing teaching strategies/learning modules (modules could include lecture materials, case studies, simulations, homework/in-class assignments, etc.) that have been compiled by the committee. Assessment methods will be developed to measure the effectiveness of new and/or current teaching approaches and learning modules and their impact on learning outcomes. Obj. 3 The purpose of this objective is to ensure that the collaborative work of the group is learned and put into practice by stakeholders including industry, extension agents, communities and individuals involved in food production, state and federal government agencies, inspectors, professional societies, students and faculty, policy-makers, and others.