Food Group Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue 1 September 2004
Welcome to the first newsletter of the Food Group
• Meeting Reports • International News • Funding Opportunities • Future Meetings
L
ast year the Food Group conducted a survey of members views on what they would like their Group to offer. The full results of that survey are given in the feature article below. One item which received large support was a newsletter for members providing information on topical subjects and detailing the Group’s activities. We are delighted to be sending you the first edition of this newsletter. Obviously style and content
will evolve with time but let us know what you think by emailing the Committee via the Secretary, Rachel Burch: RBurch@LeatherheadFood.com We will be aiming to publish this newsletter twice a year. The main content will be feedback from the committee meetings covering:
If you would like to contribute either to the newsletter itself or the committee then simply e-mail Rachel and we will be in touch. Full details of committee membership are given at the end of this newsletter. We look forward to hearing from you. With best wishes, Dr Annette Fillery-Travis, Chair of the Food Group.
• Meeting reports, • International news • Funding opportunities, • Future meetings.
including EU,
Inside this issue:
Results of Questionnaire 2003
Vitamin C Starch 2004 Structure and Functionality 2 2 % respondents
W
e had a total of 64 respondents of which 56% replied by post and 44% took advantage of the on line facility. A brief summary of the responses was: Question 1: What do you most want the Group to provide for you? (see chart) Our website can be found on www.rsc.org/lap/rsccom/dab/ scaf006.htm or by following the scientific activities link through the main RSC pages and going to special interest groups. When asked “ Which of the meetings recently held by the Group did you attend?” there was a disappointing response in that only 16 respondents had attended a Food Group meeting over the last year and these were evenly spread across the meetings. To the question “ Which of
Food Colloids 2004 3 Interactions Microstructure and Processing Total Food 2004 Exploiting Co-Products – Minimising Waste Food Group Mission Statement Your Committee Medal Winners Where to find the Next Issue 3
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 web-site meetings route to RSC newsletter
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the planned meetings are you considering attending?” the number of respondents rose to a healthier 46 with both Food Adulteration and Total Food 2004 receiving a good show of support. This was cheering as Food Adulteration was a one-day meeting and Total Food 2004 a new three-day meeting looking at the up-and-coming issues around Food manufacturing waste and sustainability.
One issue the Committee were particularly keen to get feedback on from the membership was whether one-day meetings were still a useful forum. There had been a steady decline in attendance at one-day meetings with the majority incurring a loss. A resounding 94% of respondents replied YES with the 6% who responded in the negative citing as their reasons no time for
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Food Group Newsletter
Questionnaire Results continued . . .
One surprising feature of the responses was the high number of members who identified their speciality as analytical chemistry
networking and the topics were too broad in scope. The Committee are happy to continue organising such meetings but will look to reduce costs by trying alternate venues and formats. The majority of respondents suggested topics for further meetings and a wide range of interests were apparent but in general diet and health items such as micronutrients and vitamins analysis were popular. In addition the need to investigate the consequences and technologies required to reduce fat, salt and sugar in foods was clear in a number of suggestions. General analytical aspects of food chemistry were also well represented. The membership also identified a wider range of interests in terms of Food Area with ‘ Foods’ the most popular, All illustrating just how flexible the Food Chemist needs to be today. One surprising feature of the responses was the high number of members who identified their speciality as analytical chemistry. The committee are already working on meeting topics for next year which align to this membership profile. The winner of the £50 prize voucher towards a Food Group meeting has been informed and we would like to thank you all again for taking the time to give us your views.
Meetings in the pipe-line
No charge will be made for the workshop but a small charge of £ 15 will be made for lunch
Vitamin C Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , Wed 10th November 2004. A one-day meeting covering all aspects of Vitamin C, historical context, latest analytical techniques, maintenance of efficacy within foods, encapsulation etc. Topics and speakers include: History of Vitamin C and its role in prevention of scurvy Prof. Mike Davies Biosynthesis of Vitamin C Dr. Nick Smirnoff Bioavailability of Vitamin C Dr. Chris Bates Current understanding of the role of Vitamin C British Nutrition Foundation Delivery of Vitamin C in food products Speaker to be confirmed Chemistry of Vitamin C during processing and storage Prof. Bronek Wedzicha Analysis of Vitamin C in raw materials and finished product Ms Alison Williams No charge will be made for the workshop but a small charge of £15 will be made for lunch. To register please contact Mike Saltmarsh, Inglehurst Foods, Tel: 01420-563413 or email: inglehurst.foods@btinternet.com
Recent meetings
Attendance was lower than for previous meetings but there was no lack of enthusiasm during discussions
T
his has been a busy year for the Group with three international meetings within the first four months and the Postgraduate Meeting in July. Starch 2004: Structure and Functionality The first of this years meetings saw participants from around the world arriving at Churchill College, Cambridge, on 29 March for the third in our series of three-day conferences on starch. Being the primary storage component of most tubers, cereal grains and legume seeds, starch provides an essential energy source in
human nutrition. It also contributes greatly to the structure (texture or viscosity) of a wide range of manufactured and home-prepared foods. Thus Improved understanding of starch biosynthesis and behaviour in modern food processing is of vital importance to the food industry and also of benefit to consumers. The organising sub-committee, comprising Dr Tina Barsby (Biogemma UK Ltd), Professor Athene Donald (University of Cambridge), Professor Peter Frazier (University of Reading) and Dr
Richard Weightman (ADAS), assembled a scientific programme under four general headings: Synthesis and Biochemistry; Structure and Characterisation; Processing and Functionality; and Nutrition, Diet and Health. There were 6 invited lectures and 22 contributed research papers, together with a poster session. Attendance (100) was lower than for the previous meetings (in 1996 & 2000) but there was no lack of enthusiasm during discussions and by popular request the series will be continued in 2008.
Volume 1, Issue 1
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Recent meetings continued . . .
Food Colloids 2004: Interactions, Microstructure and Processing Organiser, Prof Eric Dickinson of the Procter Department of Food Science, University of Leeds writes: This international conference was held at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire, on 18- 21 April 2004. The meeting was attended by 192 persons from five continents, including more than 50 research students. The scientific programme consisted of 7 invited lectures, 34 contributed oral presentations and 97 poster presentations. About a third of the participants were from industry. The proceedings will be published by the RSC. This was the tenth meeting in the series of biennial European Spring conferences organized by the RSC Food Group and the second time the meeting has been held in Yorkshire. The previous occasion was the inaugural meeting in Leeds in April 1986, with the intervening conferences in Bedford (1988), Norwich (1990), Lunteren (1992), Dijon (1994), Ystad (1996), Seville (1998), Potsdam (2000) and Wageningen (2002). During the three full working days of the conference, contributions were presented on aspects of food gels, emulsions and foams under six main themes: (i) interfacial characteristics of food emulsifiers and proteins; (ii) microstructure and image analysis; (iii) processing issues; (iv) phase transitions; (v) interactions of macromolecules, particles, droplets and bubbles; and (vi) perception of taste, texture and appearance. An innovative development was the greater accessibility of poster contributions. As well as being presented at the formal poster sessions, over half the posters were displayed electronically on the confere n c e web - s it e (h t tp : / / www.foodcolloids.com/ conference2004/) before, during and after the conference. As a diversion from the science, there was an excursion of delegates to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, where the conference dinner took place. The next conference in this ongoing series will be held in Switzerland in the Spring of 2006.
An innovative development was the greater accessibility of poster contributions which were also displayed on the Web
Total Food 2004: Exploiting CoProducts – Minimising Waste This conference in April 2004 was the first international conference to consider the issues arising from the waste products of the food industry. Organised by Keith Waldron of the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, it was held in the lecture theatre of IFR and attracted 82 delegates, mainly from across Europe. Many universities and academic institutions were represented but, sadly, few industrial organisations, probably reflecting the fact that industry has not yet woken up to the implications of the enormous amount of waste (for example 500,000 tonnes of onion waste alone) that are generated by the food industry each year. The first paper by Prof. Jules Pretty of the University of Essex, set the scene with a review of the true costs of food production, taking into account subsidies and environmental costs, which at present
Altogether an eye-opening conference and one which is
are not borne by food producers so that food is artificially cheap. This was followed by papers on avoidance of waste and use of food products as sources of phytochemicals and other valuable ingredients, the problems of disposal of waste with the current complexity of European legislation, and finally use as energy source or animal feed. Much of the work presented arose from the EU AWARENET project coordinated by Libe de las Fuentes of Gaiker in Spain. Altogether an eye-opening conference and one which is certain to be repeated. Plans are already in hand for the second meeting on this important subject.
certain to be repeated
The Food Group Mission Statement:
The Food Group of the RSC, which was founded in 1974, has over 800 members in government, universities, research organisations and industry. The aims of the group are:
Your Committee:
Dr Annette Fillery-Travis, CRD (Chair) Prof Tony Andrews, Retired (Hon Treasurer) Dr Rachel Burch, Leatherhead Food RA (Hon Secretary) Dr Don Clarke, CSL, York Dr Andrew Cox, Unilever Prof Eric Dickinson, Leeds University Dr Michael Doel, DEFRA Prof Peter Frazier, Consultant Dr Trevor Grenby, UMDS Dr David Gray, Nottingham University Dr Don Johnston, Queens Belfast Mr Mike Saltmarsh, Inglehurst Foods Prof Michael Spiro, Imperial College Prof Bronek Wedzicha, Leeds University
ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY
Staff contact: Sean McWhinnie Burlington House Piccadilly London W1J 0BA Phone: +44 (0) 20 7440 3309 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7437 8883 Email: mcwhinnies@rsc.org Group contact: Rachel Burch Leatherhead Food RA Randalls Road Leatherhead Surrey KT22 7RY Phone: +44 (0) 1372 822 289 Fax: +44 (0) 1372 386 228 RBurch@LeatherheadFood.com
• to foster an awareness of the importance of
chemistry in the food chain;
• to encourage interactions between scientists
and technologists engaged in food R&D;
• to help transfer such scientific research from
ideas to applications. The Group organises one-day symposia and longer residential conferences. Two medals, Senior and Junior, are awarded in alternate years to those who have made contributions to the development of the subject area.
Medal Winners
T
he Food Group awards two medals on alternate years; the Junior and Senior Medals, sponsored by Unilever R&D Colworth for contributions to the area. Last years junior medal was awarded to Dr Martin Williams and is to be presented at a seminar at Colworth House on 24th August 2004. ± The medals sub-committee has just considered the applicants for the Senior Medal and this has been awarded to Professor Donald Mottram, from the University of Reading for his distinguished work in the science of food chemistry.
We’re on the Web! www.rsc.org
Professor Mottram (right) received his award from RSC President and Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir Harry Kroto at a ceremony at the Royal Academy of Arts, London on Tuesday 6 July 2004. Professor Mottram won the award for his work on food flavour mechanisms. He gained his BSc and PhD in colour
chemistry from the University of Leeds. His early research career was spent as a research scientist at the AFRC Meat Research Institute, Bristol, where he became head of the Flavour and Analytical Section. In 1988, he moved to the University of Reading where he now has a personal chair in Food Chemistry. One of his particular interests is the Maillard reaction – the series of complex chemical reactions that occur when food is cooked, producing hundreds of different flavour compounds.
Where to find the Next Issue
his introductory Food Group Newsletter can also be found on the Group’s Web site as a downloadable Portable Document File (Adobe Acrobat PDF). To access it, follow the links from Scientific Activities on the RSC homepage (see opposite) to Special Interest Groups – Food. Alternatively key in the following address: http://www.rsc.org/lap/rsccom/dab/scaf006.htm and bookmark for future quick access. The Food Group Newsletter will continue to be published twice-yearly in March and September on the Web site. It may also be possible to continue distribution of printed copies if funds permit and there is sufficient demand. The next issue will contain details of the prize winners from the Postgraduate Meeting, a report on the Vitamin C Meeting, details of further Food Group meetings in the pipeline, an update on activities in Europe from the Federation of European Chemical Societies and any other topical news. Don’t miss it !
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