eurofoodchem xv: food for the future. the contribution of chemistry to improvement of food quality
TRANSCRIPT
Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691
DOI 10.1007/s00217-010-1224-8REVIEW PAPER
EuroFoodChem XV: food for the future. The contribution of chemistry to improvement of food quality
Juan Valverde · Maria Hayes
Received: 30 November 2009 / Revised: 21 December 2009 / Accepted: 9 January 2010 / Published online: 30 January 2010© Springer-Verlag 2010
Abstract The Wfteenth edition of the EuroFoodChemconference, entitled “Food for the Future: The contributionof chemistry to improvement of food quality” took place inCopenhagen, Denmark from the 5th to the 8th of July 2009.The conference was organised by the Food Chemistry Divi-sion of the European Association of Chemical and Molecu-lar Sciences (EuCheMS) and the Faculty of Life Sciences atthe University of Copenhagen (LIFE-UC).
Keywords EuroFoodChem XV · Macro and micro nutrients · Food processing · Bioavailability · Bioactivity of food components · Assessment of health claims
The Wfteenth edition of the EuroFoodChem conference,entitled “Food for the future. The contribution of chemistryto improvement of food quality” took place in Copenhagen,Denmark from the 5th to the 8th of July 2009. The confer-ence was organised by the Food Chemistry Division of theEuropean Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences(EuCheMS) and the Faculty of Life Sciences at the Univer-sity of Copenhagen (LIFE-UC). The conference focused onthe nutritional, sensory and functional aspects of food. Allthe three aspects looked at the physico-chemical functionsand properties of food components and additionally exam-ined the modiWcations of food through food processing,storage and preparation. As with previous EuroFoodChem
conferences, this event gathered scientists from a variety ofdiVerent disciplines including food scientists and chemists,engineers and other professionals from a wide range of uni-versities, laboratories and research institutes as well asnumerous representatives of the food industry, the foodtrade and public/EU authorities.
More than 30 diVerent countries from Europe and abroadwere represented by more than 200 participants who gath-ered in Copenhagen to discuss topics including the relation-ships between food quality and molecular-based sciences.Each conference day was organised in thematic sessionsfollowed by workshops, young scientist sessions and postersessions, which all highlighted the diversity and the broadrange of expertise gathered in Copenhagen and the currentwork undertaken in Europe relating to food science andtechnology research.
The opening ceremony was orchestrated by Peter Gaem-elke (President, Danish Agricultural Council), Per Holten-Andersen (Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences, UC) andHilmer Sorensen (EuCheMS, Chairman of EuroFoodChemXV). This opening ceremony was followed by the PeterCzedik-Eysenberg Memorial Lecture, which was entitled“A Brief History of the Division of Food Chemistry as aMirror of the Development of Food Chemistry in Europe”,by Professor Werner Pfannhauser (Graz University ofTechnology, Austria). This summarised the past, presentand future situation of Food Chemistry in Europe.
The Wrst session of the Conference, entitled “Food Pro-cessing–New developments in food processing: Opportuni-ties and limitations in New PEF, HP/T novel processing”began with a lecture entitled: “Novel food processing tech-nologies; opportunities and limitations of high pressurethermal processing”, given by Professor Marc Hendrickx,from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Hispresentation involved a summary of the evolution of high
J. Valverde (&)Prepared Foods Department, Ashtown Food Research Centre, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Republic of Irelande-mail: [email protected]
M. HayesFunctional Foods for Health Department, Ashtown Food Research Centre, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Republic of Ireland
123
688 Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691
pressure food processing, and how it has been introduced atindustrial scale for a large range of products. This talkfocussed speciWcally on the scientiWc state of the art onHP/T processing and the eVects of HP/T food processingon (1) microbial inactivation; (2) enzyme inactivation andactivity; (3) food allergens; and (4) texture, chemical reac-tions, colour and Xavour characteristics in plant basedfoods. Part of the data presented by Prof. Hendrickx hadrecently been obtained in the context of NovelQ (an EUFP6interdisciplinary integrated project to overcome bottlenecksin the introduction of novel technologies in the Europeanfood Industry).
This plenary lecture was followed by two oral presenta-tions covering other Welds of novel food processing. First,Dr. Mohammad Turk (ADEME. INRA, Compiegne,France) focused on pulse electric Welds (PEF) for selectiveextraction of functional compounds with health beneWts.His lecture entitled “Pulsed electric Welds of apple peelsimproved the extraction of Xavonol components by diVu-sion at mild temperature” showed some recent results cov-ering the signiWcant increase in extraction of Xavonol anddehydrochalcon families from apple peels when treatedwith PEF. Finally, Dr. Franziska Grzegorzewski (BerlinUniversity of Technology, Germany) with her presentationentitled “InXuence of non-thermal plasma-immanent reac-tive species on the stability and chemical behaviour of bio-active compounds” covered the use of non-thermal plasmaon polyphenolics.
The second session was centred on the sensory activecomponents and the impact of food processing on colour,smell and taste and included two plenary lectures. The Wrstplenary lecture presented by Prof. Felix Escher (Institute ofFood Science and Nutrition, Zurich, Switzerland) was enti-tled “Sensory Quality and Food Processing” and gave ageneral summary of the eVects of food processing on sen-sory quality of foods. The second plenary lecture was pre-sented by Dr. Peter N.K. de Kok (NIZO Food Research,Netherlands) and covered a summary of novel techniquesused to investigate the impact of chemical composition inrelation to sensory eVects. Both plenary lectures were fol-lowed by several interesting lectures considering the impactof 2-alkyl-3-methoxypyrazines on wine and juice qualityand their modiWcation during wine processing (Prof. GaryPickering, Brock University, Canada); the physico-chemi-cal and sensory description of honeys collected in Guate-mala and Venezuela (Dr. Patricia Vit Universidad deVenezuela, Merida, Venezuela); the formation of whitespots in dried apricots and their in-depth mechanistic study(Dr. Pelin Onsekizoglu, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Tur-key); and Wnally bioactive compounds in spice red pepper(paprika) as aVected by varietal factors, cultivation, tech-nology and processing (Dr. Hussein Daood, Central FoodResearch, Budapest, Hungary).
The second session was followed by a presentation byMr. Julien Mousiner, the policy coordinator at the Euro-pean Commission (EC), Directorate General Research,Bruxelles in Belgium. This presentation brieXy exposed theEuropean Strategy for Food Research and summarized thediVerent funding schemes available to European research-ers within the EC. Session 2 Wnished with four diVerentworkshops: W1, Mycotoxins in food; W2, Prebiotics asfood ingredients and additives; W3, Analytical methodsrecommendable as basis for determination of individualcomponents (LC, MS, NMR) and proof of authenticity; andW4, Methods of detecting allergens and the need for“omics” in food chemistry. A reception at Copenhagen’sCity Hall provided the conference attendees with a chanceto integrate, share knowledge and experience Danish cui-sine.
The third session of the EuroFoodChem XV conferencelooked at Micro and Macro nutrients and concerned thebioavailability of both these sources and how these nutri-ents are measured in both in vitro and in vivo systems. Thechair person for this session was Professor RosangelaMarchelli from Parma, Italy. The session started with a ple-nary lecture by Dr. Susanne Bügel from the Faculty of LifeSciences, Frederiksberg C, Denmark, and was entitled“Bioavailability of trace elements—how to measure”. Dr.Bügel suggested that bioavailability, which she deWned asthe amount absorbed and incorporated into metabolic activecomponents should ideally be assessed by measuring bio-logical activity after the intake of a given trace element.The lecture discussed the bioavailability of Selenium, Copperand Iron and highlighted the diVerences in absorptionrates of these trace elements, as absorption of Selenium isclose to 100%, Copper 30–40% and Iron as little as 1–5%.In conclusion, the lecture suggested that often more thanone biological marker is required to assess bioavailabilityand often the measurement of absorption is the only way topredict bioavailability.
Four oral presentations followed in session 3 which cov-ered a variety of topics including the bioactivity of vitaminD; Detection of milk-derived peptides in beverages usingcapillary electrophoresis; Improvements in blood glucosehomeostasis following administration of bread fortiWedwith germinated wheat seedlings to healthy volunteers; andUPLC analysis of free amino acids and biogenic amines indiVerent cheese varieties. The lecture entitled “Detection ofmilk-derived peptides in beverages by capillary electropho-resis–mass spectrometry” given by Virginie Tregoat ofJRC-IRMM, Geel, Belgium, concluded that CE–MS consti-tutes a suitable analytical tool to speciWcally detect peptidesemerging from enzymatically hydrolysed milk proteins infruit juices. Continuing with the theme of proteolysis anddetection of micro nutrients in food sources, Helmut Mayerof BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Applied
123
Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691 689
Life Sciences, Vienna, assessed that UPLC is a useful toolfor detection of free amino acids and biogenic amines incheese samples and suggested that UPLC analysis could bea valuable tool for the dairy industry to ensure the qualityand authenticity of dairy products. Jette Jakobsen of DTU,SØborg, Denmark, discussed the results of a double blind,randomised cross-over study with 12 healthy human sub-jects to assess the bioactivity of vitamin D sources. TheWndings of the study showed that 25OHD3 increased thevitamin D status compared to vitamin D3 by a factor of1.5–2. In contrast, vitD2 compared to vitD3 aVected vita-min D status to a lower extent. Gaby Andersen from theGerman Research Centre for Food Chemistry, Garching,Germany discussed the increase in bioavailability of sec-ondary metabolites in wheat and the positive beneWts onblood glucose homeostasis that breads fortiWed with germi-nated wheat seedlings had in healthy human volunteers.From this study, it was found that an intake of 300 g ofbread containing wheat seedlings for a period of 9 daysresulted in a decrease in fasting plasma glucose levels andthat insulin sensitivity was improved after the intake ofbread containing wheat seedlings.
Thirteen poster presentations were also included in thissession and covered wide and varied topics in terms of deter-mination and measurement of macro and micro nutrients.For example, “The SPRINTTM—a new and quick methodfor routine protein analysis in meat products by using iTAG”assessed the determination of protein content in a number ofmeat samples including sausage, pork, beef, turkey andready made meals. Other posters looked at the authentica-tion of food types including hazelnuts and Italian honeys.
The fourth session concerned the positive and negativeeVects of bioactive food components. “Bioactive food com-ponents—good and/or bad?” was chaired by Dr. MariuszPiskula of Olsztyn, Poland and began with a plenary lectureby Professor Elizabeth H. JeVery from the University of Illi-nois, Urbana, entitled “Safety and EYcacy of BioactiveFood Components”. Professor JeVery discussed many foodsthat appear to reduce cancer risk including broccoli. She alsosuggested that research indicates that cardiovascular diseaseand age-related neuro-degeneration are similarly impactedby diet, and suggested that there may possibly be a commonmechanism of action of food components that impact in apositive manner on cancer progression, such as an antioxi-dant or anti-inXammatory action. The safety of food extractswas also discussed and in many cases certain food extractshave very diVerent safety states relative to the whole foodsfrom which they are extracted. Prof. JeVery concluded thatwhile the risk–beneWt ratio is accepted for drugs that willcounter a disease state, little or no health risk is acceptablewith dietary supplements used to maintain health, ratherthan to combat a disease. Dr. Tomas Kuchta continued thetheme of detection methods for authenticity of foods and
allergenic components in foods that were discussed in sev-eral of the posters in session 3 with his presentation whichwas entitled “Novel real-time PCR-based methods for thedetection of allergenic nuts in foods”. Dr. Kuchta concludedthat this novel real-time PCR-based method could be used ina practical setting in Industry and was currently used in-house in the laboratory to determine nuts in unlabelled prod-ucts such as bakery and confectionary products.
An oral presentation entitled “EVects of food processingon food allergenicity” discussed how the allergenic potencyof the food product may be altered during technologicalprocessing. Several processing treatments including wash-ing, peeling, heating and enzyme usage as well as geneticmodiWcations to the foods were discussed. Dr. Paschke pre-sented two examples of reduction of allergenic potency ineggs that resulted from research in the EU-projectREDALL. These examples were the reduction of egg aller-genicity by heating and enzyme treatment, and the reduc-tion of lysozyme allergenicity in wines by treatment withbentonite. Dr. Alexander Zahm from Dresden Germanygave a presentation entitled “Serotonin und 5-Hydroxyin-dole in Green and Roasted CoVee”. This interesting presen-tation discussed the relationship between the roastingdegree—expressed as cafestol/dehydrocafestol ratio—andthe content of serotonin, 5-hydroxyindole and 5-hydrox-yskatole in a number of commercially available roastedcoVees. Dr. Mette Søndergaard concluded part 1 of session4 with a presentation on the “Comparative eYcacy andsafety of dietary glucoraphanin and broccoli in male F344rats”. This talk discussed a study that was conducted at theUniversity of Copenhagen and objectives of which were toWrstly compare the bioactivity in colon and liver of dietarybroccoli (unheated and heated), broccoli seed and gluco-raphanin given by gavage or mixed into the diet, and sec-ondly to evaluate the safety of such administration ofbroccoli and glucoraphanin. It was found that a bolus doseof glucoraphanin caused recoverable inXammation,whereas a similar dose mixed into the diet was withoutadverse eVects.
The second part of session 4 continued with the theme ofthe good and bad of bioactive food components and waschaired by Professor Markus Fischer from Hamburg, Ger-many. This session discussed new knowledge concerninghealth compromising native food components or substancesformed during storage and food preparation. The plenarylecture was given by Professor Hanne Frøkiaer’s from theDepartment of Basic Sciences and Environment, Universityof Copenhagen. Professor Frøkiaer presentation gave manyexamples of compounds with immune stimulating eVects aswell as compounds with anti-inXammatory eVects. In addi-tion, this presentation gave examples of how bioactivecomponents interact with cells of the immune system andhow this contributes to the prevention of disease states such
123
690 Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691
as type 1 diabetes and low grade inXammation. Moreover,suitable systems for studying the mechanisms behind theaction of bioactive compounds were also presented. Thenext presentation continued with the topic of detection ofallergenicity and was presented by Dr. Cecile Hustin fromthe Centre de Research, Luxembourg. The presentationentitled “Development of a multiplex and a real-time PCRfor the detection of six diVerent allergenic plant species andthree nuts species, respectively, in food products” discusseddetection of six potential allergenic plant species includingwheat, barley, soybean, peanut, rice and maize. It also dis-cussed a highly sensitive real-time PCR for the detection oftrace amounts of pistachio, peanut and pecan nut.
Session 4 concluded with an interesting presentation byProfessor Peter Koehler from the German Research, Garch-ing, Germany which presented Wndings on the “Preparationof partially hydrolysed prolamins as references for theimmunochemical quantiWcation of gluten derived peptides”.The optimised method used a peptic–tryptic hordein digestas a reference and was successfully applied for the determi-nation of gluten in three barley malt-based commercial bev-erages. This method could play an important part in thedetermination of gluten which is a problem in Coeliac dis-ease where suVerers have a permanent gastrointestinal disor-der characterised by a permanent intolerance to prolamins(proteins) present in wheat and related cereals. Tuesdayevening consisted of a number of workshops. Workshop W6was moderated by Professor Renato Amado and was entitled“Phytosterols, phytoestrogens, bioactives in plants used asfood/food ingredients”. Workshop W8 dealt with new andtraditional methods of food processing and the moderatorwas Dr. Jens Christian Sørensen. Workshop W5 detailednew and developing methods and techniques in the Weld ofmicroarray technology, chemometrics and combinatorialchemistry and was moderated by Dr. Keld Ejdrup Andersenof LIFE-UC, Copenhagen and workshop W7 focused onglobalisation and harmonisation of food regulations.
Session 5 on the Wnal day of the EuroFoodChem XVconference discussed food for health and well being and theassessment of health claims. It focused mainly on fattyacids and eicosanoids or prostaglandins in the human dietand the antioxidant eVects and the balanced ratio of n-6/n-3fatty acids that is required for a health eVect. The morningsession was chaired by Professor Concepcion Vidal ofMadrid, Spain, and the plenary lecture was given by Dr.Bernadette Delplanque from the Laboratorie d’Endocrinol-ogie de la Nutrition, Neuroendocrinologie Moleculaire dela Prise Alimentaire, Universite Paris Sud, Cedex, France.This plenary lecture encapsulated the theme of session 5and was entitled “Balanced ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids inhuman diets: Impact on health”. Dr. Delplanque discussedhow the ratio of n-6/n-3 in the diet is based on precursors(Linoleic and Linolenic, respectively) which is of major
importance if there is no or very low long chain eicosapen-taenoic dietary intake. She also discussed how in Westernsociety the dietary intake of linolenic acid is far below therecommendations of guidelines. Furthermore, the valuesgenerally accepted as beneWcial for LCn-3 are 300–500 mg/day for EPA and DHA intake. The plenary lecturewas followed by a very interesting presentation by Dr. GordonMc Dougall from the Scottish Crop Research Institute,Dundee, Scotland. Dr. Mc Dougall discussed the bioactivecomponents of berries and their health eVects in his talk“Bioactive components from berries: Human health eVects”.This presentation highlighted the research activities of theScottish Crop Institute in relation to bioactivities from ber-ries and berry components related to human health, mainlyin the Welds of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.The evidence for use of berries as potential functional foodswas also discussed and key steps for the authentication ofthese bioactivities and their eVects on human health werealso mentioned.
This presentation was followed by a presentation entitled“Interaction of various antioxidants with lettuce extract(Latuca sativa) in a liposome system”. This presentationdiscussed the interactions of tocopherol, quercetin andascorbic acid with lettuce extract by studying the ability toinhibit lipid peroxidation of L-phosphatidylcholine lipo-somes when oxidation was initiated by the azo-inhibitors,AAPH or AMVN. Lettuce extract without added antioxi-dants showed a decreasing trend in lag phase during storageat refrigerator or room temperatures. This was followed bya presentation on the “EVect of varieties and cultivation onpolyphenolics of cherry and sour cherry cultivars”. Thislecture was presented by Agnes Sass-Kiss from the CentralFood Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary. The aim ofthis work was to make a comparative investigation toexamine the eVect of varieties and cultivation (bio/inte-grated) on the composition of bioactive compounds. DiVer-ences were found between anthocyanin content of bio andintegrated sour cherry cultivars. Anthocyanin level washigher in samples produced by bio cultivation than in thosecultivated by the integrated method. The Wnal presentationin session 5 discussed the chemo-preventative action of theprebiotic inulin towards microbial 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4, 5-b]pyridine bioactivation. This studyindicated that the prebiotic eVect from inulin may also pur-port protective eVects towards microbial PhIP bioactiva-tion. Furthermore Lynn Vanhaecke from the University ofGhent concluded that as the colonic microbiota may con-tribute signiWcantly to the carcinogenic potential of PIP, thesearch for dietary constituents that decrease the formationof this harmful metabolite, may held in preventing its risktowards human health.
Session 6 was held on the Wnal day of the EuroFood-Chem XV conference and was entitled “Functional Foods:
123
Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691 691
New developments in functional foods; Industrial and Con-sumer Perspectives”. This session was chaired by ProfessorWerner Pfannhauser from Graz University of Technologyin Graz, Austria. The plenary lecture was given by Dr.Celine Carin-Cuissinat, from Unilever R&D, Food Struc-tural Design Department, Vlaardingen, The Netherlandsand was entitled “Natural Structuring of Emulsions”. A sec-ond plenary lecture was given at the end of this session byProfessor Lars Ove Dragsted, from the Department ofHuman Nutrition, LIFE, at the University of Copenhagen,Denmark and discussed “The researchers vision on func-tional foods in nutrition”. This talk presented examples offunctional food claims in Europe along with the potentialhealth impacts that they might have. The second presenta-tion was given by Dr. Maria Hayes from Teagasc AshtownFood Research Centre, Ireland and was entitled “Marinerest raw materials as a source of functional food bioactivecompounds with heart health activities”. It discussed thepossibility of extracting bioactive chitosan-oligosaccha-rides from marine waste streams that possess Angiotensin-I-converting enzyme inhibitory activities. The followingpresentation was given by Marco Arlorio from Universitàdel Piemonte Orientale A. Avogadro, Novara, Italy andfocused on “Novel insights on bioactive properties of cocoa(Theobroma cacao L.)”. This lecture discussed whethercocoa could be considered as a gourmet food, a neutraceuti-cal or a natural medicine. Following this, Eva Vincze fromAarhus University in Denmark discussed “Improving thebaking quality of barley; barley bread as a novel functionalfood”. There was also a number of posters presented basedon the topic of functional foods during this session.
The 7th session of EuroFoodChem XV provided youngscientists with the opportunity to present their researchWndings and work. The Wrst presentation was entitled“Problem solving in Analytical Chemistry” and was givenby Jan Christensen from the Faculty of Life Sciences, Uni-versity of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark. Thispresentation gave an overview of the important parts ofproblem solving in analytical chemistry. Two examples ofproblem solving in analytical chemistry were given; thesewere (1) QuantiWcation of brominated Xame retardants insewage sludge and (2) en-route development of an analyti-cal method for Xuorescence analysis of Wsh bile for rapidscreening of PAC exposure in relation to e.g., food qualityduring the Galathea 3 research expedition 2006/2007. Thislecture was followed by a presentation by Isabelle VanLeuven from the Catholic University College Ghent andwas entitled “InXuence of fat reduction on the volatile com-position of cheese”. Isabelle concluded from her work thatfat reduction had a clear eVect on the sensory charactersand the aroma impact components of Gouda-type cheeses.The next lecture was presented by Sauro Vittori from theUniversity of Camerino, Italy. This talk presented interest-
ing data on the cholesterol lowering eVect of several vege-tables and the quantiWcation of soya saponins in lentils.Sauro quantiWed soyasaponins I and VI using HPLC–MS.Two of the following three talks involved the use ofMECC. The Wrst of these talks involved the “On-lineMECC determinations of isothiocyanates (ITC’s), ITC-derived products and their cyclocondensation with vicinaldithiols”. This was presented by Heidi Blok Frandsen fromthe Faculty of Life Science, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.Heidi examined cruciferous vegetables for this study aswell as spices. Keld Andersen from the same institutionlooked at “Combined MECC and PCA Wngerprint analysesas a tool for reveal marker molecules usable in optimizationof novel HP/HT processing of carrots”. Juana Frias fromCSIC Madrid presented a very interesting talk on “Sproutedgarden cress enriched with Se”. This presentation con-cluded that the content of total Se in cress sprouts increasedduring germination in the presence of Se solutions and thehighest Se content was obtained with 8 mg/L.
The closing of the EuroFoodChem XV conference waschaired by Professor Livia Simon-Sarkadi from Hungaryand a conference summary was given by Dr. Roger Fen-wick from the UK. This was followed by an award cere-mony for the best posters and an introduction to theEuroFoodChem XVI conference which will be held inPoland by Mariusz Piskula of Poland.
The large amount of research presented throughout allthe six sessions as well as the 7th session which detail thework of young researchers from both research laboratoriesand the food industry reveals the good present alliancebetween these two Welds. The EuroFoodChem conferencewas once more an opportunity to examine the good integra-tion between academia and food industry in Europe. Thisintegration of academia and food industry is fundamentalfor (1) enhancing the competitiveness of the Food andDrink sector and (2) for improving the perspectives ofyoung and experienced food scientist and engineers inEurope. Finally we hope and would like to anticipate theincrease in both number and activity of these collaborationsin the near future. The next EuroFoodChem (XVI) meetingin Poland will provide an excellent opportunity to conWrmthis evidence.
All oral and poster proceedings of the EuroFoodChemXV, are compiled in three proceedings volumes (edited byHilmer Sørensen, Susanne Sørensen, Anne Dorthe Sørensen,Jens Christian Sørensen and Keld Ejdrup Andersen alongwith Charlotte Bjergegaard and Peter Møller all from theFaculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen,Denmark) and will be published under the following ISBNnumbers: ISBN-978-87-993033-5-9 and ISBN 978-87-993033- 3-5. They may be obtained by order in the EFC XVwebsite (http://www.eurofoodchemxv.life.ku.dk/About_Contact.aspx).
123