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Tag: Food and Water Safety

  • Microbes can create a more peaceful world: Scientists call to action

    Microbes can create a more peaceful world: Scientists call to action

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    Newswise — Microorganisms should be ‘weaponised’ to stave off conflicts across the globe, according to a team of eminent microbiologists. 

    The paper ‘Weaponising microbes for peace’ by Anand et al, outlines the ways in which microbes and microbial technologies can be used to tackle global and local challenges that could otherwise lead to conflict, but warns that these resources have been severely underexploited to date. 

    Professor Kenneth Timmis, Founding Editor of AMI journals Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology Reports and Microbial Biotechnology, says that worldwide deficits and asymmetries in basic resources and services considered to be human rights, such as drinking water, sanitation, healthy nutrition, access to basic healthcare and a clean environment, can lead to competition between peoples for limited resources, tensions, and in some cases conflicts. 

    “There is an urgent need to reduce such deficits, to level up, and to assure provision of basic resources for all peoples. This will also remove some of the causes of conflicts. There is a wide range of powerful microbial technologies that can provide or contribute to this provision of such resources and services, but deployment of such technologies is seriously underexploited,” Professor Timmis said. 

    The paper then lists a series of ways in which microbial technologies can contribute to challenges such as food supply and security, sanitation and hygiene, healthcare, pollution, energy and heating, and mass migrations and overcrowding. For example, microbes are at the core of efforts to tackle pollution by bioremediation, replacing chemical methods of treating drinking water with metalloid conversion systems, and producing biofuels from wastes. 

    “There is now a desperate need for a determined effort by all relevant actors to widely deploy appropriate microbial technologies to reduce key deficits and asymmetries, particularly among the most vulnerable populations,” Professor Timmis said..  

    “Not only will this contribute to the improvement of humanitarian conditions and levelling up, and thereby to a reduction in tensions that may lead to conflicts, but also advance progress towards attainment of Sustainable Development Goals,” he said. . 

    “In this paper, we draw attention to the wide range of powerful microbial technologies that can be deployed for this purpose and how sustainability can be addressed at the same time. We must weaponise microbes for peace.”

    RECOMMENDED ACTIONS TO IMPLEMENT RELEVANT MICROBIAL TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS TO DEFICITS 

    We need to urgently supply to communities lacking adequate levels of basic resources/services the infrastructure and know-how (capacity building), and funding for 

    1. use of agrobiologics to increase crop yields, by providing green nitrogen, stimulating plant growth, and combatting pathogens and pests, 

    2. exploitation of plant:microbe partnerships to improve soil health and implement regenerative agriculture, 

    3. creation of nutritious fermented food from locally available crops, 

    4. better use of microbes in the feed and food supply chains, 

    5. production of microbial food for humans and farm animals, 

    6. drinking water production and quality safeguarding, 

    7. waste treatment with resource recovery, 

    8. creation of modular DIY digital medical centres, 

    9. production of vaccines and medicines, 

    10. bioremediation and biorestoration of the environment in general and natural ecosystems in particular, to create healthier habitats and promote biodiversity 

    11. reduction of greenhouse gas production and capturing carbon, 

    12. production of biofuels, 

    13. creation of local employment opportunities associated with the above, 

    14. development of transdisciplinary approaches, using chemistry-related, computation technologies, psychology-related and other approaches that are synergistic to microbial solutions and 

    15. education in societally relevant microbiology 

    ‘Weaponising microbes for peace’ is published in Microbial Biotechnology, an Applied Microbiology International publication, on March 7 2023. 

    The authors are Shailly Anand, John E. Hallsworth, James Timmis, Willy Verstraete, Arturo Casadevall, Juan Luis Ramos, Utkarsh Sood, Roshan Kumar, Princy Hira, Charu Dogra Rawat, Abhilash Kumar, Sukanya Lal, Rup Lal, Kenneth Timmis. 

    To read the full paper, click HERE. 

    To find out more about AMI, visit https://appliedmicrobiology.org/ or https://www.the-microbiologist.com/. 

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    Applied Microbiology International

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  • IAFNS Looks Ahead at 2nd Anniversary with Focus on Food, Nutrition, Transparency

    IAFNS Looks Ahead at 2nd Anniversary with Focus on Food, Nutrition, Transparency

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    Newswise — Washington D.C. – The Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS) launched two years ago and saw both growth in new members and science productivity increase. In 2022 IAFNS supported 23 peer-reviewed scientific papers and hosted over 150 speakers at 37 events. IAFNS webinars reached over 11,000 nutritionists and food safety professionals in government, industry, academia and other stakeholder groups.

    In 2022 IAFNS expanded public and private sector membership, embraced the next generation of scientists with Summer Research Opportunity Fellowships, and was cited in over 270 media outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle, Yahoo!, The PBS News Hour and Forbes. IAFNS Executive Director Dr. Wendelyn Jones published 10 Op-Eds on topics as diverse as leadership and core values, the Bioeconomy, data access, climate and corn pathogens, and heavy metals. This media coverage and thought leadership demonstrates IAFNS ongoing relevance and agility in the always dynamic food and beverage ecosystem.

    IAFNS created new ways to meet future opportunities by hosting its second Science Innovation Showcase highlighting plant-based proteins, the FDA’s new “healthy” food definition and a session on Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) criteria. It featured timely presentations from start-up leaders and scientific experts and included dialogue sessions on Canadian front of pack labels and lively input from NGO stakeholder groups.

    In 2022 IAFNS leaders doubled down on their core values of scientific integrity centered on transparency, collaboration and public benefit. The organization’s leadership in these areas has been recognized by securing a Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar at Candid – a recognition achieved by fewer than 1 percent of nonprofits. IAFNS-supported scientists also adhere to the TOP guidelines as a signatory to the Center for Open Science – demonstrating our active shepherding of this commitment.

    According to IAFNS’ Dr. Wendelyn Jones, “This has been another banner year for actionable science that advances public health as evidenced by our output and recognition by external stakeholders. We’re pleased to report that 2022 brought a 20% increase in new supporting members to IAFNS as we continue to build our science-driven programs to support evidence-based decision-making by all sectors.”

    Mark your calendars as we will be hosting the IAFNS Annual Summer Science Symposium on June 13 and 14 in Washington, D.C.  The event is proving to be a unique gathering of scientific and regulatory experts where connections are made and collaborations are formed to drive positive change. More details to come here.

    For more on how you can engage with IAFNS, follow us on LinkedIn, sign-up for our Science Briefs, and visit our events page to learn about upcoming nutrition and food safety presentations. Learn more about joining IAFNS here.

    The Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS) is committed to leading positive change across the food and beverage ecosystem. IAFNS is a 501(c)(3) science-focused nonprofit uniquely positioned to mobilize government, industry and academia to drive, fund and lead actionable research. iafns.org

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    Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences

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  • Product images could boost food pantry use

    Product images could boost food pantry use

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    Newswise — ITHACA, N.Y. – Even though one in 10 U.S. households is food insecure, only 28% of those 13.5 million households took advantage of food pantries in 2021 – partly because of the perception that food pantry offerings are lower quality than what’s available in grocery stores, according to new Cornell University research.

    Research led by Anne Byrne, now a research agricultural economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS), found that visual depictions of food pantry offerings, including brand names, have an ameliorative effect on negative product perceptions.

    “I think what this research demonstrates,” Byrne said, “is that when we think about food pantries and free food, people still have preferences around the products that they’re going to get. Simply because that outlet is a food pantry doesn’t change the fact that people have preferences and want information about their food.” 

    Byrne is corresponding author of “But It Came From a Food Pantry: Product Stigma and Quality Perceptions of Food Pantry Offerings,” which published Jan. 8 in Agricultural Economics. Co-authors are Cornell professors Chris Barrett and David Just. 

    There are many obstacles to participation in food pantry services, beyond food quality. Transportation, pantry hours that conflict with work schedules, language barriers and the perception of “eroded dignity,” as one report put it, that comes with accepting free food are all factors that can keep people from taking advantage of needed services.

    Byrne and her group chose to focus on food quality, as it was a factor that could be tested, and because the interventions that could address it may be relatively feasible and low-cost for organizations to implement.

    The research started while Byrne was working on her doctorate in applied economics and management. She partnered with the manager of a food pantry for students at Tompkins Cortland Community College, to see whether students’ perceptions of quality varied based on where they got the food.

    “We ran a very small-scale experiment, where we had the exact same food in different locations on campus and gathered some information about perceptions,” she said, noting that they did see differences in perceptions of identical products.

    For the new study, the group asked a total of 2,051 low-income participants from across the country (67% female, 60% white) to evaluate five food items – breakfast cereal, bacon, yogurt, canned soup and grapes – under four different experimental conditions. In one, participants are told the food is from either a grocery store or a food pantry; in the other, they are or are not provided with photos of the food items, including in some cases a popular brand.

    The researchers also found that participants’ pantry use history (never, former or current) played a role in their assessment of the quality of the food pantry products in the study. Generally, median quality assessment of the products was lowest and product stigma was highest among “never users.” 

    “Those who use the pantries know the food is good quality,” Just said. “For those who don’t, their biased perception may be standing in the way of greater food security.” 

    The researchers found that respondents exhibit a negative perception of the quality of food from a pantry, but that their perception is largely offset when they are shown an informative visual depiction of that food. In a second experiment, the researchers included brand information in all treatments, but photos of the products only half the time. Again, they found that negative product stigma can be significantly offset by the presence of even just a recognizable brand name.

    This research is important, the researchers said, as even small shifts in destigmatizing food pantries could have notable consequences if it leads to a greater number of food-insecure individuals accessing food pantries. 

    “The United States enjoys a broad and generous private charitable food assistance network through food banks and pantries that too few food insecure families use.” Barrett said. “We hope this and related research can help food pantries to increase their appeal to better serve their communities.” 

    The research was funded by a grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

    “A lot of this research was predicated on findings that come the Household Food Security Report, which is produced by the ERS every year,” Byrne said. “With that particular investment from the USDA, we’re able to learn about the national picture of food security and assistance, and some of the trends that we may want to dig into deeper to better understand why people are, or are not, using pantry services.”

    For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story. 

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    Cornell University

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  • Salmonella exposure a risk for colon cancer

    Salmonella exposure a risk for colon cancer

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    Newswise — A new study published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine links exposure to salmonella bacteria to colon cancer risk. 

    The researchers, including a team led by Jun Sun from the University of Illinois Chicago, studied human colon cancer tissue samples and animal models and found that exposure to salmonella was linked with colon cancers that developed earlier and grew larger.  

    The study authors first looked at data from a Netherlands-based retrospective study of colon cancer patients that found tissue samples taken during routine colon cancer surgery with salmonella antibodies tended to be from people who had worse colon cancer outcomes. 

    Using salmonella strains isolated from these tissue samples, Sun and her U.S.-based team studied mice with colon cancer that had been exposed to the bacteria. They observed accelerated tumor growth and larger tumors in mice with salmonella exposure. They also saw that there was increased salmonella translocated to the tumors. 

    “During infection, salmonella hijacks essential host signaling pathways, and these molecular manipulations may cause oncogenic transformation. The current study tells us that more research is needed into the connection between salmonella exposure and colon cancer risk in the USA, and that simply by practicing safe food preparation, we can potentially help to protect ourselves,” said Sun, UIC professor of medicine. 

    Sun’s collaborators in the Netherlands also studied the bacteria in vitro. They combined human cancer cells and pre-cancer cells with the salmonella strain in the lab and measured any growth or changes in the tumor. They saw that even one infection caused transformation and that each salmonella infection exponentially increased the rate of cell transformation. 

    “The mouse and tissue culture experiments show that salmonella infection had a chronic effect to accelerate tumor growth,” said Sun, who also is a member of the University of Illinois Cancer Center at UIC. “This evidence tells us that we need to look closer at salmonella exposure as an environmental risk factor for chronic diseases, such as colon cancer.” 

    Leiden University Medical Center, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, and Utrecht University, all in the Netherlands, collaborated on this study.  

    In addition to Sun, co-authors of “Repetitive non-typhoidal Salmonella exposure is an environmental risk factor for colon cancer and tumor growth” include Daphne van Elsland, Janneke Duijster, Jilei Zhang, Virginie Stevenin, Yongguo Zhang, Lang Zha, Yinglin Xia, Eelco Franz, Lapo Mughini-Gras and Jacques Neefjes. 

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    University of Illinois Chicago

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  • Highest metal concentrations in US public water systems found among Hispanic/Latino and American Indian communities

    Highest metal concentrations in US public water systems found among Hispanic/Latino and American Indian communities

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    Newswise — December 14, 2022–Significantly higher arsenic and uranium concentrations in public drinking water have been linked to communities with higher proportions of Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and non-Hispanic Black residents, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Arsenic and uranium were higher for Hispanic/Latino and American Indian communities nationwide, while higher proportions of non-Hispanic Black residents were associated with higher arsenic and uranium only in the West and Midwest regions where water arsenic and uranium are the highest.

    Until now studies evaluating these associations were not possible because estimates of nationwide contaminant concentrations were not publicly available for the majority of public water systems. The findings are published online in the journal Nature Communications.

    In many U.S. communities, drinking water is a significant source of exposure to arsenic and uranium, which are major environmental exposures associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease and other adverse health outcomes. The EPA sets a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 30 µg/L for uranium and 10 µg/L for arsenic. However, EPA’s non-enforceable maximum contaminant level goal for both is 0 µg/L because there is no known safe level of exposure to either.

    “Our findings are particularly relevant to public health because there is no safe level of exposure to inorganic arsenic and uranium,” noted Irene Martinez-Morata, MD, PhD candidate in Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and first author. “These findings support that inequalities in public water contaminant exposures are more severe in regions with more residents from communities of color relying on public drinking water and higher concentrations of specific contaminants in source water.”

    “All communities, regardless of racial/ethnic makeup, deserve access to clean, high quality drinking water,” said Anne Nigra, PhD, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “Our analysis indicates that this is not currently the case in the US. Even after accounting for socioeconomic status, communities of color have higher arsenic and uranium in their regulated public drinking water.”

    The researchers used county-level, population-weighted concentration estimates of arsenic and uranium concentrations in public water systems across the U.S. — estimates based on the most recent publicly available nationwide monitoring data gathered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Water metal concentrations were available for a total of 2,585 counties for arsenic and 1,174 counties for uranium. Parallel analyses were conducted for each of these racial and ethnic groups: non-Hispanic Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Hispanic/Latino, and non-Hispanic White.

    “The quality of your drinking water should not be related to the racial/ethnic makeup of your community,” remarks Martinez-Morata. “Our findings can advance environmental justice initiatives by informing federal regulatory action and financial and technical support to protect communities of color.”

    An interactive map of county-level CWS metal concentrations is also available at: https://msph.shinyapps.io/drinking-water-dashboard/. 

    Co-authors are Dustin Duncan, Maya Spaur, Kevin Patterson, Seth Prins, and Ana Navas-Acien, Columbia Mailman School; Benjamin C. Bostick, Columbia Climate School; Otakuye Conroy-Ben, Arizona State University; and Miranda Jones, Johns Hopkins University.

    The study was supported by National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (DP5OD031849), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (2T32ES007322, P300ES009089, P42 ES033719); and by a fellowship from La Caixa Foundation (ID100010434).

    Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

    Founded in 1922, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Columbia Mailman School is the fourth largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its nearly 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change and health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with more than 1,300 graduate students from 55 nations pursuing a variety of master’s and doctoral degree programs. The Columbia Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers, including ICAP and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit www.mailman.columbia.edu.

     

     

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    Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health

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  • Whole-grain food consumption impacted by consumer skepticism and lack of labeling standard

    Whole-grain food consumption impacted by consumer skepticism and lack of labeling standard

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    Newswise — Philadelphia, December 5, 2022 – Despite numerous health benefits and recommendations from dietary guidelines, whole-grain food intake remains low globally. A research article featured in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, studies consumer understanding of whole-grain food definitions and industry labeling practices.

    “Without clear regulation and labeling standards, the benefits of educating consumers on how to increase whole-grain intake may be lost,” says lead author Katrina R. Kissock, PhD, APD, School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia. “This study supports the need for a global whole-grain labeling system based on standardized definitions to help consumers make informed food purchases.”

    This study recruited consumers with flyers in community locations as well as through social media. The resulting ten focus groups were asked open-ended questions on four topics: grain food choices and whole-grain consumption; identification of whole-grain foods; perception of labeling; and opinions on hypothetical package labels. In addition, 17 food industry representatives, including dietitians, food scientists, marketers, and regulatory personnel, were recruited by direct email to examine awareness and understanding of whole-grain food definitions and regulations; hypothetical adoption of whole-grain food definitions by the food industry; and how definition adoption might impact consumers.

    During focus group discussions, skepticism significantly impacted consumer understanding and consequently grain choices. The consumer focus groups expressed skepticism of grain food labeling, whole-grain content claims, symbols such as the Health Star Rating and marketing of products as healthy. Consumer comments included, “I don’t know how much whole grain a product has to have to get a label. Does it mean 5% or 3%?” and “I don’t have any idea what 16 grams of whole grain per serving means.”

    When looking at hypothetical labels, consumers had a strong preference towards use of whole grain within the name of the product as opposed to a separate and generic whole-grain content claim not in the name of the product, e.g., ”contains whole grain.” Industry representatives generally did not think consumers noticed that level of nuance in front of package labeling. A simple statement of the percentage of whole grain in a product was considered clear and easy to understand by consumers, and industry representatives agreed that the current percentages used by the Whole Grain Initiative definition were appropriate. Both consumers and food industry representatives identified problems with current labeling of whole-grain foods and highlighted the need for clear, consistent labeling.

    “It was evident that limited consumer understanding and confusion related to whole-grain foods contributed to skepticism, perceptions of healthfulness, and buying decisions,” concludes Dr. Kissock. “Definitions, regulations and consumer education are strategies that could improve consumption of whole-grain foods.”

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    Elsevier

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  • Science misinformation on GMOs reaches quarter of a billion people, study finds

    Science misinformation on GMOs reaches quarter of a billion people, study finds

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    Newswise — 17 NOVEMBER 2022, ITHACA, NEW YORK: Science misinformation about genetically modified crops and foods had a potential global readership of over a quarter of a billion people, according to a new study published by the Alliance for Science, which combats anti-science misinformation on topics like climate, vaccines and GMOs.

    The study assessed top English-language media from around the world, with stories published over a two-year period between January 2019 and January 2021. Articles were assessed for misinformation, defined as statements that disagreed with the scientific consensus on the safety of genetic engineering.

    Overall, 9% (47) of the 535 relevant articles containing ‘GMO’-related keywords contained misinformation. This false information was considered likely to have had a potential reach of 256 million people.

    The problem is particularly acute in Africa, where one-fifth of media coverage of genetically modified foods contained misinformation. The corresponding figures for North America and Europe were 5% and 7%, respectively.

    As well as regional tags, the articles were also subjected to sentiment analysis. While an overwhelming majority of articles were categorized as ‘neutral,’ the majority of misinformation was rated as ‘negative’ in tone. There were no articles containing misinformation with a positive tone towards GMOs.

    The biggest category of misinformation concerned human health. This category includes articles containing claims that GMOs cause cancer or other health impacts without refutation, because such claims contradict a worldwide scientific consensus that food from genetically engineered crops is as safe as food from non-genetically engineered crops. Misinformation on GMOs and human health also had the highest readership, achieving a potential reach of 139 million people.

    The study was conducted in partnership with Cision Media, using its NextGen database of global media. Sentiment analysis and categorization was performed manually, not by machine.

    The paper, which is published in the peer-reviewed journal GM Crops & Food, is titled “Misinformation in the media: global coverage of GMOs 2019-2021.” The lead author is Mark Lynas, climate and research lead at the Alliance for Science, which is based at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, New York.

    Lynas has previously published work with the Alliance for Science quantifying the scientific consensus on climate change, and examining media misinformation both on COVID-19 and vaccines. This new paper is thought to be the first to quantify the extent of GMO-related misinformation in the world’s media based on a comprehensive dataset.

    On the issue of GMO misinformation, Lynas said: “Our results show that misinformation about GMOs is still a huge problem, and that hundreds of millions of people are being given false information that contradicts the scientific consensus on the safety of genetic engineering. Make no mistake: misinformation about GMOs can be as harmful to society as misinformation on vaccines or climate change. The media must do better, and stop publishing false claims on this subject spread by anti-science activists.”

    Dr Sheila Ochugboju, executive director the Alliance for Science, added: “What is most worrying is that the problem of misinformation on GMOs is particularly acute in Africa, where it is harming the livelihoods of smallholder farmers by preventing them from accessing new crop varieties that are resistant to pests and to drought caused by climate change.”

    She added: “It is vital that the benefits of scientific innovation are not denied to people in the Global South,” and vowed that the Alliance for Science will continue to combat misinformation on this subject and others via its Nairobi-based Global South Hub, and by working with partners including the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB).

    About Boyce Thompson Institute:

    Opened in 1924, Boyce Thompson Institute is a premier life sciences research institution located in Ithaca, New York. BTI scientists conduct investigations into fundamental plant and life sciences research with the goals of increasing food security, improving environmental sustainability in agriculture, and making basic discoveries that will enhance human health. Throughout this work, BTI is committed to inspiring and educating students and to providing advanced training for the next generation of scientists. BTI is an independent nonprofit research institute that is also affiliated with Cornell University. For more information, please visit BTIscience.org.

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    Boyce Thompson Institute

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  • Researchers cook up a new way to remove microplastics from water

    Researchers cook up a new way to remove microplastics from water

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    Newswise — Researchers at Princeton Engineering have found a way to turn your breakfast food into a new material that can cheaply remove salt and microplastics from seawater.

    The researchers used egg whites to create an aerogel, a lightweight and porous material that can be used in many types of applications, including water filtration, energy storage, and sound and thermal insulation. Craig Arnold, the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and vice dean of innovation at Princeton, works with his lab to create new materials, including aerogels, for engineering applications.

    One day, sitting in a faculty meeting, he had an idea.

    “I was sitting there, staring at the bread in my sandwich,” said Arnold. “And I thought to myself, this is exactly the kind of structure that we need.” So he asked his lab group to make different bread recipes mixed with carbon to see if they could recreate the aerogel structure he was looking for. None of them worked quite right initially, so the team kept eliminating ingredients as they tested, until eventually only egg whites remained.

    “We started with a more complex system,” Arnold said, “and we just kept reducing, reducing, reducing, until we got down to the core of what it was. It was the proteins in the egg whites that were leading to the structures that we needed.”

    Egg whites are a complex system of almost pure protein that — when freeze-dried and heated to 900 degrees Celsius in an environment without oxygen — create a structure of interconnected strands of carbon fibers and sheets of graphene. In a paper published Aug. 24 in Materials Today, Arnold and his coauthors showed that the resulting material can remove salt and microplastics from seawater with 98% and 99% efficiency, respectively.

    “The egg whites even worked if they were fried on the stove first, or whipped,” said Sehmus Ozden, first author on the paper. Ozden is a former postdoctoral research associate at the Princeton Center for Complex Materials and now a scientist at Aramco Research Center. While regular store-bought egg whites were used in initial tests, Ozden said, other similar commercially available proteins produced the same results.

    “Eggs are cool because we can all connect to them and they are easy to get, but you want to be careful about competing against the food cycle,” said Arnold. Because other proteins also worked, the material can potentially be produced in large quantities relatively cheaply and without impacting the food supply. One next step for the researchers, Ozden noted, is refining the fabrication process so it can be used in water purification on a larger scale.

    If this challenge can be solved, the material has significant benefits because it is inexpensive to produce, energy-efficient to use and highly effective. “Activated carbon is one of the cheapest materials used for water purification. We compared our results with activated carbon, and it’s much better,” said Ozden. Compared with reverse osmosis, which requires significant energy input and excess water for operation, this filtration process requires only gravity to operate and wastes no water.

    While Arnold sees water purity as a “major grand challenge,” that is not the only potential application for this material. He is also exploring other uses related to energy storage and insulation.

    The research included contributions from the departments of chemical and biological engineering and geosciences at Princeton and elsewhere. “It’s one thing to make something in the lab,” said Arnold, “and it’s another thing to understand why and how.” Collaborators who helped answer the why and how questions included professors Rodney Priestley and A. James Link from chemical and biological engineering, who helped identify the transformation mechanism of the egg white proteins at the molecular level. Princeton colleagues in geosciences assisted with measurements of water filtration.

    Susanna Monti of the Institute for Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds and Valentina Tozzi from Instituto Nanoscienze and NEST-Scuola Normale Superiore created the theoretical simulations that revealed the transformation of egg white proteins into the aerogel.

    The article, “Egg protein derived ultralightweight hybrid monolithic aerogel for water purification,” was published in the journal Materials Today. Besides Arnold, Monti, Ozden, Priestley, Link and Tozzi, authors include Nikita Dutta, a former graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering who is now at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Stefania Gill, John Higgins and Nick Caggiano of Princeton University; and Nicola Pugno of the University of Trento and Queen Mary University of London. Support was provided in part by the Princeton Center for Complex Materials and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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    Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science

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  • Words Matter in Food Freshness, Safety Messaging

    Words Matter in Food Freshness, Safety Messaging

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    Newswise — ITHACA, N.Y. – Changing the wording about expiration dates on perishable food items – which is currently unregulated and widely variable – could help reduce food waste, according to a new Cornell University-led study.

    A survey of consumers found that certain wording – “best by,” as opposed to “best if used by,” for example – had the potential to reduce food waste, but that results varied depending on the type of food in question. Predictably, the more perishable a food item, the greater the likelihood of discarding it. 

    This work has implications for both policy proposals regarding date labels and the market impacts of reducing food waste.

    “Some consumers might do a sniff test to see if food is still good, while others might just look at the date label and throw it away,” said Brad Rickard, professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and senior author of “Date Labels, Food Waste and Supply Chain Implications,” which published in the European Review of Agricultural Economics.

    “And the truth is, with very few exceptions, these date labels that are used in the United States are not regulated,” Rickard said. “And they’re not food safety dates; they’re just food quality dates.”

    Co-authors were Shuay-Tsyr Ho, assistant professor of agricultural economics at National Taiwan University; Florine Livat, associate professor of economics at the Kedge Business School in Talence, France, and a former visiting scholar at Dyson; and Abigail Okrent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. 

    Rickard and his colleagues found that the words “use” or “use by” seemed to speak more directly to the perceived food safety implications of consuming food past the date listed on the package, and could therefore lead to an increase in food waste. The wording “best by” seemed to refer solely to food quality beyond a certain date and led to less waste.

    The motivation for this work, Rickard said, stems from the “wild west” landscape of food date labels which is expected to be driven, in part, by manufacturers’ desire to sell more product. Nearly a year ago, the Food Date Labeling Act was introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in an effort to reduce the discarding of safe food.

    “You go into the yogurt section at the grocery store,” he said, “and you see many different labels – some say ‘use by,’ some say ‘best by,’ some say ‘best if used by’ or ‘fresh by,’ ‘sell by.’ And there are no rules about this.”

    In the survey, the researchers asked participants to rate, on a 1-5 scale (5 being extremely likely) their likelihood of discarding 15 different food and beverage items that were one day past the stated date code. In the first section of the survey, the question included only the expiration date code (i.e. date/month/year); the second section repeated this exercise but with both a date code and a date label that included one of 10 different wording variations. 

    Four of the date label variations followed those that have been widely adopted in the U.S.: “Best if used by”; “Best by”; “Use by”; and “Sell by.” The other six featured a date label and a biosensor, a visual indication of food quality. Biosensors – which detect microbe growth and change colors accordingly – are popular in some European markets, but are not as common in the U.S.; for the survey, the researchers chose biosensors with the colors green (fresh), blue (less fresh) and purple (past fresh).

    The 15 food items selected for the survey – including bread, cookies, chicken, packaged salad greens and canned soup – all typically use date labels. Survey results showed an increase in discard intentions with the “Use by” and the “Best if used by” date label, inferring that food with these date labels were more often discarded and replaced.

    Rickard also said the novelty of the biosensor technology resonated with the U.S. survey participants, and when it was presented to participants as green (fresh), it led to substantially lower discard rates.

    One of the unintended consequences of a more uniform approach to date labels, the researchers note, is a potential increase in food waste depending on the wording of the label, as well as an increase in the re-purchasing of perishable items high in protein, fat and cholesterol. 

    “If you tell all food manufacturers that all their ‘best by’ dates are now going to ‘best if used by’ dates, that might actually increase food waste,” Rickard said. 

    This research was supported by a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as well as through the USDA Hatch Project NYC. 

    For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.

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    Cornell University

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  • Development of New Technology for Wastewater Treatment for Semiconductor Production

    Development of New Technology for Wastewater Treatment for Semiconductor Production

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    Newswise — Alcohols are used to remove impurities on the surface of semiconductors or electronics during the manufacturing process, and wastewater containing alcohols is treated using reverse osmosis, ozone, and biological decomposition. Although such methods can lower the alcohol concentration in wastewater, they are ineffective at completely decomposing alcohols in wastewater with a low alcohol concentration. This is because alcohol is miscible in water, making it impossible to completely separate from alcohol using physical methods, while chemical or biological treatments are highly inefficient. For this reason, wastewater with a low alcohol concentration is primarily treated by diluting it with a large amount of clean water before its discharge.

    The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Seok-Jin Yoon) has announced that a research team led by Dr. Sang Hoon Kim and Dr. Gun-hee Moon of Extreme Materials Research Center developed a photocatalyst that can completely decompose a trace amount of alcohol in water within a short duration by adding a very trace amount of copper to iron oxide, which is used as a catalyst during the advanced oxidation process.

    The research team employed Fenton oxidation that uses oxidizing agents and catalysts during the advanced oxidation process for water treatment. Usually alcohols were used as reagents to verify radical production during Fenton oxidation in other advanced oxidation process (AOP) studies, they were the target for removal from semiconductor wastewater in this research.

    This water treatment technology is expected to dramatically reduce the cost and water resources invested into the treatment of semiconductor wastewater. In the past, clean water with a volume 10 times higher than that of the wastewater under treatment was required for dilution of the wastewater in order to reduce the alcohol concentration of 10 ppm in the wastewater to less than 1 ppm.

    If the photocatalyst developed by the KIST is used for water treatment, water resources can be saved. The research team applied the photocatalyst to wastewater from a semiconductor factory to prove that alcohol decomposition levels similar to those observed in the laboratory could be achieved in industrial practice.

    “As large-scale semiconductor production lines are established, we expect that there will be a rapid increase in the demand for the treatment of semiconductor wastewater,” said Dr. Kim. “The results of our research will provide a solution to effectively treat semiconductor wastewater using less resources and at a lower cost,” he added.

     

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    KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea to establish a national development strategy based on science and technology and disseminate various industrial technologies to promote the development of major industries. KIST is now elevating the status of Korean science and technology through the pursuit of world-leading innovative research and development. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://eng.kist.re.kr/

    The research was funded by the Korea Materials Research Center of the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Jong-Ho Lee), the Environmental Technology Development Project of the Korean Ministry of Environment and basic projects of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. Related research papers are published in the Chemical Engineering Journal, a reputable academic journal in the chemical engineering and environmental fields.

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    National Research Council of Science and Technology

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  • Would you like a QR code embedded in that cookie?

    Would you like a QR code embedded in that cookie?

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    Newswise — Osaka, Japan – There is currently a race to develop edible tags for food so that, for example, you can see where the food comes from or its ingredients, and the information disappears once you’ve eaten it. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a way to include an unobtrusive edible tag embedded inside the food—in their original experiments, cookies—that can be read without having to first destroy the food. Another major advantage of their method, known as “interiqr,” is that the tag doesn’t change the outer appearance or taste of the food at all.

    Tags containing data are commonly used in the food industry. They range from the very basic, like stickers on fruit, to the more technological, such as radio frequency identification tags that use electromagnetic fields for the automatic identification and tracking of products. However, as the world attempts to cut back on extra packaging, the race is on to develop edible food tags that are non-toxic, don’t change the food’s flavor or appearance, and can be read without having to destroy the food itself. The research team at Osaka University wanted to address all of these issues.

    “Many foods can now be produced using 3D printers,” explains Yamato Miyatake, lead author of the study. “We realized that the insides of edible objects such as cookies could be printed to contain patterns of empty spaces so that, when you shine a light from behind the cookie, a QR code becomes visible and can be read using a cellphone.”

    In this way, a QR code that is made of the cookie itself is used as the tag, thereby solving any issues of taste and flavor. Even better, because all of the information is contained inside the food, the outer appearance of the cookie is completely unchanged. And because a simple backlight can be used to make the QR code visible, the information is readily available to producers, retailers, and consumers at any stage of the cookie’s journey from factory to stomach.

    “Our 3D printing method is a great example of the digital transformation of foods, which we hope will improve food traceability and safety,” says senior author of the study, Kosuke Sato. “This technology can also be used to provide novel food experiences through augmented reality, which is an exciting new field in the food industry.”

    Given that food tags and packaging are a large source of waste worldwide, this new method of embedding edible information into food will also be important for waste reduction. The widespread adoption of such technologies is hoped to pave the way toward a cleaner, more cookie-filled future.

    For more information, visit the project page (https://punpongsanon.info/foodcode/index.html).

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    The article, “interiqr: Unobtrusive Edible Tags using Food 3D Printing,” will be presented at The 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology.

     

    About Osaka University

    Osaka University was founded in 1931 as one of the seven imperial universities of Japan and is now one of Japan’s leading comprehensive universities with a broad disciplinary spectrum. This strength is coupled with a singular drive for innovation that extends throughout the scientific process, from fundamental research to the creation of applied technology with positive economic impacts. Its commitment to innovation has been recognized in Japan and around the world, being named Japan’s most innovative university in 2015 (Reuters 2015 Top 100) and one of the most innovative institutions in the world in 2017 (Innovative Universities and the Nature Index Innovation 2017). Now, Osaka University is leveraging its role as a Designated National University Corporation selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to contribute to innovation for human welfare, sustainable development of society, and social transformation.

    Website: https://resou.osaka-u.ac.jp/en

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    Osaka University

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