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About Food for ThoughtWritten for food industry decision makers, Food for Thought reports periodically on agro-food activities and advances within the Netherlands. Its articles, overviews and white papers provide an overall perspective on food technologies, innovations and R&D taking place here. Articles in this issueScientific collaboration supports entrepreneur Newtricious in the battle against elderly blindness Researching the links between healthy ageing and nutrition Vital knowledge and innovative therapeutic tools to modulate mitochondrial metabolism Reducing salt, a matter of taste The challenges of molecular nutrition in the diet and health relationship Development of safe foods for Celiac patients – A multi-disciplinary approach Small bites: Editorial Advisory Board
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CAT-AgroFoodThe Dutch bring agrofood experts together in a unique research center
The newly approved Centre for Advanced Technology for the Agrofood sector (CAT-AgroFood), located in the heart of Food Valley in the Netherlands, will provide state-of-the-art facilities for groundbreaking research in the agrofood sector, and will offer new opportunities for research and innovations in the agrofood business. Mankind faces enormous challenges to feed an increasing, and an increasingly wealthier world population, in combination with health problems that arise from certain lifestyles. At the same time, emerging technologies and the convergence of different disciplines offer opportunities for innovations in the agrofood sector. Production processes can be redesigned to be more sustainable. New food products can help in the paradigm shift from curative healthcare to preventive healthcare. Results of the latest research within the scientific community must be translated to industry and business. To bridge the divide between science and business, academia and industry must meet, learn from each other and cooperate. This requires a physical meeting place, a center where both find the facilities and the resources to conduct the research. CAT-AgroFood will be this crystallization point for innovation in the agrofood sector. At the same time, it will offer a stage to the instrumentation companies to showcase their latest models. They can interact with the experts that can get the most out of them and can learn from industry about needs and wishes that could make future models even more effective in this application field. Technologies that could become available at CAT-AgroFood include: Probe and electron microscopyNew functionality arises at the molecular and supra-molecular levels. Visualizing structures at these levels is crucial for the innovations in agrofood. NMR spectroscopyThe shape of complex molecules which form the building blocks of structures determines their behavior. XPSSeparations between phases often give rise to new phenomena. Instruments to analyze the behavior of these surfaces are necessary to understand the processes that take place. MRIVisualizing where fat tissue is located in the body is very important to understanding obesity. But also, the link between sensory experiences and processes that take place in the brain can give new insights into the appreciation of food. The Netherlands, Food Valley, and Wageningen are unique in the sense that they combine state-of-the-art expertise and top level industry in the agrofood sector with ingenuity and a strong track record for innovation in this sector. It is therefore the optimal location for such a center and provides the best conditions for success. Contact Details: NIZO Food ResearchFour recent breakthroughsGenetic research identifies more effective probiotic bacteriaSpecialists from NIZO food research have, within the framework of the Top Institute Food and Nutrition (TIFN), identified the gene that governs one of the most promising mechanisms by which The recent identification of the genetic basis for mannose adhesion is an exciting example of a promising mechanism by which probiotics could combat traveller’s diarrhea. This investigation was based on the complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 and the functional and genetic diversity of the species. Food products to enable successful clinical studiesTo successfully perform human studies, the availability of specifically formulated products or ingredients acceptable for human consumption is essential. Such high-standard end products are produced at the NIZO Application Centre.
NIZO food research assists food and ingredient companies in the development of specific food products or ingredients by providing the necessary research (or test) environment to enable, for instance, the study of satiety or clinical effects in human trials. The NIZO Application Centre offers a food-grade research facility, and the possibility of applying specific process lines to produce the custom-made products, since each study has its own demands. For satiety studies, it is a prerequisite that the products have the appearance of a representative consumer product. NIZO recently produced chocolate and dessert-style products for satiety studies at the Top Institute Food and Nutrition. The consumers highly appreciated these products. The essence was that NIZO succeeded in giving the reference products and the test products the same flavor and mouthfeel, although they were made using totally different ingredients. This is essential for blind testing. Another example is the production of 13C-enriched lactose for the University of Groningen used to study various aspects of lactose malabsorption in the bowel: they administer their patients with this stable isotope-enriched lactose, and measure the resulting blood values.
Healthier fats in laminating margarineMany bakery products, especially laminating margarine, still contain large amounts of unhealthy trans and saturated fats. The first step in making these products healthier is to remove these trans fats. This sets a difficult and challenging task. While an almost complete reformulation of the product is necessary, it must not result in any reduced functionality or change in consumers’ taste perception. Unimills, supplier of tailor-made vegetable oil ingredients, worked together with NIZO to study the functionality of the unhealthy fats with respect to texture attributes of laminating margarine and the baked product. Application trials were carried out in which laminating margarines were produced and tested on a semi-industrial scale. Texture analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and microscopy were used to measure crystallization changes in test samples that were prepared in the NIZO Food Application Centre. A combination of knowledge of margarine production, crystallization phenomena and fat expertise provided the solution. With these, it was possible for Unimills to develop a so-called hard stock for laminating margarine based exclusively on palm oil. This new product, which is now being marketed as “Pastrex 172,” contains no trans fats, and enhanced levels of healthy polyunsaturated fats, and it retains good functionality both in margarine processing and in the final application.
High SAFA problem solved in ice creamThe food science expertise and facilities of NIZO food research were an essential element in the successful development of good-tasting, low-saturated fatty acid (SAFA) fat formulations for ice cream. The project was commissioned by Unimills, supplier of tailor-made vegetable oil-based ingredients. The combination of the sensory, texture and ice cream application expertise of NIZO, and the oil processing and fat physics expertise of Unimills led to new patented technology. Today, consumers are in search of food products that reduce cardiovascular risks without making
“In the NIZO pilot plant, ice creams were made with the new fat formulations,” explains Catrienus de Jong of NIZO. “These were evaluated by state-of-the-art techniques such as MS-Nose and confocal laser scanning microscopy. We found that by adjusting the ice cream melting profile, the off-flavor perception changed as well. This was translated into new approaches According to Dr. Gerhard de Ruiter, head of the innovation centre of Unimills: “The knowledge generated in this project allowed Unimills to develop and launch new healthy fat formulations (Cremex®) with saturated fatty acids levels of as low as 40-50%, and a sensory perception that equals traditional ice creams as tested by 100 consumers.” Contact Details: Making foods healthierTNO and Vaessen-Schoemaker work on reducing salt in meat productsThe Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO, and Vaessen-Schoemaker B.V., a functional ingredient supplier, have taken up the challenge of reducing the salt content in foods. The two parties are working together on reducing the salt content in meat products by 50%, without compromising on taste and quality. Reducing salt in meat products is a complex issue: salt not only adds taste, but it also has an important role in texture and shelf life. Too much salt is a serious health problemAccording to the Dutch Nutrition Centre, about 2,500 people in the Netherlands annually die unnecessarily due to excessive salt intake. The Dutch Health Council recommends cutting the daily consumption of salt from 10-12 grams to 6 grams. To make this possible, consumers have to be more vigilant about their salt consumption. Reducing the salt content in meat can go a long way in achieving this goal. And it is this challenge that is being taken on by TNO and Vaessen-Schoemaker. Vaessen-Schoemaker B.V. has been developing and producing functional ingredient blends for the international food industry for sixty years. These blends are used in meat, fish and vegetarian products. “Through cooperation with TNO, Vaessen-Schoemaker wants to acquire in-depth knowledge on reducing salt intake from meat and meat products,” says Mr. Veth, Managing Director of Vaessen-Schoemaker. He goes on to say: “The focus is not only on developing effective and innovative solutions for its customers, but also on maintaining shelf life and the structure of food, and possibly even improving them. Currently, many of the solutions are geared to preventing taste deviations. We expect this project to help us develop solutions to keep the shelf life and structure intact, or even improve them.” Less salt, saturated fat and sugar“Making the composition of foods healthier is an important aspect of TNO’s work,” adds Ronald Visschers, TNO program manager for food quality and production. “We help companies throughout the food industry reformulate existing products and develop new healthy ones. For instance, TNO has already developed technology that can reduce the salt content in bacon and pastry products by 40%. And a solution has been found to reduce saturated fatty acids in pastry products by as much as 33%. Sugar reduction is also a focal point. The solutions we generate can often be used for a variety of products.” The technology behind reformulation is not so easy to define. The reduction of salt, sugar and fat requires a multidisciplinary approach. Reformulation may result in a loss of quality (texture, process problems), microbiological risks, and taste anomalies. These are issues that need to be tackled comprehensively, not simply one by one. An important aspect here is that TNO makes use of relevant models in its research and can, therefore, capture and retain the acquired knowledge. The TNO research organization focuses its work on the future knowledge demand of Dutch industry. Participating companies are able to develop a strategic technology position and boost their long-term competitiveness, while TNO keeps its knowledge base up-to-date. The European Commission in Brussels (High Level Group on Nutrition and Physical Activity) has invited TNO to elucidate the research lines and successes of its reformulation program (less salt, less fat, less sugar). While different EU member states are still at the inventory stage in their various national salt initiatives, Dutch initiatives in this field are rich and prominent. TNO has several excellent tools from the Dutch government (Knowledge Investment Programme, Ministry of Economic Affairs co-funding) at its disposal in order to build a good knowledge base, and put it to good use in cooperation with the Dutch SME sector. Internationally, too, there is great interest in TNO's reformulation program. TNO is currently working with various international companies to help them produce healthier foods. Contact details: |
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probiotics can combat travellers’ diarrhea. This is a significant step forward, which can help industry in selecting effective probiotic bacteria for many new products. Generally, probiotic bacteria are selected for their survival in the gastrointestinal tract and their technological properties, such as growth rate. The health benefits of such probiotic bacteria are then determined mainly by trial and error, and with varying degrees of success. This search could be greatly facilitated with the availability of the genetic background of such probiotic effects.
for healthier ice cream oil formulations.”