This is the time of years when the food sections of nearly every newspaper and food website will contain articles on food safety and tips to make sure your holidays are disease-free. No matter, the odds are that there will be plenty of day-after stories of people eating under-cooked turkey, …
Moody eating, gut microbes, and COVID
It’s not often that as many as three separate Contemporary Issues topics converge into a single study. Yet, researchers as Case Western University in Ohio suggested that COVID-induced depression may have been exacerbated by unhealthy diets high in sugars and fats. In this review, published in Frontiers in Nutrition, the …
Making Meat Out of Thin Air
We have all seen and are beginning to discuss the various plant-based meat and milk alternative foods in the market. Most are based on soybean and other legumes, oat, wheat, pea, or nuts. If you’ve tried these products and find them not quite like the “real thing”, you still must …
George Washington and plant-based diets
Today we began our unit on Plant Meat and Milk. As you most certainly know, plant-based diets have attracted plenty of attention. This has occurred for all sorts of reasons, including health, environment, ethical, and sustainability reasons. Here is an interesting article from the Conversation that was written by Dr. Maurizio …
Organic fraud
While at Whole Foods, I compared the organic apples with the conventional apples. They looked the same and may have tasted the same. Of course, the organics cost about 30% more. But really, other than price, the only thing that distinguished these apples was the display sign that said ‘organic’ …
World Food Day: Solutions to challenging problem
IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) has been actively involved for many years in world hunger programs such as World Food Day. As they write on their website, “World Food Day is an opportune time to reflect on how our work as a science of food and food innovation community can …
Organic everything – way beyond apples
As we finished up our discussion on organic foods and clean label, we will discussed reasons why so many consumers are willing to pay a premium for these foods. One of the main reasons is that organic foods are thought by consumers to be healthier than conventional foods. We will …
A New Generation of GMOs
One of the persistent GMO questions that continues to be debated is the most basic question of all – what exactly constitutes “genetically modified”? Certainly, humans have been relying on hybrids for centuries, whether they be grapes, wheat, or other crops. Breeding can also be considered a form of genetic …
Recent Food Recalls
For reasons we have discussed in class, food recalls are now a very common occurrence. As mentioned during the food allergens unit, most food recalls are for undeclared allergens (e.g., when soy or milk or wheat or other allergenic ingredients) that get mislabeled or inadvertently added to a food. While …
The appeal of an ethical label
In class, we will discuss ethical labels on foods (organic and other labels), and this is even part of your assignment for the week. The presumption is that these labels make a difference to consumers. In other words, all things being equal (e.g., quality, price), would a consumer choose a …
Is what we eat ‘normal’?
In our topic on Food and Culture, we spent a lot of time discussing the various factors that influence why individuals across the world eat what they eat. As we discussed, culture is one central factor that shapes how we prepare similar food ingredients and what foods we consume. These …
Ultra-Processed Food Debate
Ultra-processed foods and their role in the risk of obesity and other related chronic diseases is still heavily debated today. Here is a link to a debate that was held at the 2022 annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), which us usually in Chicago. Here, 4 experts debate …
Obesity-Food Technology Article
As we finish our section on obesity, I want to direct you to this terrific article in Food Technology magazine from 2022. It describes the personal journey of Dr. Sara Bleich, a professor of Professor of Public Health Policy at Harvard and the former Director of Nutrition Security and Health …
Eating Socially may Influence what we Eat
We are about to end our unit on “why we eat what we eat” and will soon begin discussing the obesity epidemic. The two topics that are clearly related, since a major question related to the obesity issue is why so many of us eat too many calories. Indeed, addressing …
Do Americans eat out too much?
As discussed in our “why we eat what we eat” topic, eating habits in the U.S. have shifted as more calories are being consumed away from home than at home. According to this 2021 “What We Eat in America, NHANES” study, Americans actually eat out quite a lot. Consider the …
Dorm Food in 2024
One of the most noticeable changes on college campuses over the past generation has been the availability and quality of foods served in dormitory dining halls and cafeterias. Dorm food use to be very institutional and very boring. Meat from who-knows-where, canned vegetables, with lots of sauces to compensate for …
Fall is in the air, and you know what that means …
Since its introduction more than 20 years ago in 2003, Starbucks has sold nearly a billion Pumpkin Spice Lattes (aka PSL). If you include similar pumpkiny beverages from competitors, the total number is even greater. The Starbucks PSL’s are popular for a lot of reasons. Consumers certainly like the flavor …
Top Ten reasons why you should study food science at UNL
10. State-of-the-art building with modern labs, high-tech classrooms, and student lounges. And a coffee shop next door. 9. We speak Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Kinyarwanda, Nepalese, Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Tamil, and English. 8. We know the how to get milk out of an almond. 7. You …