Daily wrap-up: EFFoST2018 Conference day 1

November 06, 2018

The EFFost conference was officially opened by conference chair, Prof. Alain Le Bail, and EFFoST president, Prof. Lilia Ahrne. 520 delegates from all around the world have travelled to Nantes to hear renowned food scientists speak about developments in their field.

The 32 EFFoST International conference has commenced!

The first plenary session focused on the food challenges of India, China and Japan.

In China people often choose white rice as it has a better taste, despite the fact that brown rice is healthier. Songming Zhu of the Zhejiang University in China explained that by exposing brown rice to high pressure and pre-soaking the gummy texture is reduced. This is the factor that mostly deters people from eating brown rice.

Chindi Vasudevappa from the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM) talked about  the shift from Sufficient

 

Quantity (SQ) to sufficient quantity and safe quality (2S2Q) to combat deaths from malnutrition in India.

Regrettably, Africa was not represented as Umezuruike Linus Opara from Stellenbosch University was not able to come to France. Fortunately, Manabu Watanabe from Tokyo University was able to step in at the last moment to discuss how improved storage could contribute to reducing energy use for the transportation of fresh fish around the world.

 

 

 

For the first time, delegates can choose the best student poster presentation. The winner will be awarded the Student of the Year -Popular Vote- prize. Make sure you put your ballot in the ballot box before Wednesday 18:00!

In the afternoon, the delegates dispersed to attend one of the four parallel sessions. During Session 2 on Biotechnology and Bioprocesses, Diana Lindberg from Nofima discussed how lactic acid bacteria can modify peptide profiles, which could be

 

used to improve sensory aspects. This was tested with different enzymes on chicken, cod and whey protein and it was found that lactic acid bacteria are able to change the flavour profiles of protein hydrolysates.

In session 4, Li Wang spoke about incorporating carvacrol, an antimicrobial agent, into food packaging. The advantage of carvacrol is that it disrupts the cell member and inhibits proliferation of bacteria.

 

 

The EFFoST Working group dedicated to ‘Sustainable food’ held their kick-off meeting today at the EFFoST International Conference. 

If you are interested in joining an EFFoST Working group, you can still participate in the ‘Health & Food’ group meeting tomorrow at 10:15-10:45 or the ‘Digital food’ group meeting on Thursday at 9:30-10:00.

At the welcome reception, the wine was paired with cheese, making for a truly French experience. Many

 

 

delegates enjoyed these delicacies while catching up with fellow food scientists and perusing the poster presentations.

Of course, the annual EFFoST Pub Quiz was also held with amusing, but difficult questions. Fifteen teams took on the challenge, which included answering the questions ‘what does Brumotactillophobia mean?’ and 'How many calories are in 100 grams of croissant?'.

 

 

Tomorrow's programme is packed with interesting presentations throughout the day! We look forward to seeing you there!

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