Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691 DOI 10.1007/s00217-010-1224-8
REVIEW 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 EuroFoodChem conference, entitled “Food for the Future: The contribution of chemistry to improvement of food quality” took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from the 5th to the 8th of July 2009. The conference was organised by the Food Chemistry Division of the European Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS) and the Faculty of Life Sciences at the 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 chemistry to improvement of food quality” took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from the 5th to the 8th of July 2009. The conference was organised by the Food Chemistry Division of the European Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS) and the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen (LIFE-UC). The conference focused on the nutritional, sensory and functional aspects of food. All the three aspects looked at the physico-chemical functions and properties of food components and additionally examined the modiWcations of food through food processing, storage and preparation. As with previous EuroFoodChem J. Valverde (&) Prepared Foods Department, Ashtown Food Research Centre, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Republic of Ireland e-mail:
[email protected] M. Hayes Functional Foods for Health Department, Ashtown Food Research Centre, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Republic of Ireland
conferences, this event gathered scientists from a variety of diVerent disciplines including food scientists and chemists, engineers and other professionals from a wide range of universities, laboratories and research institutes as well as numerous representatives of the food industry, the food trade and public/EU authorities. More than 30 diVerent countries from Europe and abroad were represented by more than 200 participants who gathered in Copenhagen to discuss topics including the relationships between food quality and molecular-based sciences. Each conference day was organised in thematic sessions followed by workshops, young scientist sessions and poster sessions, which all highlighted the diversity and the broad range of expertise gathered in Copenhagen and the current work undertaken in Europe relating to food science and technology research. The opening ceremony was orchestrated by Peter Gaemelke (President, Danish Agricultural Council), Per HoltenAndersen (Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences, UC) and Hilmer Sorensen (EuCheMS, Chairman of EuroFoodChem XV). This opening ceremony was followed by the Peter Czedik-Eysenberg Memorial Lecture, which was entitled “A Brief History of the Division of Food Chemistry as a Mirror of the Development of Food Chemistry in Europe”, by Professor Werner Pfannhauser (Graz University of Technology, Austria). This summarised the past, present and future situation of Food Chemistry in Europe. The Wrst session of the Conference, entitled “Food Processing–New developments in food processing: Opportunities and limitations in New PEF, HP/T novel processing” began with a lecture entitled: “Novel food processing technologies; opportunities and limitations of high pressure thermal processing”, given by Professor Marc Hendrickx, from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. His presentation involved a summary of the evolution of high
123
688
pressure food processing, and how it has been introduced at industrial scale for a large range of products. This talk focussed speciWcally on the scientiWc state of the art on HP/T processing and the eVects of HP/T food processing on (1) microbial inactivation; (2) enzyme inactivation and activity; (3) food allergens; and (4) texture, chemical reactions, colour and Xavour characteristics in plant based foods. Part of the data presented by Prof. Hendrickx had recently been obtained in the context of NovelQ (an EUFP6 interdisciplinary integrated project to overcome bottlenecks in the introduction of novel technologies in the European food Industry). This plenary lecture was followed by two oral presentations covering other Welds of novel food processing. First, Dr. Mohammad Turk (ADEME. INRA, Compiegne, France) focused on pulse electric Welds (PEF) for selective extraction of functional compounds with health beneWts. His lecture entitled “Pulsed electric Welds of apple peels improved the extraction of Xavonol components by diVusion at mild temperature” showed some recent results covering the signiWcant increase in extraction of Xavonol and dehydrochalcon families from apple peels when treated with PEF. Finally, Dr. Franziska Grzegorzewski (Berlin University of Technology, Germany) with her presentation entitled “InXuence of non-thermal plasma-immanent reactive species on the stability and chemical behaviour of bioactive compounds” covered the use of non-thermal plasma on polyphenolics. The second session was centred on the sensory active components and the impact of food processing on colour, smell and taste and included two plenary lectures. The Wrst plenary lecture presented by Prof. Felix Escher (Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, Zurich, Switzerland) was entitled “Sensory Quality and Food Processing” and gave a general summary of the eVects of food processing on sensory quality of foods. The second plenary lecture was presented by Dr. Peter N.K. de Kok (NIZO Food Research, Netherlands) and covered a summary of novel techniques used to investigate the impact of chemical composition in relation to sensory eVects. Both plenary lectures were followed by several interesting lectures considering the impact of 2-alkyl-3-methoxypyrazines on wine and juice quality and their modiWcation during wine processing (Prof. Gary Pickering, Brock University, Canada); the physico-chemical and sensory description of honeys collected in Guatemala and Venezuela (Dr. Patricia Vit Universidad de Venezuela, Merida, Venezuela); the formation of white spots in dried apricots and their in-depth mechanistic study (Dr. Pelin Onsekizoglu, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey); and Wnally bioactive compounds in spice red pepper (paprika) as aVected by varietal factors, cultivation, technology and processing (Dr. Hussein Daood, Central Food Research, Budapest, Hungary).
123
Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691
The second session was followed by a presentation by Mr. Julien Mousiner, the policy coordinator at the European Commission (EC), Directorate General Research, Bruxelles in Belgium. This presentation brieXy exposed the European Strategy for Food Research and summarized the diVerent funding schemes available to European researchers within the EC. Session 2 Wnished with four diVerent workshops: W1, Mycotoxins in food; W2, Prebiotics as food ingredients and additives; W3, Analytical methods recommendable as basis for determination of individual components (LC, MS, NMR) and proof of authenticity; and W4, Methods of detecting allergens and the need for “omics” in food chemistry. A reception at Copenhagen’s City Hall provided the conference attendees with a chance to integrate, share knowledge and experience Danish cuisine. The third session of the EuroFoodChem XV conference looked at Micro and Macro nutrients and concerned the bioavailability of both these sources and how these nutrients are measured in both in vitro and in vivo systems. The chair person for this session was Professor Rosangela Marchelli from Parma, Italy. The session started with a plenary lecture by Dr. Susanne Bügel from the Faculty of Life Sciences, Frederiksberg C, Denmark, and was entitled “Bioavailability of trace elements—how to measure”. Dr. Bügel suggested that bioavailability, which she deWned as the amount absorbed and incorporated into metabolic active components should ideally be assessed by measuring biological activity after the intake of a given trace element. The lecture discussed the bioavailability of Selenium, Copper and Iron and highlighted the diVerences in absorption rates of these trace elements, as absorption of Selenium is close to 100%, Copper 30–40% and Iron as little as 1–5%. In conclusion, the lecture suggested that often more than one biological marker is required to assess bioavailability and often the measurement of absorption is the only way to predict bioavailability. Four oral presentations followed in session 3 which covered a variety of topics including the bioactivity of vitamin D; Detection of milk-derived peptides in beverages using capillary electrophoresis; Improvements in blood glucose homeostasis following administration of bread fortiWed with germinated wheat seedlings to healthy volunteers; and UPLC analysis of free amino acids and biogenic amines in diVerent cheese varieties. The lecture entitled “Detection of milk-derived peptides in beverages by capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry” given by Virginie Tregoat of JRC-IRMM, Geel, Belgium, concluded that CE–MS constitutes a suitable analytical tool to speciWcally detect peptides emerging from enzymatically hydrolysed milk proteins in fruit juices. Continuing with the theme of proteolysis and detection of micro nutrients in food sources, Helmut Mayer of BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Applied
Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691
Life Sciences, Vienna, assessed that UPLC is a useful tool for detection of free amino acids and biogenic amines in cheese samples and suggested that UPLC analysis could be a valuable tool for the dairy industry to ensure the quality and 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 subjects to assess the bioactivity of vitamin D sources. The Wndings of the study showed that 25OHD3 increased the vitamin D status compared to vitamin D3 by a factor of 1.5–2. In contrast, vitD2 compared to vitD3 aVected vitamin D status to a lower extent. Gaby Andersen from the German Research Centre for Food Chemistry, Garching, Germany discussed the increase in bioavailability of secondary metabolites in wheat and the positive beneWts on blood glucose homeostasis that breads fortiWed with germinated wheat seedlings had in healthy human volunteers. From this study, it was found that an intake of 300 g of bread containing wheat seedlings for a period of 9 days resulted in a decrease in fasting plasma glucose levels and that insulin sensitivity was improved after the intake of bread containing wheat seedlings. Thirteen poster presentations were also included in this session and covered wide and varied topics in terms of determination and measurement of macro and micro nutrients. For example, “The SPRINTTM—a new and quick method for routine protein analysis in meat products by using iTAG” assessed the determination of protein content in a number of meat samples including sausage, pork, beef, turkey and ready made meals. Other posters looked at the authentication of food types including hazelnuts and Italian honeys. The fourth session concerned the positive and negative eVects of bioactive food components. “Bioactive food components—good and/or bad?” was chaired by Dr. Mariusz Piskula of Olsztyn, Poland and began with a plenary lecture by Professor Elizabeth H. JeVery from the University of Illinois, Urbana, entitled “Safety and EYcacy of Bioactive Food Components”. Professor JeVery discussed many foods that appear to reduce cancer risk including broccoli. She also suggested that research indicates that cardiovascular disease and age-related neuro-degeneration are similarly impacted by diet, and suggested that there may possibly be a common mechanism of action of food components that impact in a positive manner on cancer progression, such as an antioxidant or anti-inXammatory action. The safety of food extracts was also discussed and in many cases certain food extracts have very diVerent safety states relative to the whole foods from which they are extracted. Prof. JeVery concluded that while the risk–beneWt ratio is accepted for drugs that will counter a disease state, little or no health risk is acceptable with dietary supplements used to maintain health, rather than to combat a disease. Dr. Tomas Kuchta continued the theme of detection methods for authenticity of foods and
689
allergenic components in foods that were discussed in several of the posters in session 3 with his presentation which was entitled “Novel real-time PCR-based methods for the detection of allergenic nuts in foods”. Dr. Kuchta concluded that this novel real-time PCR-based method could be used in a practical setting in Industry and was currently used inhouse in the laboratory to determine nuts in unlabelled products such as bakery and confectionary products. An oral presentation entitled “EVects of food processing on food allergenicity” discussed how the allergenic potency of the food product may be altered during technological processing. Several processing treatments including washing, peeling, heating and enzyme usage as well as genetic modiWcations to the foods were discussed. Dr. Paschke presented two examples of reduction of allergenic potency in eggs that resulted from research in the EU-project REDALL. These examples were the reduction of egg allergenicity by heating and enzyme treatment, and the reduction of lysozyme allergenicity in wines by treatment with bentonite. Dr. Alexander Zahm from Dresden Germany gave a presentation entitled “Serotonin und 5-Hydroxyindole in Green and Roasted CoVee”. This interesting presentation discussed the relationship between the roasting degree—expressed as cafestol/dehydrocafestol ratio—and the content of serotonin, 5-hydroxyindole and 5-hydroxyskatole in a number of commercially available roasted coVees. Dr. Mette Søndergaard concluded part 1 of session 4 with a presentation on the “Comparative eYcacy and safety of dietary glucoraphanin and broccoli in male F344 rats”. This talk discussed a study that was conducted at the University of Copenhagen and objectives of which were to Wrstly compare the bioactivity in colon and liver of dietary broccoli (unheated and heated), broccoli seed and glucoraphanin given by gavage or mixed into the diet, and secondly to evaluate the safety of such administration of broccoli and glucoraphanin. It was found that a bolus dose of glucoraphanin caused recoverable inXammation, whereas a similar dose mixed into the diet was without adverse eVects. The second part of session 4 continued with the theme of the good and bad of bioactive food components and was chaired by Professor Markus Fischer from Hamburg, Germany. This session discussed new knowledge concerning health compromising native food components or substances formed during storage and food preparation. The plenary lecture was given by Professor Hanne Frøkiaer’s from the Department of Basic Sciences and Environment, University of Copenhagen. Professor Frøkiaer presentation gave many examples of compounds with immune stimulating eVects as well as compounds with anti-inXammatory eVects. In addition, this presentation gave examples of how bioactive components interact with cells of the immune system and how this contributes to the prevention of disease states such
123
690
as type 1 diabetes and low grade inXammation. Moreover, suitable systems for studying the mechanisms behind the action of bioactive compounds were also presented. The next presentation continued with the topic of detection of allergenicity and was presented by Dr. Cecile Hustin from the Centre de Research, Luxembourg. The presentation entitled “Development of a multiplex and a real-time PCR for the detection of six diVerent allergenic plant species and three nuts species, respectively, in food products” discussed detection of six potential allergenic plant species including wheat, barley, soybean, peanut, rice and maize. It also discussed a highly sensitive real-time PCR for the detection of trace amounts of pistachio, peanut and pecan nut. Session 4 concluded with an interesting presentation by Professor Peter Koehler from the German Research, Garching, Germany which presented Wndings on the “Preparation of partially hydrolysed prolamins as references for the immunochemical quantiWcation of gluten derived peptides”. The optimised method used a peptic–tryptic hordein digest as a reference and was successfully applied for the determination of gluten in three barley malt-based commercial beverages. This method could play an important part in the determination of gluten which is a problem in Coeliac disease where suVerers have a permanent gastrointestinal disorder characterised by a permanent intolerance to prolamins (proteins) present in wheat and related cereals. Tuesday evening consisted of a number of workshops. Workshop W6 was moderated by Professor Renato Amado and was entitled “Phytosterols, phytoestrogens, bioactives in plants used as food/food ingredients”. Workshop W8 dealt with new and traditional methods of food processing and the moderator was Dr. Jens Christian Sørensen. Workshop W5 detailed new and developing methods and techniques in the Weld of microarray technology, chemometrics and combinatorial chemistry and was moderated by Dr. Keld Ejdrup Andersen of LIFE-UC, Copenhagen and workshop W7 focused on globalisation and harmonisation of food regulations. Session 5 on the Wnal day of the EuroFoodChem XV conference discussed food for health and well being and the assessment of health claims. It focused mainly on fatty acids and eicosanoids or prostaglandins in the human diet and the antioxidant eVects and the balanced ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids that is required for a health eVect. The morning session was chaired by Professor Concepcion Vidal of Madrid, Spain, and the plenary lecture was given by Dr. Bernadette Delplanque from the Laboratorie d’Endocrinologie de la Nutrition, Neuroendocrinologie Moleculaire de la Prise Alimentaire, Universite Paris Sud, Cedex, France. This plenary lecture encapsulated the theme of session 5 and was entitled “Balanced ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids in human diets: Impact on health”. Dr. Delplanque discussed how the ratio of n-6/n-3 in the diet is based on precursors (Linoleic and Linolenic, respectively) which is of major
123
Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691
importance if there is no or very low long chain eicosapentaenoic dietary intake. She also discussed how in Western society the dietary intake of linolenic acid is far below the recommendations of guidelines. Furthermore, the values generally accepted as beneWcial for LCn-3 are 300– 500 mg/day for EPA and DHA intake. The plenary lecture was followed by a very interesting presentation by Dr. Gordon Mc Dougall from the Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee, Scotland. Dr. Mc Dougall discussed the bioactive components of berries and their health eVects in his talk “Bioactive components from berries: Human health eVects”. This presentation highlighted the research activities of the Scottish Crop Institute in relation to bioactivities from berries and berry components related to human health, mainly in the Welds of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. The evidence for use of berries as potential functional foods was also discussed and key steps for the authentication of these bioactivities and their eVects on human health were also mentioned. This presentation was followed by a presentation entitled “Interaction of various antioxidants with lettuce extract (Latuca sativa) in a liposome system”. This presentation discussed the interactions of tocopherol, quercetin and ascorbic acid with lettuce extract by studying the ability to inhibit lipid peroxidation of L-phosphatidylcholine liposomes when oxidation was initiated by the azo-inhibitors, AAPH or AMVN. Lettuce extract without added antioxidants showed a decreasing trend in lag phase during storage at refrigerator or room temperatures. This was followed by a presentation on the “EVect of varieties and cultivation on polyphenolics of cherry and sour cherry cultivars”. This lecture was presented by Agnes Sass-Kiss from the Central Food Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary. The aim of this work was to make a comparative investigation to examine the eVect of varieties and cultivation (bio/integrated) on the composition of bioactive compounds. DiVerences were found between anthocyanin content of bio and integrated sour cherry cultivars. Anthocyanin level was higher in samples produced by bio cultivation than in those cultivated by the integrated method. The Wnal presentation in session 5 discussed the chemo-preventative action of the prebiotic inulin towards microbial 2-amino-1-methyl-6phenylimidazo[4, 5-b]pyridine bioactivation. This study indicated that the prebiotic eVect from inulin may also purport protective eVects towards microbial PhIP bioactivation. Furthermore Lynn Vanhaecke from the University of Ghent concluded that as the colonic microbiota may contribute signiWcantly to the carcinogenic potential of PIP, the search for dietary constituents that decrease the formation of this harmful metabolite, may held in preventing its risk towards human health. Session 6 was held on the Wnal day of the EuroFoodChem XV conference and was entitled “Functional Foods:
Eur Food Res Technol (2010) 230:687–691
New developments in functional foods; Industrial and Consumer Perspectives”. This session was chaired by Professor Werner Pfannhauser from Graz University of Technology in Graz, Austria. The plenary lecture was given by Dr. Celine Carin-Cuissinat, from Unilever R&D, Food Structural Design Department, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands and was entitled “Natural Structuring of Emulsions”. A second plenary lecture was given at the end of this session by Professor Lars Ove Dragsted, from the Department of Human Nutrition, LIFE, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and discussed “The researchers vision on functional foods in nutrition”. This talk presented examples of functional food claims in Europe along with the potential health impacts that they might have. The second presentation was given by Dr. Maria Hayes from Teagasc Ashtown Food Research Centre, Ireland and was entitled “Marine rest raw materials as a source of functional food bioactive compounds with heart health activities”. It discussed the possibility of extracting bioactive chitosan-oligosaccharides from marine waste streams that possess AngiotensinI-converting enzyme inhibitory activities. The following presentation was given by Marco Arlorio from Università del Piemonte Orientale A. Avogadro, Novara, Italy and focused on “Novel insights on bioactive properties of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.)”. This lecture discussed whether cocoa could be considered as a gourmet food, a neutraceutical or a natural medicine. Following this, Eva Vincze from Aarhus University in Denmark discussed “Improving the baking quality of barley; barley bread as a novel functional food”. There was also a number of posters presented based on the topic of functional foods during this session. The 7th session of EuroFoodChem XV provided young scientists with the opportunity to present their research Wndings and work. The Wrst presentation was entitled “Problem solving in Analytical Chemistry” and was given by Jan Christensen from the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark. This presentation gave an overview of the important parts of problem solving in analytical chemistry. Two examples of problem solving in analytical chemistry were given; these were (1) QuantiWcation of brominated Xame retardants in sewage sludge and (2) en-route development of an analytical method for Xuorescence analysis of Wsh bile for rapid screening of PAC exposure in relation to e.g., food quality during the Galathea 3 research expedition 2006/2007. This lecture was followed by a presentation by Isabelle Van Leuven from the Catholic University College Ghent and was entitled “InXuence of fat reduction on the volatile composition of cheese”. Isabelle concluded from her work that fat reduction had a clear eVect on the sensory characters and the aroma impact components of Gouda-type cheeses. The next lecture was presented by Sauro Vittori from the University of Camerino, Italy. This talk presented interest-
691
ing data on the cholesterol lowering eVect of several vegetables 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 of MECC. The Wrst of these talks involved the “On-line MECC determinations of isothiocyanates (ITC’s), ITCderived products and their cyclocondensation with vicinal dithiols”. This was presented by Heidi Blok Frandsen from the Faculty of Life Science, Frederiksberg C, Denmark. Heidi examined cruciferous vegetables for this study as well as spices. Keld Andersen from the same institution looked at “Combined MECC and PCA Wngerprint analyses as a tool for reveal marker molecules usable in optimization of novel HP/HT processing of carrots”. Juana Frias from CSIC Madrid presented a very interesting talk on “Sprouted garden cress enriched with Se”. This presentation concluded that the content of total Se in cress sprouts increased during germination in the presence of Se solutions and the highest Se content was obtained with 8 mg/L. The closing of the EuroFoodChem XV conference was chaired by Professor Livia Simon-Sarkadi from Hungary and a conference summary was given by Dr. Roger Fenwick from the UK. This was followed by an award ceremony for the best posters and an introduction to the EuroFoodChem XVI conference which will be held in Poland by Mariusz Piskula of Poland. The large amount of research presented throughout all the six sessions as well as the 7th session which detail the work of young researchers from both research laboratories and the food industry reveals the good present alliance between these two Welds. The EuroFoodChem conference was once more an opportunity to examine the good integration between academia and food industry in Europe. This integration of academia and food industry is fundamental for (1) enhancing the competitiveness of the Food and Drink sector and (2) for improving the perspectives of young and experienced food scientist and engineers in Europe. Finally we hope and would like to anticipate the increase in both number and activity of these collaborations in the near future. The next EuroFoodChem (XVI) meeting in Poland will provide an excellent opportunity to conWrm this evidence. All oral and poster proceedings of the EuroFoodChem XV, are compiled in three proceedings volumes (edited by Hilmer Sørensen, Susanne Sørensen, Anne Dorthe Sørensen, Jens Christian Sørensen and Keld Ejdrup Andersen along with Charlotte Bjergegaard and Peter Møller all from the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark) and will be published under the following ISBN numbers: ISBN-978-87-993033-5-9 and ISBN 978-87993033- 3-5. They may be obtained by order in the EFC XV website (http://www.eurofoodchemxv.life.ku.dk/About_ Contact.aspx).
123
