Remote online assessments within food science – does it breed student engagement?

ICT systems are commonly used within academic teaching and learning usually used as formative assessments and / or summative multiple choice examinations. Student engagement is a key driver of module development and ultimately secures student attainment within the course. The Student Employability Application Remote (SEAR) model has been developed to enhance the student experience within the food suite of programmes in Abertay. The model represents the use of remote online summative assessments which use innovative methods of assessment. The summative examination uses the application of knowledge provided by the student to write a report for a real life scenario, the student is encouraged to use a higher level of complexity to solve a problem. In addition to this problem solving, the student is tasked with a ‘treasure hunt’, where the student is asked within the two hour exam period to find three reliable sources of information for a selection of pathogenic bacteria. The student is then rewarded (if they use academic peer reviewed articles or governmental or accreditation body’s websites) and penalised (if using news articles and encyclopaedia entries) as required. The model specifically links application of knowledge in remote online summative assessments with active learning and student engagement which drives the course development and employability of the learner

Remote online assessments within food science – does it breed student engagement?

ICT systems are commonly used within academic teaching and learning usually used as formative assessments and / or summative multiple choice examinations. Student engagement is a key driver of module development and ultimately secures student attainment within the course. The Student Employability Application Remote (SEAR) model has been developed to enhance the student experience within the food suite of programmes in Abertay. The model represents the use of remote online summative assessments which use innovative methods of assessment. The summative examination uses the application of knowledge provided by the student to write a report for a real life scenario, the student is encouraged to use a higher level of complexity to solve a problem. In addition to this problem solving, the student is tasked with a ‘treasure hunt’, where the student is asked within the two hour exam period to find three reliable sources of information for a selection of pathogenic bacteria. The student is then rewarded (if they use academic peer reviewed articles or governmental or accreditation body’s websites) and penalised (if using news articles and encyclopaedia entries) as required. The model specifically links application of knowledge in remote online summative assessments with active learning and student engagement which drives the course development and employability of the learner

Storage stability of whole and nibbed, conventional and high oleic peanuts (<i>Arachis hypogeae </i>L.)

Peanuts are increasingly being used as nibbed ingredients in cereal bars, confectionery and breakfast cereals. However, studies on their oxidative stability in this format are limited. Storage trials to determine the stability to oxidation were carried out on whole and nibbed kernels of conventional (CP) and high oleic (HOP) peanuts, with respect to temperature and modified atmosphere packaging. HOP exhibited the highest oxidative stability, with a lag phase in whole kernels of 12–15 weeks before significant oxidation occurred. HOP also showed higher levels of intrinsic antioxidants, a trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) of 70 mMol equivalence and radical scavenging percentage (RSP) of 99.8 % at the beginning of storage trials, whereas CP showed values of 40 mMol and 81.2 %, respectively. The intrinsic antioxidants at the beginning of these storage trials were shown to affect the peroxide value (PV), where RSP and TEAC decreased, and PV increased. Therefore, in peanuts the processing format (nibbed or whole) had the highest influence on susceptibility of lipid oxidation, highest to lowest importance: processing format &gt; temperature &gt; atmospheric conditions

Is high frequency ultrasound a useful process to add value to out of specification strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries industrially?

Bioactive ingredients can be extracted from surplus soft fruits to add value to them as a fortification ingredient in many new products. Ultrasound‐assisted extraction and spray drying have been heavily studied in the past, with evidence to suggest the positive uptake of these by the food industry. In this paper, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries were examined using a distilled water ‘green’ extraction method with assisted high‐frequency ultrasound and concentration through spray drying. The results showed that crop year and variety had more impact on bioactive concentration than extraction through high‐frequency ultrasound. Two different machines were examined for differences between a cold extraction of water, and a 700 and 2000 Hz industrially relevant probes. Typically, total phenolic content (TPC) was lower in strawberries and blackberries than the control for both methods, however raspberries had a higher GAE mg ml−1 for the 2000 Hz ultrasound than the control. For Radical scavenging (RS) percentage using DPPH Blackberries had higher RS % than the control, whereas strawberries and raspberries had less than the control. These results suggest that ultrasound as a singular method for extracting valuable bioactive ingredients is not suitable with water as the solvent

Evaluation of Salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>) and Rainbow Trout (<i>Oncorhynchus mykiss</i>) pin bones using textural analysis and micro X-ray computational tomography

Industrially, common problems arise with the deboning pin bone process, where Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fillets, post rigor, are subjected to a pulling process to remove the pin bones from the fillet. This study measured the length of pin bones from two species of fish and two different industrial graded weights, and then used a texture analyser and lCT X-ray to measure the pulling force, break point and volume of the pin bones of both species of fish. Results showed that salmon pin bones required significantly higher pulling force to remove pin bones from the fish fillet when compared with Trout pin bones. Interestingly Trout pin bones were significantly longer and stronger than Salmon pin bones, but had significantly lower volume. This research has progressed the issues surrounding pin boning industrially, however, more studies are required in order to understand if these differences affect the overall deboning pin bone process

Sensory and affective response to chocolate differing in cocoa content:a TDS and facial electromyography approach

Existing research has offered insight into facial activities and their associations with hedonic liking during the consumption of basic food samples and suggests facial changes during consumption are linked to the hedonic evaluation of tastes and, thus related to the taster's perception rather than the tastes themselves. This study tests whether, during the consumption of commercially available dark chocolate, a complex food product, which can be high in bitterness but expectedly so, how facial activities are linked to the bitterness levels and the hedonic liking of the samples. To do this we carried out two studies with untrained consumers, the first of which captured temporally dynamic sensory perception during the consumption of dark chocolate samples of 36% and 85% cocoa content, using the Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) approach. The second study captured facial EMG over the corrugator and zygomaticus muscles during the consumption of dark chocolate samples (36%, 70%, and 85% cocoa). Specifically, the aim of this research was to investigate whether corrugator activity had a greater association with bitterness perception, linked to cocoa, or hedonic evaluation. Capturing the dynamic sensory profile of chocolate samples allowed an investigation into the time points most evident of sensory variation related to the bitterness and sweetness of the taste, allowing insight into whether facial activities also deviated during this time. These data offer evidence to suggest that corrugator was associated with hedonic evaluation during consumption of the samples, with the most liked samples (being those with 70% and 36% cocoa) eliciting similar corrugator activities and less activity than the least liked 85% cocoa content sample; however, there was also evidence to suggest a significant variation in participants' corrugator activity during the period of oral processing when bitterness was most evident in the 85% cocoa sample and sweetness was most evident in the 36% cocoa sample (i.e., the time when bitterness and sweetness were most divergent) Further investigation showed a variation in facial activities elicited during consumption of the 36% cocoa sample based on whether individuals were part of the group who favoured the 85% cocoa sample or the group favouring the 36% cocoa sample. The findings, therefore, suggest facial EMG, specifically over the corrugator, appears to be related to the hedonic evaluation of a complex food product and not the taste itself. Furthermore, being aware of the time points where sensory variations are most apparent between samples can allow for targeted investigation into facial EMG and its ability to distinguish food samples. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of collagenase, water and calcium chloride on the removal of <i>Salmo salar</i> (salmon) and <i>Oncorhynchus mykiss</i> (trout) pin bones

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of the fillet structure on the deboning force required to remove salmon and trout pin bones. Salmon and trout fillets with differing fillet structure were used, in order to study the importance of the fillet structure on the deboning process. In the first test naturally gaping and non-gaping fillets were compared. To confirm the role that the collagen plays within the fillet structure, the fillets underwent series of treatments. Fillets were put into (i) a collagenase solution to remove the collagen in the fillet (ii) a calcium chloride solution to determine if collagen was the main influential factor. Both treated salmon and trout fillets were again compared to untreated fillets from the same batch. The results indicate that collagenase and calcium chloride have a large interaction on deboning force compared to water or no treatments

Optimisation of concentration of <i>Undaria pinnarifida</i> (Wakame) and <i>Himathalia elongate</i> (Sea Spaghetti) varieties to effect digestibility, texture and consumer attribute preference

In this study, seaweed concertation in a model system (cracker) was investigated to better understand addition of seaweed on starch modulation, texture, and consumer attribute detection. Temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) showed that seaweed concentrations over 15% had a dominant attribute of fishy for both Wakame and Sea Spaghetti varieties, whereas for both, Crunchy was observed for the 5% and 10% crackers. This corralled well with the texture analysis where crackers fortified with both seaweeds at 5% and 10% have a harder texture, with lower fracturability compared to higher concentrated seaweed crackers. The fracturability levels within the 15% and 20% crackers were comparable to the no substitution controls. In vitro digestion indicated that glucose was liberated immediately after initiation, with both seaweed systems reaching plateau by 4 minutes. In this study it was observed that seaweed variety affected starch digestibility, with wakame seaweed inhibiting starch digestion.</p

Application of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based metabolomics for the study of fermented cereal and legume foods:a review

A new era of cutting-edge technologies and advancements in analytical platforms and omics sciences is disruptively bringing a paradigm shift in fundamental and translational research. Metabolomics is one of the omics strategies that yields big data and has gained popularity in a wide spectrum of applications. Among various analytical platforms used in metabolomics, gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) allows the measurement of thermally stable (volatiles and semi-volatiles) metabolites, with an advantage of spectral reproducibility. Cereal and legume-based fermented foods are part of the food culture in various countries throughout the world. Thus, this review provides an overview of recent applications of GC-MS-based metabolomics in the food fermentation field, specifically cereal and legume-based fermented foods. This emerging use of metabolomics in food fermentation studies illustrates the potentials of this omics science to elucidate metabolome landscapes of fermented foods. Such insights would advance our predictive understanding of fermentation processes and molecular descriptions of resultant food products; a necessary step for improvements and sustainability in food industry. Furthermore, the review echoes the current need of collaborative efforts in the scientific community (in this field) to harness and maximise the potentials of metabolomics in food fermentation studies