Using alternate reality games of embed entrepreneurial mindsets in the curriculum of food science and technology

As a direct consequence of the realisation by governors and educators of the importance of new business creation for economic growth there has been an emphasis in embedding entrepreneurial attributes in the curricula for students of all ages in Higher education.At UAD a new programme of study for an honours degree in Food Science and Technology in underway. In this context, it was proposed to develop an "alternative reality game" (ARG) to introduce students the world of food and drink manufacture and teach the basic entrepreneurial skills and commercial awareness required for employment in the food industry. ARGs are a relatively new genre of game defined as a Trans-media story telling, an experience that encourages players to interact with a fictional world using the real world to do it. An ARGs in this context provides the opportunity to create a workplace simulation in a fictional world.ARGs are based on an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, employing a variety of media such as e-mail, blogs, websites, video clips, puzzles and game elements (puzzles and challenges) to tell a story that may be affected by the participants' ideas or actions. The puzzles and challenges are linked to desired learning outcomes mapping the desired graduate attributes.The pedagogical advantages and disadvantages and examples of ARG's utilised for educational purposes will be presented in this paper

Why bean beer?

Beer can be a wholesome beverage, and the art of brewing beer has been intertwined with the development of civilised society for centuries. Today, the latest valuation of the economic value of beer (by accountants Ernst and Young in 2013), reported that Europe is the world’s biggest producer of beer with over 4,500 breweries delivering around 390 million hectolitres annually – which in plain English is 68,632,200,000 pints (since 1 hectolitre is a small spillage less than 176 imperial pints). The industry employs over 2 million people, and around 125,000 of these are employed in breweries themselves. It should also be no surprise then that sales generated 53 billion Euro, which is almost doubled again by the value added from the supply chain. Also, the EU brewing sector had a trade surplus (i.e. exports were greater than imports) to the value of 3 billion Euro in 2012. Beer is serious business

Using alternate reality games of embed entrepreneurial mindsets in the curriculum of food science and technology

As a direct consequence of the realisation by governors and educators of the importance of new business creation for economic growth there has been an emphasis in embedding entrepreneurial attributes in the curricula for students of all ages in Higher education.At UAD a new programme of study for an honours degree in Food Science and Technology in underway. In this context, it was proposed to develop an "alternative reality game" (ARG) to introduce students the world of food and drink manufacture and teach the basic entrepreneurial skills and commercial awareness required for employment in the food industry. ARGs are a relatively new genre of game defined as a Trans-media story telling, an experience that encourages players to interact with a fictional world using the real world to do it. An ARGs in this context provides the opportunity to create a workplace simulation in a fictional world.ARGs are based on an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, employing a variety of media such as e-mail, blogs, websites, video clips, puzzles and game elements (puzzles and challenges) to tell a story that may be affected by the participants' ideas or actions. The puzzles and challenges are linked to desired learning outcomes mapping the desired graduate attributes.The pedagogical advantages and disadvantages and examples of ARG's utilised for educational purposes will be presented in this paper

<i>Clitoria ternatea</i> L. flower extract inhibits α-amylase during <i>in vitro </i>starch digestion

This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of Clitoria ternatea flower against α-amylase during simulated in vitro wheat starch digestion. The dark-blue tropical flower is used as a food colorant but its ability to modulate starch digestion has not been tested before. The aqueous extract of the flower containing anthocyanins was a competitive inhibitor against α-amylase with an IC50 value (concentration of inhibitor required to reduce the enzyme activity by half) and inhibition constant, Ki, of 0.91 mg/mL and 0.75 mg/mL,respectively. Subjecting the extract to pasteurisation (72oC for 15 s) and boiling (for 30 min) it significantly (P&lt;0.05) decreased the anthocyanin content as determined by a pH-shift method, although the light absorbance profile of the extract remained virtually unchanged, suggesting that the equilibrium mixture of anthocyanin species was unaffected. The thermal degradation of the anthocyanins explained the partial loss of inhibition activity of the extract, as indicated by the decrease in Michaelis-Menten constant, Km, from 14.8 mg/mL in thesystems with unheated extract to 11.3 and 6.1 mg/mL in pasteurised and boiled extracts, respectively. The thermal treatments, however, did not change the type (competitive) of inhibition. The results from this work demonstrated the potential of C. ternatea flower extract in inhibiting α-amylase during starch digestion, which might lead to development of functional food/drink for controlling postprandial blood glucose level

Optimised processing of faba bean (<i>Vicia faba L.</i>) kernels as a brewing adjunct

Pulse (Fabaceae) grains, such as peas and beans, are derived from crops that are usually cultivated in the absence of mineral nitrogen fertiliser as these crops can obtain their nitrogen requirement naturally from the air via biological nitrogen fixation. Therefore, pulses present a significantly lower greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint than crops demanding nitrogen fertiliser, whilst also offering significant quantities of starch for the brewing and distilling industries. Mitigation of agriculture derived GHG emissions through utilisation of pulses can have a positive environmental impact. To this end, the potential of exploiting dry, dehulled faba bean (Vicia faba L.) kernel flour as an adjunct for beer production was evaluated. The impact of different temperature regimes and commercial enzymes were assessed for their effect on wort: viscosity; run-off rate; primary amino nitrogen content and, fermentability. Faba beans demonstrated insufficient endogenous enzyme capacity for starch conversion and generated a viscous wort. However, using a stepped temperature mashing regime and exogenous enzyme additions, the faba bean wort was comparable in processability and fermentability to that of 100% malted barley wort. The faba based beer and co-product qualities demonstrate the environmental, nutritional and commercial potential of pulses in brewing.</p

Utilization of low nitrogen barley for production of distilling quality malt

The potential to utilize low nitrogen barley for production of distilling quality malt was studied. This presents an opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of nitrogen fertilizer applications. Malting barley (cv. Octavia) was grown without the application of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer, to produce grain with a relatively low nitrogen concentration (1.16%, dry weight basis). Following micro-malting trials, dextrinizing units (58 DU) obtained from low nitrogen malt were much higher than a typical specification of 45 DU for malt with a conventional nitrogen concentration (&lt;1.5%). A higher soluble nitrogen ratio (SNR) or index of modification (IoM) of 49 indicated greater modification of the low nitrogen barley, resulting in higher extract released into the wort. Additionally, much lower levels of β-glucan were found in low nitrogen malt wort (64 mg/L compared with over 100 mg/L in wort of conventional nitrogen malt). Low nitrogen malt also produced higher predicted spirit yields following wort fermentation and wash distillation. These findings indicate that lower nitrogen concentration barley can be processed without negatively impacting malt quality for distilling applications. The implication of these findings to help realize more environmentally sustainable production of barley for malting and use in distilling is discussed.</p

The iconisation of yeast spreads—love them or hate them

The production of beer yields a number of by-product streams, with spent brewers’ yeast being the second most abundant in volume. The high nutritional value of spent yeast has seen a large proportion of spent brewers’ yeast being used for both food and feed purposes. One of the uses of spent brewers’ yeast for human consumption has been the production of yeast spreads, which came onto the market in the early 20th century, first in the United Kingdom and shortly thereafter in the commonwealth dominions, especially Australia and New Zealand. In this research we investigated the national status of yeast spreads in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. We show that a brewery by-product such as spent brewers’ yeast is more than a mere novel utilisation of a waste stream but have become inherently associated with national identities of these countries to such an extent that some brands have become iconicised. Furthermore, some yeast spread brands have become a symbol of (inter)national polarisation, purely based on its initial sensorial characterisation

Milk Lacking α-Casein Leads to Permanent Reduction in Body Size in Mice

The major physiological function of milk is the transport of amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids and minerals to mammalian offspring. Caseins, the major milk proteins, are secreted in the form of a micelle consisting of protein and calcium-phosphate

Milk protein-carbohudrate interactions in sterilised milk products

The present work deals with the nature of milk-protein carbohydrate interactions during the heat treatment of milk. Starches of different botanical origin were added (0.5-1.5% w/w) to milk (9% TS or 22% TS) and the mixtures were preheated at 70°C to ensure gelatinization of the starch granules. The heat stability of the milk-starch mixtures was defined as the time required for the coagulation of the milk proteins to occur on heating at 140°C (skim milk of 9% TS) or at 120°C (concentrated milk 22% TS), over the pH range, 6.5-7.1. On addition of native starches there was a reduction in the coagulation time of milk. The various starches hadsimilar effects on the coagulation time of milk, the destabilisation being proportional to the amount of starch added. The destabilisation of milk was not associated either with the amylose to amylopectin ratio of the starches sor to the granular structure of the starch. Further experiments probed the effects on heat stability of changing the molecular structure of starch in two ways: a) by the addition of acid modified starches and b) by the addition of cross-linked starches. Both types of treatment promoted a reduction in the water-binding capacity of the starch and both resulted in an improvement of the coagulation time of the milk-carbohydrate mixture. However,complete recovery of the heat stability was achieved only in the case of unconcentrated milk. Most of the research to date on milk proteincarbohydrate interactions has involved acidic polysaccharides, whereas there is limited information for non-ionic gums. Due to the importance of the heat stability of milk in the dairy industry it was useful to initiate this study by investigating the effect of various forms of carbohydrates on the stability of the milk proteins upon heating