New technologies in food processing and preservation
Novel technologies have the potential to improve food quality and safety and lead to the production of more cost-effective, value-added products. A recent focus of the New Technologies project at CCFRA has been an investigation of the use of high pressure in combination with heat to produce ambient shelf stable, low-acid foods. This is currently not possible using pressure alone. Exposing food to a high-pressure process results in a small amount of compression heating (around 3 or 4°C per 100 MPa of applied pressure for a predominantly aqueous product). This occurs throughout the vessel load. By pre-heating the food and then pressurising, the temperature of the food rises briefly into the sterilisation zone. This elevated temperature, in combination with the lethality of the pressure itself, may be sufficient to inactivate bacterial spores. Whilst the principle of the technique is straightforward, its execution is more complex. Practical experience has shown that it is difficult to load the pressure vessel and maintain a uniform initial temperature in the product. There are significant temperature losses from the vessel and non-uniformity of temperature distribution across the vessel during the holding phase. This is an important observation with food safety implications that would need to be considered at the process design stage. Work will continue on model materials, progressing to real foodstuffs over the course of the project. Craig Leadley 25 years service A 25-year service award was presented to Dr Robin Guy in December by Professor Colin Dennis, Director-General of CCFRA, who thanked him for his commitment to the RA and service to Members. 
Robin is a leading expert on extrusion cooking technology and the functions of starch and enzymes as food components. His wide experience has been used to considerable benefit of CCFRA member companies in product development, training and technical support for manufacturing operations. Robin is manager of the Cereal Processing & Bakery Science section at CCFRA and his scientific ability has led to the resolution of numerous industry-based problems. He has published and lectured widely and was recently an examiner for the MSc, Food Processing and Management course at Nottingham University. Qualitative consumer research 
Three separate but related developments in 2004 demonstrated CCFRA's widening range of consumer and market insight services. These new facilities and initiatives combine the quality of service that our clients require with competitive rates and quick response. Our updated facilities maximise the value of consumer discussion groups. The new Qualitative Consumer Research Studio and associated test kitchen is fitted with audio video links to enable clients to follow discussions in a dedicated observation room and to monitor feedback while consumer focus groups are taking place. The studio provides client New Product Development teams with the opportunity to see first hand how consumers react to their products. Clients are able to discuss progress with the group moderator at intervals and request further clarification or more in-depth data on specific points as required. In a related initiative, we have worked in collaboration with North Nottinghamshire College to use their new facilities to provide a north Midlands based consumer test centre. The Centre provides facilities for full sensory and consumer market research activities and complements the Consumer Test Centre at Chipping Campden. As well as investing in these new facilities we have also created a database of consumers, and over 1400 members of the public have been recruited to take part in research that requires gathering opinions of consumers on product preferences. The type of work involving the consumer panel might include questionnaires regarding their preferences for particular foods or drinks; opinions on specific food-related issues; and tasting of individual products. Peter Burgess New shaking retort at CCFRA 
Faster retorting has long been a goal of the canning and bottling sectors, both to improve food quality and freshness and to reduce processing costs. Heat transfer is generally the rate limiting factor. In comparison with conventional batch retorting, the new Shaka™ process from Zinetec Ltd claims up to 10–fold faster heat transfer for most conduction products, with a commensurate 10 fold reduction in retorting time – just 2.5–5 minutes for typical soup formulations, for example. Zinetec Ltd also claims that quality associated more with the chill cabinet should now be possible. One of CCFRA´s many briefs is to monitor such new developments in processing technology and investigate if these are indeed of benefit to the food industry and commercially viable. To this end, we have just taken delivery of a new type of horizontal batch retort from Zinetec Ltd. The Shaka™ process operates by agitating the cans along the longitudinal axis, inducing vigorous mixing and rapid heat transfer. Members now have the opportunity to trial the Shak™ system with their products and containers at CCFRA. Anyone who is interested should: Philip Richardson New service in PAH analysis An analytical method for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been developed and validated as part of the member-funded Chemical Methods research project. Foods may become contaminated with excessive levels through direct environmental exposure to PAHs or via migration from packaging material. They may also be produced during thermal processing of food, e.g. baking, grilling, frying and smoking. There are over 100 known PAHs, which have different degrees of toxicity and carcinogenicity; benzo[a]pyrene is the most widely known, and is often used as an analytical marker for total PAH content. However, information on which PAHs are present in a food is important in identifying and eliminating the cause of the contamination. The new analytical method available at CCFRA will simultaneously detect 16 individual PAHs down to around 10 parts per billion, giving the client much more information about the extent of the contamination, and therefore allowing the appropriate action to be taken. Nick Byrd Survey of nutrients in soup As part of the Food Standard Agency's examination of nutrient levels in different processed food products, the nutritional content of canned, dried and fresh/chilled soup products, as declared on the product labels, was surveyed. A total of 84 canned, dried and fresh/chilled soup products were purchased by CCFRA in April 2004 from retail outlets. Sample details, including nutrient content provided on labelling and any nutritional claims made, were collated and reported. On average, fresh/chilled soups contained less salt than either canned or dried soups, and "healthy eating" soups contained less sugar, fat and salt than equivalent "standard" and "economy" products. There was, however, wide variation within these categories. Mike Edwards New project - Improved design of tubular heat exchangers CCFRA is managing a new Development LINK project (Defra), aimed at enhancing performance in both conventional and heat recovery modes of operation of tubular heat exchangers. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques will be applied to assist in selecting the most commercially viable design improvements to multi-tube heat exchangers. The CFD will speed up the transition between the design concepts that are discussed as ideas and the much smaller number of prototypes that need to be built to test the ideas. The project will involve computational work at the University of Plymouth with experimental validation conducted at CCFRA (project manager), under the advice and guidance of a project consortium of seven companies. 
Gary Tucker Antioxidant capacity in foods: ORAC value CCFRA offers a service to clients for the determination of the antioxidant capacity of foods using the modified oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay used in the USDA surveys. Dietary antioxidants and their role in the prevention of many diseases have received increased attention from nutritionists. ORAC is now widely used to measure antioxidant capacity of food samples. The USDA has sampled over 500 fruits, nuts and vegetables for ORAC values as part of the National Food and Nutrient Program, so that daily intakes of total antioxidants can be calculated. Helen Brown CCFRA supports regional food and drink conferences CCFRA will be playing an important role in supporting these regional conferences. We will be describing how providing support to SMEs at crucial stages of growth can have long-term benefits at Clarke Wilmott's FoodSouthWest conference on 3rd March 2005 in Bristol. We will also be represented at the East of England Food and Drink's Consumer Preference conference organised by Taylor Vinter on 12-14 April in Peterborough. Daphne Llewellyn Davies IFE Foodex 2005 CCFRA will be at the IFE Foodex exhibition, London, on March 13-16 (stand D53, opposite the Innovations Theatre). We look forward to seeing Members there, for whom we have a limited number of guest tickets. Daphne Llewellyn Davies CCFRA training and conferences 2004 Over 5000 individuals attended CCFRA training courses or conferences, at nearly 400 courses or events during 2004. 253 tailored training courses were organised to meet specific requirements of 2,832 delegates. For 2005 events contact
training@campden.co.uk New members Campden & Chorleywood is delighted to welcome the following new members who joined in December 2004:
Contact: Bertrand Emond or Sally Easton Please notify the Membership Department of any name or address changes with respect to our mailing list. |