Presentation of “Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry” & Authors’ Team Acknowledgments

After its launch five months ago, the Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry book is continuously raising interest among researchers, academics, students, professionals and industrial partners active in the field.

In trying to catch up with colleagues, meet our audience as well as explain in detail the key features and indications of the book, an online book presentation was organized on 6th September 2016 byISEKI Food Association (IFA) watched live by hundreds of colleagues around the world. 

Authors’ Team Acknowledgments

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all authors for their fruitful collaboration and high quality work in bringing together different topics, approaches and strategies in an integral and comprehensive text. Some information about the background, expertise and contribution can be seen below.

Read full article here:

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/presentation-author-acknowledgement-innovation-strategies-food-industry/

Online Book Presentation: Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry: Tools for Implementation

Cockroach Milk as the Future of Food? Are you Kidding Me? Let’s Recover Wasted Food First!

“Rotten Apple ,tomato And Mango” of samuiblue at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last week I read an eye-catching and controversial article about the prospect of utilizing milk of cockroaches as a super food in the years to come. Yes, this is neither a joke nor a typo error. I guess these two options may come to your mind first while reading the title (actually vomiting is the first thought, but this feeling came to your stomach not to your mind). However, there are some parts of the world (e.g. in China) that eating cooked cockroaches is actually an eating trend.

According to the above report, an international team of scientists sequenced a protein crystal located in the midgut of cockroaches because it is 4-fold more nutritious compared to cow’s milk and denoted that may be the key to feed our growing population in the future. Although disgusting, from a scientific point, this idea looks somehow reasonable since we have to survive. Besides who knows, this protein may be proved to be the x-factor of cockroaches being the only living organism able to survive nuclear war!

However, people are not cockroaches. People do not care to survive nuclear war they just do not want to make it happen. And yes, this cockroach milk could be an option in the future for survivors, but only if there are no other options. But let’s remove our head out of the soil and look around. Stop watching the tree while there is a forest behind.

Five years ago, FAO published a report considering global food losses and food waste noting that nearly 1/3 of worldwide food production (1.3 billion tn/year) for human consumption is lost or wasted. The amounts of food loss and waste along the food supply chains respectively, are 54% of total loss and waste as upstream processes (including production and post-harvest) and 46% of total loss and waste as downstream processes (including processing, distribution and consumption) (FAO, 2011).

Read full article at:

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/cockroach-milk-recover-wasted-food-first/

How Can You Implement Innovations in the Food Industry?

Nowadays, the term “innovation” is increasingly used in all science fields. It has been developed into a trendy word that is referred whenever discussions focus on forthcoming developments or future perspectives. Nevertheless, despite its frequent usage, innovation is neither easy to specify and nor to identify. What does innovation truly represents? It is a new idea that when implemented, leads to a more effective process, product, service or technology. Innovation provides better solutions that meet advanced, unaddressed or existing market needs. It can be considered as a breakthrough that provides a different way of thinking, consuming or living. However, the key element of innovation is the precondition noted above: “when implemented“. Without implementation, “innovation” turns back to the “idea” status.

Food industry is facing technical and economic changes in spite of society, manufacture and food processing. This fact has affected significantly the entire food supply chain (e.g. distribution of food to the consumers), forcing companies to pay high attention in food products that meet the consumers’ demand for a healthy lifestyle. As a consequence, there is an extensive dialogue about the need of food industries to introduce innovations in the market in order to survive competition.

Read full article:

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/implement-innovations-in-food-industry/

Brainstorming for three H2020 proposals

Food Waste Recovery Workshop

Heading down to summer 2016, we are preparing the Food Waste Recovery Workshop , trying to provide as many opportunities as possible for all involved partners (students, researchers, academics, professionals, industry). The event is planned one day (5th of July 2016) before the 4rd ISEKI_Food Conference in Vienna (6th to 8th of July). Its objective is to provide state of the art knowledge, basic theory and critical information in the field, by explaining in details the “Universal Recovery Strategy“, as well as noting the advantages and disadvantages of dominant methodologies applied in downstream processing, from the initial source to the final product. The workshop will also have a training character for students who can (optionally) write a test at the end of the event in order to receive of a CPD accreditation.

Roundtable & Brainstorming on Joint projects on Food waste

As noted in the program, at the end of the event we are organising a roundtable dedicated to consortium development and joint actions for funded research projects. This is of particular interest, but the limited time in combination with the increased participation restricts the possibility of having a thorough and reasonable discussion during the workshops.

Therefore, in order to reach to certain outcomes, we decided to put a frame on the discussion prior the event and provide particular topics for forthcoming calls.

Therefore, I asked the contribution of my colleague Nicole Unger (BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria) to identify particular Horizon calls and set up 3 proposal titles. The respective H2020 calls are:

• SFS-40-2017 [Sweeteners and sweetness enhancers]
• BB-05-2017 [Bio-based products: Mobilisation and mutual learning action plan]
• SMEInst-07-2016-2017 [Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors]

Thereafter, we set up a questionnaire to distribute it to the workshop participants to get some feedback in spite of their availability and capabilities to contribute in different objectives of the proposals under development.

Although rather rough, we believe that this process will allow us to come closer with rest colleagues, identify potential collaboration opportunities and build up consortiums for forthcoming actions. After collecting feedback from the participants, we will group the answers and provide more details in the workshop during the roundtable.

FAQs

Why did you select these calls?

We identified calls that fit within the purpose of the workshop and the deadline is not so close, allowing time for brainstorming and integrated consortium development.

Will you focus on other H2020 or relevant calls?

Yes, this is possible in case the developing projects fits better in other calls, as indicated by the participants. We hope to develop consortiums with interesting ideas that could be eventually submitted in other calls, too.

Is there a specific idea/proposal for the noted calls?

Yes, there is an initial title for each of the noted calls that will be referred in the questionnaire. We start from a general approach, putting a couple of ideas on the table. After getting some feedback from the participants, we will develop the particular objectives of the developing proposals. We hope that this process will move forward within the next weeks in order to handle a more developed proposal and consortium during the roundtable of the workshop.

I am afraid of sharing/notifying my ideas and then used by other colleagues

This is a fair concern noted by some colleagues in similar efforts. This is why we ask colleagues to provide gradually their feedback in an equal manner, within a particular frame-questionnaire. In addition, we invite you to join consortiums development at every stage and join the roundtable so you can control alone the released information from your side.

Can I join these efforts without joining the roundtable?

Yes, it is possible that we will need partners with certain capabilities for the aforementioned or other future proposals. However, please note that the participation in the workshop is high and priority will be given to the participants who will anyhow contribute to proposals' development from a very early stage.

I want to be involved in other food waste recovery actions of your network

Our group is developing numerous projects in the field of food waste recovery, 

environment and sustainability. 

A good starting point is to fill in the expert evaluator form and send it 

together with your CV at: foodwasterecoverygroup@gmail.com.

Follow me via Twitter – @CharisGalanakis, LinkedIn or ResearchGate.

Meet me at the Food Waste Recovery Workshop, 

join the Food Waste Recovery Group on LinkedIn or the 

Food Waste Recovery Page on Facebook.

How Food Waste Recovery Improves Sustainability of Food Systems

Sustainability is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, this definition is difficult to be understood or applied by organizations that have specific responsibilities to the society, beyond their economic and legal obligations. Responsibility means that people, planet and profit should be considered as a whole system, needing balance. By balancing the social and environmental elements of sustainability, long-term profitability could be achieved.

A food system is defined as the sum of all the diverse elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures, institutions, etc) and activities related to the production, processing, distribution, preparation and consumption of food, and their socio-economic and environmental outcomes. Sustainability could be illustrated through the product stewardship concept, which is defined by the shared responsibilities that all participants in a product’s life cycle have for minimizing its environmental and health impacts. A product’s responsibilities in a supply chain do not end when the product is delivered to consumers. This means that product manufacturers, retailers, users and disposers are responsible for the health, safety and environmental impacts of their products across their life cycle (e.g. from raw material extraction to use and disposal).  Thus, there is a need for balancing food products responsibilities (e.g. economic, social and environmental) throughout the supply chain.

Today, there is a need to decrease food loss across the supply chain, but also to identify ways to best utilise discharged food mass. Although waste arises at every stage of the food supply chain, the causes of its generation vary depending on the supply chain stage. Effective food waste management will benefit all supply chain members.  Reducing processing food wastes by recovering valuable compounds and developing new products can significantly improve the sustainability of the food production system, considering the following ways.

Read rest article in my Elsevier Scitech Connect Blog

Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry, 1st Edition Tools for Implementation

http://store.elsevier.com/Innovation-Strategies-in-the-Food-Industry/isbn-9780128037515/

Food Waste Recovery Book Presentations & Authors’ Team Acknowledgments

After its launching six months ago, the Food Waste Recovery book is continuously raising interest among researchers, academics, students, professionals and industrial partners active in the field. Indeed, thousands’ of colleagues have already joined our Linkedin and Facebook communities, participate in our open forums, discuss their needs, make questions, refer their case scenarios, indicate their problems and finally look for solutions and consulting in our interactive Food Waste Recovery (FWR) Group.

Book Presentations & Key Events

Trying to catch up with colleagues, meet our audience as well as explain in details the key features and hints of the book, numerous presentations, lectures and relevant events have been organized within 2016. On February 11th, online book presentation was organized by ISEKI Food Association (IFA) watched live by hundreds of colleagues around the world. A recording of this book presentation can be viewed in the following video:

http://charismgalanakis.blogspot.gr/2016/02/book-presentation.html

Further information will be presented in the following speeches:

• “Innovation barriers and industrial implementation of food waste recovery” SusValueFood seminar, Oslo (Norway), 5th of April 2016

• “Challenges and opportunities of the agri-food sector: the second life of wastes”, Workshop on Food Safety and Food Security (COST Event), Dubrovnik (Croatia), 12th of April 2016

• More events are coming to Campden (UK), Porto (Portugal) and other places. Follow events here.

A Food Waste Recovery Workshop is planned one day (5th of July 2016) before the 4rd ISEKI_Food Conference in Vienna (6th to 8th of July). The objective of the workshop is to provide state of the art knowledge, basic theory and critical information in the field, by explaining in details the “Universal Recovery Strategy“, as well as noting the advantages and disadvantages of dominant methodologies applied in downstream processing, from the initial source to the final product. Finally, success stories of real industrial applications and consortiums’ development will be discussed in a round table.

Read full article in my Scitech Connect Blog:

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/food-waste-recovery-presentations-authors-acknowledgments/

Book Presentation

Food Waste Recovery Trends in 2016: Research, Innovation, Commercialization and Funding

                                                          Recovering Food Waste. Source: Wikimedia

Research

Over the last years, the number of published studies dealing with the valorization of processing by-products has been rapidly increased. This is proved by the numerous special issues organized by important Journals, such as these organized by Food Research International: (i) Recovery and utilization of valuable compounds from food processing by-products and (ii) Byproducts from agri-food industry: new strategies for their revalorization.

Following information received by individual members of Food Waste Recovery Group (SIG5) of ISEKI Food Association, more studies dealing not only with the recovery of valuable compounds from food waste, but also with their application in particular food and other products will be published within 2016. Moreover, proof-of-concept projects (e.g. sustainable plant ingredients for healthier meat products) targeting to establish health benefits of relevant products have been funded and are expected to launch their first results soon.

Following EU’s and other countries’ growing interest and funding policy promoting bio-based products and industries, the biorefinery approach is placed in a central role, too. Taking into account the impressive interest of the food science community in the above subjects, it is rather clear that new, emerging and more subject-targeted reference tools are needed. SIG5 works to this direction and plans to launch new initiatives within 2016.

Innovation & Commercialization Efforts

During food waste recovery book editing, only 35 companies with related products were identified around the world. Many of them have not been fully commercialized yet or were in an early stage of development. These products include dietary fibers from vegetable waste, proteins from cheese whey, fish oil from fishery by-products, lycopene from tomato waste, proanthocyanidins and oil from grape seeds, polyphenols from pine bark, keratin from chicken feathers, sugar and flavonoids syrup from citrus peel, protein from meat processing by-products and fish skin, yeast extract and lactic acid from sugar beet pulp, albumin from soy protein isolate wastewater, chitosan from shrimp shells and others. After publishing the book, we find out that there are much more companies activated in the field. This gap was created not only by the lack of available information (due to companies’ secrecy policy), but also due to the fast growing applications in the field.

Read More in the following link:

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/food-waste-recovery-trends-in-2016-research/

Some Book Reviews

Here you can find some book reviews:

“There is no doubt that with rising populations, food wastage is of ever growing significance. We are now at a point that it is no longer sufficient to simply reduce the amount of industrial or supply chain waste, whether agricultural or processing by-product, but to eliminate it. To achieve such targets, the inherent value; nutritional or functional, must be recovered from any waste stream. This requires a deep knowledge of the potential of such waste material, which in turn can drive the innovation process to realise that value. Food Waste Recovery edited by Dr. Charis Galankis provides the detailed insight needed to address these challenges head on. With detailed reviews of food wastage sources, potential value of waste streams and the traditional, innovative and emerging extraction and recovery technology, this book achieves the editors vision of producing an essential reference tool for food and drink professionals tackling the increasingly important issue of food waste.” -- Steve Osborn B.Sc. (hons), M.Phil., C.SCI., FIFST, Principal consultant - Food and Beverage, The Aurora Ceres Partnership Ltd.

"This book successfully captures the current outlook with regard to food waste valorisation, compiling the collaborative contributions of academic institutions and commercial organisations. Encompassing a breadth of separation and extraction technologies, both conventional and emerging, the book provides rich insight into the techniques which could either be employed in isolation or regarded as building blocks in a comprehensive biorefinery. Food Waste Recovery represents a much-needed toolkit, increasing the prospect of recovering high added-value compounds from organic byproducts. Moreover, it serves as a bridge between academia and industry, a vital handbook for anyone wanting to develop a food waste recovery application. Crucially, the book places priority on the ethical responsibility to maximise the efficient recovery of bioresources against the backdrop of ever-increasing pressure on natural resources due to climate change and rising populations. Thus, food waste valorisation is presented not simply as a commercial teaser; rather it is regarded as a vital activity as part of a coordinated strategy to ensure a sustainable food supply. Fundamentally, Dr. Galanakis has succeeded in drawing together accounts of the key technologies which will form the basis of any future biorefinery and this compilation marks a milestone in the journey towards that destination." -- Andrew Gadd, Link2Energy - Industrial Symbiosis Services - Medium

"There were times in human history where we had no access to information because it was unavailable. Now, we have an overload of information and it is a time taking process for each of us to identify our sources. This book makes it easier for those who are looking for the latest latest information and knowledge on processing food wastes in industrial settings. The book has expanded my knowledge about the variety of chemicals that can be recovered from food wastes and their final markets. Chapter 4, The Universal Recovery Strategy provides a good framework for approaching value recovery out of food waste. The framework can also be applied to recovery of food and organic waste in cities. This strategy will be more valuable when it is adopted widely, and researchers and decision makers expand on it according to their requirements. Given my background in engineering and consulting, I found Chapter 14 especially useful. It lays out the cost and safety issues of emerging and conventional technologies, which can be a good starting point for further research and decision making." -- Ranjith Annepu, Co-Founder, be Waste Wise, New York City

"The Food Waste Recovery book is a very complete overview on the possibilities for food waste use, focusing specially on added value products. The information provided in the book is very well organized and offers a comprehensive access to the information scattered in many technical and scientific publications. The books makes easy to find the potential of a specific waste or how to recover a molecule of economic interest with different technologies.

The book opens with an interesting introduction on valorization and the sustainability of the food industry and the valorization as alternative to other common food waste disposals or low-value recovery processes. The second chapter deals with the list of different by-products, potential added value molecules to be extracted and recovery alternatives. The book is very illustrative with many examples, graphs and scientific cites, making the search of literature on an specific product or technology much easier. It is especially interesting the description of the five stage universal recovery strategy in order to assess the technical and economic feasibility of the recovery.

Section II presents a wide range of traditional recovery pre-treatment technologies such as milling, thermal and vacuum concentration, evaporation, freezing, membrane separation, among others and the extraction technologies, like ultrafiltration, isoelectric precipitation, extrusion, use of solvents, nanofitration, etc. are described. Also state-of-the-art technologies like microwave and supercritical fluid extraction are mentioned including the advantages of the technologies with the economic implications when scaling-up. Examples of applications of these technologies in the food industry are also provided. Chapter eight describes an interesting range of options for industrial use of the recovered products.

But one of the most innovative and interesting parts of the book is the one in Section III dedicated to emerging technologies such as radio-frequency drying, electroosmotic drying, the use of low temperature plasma, high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasounds, pulsed electrical fields or magnetic fields and the applications and implementations in different food sectors beyond the applications at laboratory or pilot stages. Advantages and difficulties compared to the traditional techniques are described in detail. On the other hand, section IV provides very valuable information on the safety aspects and costs of the different recovery technologies so the food industry interested in recovering value added compounds can make calculations, therefore facilitating the decision in selecting the most convenient technology.

Definitely, the book is a “must have” for all those working with food waste recovery."

 Aintzane Esturo  -  Technical Manager -PMP

SGF International e.V. I  Sure – Global – Fair 

Am Hahnenbusch 14b I  55268 Nieder-Olm I Germany  

What 2016 brings in the field of Food Waste Recovery? Teaching Tools, Events & Networking

Today, many food waste recovery projects progress around the world, whereas the publication of several scientific articles, the obtainment of related patents, the organization of congresses and industrial efforts in the field have emerged a wealth of literature.

Special Interest Group 5 (SIG5) of ISEKI Food Association (IFA), which is the biggest network worldwide in the field of food waste recovery, aspires to fill in the gap between academia and industry in the particular field. The group complements three years of operation  and has already attracted the attention of the scientific community (recently recommended by EU Food Waste - Good Practices in the category of Awareness, information and education), acting as an umbrella that observes all the research, innovation, commercialization and teaching efforts and leads many of them.

Teaching Tools

Lifelong learning is often considered to be a normal part of working and personal life, as technological trends are always bringing new challenges in the field of food science. SIG5 is leading efforts for the development of teaching activities in its subject of interest, mainly by volunteering actions. Starting with a webinar series three years ago (accounting 15 lectures with a total of >500 individual scientists from >60 countries), the group contributed to the further development of the "5-Stages Universal Recovery Process" (referred in a review article) to a book that explores in depth the theory and methodologies behind the recovery of high added-value compounds from food wastes. The book was recently recommended by FAO and EU Food Waste - Good Practices, in the category of Research & Innovation.

Heading in 2016, more initiatives are planned with a final purpose of offering integral teaching tools for researchers, academics, students, professionals and industrial partners activated in the field. Therefore, "basic reading" will be enhanced with a chapter entitled "High value-added material recovery from food waste" included in Elsevier Reference Module in Food Science and numerous chapters in more than four scientific forthcoming books of Elsevier Food Science Resources.

Read More in the following link:

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/food-waste-recovery-2016/

Online Book Presentation (11th Feb, 14:00 UTC): "Food Waste Recovery: Processing Technology and Industrial Techniques"

Free Registration here:

https://www.iseki-food.net/webinar/5270

Food Waste Recovery: Processing Technologies and Industrial Techniques acts as a guide to recover valuable components of food by-products and recycle them inside the food chain, in an economic and sustainable way. The book investigates all the relevant recovery issues and compares different techniques to help you advance your research and develop new applications. Strong coverage of the different technologies is included, while keeping a balance between the characteristics of current conventional and emerging technologies. This is an essential reference for research outcomes.

Key Features

• Presents a holistic methodology (the so-called "5-Stages Universal Recovery Process") and a general approach (the so-called "Universal Recovery Strategy") to ensure optimized management of the available technologies and recapture of different high added-value compounds from any waste source
• Includes characteristics, safety and cost issues of conventional and emerging technologies, the benefits of their application in industry, and commercialized applications of real market products
• Demonstrates all aspects of the recovery process such as preservation of the substrate, yield optimization, preservation of functionality of the target compounds during processing, and more

Book chapters, content and relevant feedback will be discussed in the forthcoming webinar.

Hottest SciTech Connect Articles of 2015

Food Waste Recovery among Elsevier's highlights in 2015:

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/hottest-articles-scitech-connect-2015/