传统与未来的碰撞：食品发酵工程技术与应用进展

随着生物技术的飞速发展,作为食品生物工程的主要组成部分,食品发酵工程技术不断升级,在传统发酵食品的菌种、发酵过程、产品品质得到改善的同时,生物制造的功能食品组分、未来食品等新型产品也应运而生。首先概述了由生物技术和信息技术的进步带来的食品发酵研究手段与生产方式的多层面变革,并重点阐释了利用食品合成生物学设计构建细胞工厂的思路和方法,以及食品生物工程在微生物分析、过程工程和分离工程方面的智能化进程。其次,介绍了现代食品生物工程技术在改善传统发酵食品品质及安全性、生产功能食品组分、添加剂和酶制剂、创制未来食品和开发新型益生食品方面的应用进展。最后,对全球和我国食品发酵产业面临的挑战和未来发展趋势进行了总结和展望,以期为食品发酵的技术革新和工业化应用提供参考。     

Personalised food: how personal is it?

Consumer goods became increasingly personalised, particularly during the last half of the 20th century. Foods and food products have been added a new flavour in this consumer trends with increasingly personalised values of convenience, cost, packaging, and taste. Now functional food industry is ready to take its next venture in a relatively new domain personalising health. Whether the goal of matching foods to individual genotypes to improve the health of those individuals can be attained, and personalised nutrigenomic foods enter the world’s food markets, depends on numerous hurdles being overcome: some scientific in nature, some technical and others related to consumer, market or ethical issues. Public adoption of new technologies is an important determinant for their success. Many of the drivers behind the trend in personalisation of food are now known, particularly ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) are the major drivers. Future development in the field of nutrigenomics undoubtedly will place its seemingly huge potential in better perspective. Thus, the agriculture and food enterprise has an extraordinary opportunity to link individuals with foods that are personalised for their health.     

Microencapsulation for the improved delivery of bioactive compounds into foods

The development of functional foods through the addition of bioactive compounds holds many technological challenges. Microencapsulation is a useful tool to improve the delivery of bioactive compounds into foods, particularly probiotics, minerals, vitamins, phytosterols, lutein, fatty acids, lycopene and antioxidants. Several microencapsulation technologies have been developed for use in the food industry and show promise for the production of functional foods. Moreover, these technologies could promote the successful delivery of bioactive ingredients to the gastrointestinal tract. Future research is likely to focus on aspects of delivery and the potential use of co-encapsulation methodologies, where two or more bioactive ingredients can be combined to have a synergistic effect.     

Marine biotechnology advances towards applications in new functional foods

The marine ecosystem is still an untapped reservoir of biologically active compounds, which have considerable potential to supply food ingredients towards development of new functional foods. With the goal of increasing the availability and chemical diversity of functional marine ingredients, much research has been developed using biotechnological tools to discover and produce new compounds.     

Recent trends in functional food science and the industry in Japan

International recognition of functional foods has resulted in the recent global development of this field, which originated in Japan. The national policy on functional foods, in terms of "foods for specified health use", also has been developing and has motivated the food industry to produce a variety of new food items. In Japan as well as in many other countries, academic and industrial scientists have been working in collaboration for the analysis and practical applications of functional food science. Emphasis has been placed on the study of antioxidant and anticarcinogenic food factors as well as pre- and probiotics. This review pinpoints recent trends in the science and industry in this field.     

Key factors for the success of functional foods

The concept of Functional Food originates in a research project started in 1984. It triggered the introduction of a health claim system for Foods for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU) in 1991. In parallel with the implementation and subsequent regulatory changes, the administration has been intensifying its control over so-called health foods and the FOSHU examination has become more stringent. In spite of the unfavorable regulatory circumstances, being inspired by academic society, many of the food industries have developed functional foods and launched them into the market as FOSHU products to bring about an annual increasing rate of 130% in the total sales amount. On the other hand, the public concern about health and nutrition is soaring. Consumers are becoming more alert to health claims and seeking much more advanced information about food products than before. Taking all of this into account, the key factors for the success of functional foods could be summarized in the following four points. 1) Use of innovative technology in scientific developments resulting in health benefits 2) A variety of new functional foods to be developed by the industries 3) Amendment of functional foods' regulations 4) Improving the consumer's understanding and knowledge of foods claiming a health benefit.     

Physiological responses to taste signals of functional food components

The functions of food have three categories: nutrition, palatability, and bioregulation. As the onset of lifestyle-related diseases has increased, many people have shown interest in functional foods that are beneficial to bioregulation. We believe that functional foods should be highly palatable for increased acceptance from consumers. In order to design functional foods with a high palatability, we have investigated about the palatability, especially in relation to the taste of food. In this review, we discuss (1) the identification of taste receptors that respond to functional food components; (2) an analysis of the peripheral taste transduction system; and (3) the investigation of the relationship between physiological functions and taste signals.     

Bio-markers: traceability in food safety issues

Research and practice are focusing on development, validation and harmonization of technologies and methodologies to ensure complete traceability process throughout the food chain. The main goals are: scale-up, implementation and validation of methods in whole food chains, assurance of authenticity, validity of labelling and application of HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) to the entire food chain. The current review is to sum the scientific and technological basis for ensuring complete traceability. Tracing and tracking (traceability) of foods are complex processes due to the (bio)markers, technical solutions and different circumstances in different technologies which produces various foods (processed, semi-processed, or raw). Since the food is produced for human or animal consumption we need suitable markers to be stable and traceable all along the production chain. Specific biomarkers can have a function in technology and in nutrition. Such approach would make this development faster and more comprehensive and would make possible that food effect could be monitored with same set of biomarkers in consumer. This would help to develop and implement food safety standards that would be based on real physiological function of particular food component.     

Producing selenium-enriched eggs and meat to improve the selenium status of the general population

The role of selenium (Se) in human health and diseases has been discussed in detail in several recent reviews, with the main conclusion being that selenium deficiency is recognised as a global problem which urgently needs resolution. Since selenium content in plant-based food depends on its availability from soil, the level of this element in food and feeds varies among regions. In general, eggs and meat are considered to be good sources of selenium in human diet. When considering ways to improve human selenium intake, there are several potential options. These include direct supplementation, soil fertilisation and supplementation of food staples such as flour, and production of functional foods. Analysing recent publications related to functional food production, it is evident that selenium-enriched eggs can be used as an important delivery system of this trace mineral for humans. In particular, developments and commercialisation of organic forms of selenium have initiated a new era in the availability of selenium-enriched products. It has been shown that egg selenium content can easily be manipulated to give increased levels, especially when organic selenium is included in hen’s diet at levels that provide 0.3–0.5 mg/kg selenium in the feed. As a result, technology for the production of eggs delivering ≈50% (30–35 μg) of the human selenium RDA have been developed and successfully tested. Currently companies all over the world market selenium-enriched eggs including the UK, Ireland, Mexico, Columbia, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Turkey, Russia and the Ukraine. Prices for enriched eggs vary from country to country, typically being similar to free-range eggs. Selenium-enriched chicken, pork and beef can also be produced when using organic selenium in the diet of poultry and farm animals. The scientific, technological and other advantages and limitations of producing designer/modified eggs as functional foods are discussed in this review.     

Fermentation trip: amazing microbes,amazing metabolisms

Fermentation has been applied to many areas of human life, including industrial production, sewage treatment, and environment management. By understanding the process and mechanism of fermentation, more comprehensive and profound cognition of the fermentation may be established to lay a foundation for our further research. In this review, we present a brief summary of recent research about fermentation and microorganisms in different territories, including foods, environment, and human health. According to the growth characteristics of different stages of microorganisms, we introduced a series of metabolic changes, fermentation mechanism, and regulation methods and how the enzymes were transported out of the cell. With further understanding and utilization of microorganisms, food can produce better flavor, nutrition, and functional metabolites through fermentation. Fermentation is also used in other industries, such as wastewater and garbage disposal, environment, and soil management. The human gut flora, in particular, has begun to receive more attention. The profound influence of microorganism on human health cannot to be underestimated. It has become a hot research area in recent years. We can get the metabolites we want by controlling the rate of fermentation and regulate the direction of fermentation. As one of the important components of modern biotechnology, fermentation engineering has been widely used in areas including food, pharmaceutical, energy, chemical industries, and environmental protection. The development of genetic engineering has brought new vitality to fermentation engineering. The application of modernization, automation and artificial intelligence technology also opens up new space for fermentation engineering. In addition, research on the understanding and regulation of metabolic mechanism has further developed the fermentation function of microorganisms.     

Microbial Resource Management revisited: successful parameters and new concepts

In the twenty-first century, scientists will want to steer the microbial black box in (engineered) ecosystems, rather than only study and describe them. This strategy led to a new way of thinking: Microbial Resource Management (MRM). For the last few years, MRM has been utilized to consolidate and communicate our acquired knowledge of the microbiome to many areas of the scientific community. This shared knowledge has brought us closer to formulating a plan toward the analysis, and at a later stage, the management of our varied microbial communities and to look at ways of harnessing their unique abilities for future practices. We require this acquired knowledge for a more sustainable solution to our ongoing global challenges such as our diminishing energy and water supply. Like any successful concept, MRM must be updated to adapt to new molecular technologies, and thus, in this review, MRM has been reengineered to encompass these changes. This review reports how MRM has been used successfully over the last few years within various environments and how we can broaden its capabilities to increase its compliance in the face of state of the art ever changing technologies. Not only have we reengineered and improved MRM, but also we have discussed how newly formed relationships between technologies can provide the full picture of these complex microbial communities and their interactions for future opportunities.     

Commodities into food

It is not surprising that past predictions of the extent of adoption of new technology by the food and agricultural industries have only been partly realized. This is a result of the difficulty of forecasting the take-up of technology that is capable of being transferred from other industries, for example, process control methods and the advent of new packaging materials. Most technology that is adopted is normally incremental over the existing technology and forecasting of this type is best done by specific experts within the industry. Factors which influence uptake of technology in the food industry include not only the available technology, but also the supply of raw materials, economics and disposable income, food habits, health and nutrition and market requirements. In addition to these there is legislation, which imposes compositional, labelling and trade requirements on grower, processor and retailer. New products and processes are determined by all these factors, the overriding influence being the consumer's requirement for palatable and nutritious foods that provide value for money. In the cereals-processing industry significant developments have taken place in the provision of U.K. wheat varieties for breadmaking. The U.K. is now in the position where the bulk of its breadmaking wheats are homegrown. Further advances can be make by investing in applied research into those characteristics of bread wheats which are determinants of good bread flours, that in turn will help in the provision of suitable bread wheat varieties. A less traditional area is that of flour fractionation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Feasibility of Water Efficiency and Reuse Technologies as Demand‐Side Strategies for Urban Water Management

Potable residential water efficiency and reuse technologies have seen increasing adoption in recent years and have been estimated to reduce demands by up to 50%. In this work, we used an engineering economic model to estimate the technically feasible levelized cost of water provided by seven above‐code water efficiency (i.e., beyond that required by building code) and reuse technologies within the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) in central Texas. Unlike other demand‐side studies of residential water use, we model uncertainty and variation in technology adoption cost and performance; include reuse technologies; and differentiate between new construction and retrofits. We developed a conservation supply curve to compare the levelized cost of efficiency and reuse technologies with conventional supply‐side water management strategies. We estimate that efficiency and reuse in the residential sector can meet 85% of 50‐year projected needs (the difference between projected demand and estimated supplies) for the LCRA service area. We also estimate lower levelized costs for immediate retrofits of most technologies, promoting incentives for early technology adoption. However, efficiency and reuse technology performance demonstrates considerable uncertainty and variability. The fraction of demands met by demand‐side strategies range from around 60% to 100%. Occupancy drives much of the variability because it significantly affects demand. These results promote designing incentives for adoption of water efficiency and reuse technologies based upon use. We find that water‐efficient showerheads and bathroom faucet aerators perform well over a variety of assumptions, indicating that these technologies should be a priority for municipalities seeking water demand reductions.     

Impact of Next Generation Sequencing Techniques in Food Microbiology

Understanding the Maxam-Gilbert and Sanger sequencing as the first generation, in recent years there has been an explosion of newly-developed sequencing strategies, which are usually referred to as next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques. NGS techniques have high-throughputs and produce thousands or even millions of sequences at the same time. These sequences allow for the accurate identification of microbial taxa, including uncultivable organisms and those present in small numbers. In specific applications, NGS provides a complete inventory of all microbial operons and genes present or being expressed under different study conditions. NGS techniques are revolutionizing the field of microbial ecology and have recently been used to examine several food ecosystems. After a short introduction to the most common NGS systems and platforms, this review addresses how NGS techniques have been employed in the study of food microbiota and food fermentations, and discusses their limits and perspectives. The most important findings are reviewed, including those made in the study of the microbiota of milk, fermented dairy products, and plant-, meat- and fish-derived fermented foods. The knowledge that can be gained on microbial diversity, population structure and population dynamics via the use of these technologies could be vital in improving the monitoring and manipulation of foods and fermented food products. They should also improve their safety.     

Recent trends and technological development in plasma as an emerging and promising technology for food biosystems

The rising need for wholesome, fresh, safe and “minimally-processed” foods has led to pioneering research activities in the emerging non-thermal technology of food processing. Cold plasma is such an innovative and promising technology that offers several potential applications in the food industry. It uses the highly reactive, energetic and charged gas molecules and species to decontaminate the food and package surfaces and preserve the foods without causing thermal damage to the nutritional and quality attributes of food. Cold plasma technology showed promising results about the inactivation of pathogens in the food industry without affecting the food quality. It is highly effective for surface decontamination of fruits and vegetables, but extensive research is required before its commercial utilization. Recent patents are focused on the applications of cold plasma in food processing and preservation. However, further studies are strongly needed to scale up this technology for future commercialization and understand plasma physics for getting better results and expand the applications and benefits. This review summarizes the emerging trends of cold plasma along with its recent applications in the food industry to extend shelf life and improve the quality of food. It also gives an overview of plasma generation and principles including mechanism of action. Further, the patents based on cold plasma technology have also been highlighted comprehensively for the first time.     

CONSUMER ATTITUDES AND OPINIONS TOWARD FUNCTIONAL FOODS: A FOCUS GROUP STUDY

Acceptance of foods with specific health characteristics depends largely on the consumers' opinion. The objective of this work was to investigate Spanish consumers' opinions, attitudes and beliefs regarding functional foods in general, and one of the most popular foods, yogurt, in particular. Six consumer focus group interviews were conducted, involving a total of 59 participants. Each group profile was chosen to either complement or contrast the other groups according to previously established criteria (gender, age and educational level). The youngest consumers (18–30 years old) proved, in general, to have a fairly negative attitude toward these types of products, although this attitude varied according to the type of food. For the consumers participating in this study, the most acceptable functional foods were low-fat foods and some fermented dairy products. Purchase and consumption of yogurt were more dependent on its sensorial qualities and its price than on the nutritional information printed on the label.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

The influence of attitudes, beliefs and opinions on food choice and purchase is specially important in the acceptance of some types of foods (organic or ecological, genetically modified or functional) that are presented to the consumer as a possible alternative to the conventional foods. The application of focus groups can help not only in explaining consumer behavior, but also in designing more effective nutritional education rules and products that satisfy consumer needs and expectations.     

未来食品的低碳生物制造

受到人口增长过快、社会经济发展水平不平衡、人口老龄化和不健康饮食方式等影响,人类面临着食品和营养缺乏、部分人群中营养相关疾病高发等问题。同时,社会低碳发展的需求呼唤一种可持续的食物供给模式。因此,既能满足消费者口感和营养需求,又是绿色可持续食物供给模式的技术,例如功能糖、人造肉等未来食品技术,受到了广泛的关注。近年,新兴的生物制造技术及产品得到了迅猛发展,将会支撑形成绿色、低碳的未来食品产业,引发传统生产模式的深刻变革,是新兴生物经济的重大战略发展方向。本文聚焦于未来食品——功能糖、微生物蛋白及人造肉等关键辅配料的生物制造技术研究,追踪其在细胞工厂构建、工业环境下菌种测试与过程优化和衍生产品开发等研究的最新进展,展望未来的发展趋势,旨在为微生物制造未来食品的产业发展提供指导。     

Development and deployment of transgenic plants: Biosafety considerations

Summary Recombinant DNA technology has great potential to enhance and extend the advantages of conventional plant breeding, and increase the production and productivity of crops to meet the increasing demand for food and food products in the future. Judicious application of this technology provides opportunities for alleviating some of the major constraints to crop productivity under subsistence farming conditions in the developing countries. Considerable progress has been made in developing strategies for the production and deployment of transgenic crops. However, biosafety concerns have been raised regarding the deployment and release of genetically engineered plants. This debate has divided the farming and consumer communities over acceptability of genetically modified foods. There is a need for a thorough investigation regarding the fate of transgenic plants in the environment, and their interaction with wild relatives and non-target organisms. The production and release of transgenic plants should be based on experience and sound scientific reasoning. The regulatory requirements for deployment of transgenic crops should be streamlined and harmonized, in order to achieve sustainable food production, poverty reduction, and environmental protection in resource-poor countries in the semi-arid tropics.     

Genomics, molecular genetics and the food industry

The production of foods for an increasingly informed and selective consumer requires the coordinated activities of the various branches of the food chain in order to provide convenient, wholesome, tasty, safe and affordable foods. Also, the size and complexity of the food sector ensures that no single player can control a single process from seed production, through farming and processing to a final product marketed in a retail outlet. Furthermore, the scientific advances in genome research and their exploitation via biotechnology is leading to a technology driven revolution that will have advantages for the consumer and food industry alike. The segment of food processing aids, namely industrial enzymes which have been enhanced by the use of biotechnology, has proven invaluable in the production of enzymes with greater purity and flexibility while ensuring a sustainable and cheap supply. Such enzymes produced in safe GRAS microorganisms are available today and are being used in the production of foods. A second rapidly evolving segment that is already having an impact on our foods may be found in the new genetically modified crops. While the most notorious examples today were developed by the seed companies for the agro-industry directed at the farming sector for cost saving production of the main agronomical products like soya and maize, its benefits are also being seen in the reduced use of herbicides and pesticides which will have long term benefits for the environment. Technology-driven advances for the food processing industry and the consumer are being developed and may be divided into two separate sectors that will be presented in greater detail: 1. The application of genome research and biotechnology to the breeding and development of improved plants. This may be as an aid for the cataloging of industrially important plant varieties, the rapid identification of key quality traits for enhanced classical breeding programs, or the genetic modification of important plants for improved processing properties or health characteristics. 2. The development of advanced microorganisms for food fermentations with improved flavor production, health or technological characteristics. Both yeasts and bacteria have been developed that fulfill these requirements, but are as yet not used in the production of foods.