Laboratory of Food Process Engineering

🥬𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗲𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 sounds far away from what 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀 do, right? But actually, 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘃𝗲𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀 as well! 🌰Without high-quality seeds, there can be no agricultural crop production and eventually no fresh or processed vegetables. But a high-quality seed doesn’t arise by itself. To produce those seeds often post-harvest treatments are applied. Examples are cleaning, sorting, washing, priming and coating. In addition, drying is a crucial step in this process. It facilitates a quiescent seed state and prevents microbial growth. However, drying seeds can promote quality degradation, especially when high temperatures are involved. Therefore, Julia researched the effect of different drying conditions on the germination of cabbage seeds after priming and storage. 🌱Cabbage seeds were primed and thereafter dried in a custom-built thin film dryer. The dried seeds were stored for a few weeks and then germinated, to test their quality. In addition, an ethanol essay was developed to test the quality of the seeds as a quick alternative to the relatively long germination test. 🫛It was found that the overall germination quality was not really affected by drying temperatures up to 55 °C. Increasing the drying temperature further, however, resulted in a decreased quality. The best quality seeds were obtained when dried at 40 °C. The ethanol indication test turned out to be a good predictor for seed germination quality as well. This new test can enhance seed quality testing, as it is less laborious and a fast indicator. Interested to learn more about the drying of cabbage seeds and this ethanol test? Check out the whole article: https://lnkd.in/eQH2287C 🎧Prefer listening over reading? Check out "The Deep Dive" a podcast that discusses this research! Authors: Julia Veser, Jochem van der Tuin, Jan Kodde, Steven P.C. Groot, ruud van der sman, and Maarten Schutyser

🖨️3D-printing personalized foods: a recipe for innovation or a challenge too tough to swallow?! That's what Aaditya and collaborators sought to answer in their latest study 👇 👅There is a growing consumer demand for healthy and customized snacks, with texture being a key factor influencing consumer enjoyment. 3D food printing is a promising technology for creating customized foods with specific nutritional compositions and textures that meet individual needs and preferences, like dietary requirements or swallowing issues. Previous research has explored the impact of varying one or two factors at a time on fracture properties. However, given the highly complex interactions between ingredients, printing settings, and cooking of the printed foods, studying one factor at a time is not the most efficient way to research 3D food printing. 🍪This study aimed to establish a comprehensive strategy to achieve desired textural properties by utilizing the full design freedom of 3D food printing. The researchers systematically varied the starch-to-protein ratio, geometric designs, and post-processing conditions (steaming vs. baking) of 3D-printed pea-based snacks. The fracture behavior of freshly printed and post-processed structures were analyzed by measuring their fracture stress and Young’s modulus. Post-processing type most significantly influenced fracture behavior, with steamed samples deforming elastically, while baked samples deformed plastically deformation. These differences were linked to microstructural changes, such as starch gelatinization and water redistribution, observed through CLSM imaging. Also, the dry matter content after post-processing strongly influenced the fracture stress, and Young's modulus. The Young’s modulus of baked snacks increased logarithmically with an increase in dry matter content. Increasing the starch-to-protein ratio of the 3D-food printing inks increased the Young's modulus in steamed and baked samples. Interestingly, the geometry of the prints had a relatively minor impact with triangular objects showing a slightly higher Young’s modulus compared to circles and hexagons. 💡 This work has exciting implications for the 3D-food printing space! The main outcome being that many different textures are achievable by tweaking the post-processing of printed foods, regardless of the food's composition. Who would've guessed that how you cook a printed food would lead to vastly different textures? Decoupling texture from the food's composition is a large step towards fully customizable 3D-printed foods! Want to learn more? https://lnkd.in/ekfe5erg Authors: Aaditya Venkatachalam, Patrick Wilms, Bei Tian, Evert-Jan Bakker, Maarten Schutyser, Lu Zhang #3Dprinting #foodresearch #academia #foodengineering #foodprocessing #plantbased #foods #texture #nutrition #customizednutrition #foodscience #foodtechnology

🧀 Ready for some 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘀𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲? Our newest paper shows 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘀! 🔬 Caseins are one of the most essential protein bodies present in milk and are invaluable for the production of curds and cheeses. Caseins have a unique structure that allows them to form micelles, spherical aggregates with special properties. However, the composition of caseins varies within different types of milk, and the influence of this composition on casein micelle properties is not well understood. To tackle this problem, Laurens researched artificially assembled casein micelles from purified casein fractions. This artificial assembling allowed for studying how the casein composition affects micellar properties. 🥛 Different artificial casein micelles were prepared with various casein fractions in different ratios, and their properties and rennet coagulation behaviour were analysed. It was found that micelle properties and coagulation varied with casein composition. Whereas αs-caseins formed dense and compact micelles, β-casein resulted in loose micelles and soft gels. Additionally, higher κ-casein levels produced smaller micelles and firmer curds, while higher β-casein levels increased micelle hydration and reduced curd firmness. 🧀 Understanding the relationship between casein composition and micelle properties is crucial for designing artificial caseins with specific characteristics. The obtained knowledge provides valuable insights for food manufacturers of animal-free dairy alternatives, enabling them to create products that structurally resemble traditional animal-based yoghurts and cheeses. Want to know more about this research, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g9jagKQQ Authors: Laurens Antuma, Remko Boom and Julia Keppler #foodresearch #foodengineering #dairy #cheese #casein #vegancheese #proteintransition

😋 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆 for some new research insights? 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲-𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀! 🍽️ The consumption of nutrients induces a hormonal feedback mechanism that triggers our feelings of satiety. As a consequence, we reduce our food intake. However, the intensity of the satiety signal has been shown to depend on the energy density of the components released, and lipids play an important role in this. 🫧 Lipid digestion is a complex interfacial process. Multiple mechanisms become active during digestion, for example there is lipase that binds onto the surface of emulsion droplets and there are lipolytic products that are removed from the surface of emulsion droplets. An important factor in lipid digestion is droplet size, as droplets should be accessible for digestive conditions. Droplets in food emulsions, therefore, should be physically stable within the gastrointestinal tract to regulate lipid digestion, and therewith control food intake. ⛓️ So far, emulsion-filled alginate beads have been investigated for the controlled release of fatty acids and bioactive components during lipid digestion. New research from our group by Boxin investigated if core-shell beads can be used to tune lipid digestion. Those core-shell beads were made through in-air microfluidics and their lipid digestion was studied under simulated gastrointestinal conditions. It was found that the total surface area of the core-shell beads scaled with the extent of lipid digestion. In addition, compositional modifications to the core and/or shell were effective in modulating lipolysis, due to the swelling behaviour of the beads. With those insights, the way is open to designing beads that can control fat breakdown and satiety, so that a healthier lifestyle is easier to achieve. And there are even opportunities to use such beads for post-stomach delivery of bioactive compounds. Authors: Boxin Deng, Tom Kamperman, Vincent Rangel, Barbara Zoetebier-Liszka, Karin Schroën and Meinou Corstens. Interested to read more about the beads? Check out the whole article: https://lnkd.in/enciTmtx #foodengineering #digestion #food #beads #health #foodtechnolgy  

🫛 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘀 from legumes are 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, however, making these proteins is not always sustainable. The latest review paper from our group sheds light on how process design can enable the production of sustainable, healthy, and tasty plant protein. 🫘Legumes like pea, faba, soybean, and lupin are crops with high protein contents, making them suitable for processing into protein-rich ingredients to be incorporated into plant-based foods. Traditionally, these proteins are extracted via wet fractionation techniques that inherently use copious amounts of water, chemicals, and energy. Dry fractionation has gained attention due to its lack of chemical and water use, as well as a vastly lower energy requirement than wet fractionation. Dry fractionation can deliver 380% more protein per unit energy expended during processing when compared to wet fractionation. However, dry fractionated proteins are limited by their lower protein purity, off-flavors, and antinutritional factor contents. This review highlights pre- and post-treatment processing steps that can address these challenges. 🔥The review details pre-treatments like de-oiling and heat-treatment to improve the flowability of legume flours, and consequently increase their protein purity. To improve the flavor and nutritional value of legume ingredients, the reviewers highlighted pre- and post-treatments which are physical or biological due to their compatibility with a dry process. Lactic acid fermentation is singled out as a potential biological post-treatment that can reduce antinutritional factor content, improve nutritional value, and modulate flavor profiles of pulse ingredients. The reviewers suggest future studies should evaluate the sustainability and economics of combining dry fractionation with different pre- and post-treatments. This review points to opportunities for optimization of a dry fractionation process and may inspire further research into this field. 🤔Interested in learning more?  https://lnkd.in/etecZvdr Authors: Maarten Schutyser, Santiago Calderon Novoa, Koen Wetterauw, Regina Politiek, Patrick Wilms #proteintransition #foodprocessing #academia #foodresearch #legumes #pulses #dryfractionation #protein #plantbased

💻🧠By now, it is clear 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, but, how does it impact your daily work and what 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 does it have for 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵? Last week, our group got together for a hands-on workshop trying to answer this question. Tijmen Kerstens gave us an informative and engaging lecture on the capabilities and diversity of current Gen AI models and ethical frameworks with which we may judge them. He especially brought light to issues related to copyright infringement, sustainability, privacy and data security, and deepfakes. The learnings from this course also came from a hands-on exercise where we individually explored diverse Gen AI models for different tasks, and we closed off with an hour-long group exercise using Gen AI to write some data analysis scripts. Through team work (and clever prompt engineering 😉), our colleagues made some excellent figures exploring our publications in journals. The group exercise challenged everyone to learn a bit of programming and explore data they might not be familiar with. It came with no shortage of laughs as you can see in the pictures below! After the workshop we went for nice dinner at Café Onder de Linden in Wageningen where we were served a homey Lebanese food buffet. Patrick then organized a fun activity to encourage mixing and mingling! We want to thank everyone who helped organize this event: Maarten, Patrick, Yizhou, Santiago; we also want to thank our guest lecturer Tijmen from Horticulture and Product Physiology - Wageningen University and Research and the Teaching Learning Centre. #academia #generativeAI #ChatGPT #teamwork #research #foodresearch

🐛𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 news: a step forward towards 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 in your food! Interesting insights into the use of 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 were captured by collaborative research between our group and Food Quality and Design. 🦗Insects are promising protein sources that may help solve the growing protein demand. To make insects safe to eat, thermal processes such as blanching are used. However, thermal treatments impair the functional properties like solubility of insect proteins, which makes the incorporation of those proteins in high-quality food products challenging. To overcome those limitations, Luc and co-authors have studied pulsed electric field (PEF) processing on house crickets and lesser mealworms. ⚡PEF is a novel processing technique for microbial inactivation that is based on the concept of electroporation of cell membranes. Since it targets microbial cell membranes, it was hypothesized that the technique would keep the insect protein structures intact. At a continuous PEF treatment at 20 kJ/L, it was found that PEF was efficient in reducing microbial load, but not enough to create a stable food product. Higher energy input reduced microbial load even further but simultaneously caused a temperature increase, which affected protein structure. With the current applied conditions, PEF is not successful for microbial inactivation if the protein structure needs to remain intact. Nonetheless, it PEF may be suitable for microbial inactivation when combined with other milder techniques. 🪱Curious to read more? Find the whole article here! https://lnkd.in/dkAi7mGu Authors: Luc Sweers, Maryia Mishyna, Lilia Ahrné, Remko Boom, Vincenzo Fogliano, Tiffany Patra, PhD, Catriona Lakemond and Julia Keppler #pulsedelectieffield #insectprotein #foodprocessing #foodreserach #insectsforfood

Last Friday our colleague Anneloes defended her PhD thesis about agglomeration in spray dryers. Congratulations to our newest doctor!

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗵𝗗-𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴! 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗲𝘀 and 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗼 joined our group this January and we would like to introduce them to you! Marloes Abbink joined our group to work as a real 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿, as she will be working on the 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗦𝘁ructure for 𝗔ppetite 𝗥egulation. The project is about digestion control as a driver for satiating processed foods. Because, how processed foods can be structured, can help to regulate digestion and increase fullness. Marloes studied in Wageningen and lived in Vienna for some time during her studies. Besides spending her days in Axis, she likes to run, spend time outdoors, play (board)games with friends & cook vegetarian meals. Marloes is already looking forward to joining our team with the next edition of The Veluweloop, as it is one of her favorite running events. Camilo Molina is our new PhD candidate from Colombia, although he is already known in Wageningen as he did his master's here. He will work on the 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘁 project, focusing on the 𝗙undamental 𝗨𝗻derstanding of the juiciness of fibrous 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘁 analogues from structural and sensory perspectives. The whole project combines food technology, sensory science, consumer science, and soft matter physics to deliver new insights into structure-property relationships of fibrous plant-based meat analogues. Camilo likes to do indoor climbing, cooking and reading. In addition, he is also a fan of playing (all kinds of) games and wants to start pursuing a bird-sightseeing hobby sometime soon. Welcome on board Marloes and Camilo, we're happy to have you as our new colleagues!

🔎 Why 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 to one scale? 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝗯-𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁-𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 research isn’t easy, but our colleagues Anneloes and Nienke showed it is possible! 💧 Spray drying is a process that produces dried powders from liquid feed and is widely used in industry. When drying particles collide and cluster, larger structures called agglomerates are formed that can enhance powder properties. To form an agglomerate, it is important that particles not only collide but also stick together. Whether or not they stick depends on the extent of drying. However, stickiness does not only help to form agglomerates: it is also responsible for undesired fouling in spray dryers, which can clog complete systems. ⛓️ While pilot-scale spray drying research can be used to investigate the level of agglomeration of the final product, it does not provide mechanistic insights into collision behavior. For this, the individual collisions between droplets and particles need to be investigated. Individual collisions of wet droplets have been studied before, but for agglomeration in spray dryers collisions between drying droplets and dry particles are more relevant. Therefore, Anneloes and Nienke joined efforts to quantify the effect of protein addition to their drying systems on both scales.  🫧 They found that at the small scale, adding protein resulted in earlier sticking. The difference between whey and pea protein sticking behavior was small, although the timing of the regimes was a bit different. At the pilot scale, it was seen that with the addition of protein, the onset of the sticking regime was earlier, which resulted in larger agglomerates. Pea protein was more effective in achieving this than whey protein, due to the later end point of the sticking regime. The knowledge gained about stickiness at both scales can help optimize spray drying processes when proteins are added. If too little agglomeration occurs, instead of changing dryer settings, protein addition can induce longer or later sticking to get the desired level of agglomeration and powder flow properties. Authors: Anneloes van Boven, Nienke Eijkelboom, Koen Fentsahm, Mijke Gruson, Remko Boom, Patrick Wilms, Reinhard Kohlus and Maarten Schutyser. Check out the whole article: https://lnkd.in/d36tDYmv If you want to learn even more, Anneloes van Boven is defending her PhD thesis this coming Friday at 15:30 which you can view online via www.wur.yuja.com. #Research #FoodTechnology #FoodProcessing #SprayDrying #Stickiness #Droplets