Duration: 10/01/2025 to 09/30/2030

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

Food systems in the US face significant challenges, including an unmet need to enhance the sustainability and safety of food supply and the development of advanced processing and packaging technologies that can improve food quality, safety, and nutritional properties. Advances in these areas will significantly benefit the US food industry and the consumers while reducing the environmental impacts of food systems. The goal of this multi-state project is to develop collaborative networks across multiple states to enhance food sustainability, safety, quality, and nutritional properties and train the current and future workforce. The specific objectives are to develop: (a) innovative food materials and sustainable processing and packaging technologies to ensure safety and enhance the shelf-life, quality, functional, and nutritional properties of foods; (b) develop models to enhance understanding and optimization of food manufacturing; and (c) develop educational and outreach approaches to train the current and future workforce and improve translation of technologies. The results of this multistate collaborative effort will benefit the industry with technological solutions and opportunities for workforce training, and will benefit consumers with safe, nutritious, and high-quality food products. Success in these goals will promote the development of novel technologies to address gaps in the field, develop advanced models to understand these innovations in food processing, improve the utility of the new food processing and packaging technologies in industrial practice, and develop teaching and outreach materials to engage and train the current and future workforce.

Statement of Issues and Justification

Issues

The US food industry faces pressing challenges, including the need to produce nutritious, safe, and high-quality foods in an economical and sustainable manner. This complexity requires a multidisciplinary approach bringing together food engineers with diverse scientific expertise.  The dynamic nature of the food industry demands not only innovative and sustainable processing strategies and technologies but also an understanding of how these technologies affect the physicochemical properties of foods and how the latter impact their nutritional, microbiological, biological, and sensory properties. Additionally, effectively utilizing the industrial byproducts generated from food production and processing remains a significant challenge in achieving circular and more sustainable food systems. Despite the increasing use of data-driven predictive models, the scarcity of complex data continues to hinder the development of comprehensive models for advancing our understanding of food processing systems and creating tailored processing strategies that result in foods with desired properties. Compounding the need for the novel processing strategies to transform our food systems is the imperative need to train the new generation of food science professionals with the technical, professional, and ethical skills that are necessary to address global challenges in food nutrition, security, and environmental, social and economic sustainability. In this view, developing educational outreach and extension programs focused on food engineering skills will be crucial to ensuring a well-prepared workforce that can meet the current needs of the food industry. To address the needs outlined above, this project will focus on: a) the development and characterization of innovative food materials, sustainable processing, and packaging technologies to ensure safety and enhance shelf-life, quality, functional and nutritional properties of food; b) the development of mechanistic and data-driven mathematical models to enhance the understanding and optimization of food manufacturing; and c) the use of  pedagogical strategies to integrate cutting-edge food engineering research into teaching and outreach programs to enhance student learning, technology implementation, and stakeholder engagement. The broad range of multidisciplinary skills required to tackle these challenges underscores the need for collaborative efforts among researchers and educators from a wide range of expertise in food engineering, processing, and packaging at the land-grant universities across the country. This project is well-positioned to address the current needs of the food industry by fostering such collaboration.

 

Justification

Understanding and utilizing food engineering principles is critical in the production of safe, high-quality, and nutritious foods. Since food processing and manufacturing require an understanding of not only the processing systems, but also of food quality, safety, and nutritional properties, the field is inherently interdisciplinary. Furthermore, food engineering principles have a critical role in addressing key societal challenges in food systems, including sustainability and security of the food supply chain, health and wellness of society, and reducing food waste. In parallel to the diverse knowledge required for food production is the need for understanding these systems quantitatively, both through mechanistic and data-driven modeling. To address these significant societal challenges, there is an imperative need for collaborative mechanisms such as multi-state projects that bring together food engineering faculty from different institutions across the country. The multi-state projects provide a mechanism to seed early-stage collaborations that can blossom to successful interdisciplinary efforts with national and international impacts. NC-1023 is one such mechanism that enables these collaborations specific to food engineering and processing. There are several multi-state collaborations formed recently as part of the NC-1023 project that have had notable impact in research, teaching, and outreach of food engineering, which showcase the need for this collaborative group. For example, a collaboration across four stations (Michigan, Washington, Nebraska and Georgia), other universities, and the FDA worked on a large, USDA-funded SAS project on developing sustainable, systems-based solutions for ensuring low-moisture food safety. Similarly, a USDA-CAP project with collaborations across four stations (California, New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina) aimed to develop novel decontamination and sensing technologies to improve the safety of fresh produce. In addition to fostering research collaborations, connections made within NC-1023 have also resulted in successful education and outreach efforts. A notable example is the multi-institutional seminar course led by the Maryland, California, and Nebraska stations (with 12+ stations participating in the seminar each year), which was the recipient of a NIFA Partnership Award in 2022 for Integration of Research, Education and Extension. This course was started in 2021 and has continued each year as a truly multi-state effort to bring cutting-edge research topics to graduate and undergraduate students across the country. Finally, NC-1023 has provided a platform for the formation of an international food engineering professional society (Society of Food Engineering), which is responsible for hosting a bi-annual conference, the Conference of Food Engineering (CoFE). CoFE was held in September 2022 and again in August 2024, with the collaboration of members from Ohio, Minnesota, California, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, and Oregon stations involved in the planning teams and attendees representing most stations. These notable examples highlight the importance of collaboration in bringing food engineering teaching, research, and outreach to the next level.

In the past 5-year cycle, the NC-1023 group has focused on characterizing new processing methods, food property characterization, and has had notable collaborations on teaching food engineering at both the graduate and undergraduate level. In the next 5-years (2025-2030), the group will continue to work on the development and characterization of novel foods and processing methods but will also broaden the work to include: (i) sustainable food materials and processing methods; (ii) mechanistic and data-driven modeling to enhance food manufacturing processes, and (iii) integration of cutting-edge food engineering research into educational and extension programs. These topics are based on the successful collaborations that started in the last 5-year cycle of NC-1023, where members have had a broad and significant impact.

The benefits of this multi-state collaboration project are numerous. The diverse expertise of the members of NC-1023 allows for a platform for research projects to integrate many facets of food processing and manufacturing (e.g. processing, safety, quality, packaging, nutritional properties). NC-1023 also allows for a resource efficient approach to collaborate and integrate across diverse skills related to food engineering. As a result of our collaborative efforts in these areas, it is expected that the impacts from this project will include: (i) research, development, and education efforts to address the diversity of food and agricultural systems across the US; (ii) an extensive network of resources that can be leveraged to address the sustainability, security, and safety of food systems and its impact on the health and well-being of society; and (iii) training of future professionals and outreach to stakeholders including industry members and policy makers across the nation. These collaborative efforts and their resulting impacts will enhance the competitiveness of US food industry as it works to fulfill consumer needs for sustainable, safe and healthy foods.

Related, Current and Previous Work

Accomplishments: Our previous work from the past 5-year project has produced numerous successful multi-state collaborations facilitated through the NC1023 committee and led to important outputs and impacts on food systems through engineering-focused research and pedagogical developments. Some of the key pedagogical and research accomplishments developed through these multi-state collaborations include:

Pedagogical accomplishments: The team achieved significant pedagogical advances, including developing several successful USDA-NIFA higher education challenge (HEC) grant efforts focused on learning outcomes in food engineering and processing curriculum. Examples of these efforts include training the future workforce in digital food manufacturing. This was addressed by developing and assessing modularized, active learning-enabled learning modules in food physics and modeling by NY-Ithaca, CA, TN, and WA stations. In addition, a food process modeling course was jointly taught between NY-Ithaca and TN stations. To address gaps in classroom learning and to complement conventional curriculum, a collaborating team of 15 institutions, including WA, OH, NJ, and GA stations, designed and developed low-cost and user-friendly paired virtual and remote laboratory modules (VR-Labs) for undergraduate and graduate-level food science and engineering courses. Over 250 students and 15 instructors or lab assistants were trained with these innovative teaching and learning tools. Assessment of the lab modules by users highlighted significant improvements in the student learning experience and demonstrated that students gained deeper insights into the fundamentals of food engineering and processing by using the virtual modules. Along similar lines, CA and MD stations collaborated to develop virtual modules to teach food engineering courses, including a virtual peach processing line that was utilized in a food processing lecture and lab course. To help improve teaching and learning in food engineering and food processing IA, VT, KY, WA, ID collaborated to evaluate active learning through implementation of a common project.

In addition to efforts to enhance classroom education, an NC-1023 team also developed a multi-institutional seminar course led by the Maryland, California, and Nebraska stations (with 10-14 stations participating in the seminar each year, including MD, OH, NY, NC, NE, NM, IN, SD, MO, CA, WA, MI, TN, IL, OR, MN, VA, IA) to engage food engineering and processing students, researchers, and faculty members across universities. This seminar course team was the recipient of a NIFA Partnership Award in 2021 for Integration of Research, Education and Extension. This course started in 2021 and has continued each year as a truly multi-state effort to bring cutting-edge research topics to graduate and undergraduate students nationwide.

Research Accomplishments:  The research accomplishments of the NC-1023 multi-state project include success in developing innovative food processing solutions to address key challenges in food safety, food quality, and health. Examples of these research collaborations include a collaboration across four stations (Michigan, Washington, Nebraska, and Georgia), other universities, and the FDA to develop a USDA-funded SAS project on developing sustainable, systems-based solutions for ensuring low-moisture food safety. This project team has made significant advances in validating processing technologies, including optimizing process technologies and developing sensing methodologies to improve the safety of low-moisture foods. The team has developed significant outreach to the dry food industries. Similarly, a USDA-CAP project with collaborations across four stations (California, New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina) and several fresh produce processing companies was aimed at developing novel decontamination and sensing technologies to improve the safety of fresh produce. This project developed and evaluated novel decontamination technologies, including cold plasma, light-activated food-grade antimicrobials, particle-based sanitizers and antimicrobial coatings. In addition, the project has advanced various sensing technologies, including electrochemical sensors. Similarly, South Dakota has collaborated with Mississippi, Washington, and Kentucky stations to develop sensors and biosensors to monitor humidity, temperature, and pathogens to improve food quality and safety in processes. The South Dakota station has integrated these biosensors with biopolymer-based nanocomposites to develop innovative technologies for smart food packaging applications.

Other groups of stations also collaborated to advance food processing technologies that will ultimately improve food quality and safety. For example, the Georgia station has collaborated with Tennessee and Oregon stations on computer simulation of radio frequency heating, which is crucial to developing radio frequency heating technology for low-moisture food and chestnut pasteurization. Furthermore, Georgia and Maine stations collaborated on applications of surface-modified cellulose nanocrystals to effectively deliver hydrophilic bioactive compounds in the gastrointestinal tract. Pennsylvania and Illinois stations collaborated on developing a mechanistic model to obtain a conservative estimate of the temperature at the cold spot within a mushroom slicer during hot water sanitization under natural convection. The results from this collaboration highlighted the need for improving the sanitation of the slicer equipment in the fruit and vegetable industries.

In another collaborative project, researchers from NE, OR, IN, IA, VA, MS, and MI stations compared the efficiency of conventional and emerging extraction techniques for phenolic compounds from grape pomace, a byproduct of the wine industry. The collaborative study examined how different extraction technologies affect the phenolic composition of the extracts. The findings from this research have significant potential to guide phenolic extraction processes for other feedstocks, including byproducts or waste from the food industry. In addition, the study provided insights into sustainable and efficient techniques for phenolic compound extraction, offering new information on chemical compositions and structures that contribute to their functionality and efficacy in subsequent applications.

In addition to these accomplishments, NC-1023 has provided a platform for the development of an international food engineering professional society (Society of Food Engineering), which is responsible for hosting a bi-annual conference, the Conference of Food Engineering (CoFE). CoFE was held in September 2022 and again in August 2024, with the collaboration of members from Ohio, Minnesota, California, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, and Oregon stations involved in the planning teams and attendees representing most stations.

In summary, our past efforts have significantly advanced food processing technologies, characterization of food materials and their potential health impacts, and developed novel pedagogical frameworks for engaging students in food processing and engineering education.

Identification of areas requiring further investigation: As we consider the developments in food systems, there is a significant unmet need to develop sustainable processing and packaging technologies to improve the quality and functionality of food products. In the past project periods, this multi-state project has pioneered various modeling approaches and their applications in food processing. However, with developments in data-driven modeling approaches, advances in mechanistic understanding of food processing and products, and drive toward Food Industry 4.0 that includes digital twins and artificial intelligence, there is a need to advance modeling research to achieve optimization of food manufacturing and resource utilization. These modeling efforts will complement the development of sustainable processing and packaging technologies to improve food quality and functionality. The current multi-state project achieved significant collaborations and won accolades for developing and delivering innovative curricula to students. However, with technological advances and their implementation across food systems, there is a significant need to engage future and current food professionals in food engineering and processing training. These efforts require broadening the current pedagogical approaches to include industry stakeholders in our teaching and outreach efforts. Based on these unmet needs, we have developed our proposed objectives for the future replacement of our current NC1023 project. 

Analysis of related multi-state projects: In developing the new project objectives, measures were taken to ensure there was not a significant amount of technical overlap with this project and other current projects. A search was conducted in CRIS using the keywords: sustainable food processing, sustainable packaging, food process modeling, modeling, and food manufacturing, as well as a combination of keywords, including sustainable processing, packaging, and modeling, to identify potential overlapping projects. The results identified no overlaps in areas of food processing modeling and sustainable packaging. However, search results identified one multi-state project (S-1088), Specialty Crops and Food Systems: Exploring Markets, Supply Chains and Policy Dimensions, as a potential overlap. However, the scope of this multi-state project is distinct from that of the proposed project as it focuses on economic, supply chains, and policy issues, which are not considered here. In addition, the search of all the keywords identified a potential overlap with a multi-state project (S-1075), The Science and Engineering for a Biobased Industry and Economy. However, this project focuses on agricultural feedstocks that may be obtained from food and byproducts. Their conversion to fuel and value-added products is distinct from the proposed multi-state project that focuses on food processing and packaging strategies for products intended for human consumption. Further search was also conducted in NIMMS for terms related to aspects of this project, such as food safety and quality, resulting in several projects with potential overlap in scope. Examples of these projects include: (S-1077) Enhancing Microbial Food Safety by Risk Analysis, (W-1197) Advancing Aquatic Food Product Sustainability: Improving Quality, Utilization and Safety, and (S-294) Quality and Safety of Fresh-cut Vegetables and Fruits. While these other multi-state projects may share some of the common goals outlined in this project to improve the quality and safety of the food system, their overall approach and scope are quite distinct from the proposed multi-state project.

Objectives

1. Develop and characterize innovative food materials, sustainable processing, and packaging technologies to ensure safety and enhance the shelf-life, quality, functional, and nutritional properties of foods.
   
2. Develop mechanistic and data-driven mathematical models to enhance understanding and optimization of food manufacturing.
   
3. Utilize pedagogical strategies to integrate cutting-edge food engineering research into teaching and outreach programs to enhance student learning, technology implementation, and stakeholder engagement.
   

Methods

Objective 1: Develop and characterize innovative food materials and sustainable processing and packaging technologies to ensure safety and enhance the shelf-life, quality, functional, and nutritional properties of foods.

Research Methods

Sustainable food processing and packaging solutions will significantly contribute to further advancing food systems by reducing food loss and waste, energy use, and plastic waste, improving the valorization of agri-food by-products, and enhancing food safety and nutritional properties. However, these issues are complex and require multidisciplinary expertise to develop systems-based solutions. As a result, to address these comprehensive challenges for the sustainability of food systems, collaborations among land-grant universities and across food engineering, processing and packaging disciplines are required. Based on past successful collaborations from the group on improving and optimizing food processing methods and systems, collaborative activities are proposed in five areas for the replacement project.

The first area of collaboration relates to the extraction and characterization of agri-food by-products. In the previous NC1023 project, a group of stations (OR, NE, MS, MI, IA, IN, VA) collaborated on extraction and characterization of phenolics from wine grape pomace. Based on this past successful collaboration, OR, CA, AR, MN, MO, IA, WA, NE, NY-G stations will evaluate sustainable extraction methods and novel characterization techniques of bioactive compounds and fibers from a wide range of fruit pomace, including, but not limited to blueberry, grape, and apple. Advanced processing and conversion technologies will be investigated for sustainable utilization of by-products, including fermentation and fractionation, (NE, GA, CA, and OR stations). Other eco-friendly extraction methods, including supercritical CO₂, subcritical water, ultrasound- assisted, and enzyme-assisted extraction will be tested by the CA, NE, AK, OR, and AR stations. Using the data generated by the collaborating stations, the team will establish a comprehensive database to catalog the chemical composition, bioactive profiles, fiber content, and other key characteristics of a wide range of agri-food by-products.

The second area of collaboration will be in sustainable and smart packaging solutions to reduce plastic waste and prevent food loss. Some of the by-product extracts from the first area of collaboration, including the fiber-rich extracts, will be further evaluated by OR, SD, IA, AK, CA, WA, AR, and GA stations to develop sustainable packaging materials. This evaluation will include the isolation and development of nanoscale fiber materials and their assembly to develop sustainable packaging materials with key mechanical, thermal, and barrier properties, which will be measured by the AR, IN, MI, and WA stations. In addition, WA, OR, and SD stations will explore the integration of sensing technologies with packaging materials to monitor food quality and safety characteristics and deliver trackability using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technologies.

The third area of collaboration will be on sustainable processing technologies. Collaboration among NC1023 members has resulted in the development of various non-thermal technologies in the past, including high hydrostatic pressure technologies. Building on this extensive experience, the team (NJ, IA, GA, CA, OR, NC, MN stations) will focus on non-thermal atmospheric plasma processing and address the key challenges of standardization of plasma processing technology, including measuring the chemical and physical properties of diverse plasma systems and developing novel methods for dosimetry of plasma. In addition, the team will evaluate novel applications of plasma processing to improve food quality and safety. The outcome of this collaboration will advance the application of sustainable non-thermal plasma in food.

In area four, collaborations will focus on characterizing the nutritional properties of diverse processed foods. In this collaborative effort, the team (comprised of MO, NJ, IA, AR, CA, NE, OR, MN, MS, GA, SD, WI, OH, KY, NC, IL, NY-G, WA stations) will discover and characterize new, underutilized food sources (e.g., diversification of new plant-based sources, millets, microbial-based ingredients, etc.) and by-products (see area 1 above). These novel foods and food ingredients will require physical, chemical, and biological measurements to characterize their properties and innovative technologies to develop consumer-friendly products. One such characterization method to evaluate the nutritional properties of foods is using in vitro and in vivo digestion models; collaborative efforts between the CA, GA, MO, NE, and NC stations will advance the use of these methods in underutilized food sources. Another example of collaborative work includes the encapsulation of bioactive compounds isolated from plants and microbes and their characterization using in vitro and in vivo digestion (CA, OR, GA, MO, NE, OH, AK, AR, WA, NC).

The fifth area of collaboration revolves around developing sensor technology for improving food quality and safety. Sensing technologies are needed to improve the detection of deleterious entities in food. These can include pathogens, toxins, pesticide residues, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), microplastics, nanoplastics, endocrine disruptors, and other chemical and biological entities. The team (WI, MS, CA, OR, IA, SD, NC, IL, and WA stations) will develop sensor platforms that range from traditional analytical methodologies to nanomaterial-facilitated biosensors and validate these sensors for diverse applications. The platforms that can detect multiple analytes simultaneously are of particular interest, and once developed, will be tested across multiple stations to ensure their broad applicability.

Objective 2: Develop mechanistic and data-driven mathematical models to enhance understanding and optimization of food manufacturing.

Research Methods

Based on previous successful collaborations in developing and applying modeling approaches to various aspects of food processing, quality, and safety, the future collaborative work in this objective focuses on three key areas: 1) apply mechanistic (physics-based) modeling to food processing operations using multiscale species transport to enhance food safety and quality parameters; 2) develop data-driven models for contaminant detection, chemical and biological composition prediction, and food product development; and 3) integrate mechanistic and data-driven approaches to improve predictive capabilities and optimize food process control.

In area 1 (mechanistic modeling), collaborations will focus on developing models to improve food quality. For example, OH, TX, and IL stations will develop mechanistic models to describe oil or water transport as related to physical and chemical properties of food materials. These models will be used to identify specific physical properties that increase oil binding capacity in fat crystalline networks to improve the quality and shelf-life of fat-based foods. Mechanisms of oil or water transfer (e.g. diffusion-controlled or relaxation-controlled) will be predicted based on the crystalline network in the food product. This information will ultimately be used to improve food quality through modification of formulation and processing parameters. Additionally, IL, CA, MD, GA, MO stations will collaborate to develop species and solute transport models using hybrid mixture theory to elucidate the mechanisms and desirably control the interactions between nutritional components and physical attributes of products for food design and controlled release applications. Model development will be led by IL station, while experimental data will be collected and provided by CA, MD, GA, and MO stations.

In area 2 (data-driven modeling), collaborations will focus on development of models that can be used in prediction of food safety and quality parameters. For example, data-driven models will be developed to predict aspects of food safety and quality, including meat freshness, detection of allergens and pathogens, and evaluation of fruit and vegetable quality change during drying (KY, IL, MI, NY-Geneva). Additionally, a collaboration between NC and CA stations will develop machine learning models using biosensor data from plasma processing for the optimization of plasma dosimetry for food safety and quality. These models are needed because as plasma processing becomes more utilized in the food industry for food safety applications, dosimetry must be defined. The reactive species generated in plasma can vary in type and concentration, depending on various factors, hence, it is important to find indirect methods for dosimetry. After the initial machine learning model is developed by NC and CA stations, it will be further enhanced with experimental data collected at multiple stations (NJ, IA, GA).

In area 3 (integrating mechanistic and data-driven models), artificial intelligence (AI) is making inroads into food through combining mechanistic with data-driven models such as physics-informed neural networks or surrogate models. This is new territory and sharing approaches, models, and procedures through collaboration would effectively pool resources from multiple stations to leapfrog AI infusion. Some specific collaborations that are planned in the next project period include integration of mechanistic and data-driven models to evaluate the technical, economic, and environmental performance of novel food pasteurization technology (TN and NC stations), and building an app that uses a surrogate model which learns from a mechanistic model to evaluate the microbial safety of drying processes (NY-Ithaca and Geneva, KY, IL). Once developed, the app will be shared with NC1023 members for evaluation and use. In addition, a large knowledge base of food properties has been developed (from a previously funded NIFA project) at the NY-Ithaca station, which will be combined with mechanistic and data-driven models to predict water activity and parameters critical for food thermal processing. This predictive approach will be compared with the physics-informed neural network approach by the MI station for enhanced predictions of microbial behavior in response to food processing or agricultural and environmental stressors, and results will be shared as benchmarks for potential implementations with other stations (IN, CA, KY, IL, NC).

Objective 3: Utilize pedagogical strategies to integrate cutting-edge food engineering research into teaching and outreach programs to enhance student learning, technology implementation, and stakeholder engagement.

Research Methods

Over the years, NC-1023 members have been engaged in research projects focused on pedagogy (i.e., active learning, problem-solving) and improved student learning in food engineering. In the next cycle, we will invite NC-1023 members to share their results and instructional materials with the NC-1023 community so that others can implement those pedagogical techniques in their courses. We will accomplish this through 1) a quarterly webinar series titled “Scholarship in Food Engineering Education”; and 2) implementation and assessment of instructional modules in existing courses toward preparing future workforce in food manufacturing. For example, OH and IN stations will share their experiences on introducing entrepreneurship in classroom teaching; KY/IA/ME/VA/WA/ID, MS, IA, CA, NY-Ithaca, and TN will share experiences from their USDA Higher Education Challenge grants. Novel modularized, active learning-enabled instructional modules in food physics and modeling will be implemented and assessed as part of existing courses (CA, IA, NY-Ithaca, ND, OH). IRB approvals will be obtained as needed for assessment activities in ongoing courses.                                              

Several NC-1023 members with extension appointments offer food industry-relevant courses such as FSMA-PCQI training, Better Process Control School (BPCS) training; HACCP training, and others. We will leverage the diverse expertise of these members to strengthen accessible resources for the industry, support educational outreach, and encourage industry-academia collaboration. In the next cycle, we will create a centralized resource hub in the form of a website where we will collate members’ expertise in extension education. A similar hub will be developed for digital resources for computer-aided food manufacturing in NY-Ithaca, and the hubs will be linked for seamless access. Following that, we will explore collaboration opportunities across stations in our extension programming. For example, MI and IN stations will collaborate on BPCS school; MD and OR stations will collaborate on co-teaching a short course titled “Science of Food Safety”; OR, WA, MO, and NY stations will develop online educational resources on food processing and packaging technologies for industry stakeholders. The group will also explore opportunities to co-develop short courses relevant to the evolving needs of the food industry and academia.

In the previous cycle, we successfully developed and ran a seminar series on Advances in Food Engineering and Processing, organized by MD, CA, and NE stations, with 10-14 stations offering the seminar course each year from 2021 – 2024 (participating stations included: MD, OH, NY, NC, NE, NM, IN, SD, MO, CA, WA, MI, TN, IL, OR, MN, VA). This effort won a NIFA Partnership Award for our NC1023 Multistate Project in 2021 for Integration of Research, Education and Extension. Due to the prior success of this initiative, we will enhance and expand this series to increase engagement, provide more coverage of emerging topics, and include industry speakers. We also plan to include videos of speaker talks on the resource hub to disseminate the cutting-edge research results generated through NC1023 collaborations. In future offerings of the seminar series, we plan to perform a pre-course and post-course assessment of student learning across at least 5 stations (at least CA, NC, MD, WA, NE); the knowledge assessment questions were generated in the previous project and IRB approval for the survey is in progress across the stations, such that this is a task for the new project.

Measurement of Progress and Results

Outputs

• Development of novel food products and ingredients using sustainable processing methods and new technologies, with analyzed data on their physical, chemical, and biological properties before and during human digestion processes.
• Standardized protocols and models for defining dosimetry during plasma processing, and standardized protocols for generating, analyzing, and quantifying reactive species in cold plasma and plasma activated water, and analyzed data on the impact of these processes on food properties.
• Predictive models and tools to improve food safety and quality, including meat freshness during processing, food safety during drying, and food safety and quality during pasteurization.
• An online resource hub containing education and extension materials: extension and outreach expertise and offerings from members, cutting-edge research seminar videos, and information on novel instructional modules in food physics and modeling.
• Analyzed survey results on the changes in student learning and perception of food engineering after participating in a multi-institutional seminar course, with surveys conducted across multiple stations.

Outcomes or Projected Impacts

• Consumers will benefit from increased availability of diverse processed foods and novel foods from underutilized ingredients that are safe, high quality, and promote human health. The food industry will increase their economic competitiveness by using optimized processing methods for these food products.
• The food industry will have increased economic gains due to less waste of agri-food streams that will be incorporated into novel food products and packaging materials.
• Identification of chemical and biological targets crucial for detection by innovative food sensors in agri-food systems will accelerate development of sensor platforms tailored for accurate measurement of identified targets in food matrices. These sensors will streamline food quality and safety measurement in the food industry.
• Faster introduction of dynamically evolving, state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, that involve physics-informed data-driven models as tools for the food industry will ultimately improve food quality and safety.
• Enhanced student learning of the importance of food engineering and cutting-edge research topics through a multi-disciplinary seminar course and other pedagogical innovations, and training of the next generation of graduate students and food industry professionals in food engineering, processing safety, and quality.

Milestones

(2026):(Obj 1) Identify common substrates for bioactive compound and fiber extraction and food processing studies. (Obj 2) Develop data collection plan and modeling equations. (Obj 3) Develop “Scholarship in Food Engineering” webinar series and prepare for student knowledge assessment.

(2027):(Obj 1) Start extraction and processing/characterization of common substrates using existing and new technologies. (Obj 2) Continue data generation and model development. Begin building an app for broader deployment. (Obj 3) Collect pre- and post-course assessment data and begin development of the resource hub.

(2028):(Obj 1) Continue data generation, processing, and characterization of extracts and foods with varying processing conditions, including nutritional properties. (Obj 2) Continue model development, data generation, and building app technology. (Obj 3) Analyze assessment data, continue development of resource hub, and develop cross-station extension and outreach courses.

(2029):(Obj 1) Collectively analyze data on bioactive compound and fiber extraction, and food processing and characterization of nutritional properties. Determine and test method for cold plasma dosimetry. (Obj 2) Test and validate models and apps using existing and new (from collaborating stations) data. (Obj 3) Share extension and education resource hub for feedback. Prepare assessment data for publication and refine cross-station courses.

(2030):(Obj 1) Publish multiple collaborative manuscripts on topics including bioactive compound extraction, food processing and characterization, and standardizing methods for cold plasma in foods. (Obj 2) Validate models using experimental data and use apps across multiple stations. (Obj 3) Update resource hub with cross-station course information and publish collaborative manuscripts and magazine articles on development and assessment of student learning in the seminar series.

Projected Participation

View Appendix E: Participation

Outreach Plan

The group is planning various outreach activities that will disseminate project results to a broad group of stakeholders, which include other academic researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, food industry professionals, and consumers. The planned outreach activities include:

• Collaborative research will be published in high-quality peer-reviewed journals. Research will be available open access, when possible, to ensure widespread availability.
• An education/extension resource hub will be developed containing education and outreach materials from the group’s collaborations that will be available online and will be free to the food industry, educators, and the public.
• Apps for quality and safety prediction that speed up product development will be available to the small and medium sized food companies.
• A webinar series on innovations in food engineering education will be developed, “Scholarship in Engineering Education”, and it will be advertised and available to academic researchers around the country.
• Non-scientific articles on current food engineering topics will be published in Food Technology (or other public-facing magazines), including articles on topics such as developing a multi-institutional seminar series, ultraprocessed foods, and innovations in food processing and packaging technologies.
• Short courses for food industry professionals (e.g. Better Process Control School, “Science of Food Safety,” and “Digital Food”) will be co-taught across stations to spread knowledge generated in collaborative research activities to the food industry.

Organization/Governance

The group is organized through an Executive Committee and a Steering Committee. The Executive Committee is comprised of the Past Chair, Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and the Chair of the Steering Committee. The Secretary is elected at the annual meeting each year, then becomes the Vice Chair in the subsequent year, while the Vice Chair becomes the Chair, and the Chair becomes the Past Chair. The Secretary is responsible for updating the email list from NIMSS, sending communications about upcoming meetings to members, taking minutes at the annual meeting, and submitting the annual report through the NIMSS system. The Chair is responsible for preparing the annual meeting schedule and run the meeting. The other members of the Executive Committee support the Secretary and the Chair in these activities through email discussions and video or conference calls.

The Steering Committee consists of five members, one of whom is the Steering Committee Chair. To be eligible to serve on the Steering Committee, members must have: (i) been a Past Chair; (ii) been part of NC1023 for at least 5 years; and (iii) be present at the annual meeting when the election is taking place. The term for a Steering Committee member is two years; two consecutive terms can be served by any given member. After the term limit, the member must wait at least one year prior to being re-elected to the Steering Committee. At each annual meeting, either two or three Steering Committee members will be elected by the group. Prior to the Steering Committee election, the Chair will approach each eligible member to confirm their interest or allow them to withdraw their name from consideration for that year. Once the list of eligible members has been compiled, an election will take place by anonymous ballot. Each station will be allowed to vote for two or three candidates (the number of candidates selected depends on the number of open spots on the Steering Committee). The Steering Committee members vote within the committee to determine the Steering Committee Chair. The Steering Committee works to promote interactions with industry and other stakeholders, to keep a record of successful collaborative efforts, and to maintain focus of the group on trends and areas of high profile, national research need. The Steering Committee also works to hold ad hoc committees accountable for the goals set during the annual meeting.

An in-person annual meeting is held annually, typically in October of each year. The meeting site is at or near a member station and is hosted by the representative of that station. The meeting site for each subsequent meeting is discussed by all members during the annual meeting. The Chair works with the meeting host and the Executive Committee to develop the annual meeting agenda. The annual meeting agenda includes technical station reports from each represented station, discussion of current collaborations and areas where members are seeking potential collaborations, as well as updates and meetings of the ad hoc technical committees.

The success of NC1023 over the past several decades has been due to the strong collaborations formed between the members, allowing the group to tackle challenges that are not easily resolved by a single research group. Part of these collaborations are formed through the ad hoc committees. Ad hoc committees are formed around technical areas of imminent research need. Each year, the ad hoc committees are reviewed by the members during the annual meeting to determine if new ad hoc committees are needed based on current research problems and interest across stations, or if inactive committees should be dissolved. Any interested members can join an ad hoc committee; these committees meet at the annual meeting to discuss possibilities for collaboration on specific research topics of interest. Ad hoc committees are encouraged to meet during the year via video call to continue collaborative efforts on important research topics.

Literature Cited

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

AR, CA, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, WA, WI

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions