Duration: 10/01/2005 to 09/30/2010

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

Statement of Issues and Justification

ISSUES


The US food processing industry must respond to the consumer demand for safer foods of higher sensory quality that fulfill their nutritional needs and expectations. To address the increased demands for these products, the industry must redefine technology to assure food wholesomeness. Thus, new and existing process technologies must rise to the challenge and play a pivotal role in the improvement of the quality of value-added agricultural and food production. The development of such processes requires even more knowledge of food properties, the response of the quality attributes in foods to thermal and non-thermal processes, models defining heat, mass, and momentum transfer, process control via sensor development, and systems that ensure food safety. Industries cannot respond to these demands as there still are engineering problems that have to be overcome, but cannot without the proper research. The expertise to develop this knowledge is best achieved through different research institutions with a high level of commitment and dedication as well as a desire for creative cooperation among participants. The probability of success is greatly enhanced by the collaborative sharing of expertise among member engineers, food scientists, and other experts in Multistate Project NC-136 (NC_TEMP1901).

JUSTIFICATION


The strong collaborative nature of the NC-136 Committee has been central to its success. Its collaborative structure enables the stations to share knowledge and research facilities to achieve their objectives in an efficient manner (see Organizatiuon and Governance for specifics).

In the U.S and around the world, changes in economic, social, and demographic conditions have created an increased desire for new food products with much higher sensory quality, new packaging, more convenience, new delivery systems, and safer and more nutritious foods. The greatest challenge to the food industry is to change fast enough to keep pace with new technology advances and new consumer trends. The impact of organic foods and dietary supplements on consumers' choices of products cannot be ignored. Since many food products are basically differentiated by sensory attributes, health promotion by major changes in dietary patterns may become a feasible component of product development and marketing. The need to improve quality and retain nutritional value has resulted in a number of alternative thermal and non-thermal preservation technologies. These technologies are currently being investigated with the aim of producing high-value end products. However, while these developments are encouraging, there is still a lot to be learned. New and exciting trends in science, including molecular biology, nanotechnology, and nutragenomics, are changing the way in which engineers and scientists address issues such as process efficiency, product safety and quality. As demand for new food products containing nutraceuticals and/or new functionality are increasing, reliable means to characterize the effectiveness of these ingredients as well as their interactions with other base ingredients are urgently needed. Optical and biosensing techniques for real-time evaluation of food systems during processing and storage should be investigated. The objectives of NC-136 take on special relevance in light of these new products, technologies and challenges.

The NC-136 Committee, which initially focused on thermal processes, has expanded its focus during the current 5-year cycle by including the study of non-thermal technologies. During the next 5-year cycle, research into traditional processes (e.g., freezing, canning) will continue, but the emphasis will shift to new processing technologies. A whole new body of knowledge will be developed by integration of engineering principles with molecular biology, biochemistry and microbiology in addition to continued reliance on advances in physics and chemistry. The need for biophysical properties, understanding of transport processes in biological systems and scale-up from the molecular scale to commercial applications will remain essential. Modeling is playing increasing roles in industrial research and development as well as efforts by academia to understand food systems during processing and distribution. Relevant information related to microbial death kinetics for alternative processes is being collected and evaluated. However, an understanding of the interaction of microorganisms with each other, and the environment under processing and storage conditions, is still needed. Research into solutions that combine non-thermal food processing technologies, biological preservatives (e.g., bacteriocins), and enhanced packaging technologies must continue. Sensor systems are also needed in real time applications for process control and endpoint prediction. Systems that can provide real-time detection of food-borne pathogens will be investigated. Thus, we propose an expanded scope for our project.

The capabilities offered by the multicollaborative aspect of the NC-136 project provide a unique opportunity to partner aspects of these research areas for identification, characterization, development and improvement of modified and novel products which will positively impact human nutrition and health. Expected impacts of the collaborative efforts are an understanding of the effects of non-thermal food processing methods on stability and safety of foods; an insight to the functionalities of food molecules to allow for dramatic improvements in food quality; advances in the modeling of complex phenomena in foods; lower-temperature processing technologies (e.g., high pressure, irradiation) to help retain the sensory qualities and biological activity of foods. The productivity record for NC-136 during this 5-year cycle (Table C1, Attachment C) demonstrates the Committee's ability to achieve its objectives. The level of funding through the USDA and other competitive grants (Appendix A) shows a considerable leveraging effect, and is indicative of the relevance and quality of the science advances by this group. The NC-136 plays an important role in keeping US processors at the forefront of a global industry. This is demonstrated by the number of grants from industry. Agricultural producers and consumers benefit in turn from a competitive, innovative domestic food processing industry. Rapid, substantive progress will be best achieved through the continued sharing of resources and unique capabilities that can be brought to bear through NC-136 (Appendix B).

Related, Current and Previous Work

A search of the CRIS (US) and ICAR (Canada) databases identified over 89 current or recent projects that relate to the objectives of NC-136 (Appendix C). One or more members of NC-136 serve as principal investigators on the majority of the US projects. The Critical Review (Attachment C) identifies key research fronts under the respective objectives and the progress achieved on these fronts in the past five years. This section also describes the impacts of this research and identifies the critical needs that should be addressed in the next five years to respond to the opportunities and challenges presented in the justification statement. The needs identified in Attachment C will be addressed by NC-136. NC-136 does not duplicate any other Multistate Research project and is currently the only such project that integrates food sciences and engineering. The research proposed by NC-136 is diverse with respect to processes and commodities. It is diverse, because of the complex nature of foods and processing technologies. This requires characterization of relevant physical-chemical properties of the food under investigation. Processes and process models must accordingly be adapted. Methods of measuring food engineering properties are continually evolving and must be standardized. Biosensing techniques are becoming increasingly important and should be pursued. Process technology and consumer preferences likewise continually evolve and present new opportunities to produce products with improved nutritional and sensory characteristics at a price that consumers will pay.

Objectives

1. To develop and verify methods for characterization, measurement and prediction of engineering and biochemical properties of foods as needed in process design and analysis, and product development.
   
2. To measure and model process dependent kinetic parameters which affect food quality and safety attributes.
   
3. To identify and characterize transport mechanisms occurring in food processes.
   
4. To develop mathematical models for simulation, prediction, design, and improvement of food processes.
   

Methods

OBJECTIVE A: To develop and verify methods for characterization, measurement and prediction of engineering and biochemical properties of foods as needed in process design and analysis, and product development. PROCEDURES: When food materials are processed, whether by thermal or non-thermal means, their engineering and biochemical properties must be known for proper process design, analysis and product development. These properties are needed to control operations to ensure safety and product quality while keeping food affordable to US and international consumers. Without accurate measures (and methods for measuring), models of food processes of importance for controlling food safety and quality would be of limited value. This objective, typically one of the more important tasks of NC-136, has input and collaboration from numerous stations. It is the combined expertise and efforts of these stations that will allow continued progress on this objective. 1. Rheological a. Both food composition and processing conditions affect the development of microstructural elements (air cells, crystals, emulsion droplets) in foods, determining their final properties. At the NC station, cooling rates were found to determine the structural aspects of proteins in processed cheese, also related to rheological properties and texture. Collaboration among NC, OR, SD and WI stations is being developed. This continues to be an important area of study for at least 12 stations. Different microscopy methods (scanning and transmission electron microscopy, light microscopy) as well as spectroscopy techniques will be used to characterize these effects. Ad hoc committees will work on new areas, including particle size measurements. b. Understanding the effect of alternative process technologies, such as irradiation and high pressure processing, on the textural and mechanical properties of foods and packaging materials is needed. Several stations just began efforts on irradiation (IA, IL, TX) and high-pressure treatments (IA, OH, WA, OR). 2. Thermal and thermodynamic a. Thermal and thermodynamic properties of foods are needed for understanding and controlling changes that occur during heating/cooling processes. The impact of these changes on food safety and quality must be determined. b. The effects of food composition and microstructural elements on thermal properties are being investigated at several stations (IN, OH, NC, WI). Recent work has focused on the use of DSC to characterize microbial destruction or degradation of microbial toxins (OH, WI) with input from FDA. This is an area of continued development for the DSC ad hoc committee (seven NC-136 stations). c. The effect of pressure on thermal properties needs characterization, particularly for high pressure processing for microbial destruction (IA, OH, OR, VA, WA stations) ad hoc committee. New opportunities for collaboration exist with NASA. 3. Mass transfer a. Rates of migration of various compounds through food structures, edible films and packaging materials during manufacture and storage are important to product safety, quality and stability. For example, the diffusivities of flavor (taste and aroma) compounds are critical to maintaining product quality. Stations working in this area are CA, IA, IN, NC, NY-G, OH, OR, TX, VA, WA and WI. b. Flow driven by pressure gradient is important in microwave and other rapid heating processes such as frying and grilling. In microwave heating, for example, rapid internal evaporation generates pressures inside the food. Permeability data describes such pressure driven flow and is critical to controlling food safety and quality. Efforts in this area will be continued by several stations (IA, IN, MI, NY-G, OH, WA). MI and NY-I station will collaborate on measurement of liquid water and liquid fat permeability through food tissues. c. The microstructural elements of a food can have substantial impact on the mass transfer properties. For example, water migration into or out of a food depends on the structure of the food constituents. Studies will continue at several (IN, OH, WI) stations. This is a developing area, with potential for ad hoc collaborative efforts that can lead to rational texture design for health and food safety. 4. Electrical a. The electrical properties (i.e., dielectric constant, dielectric loss factor) are important for controlling the microwave heating of foods and for developing new processes such as ohmic heating. Changes in the dielectric constant during processing (i.e., protein denaturation, starch gelatinization) are of particular interest. Continued work is needed in this area to quantify these properties and their changes under a wide range of conditions (i.e., frozen foods during thawing, high-temperature sterilization). Stations involved include IA, IN, OH, PA, NY-I, WA. b. The effects of food composition and microstructural elements on electrical properties of foods will be investigated (IA, IN, OH, NE, PA, WA stations) to better control ohmic heating and pulsed electric field technologies. 5. Optical a. Color is an important indicator of food quality and must be measured quantitatively for automation in quality evaluation and process optimization. Research efforts will be initiated among the FL, IA, IN, NC and ND stations. Computer vision and visible/near-infrared spectroscopy will be used to predict food color and other quality factors at NE. b. Measurement of light backscatter and light extinction and estimation of a specific light extinction coefficient following Beer's Law will be pursued by the KY station. This information is important for process monitoring applications. Stress-responsive bioluminescent sensing cells capable of detecting and differentiating the existence of functional ingredients will be studied at the MD station. High sensitivity measurements based on the optical activity of specific food components are being used by the OR station to control processes and improve product quality. 6. Volatiles a. The aroma of foods is an important aspect of product quality, but aroma can also be used as an indicator of food spoilage. The flavor aspects of foods will be characterized by several stations, including IA, ND, OR and VA. OBJECTIVE B: To measure and model process dependent kinetic parameters which affect food quality and safety attributes PROCEDURES: During processing, food undergoes chemical, biochemical, physical and microbiological changes which can result in poor product quality and food safety risks. An understanding of these changes and the quantification of their kinetics as foods are manufactured and progress through storage and distribution systems is necessary to control quality and safety. Many of these changes in food systems under conventional process operations are still not completely characterized and new processing technologies are evolving rapidly, raising the importance for measuring and modeling these process-dependent kinetic parameters. 1. Physical processes a. Kinetics of polymer crystallization in food systems is still important (MI, ND and WI stations). Crystallization leads to changes in structural and rheological properties in many foods. The relationship between glass transition and crystallization will be studied at the OH and WI stations. Kinetics of sugar crystallization will be studied at ND and WI stations. In addition, phase change in food systems will be studied by CA station. b. Kinetic properties affecting gelatinization/retrogradation are important to improve processes related to starchy foods. This problem will be studied at IA, MO, NE, OH, NJ, TX and WA stations. c. Quality kinetic parameters in deep-fat fried foods and work related to acrylamide formation, fat up-take and consumer obesity continue to be issues of concern. This issue will continue being studied at VA, TX, and NC stations. d. Quality changes in foods undergoing aseptic processing will be studied at OH, NC, ND, IA and NJ stations. The immediate focus at ND station will be on soymilk in collaboration with IA. The quality changes in a combination of non-thermal/thermal processes will be carried out at OH station. New opportunities for collaboration will be pursued with NASA. e. Ensuring the safety of food products using irradiation technology while maintaining their quality is a challenge. This issue will be addressed by the IA, IL and TX stations. The immediate focus of the TX station is to optimize radiation treatment of complex-shaped foods to minimize changes in quality attributes. 2. Chemical reactions a. Kinetics of flavor changes will be studied at the CA, IA, NC, NY-G and TX stations. The effects of processing parameters on reactions of nutraceuticals in foods will be studied at NY-G. Experiments will be conducted at NC station to identify the compounds responsible for the dark sour aromatic flavor in peanuts processed using microwave energy. The effect on "fresh" and off-flavor flavor compounds of combined thermal and HPP processes is being investigated by the OR station. The effects of irradiation processing on fruit volatiles will be studied by the TX station. New opportunities for collaboration will be pursued with NASA. b. The DE, OR and TX stations will be studying and modeling the kinetics of the Maillard reaction, especially color formation and the influences of buffer components, temperature, pH and reactants. Acrylamide formation under different frying conditions (pressure, vacuum) is also of interest. c. In many stations, work is in progress to increase our understanding of oxidation in food systems with particular reference on the use of antioxidants. In addition, changes in oil quality during frying are still a major issue and a collaborative project is under progress (ND, VA, CA, NC, TX, IA, SD stations). The reaction of lipids with irradiation will be addressed by the TX and IL stations. d. An understanding of the chemical kinetics during extrusion is important to control product quality. These changes will be studied by the IA, MI, MO and NE stations. e. Electrochemical changes in food products undergoing ohmic or pulsed electric field processing will be carried out by OH and WA stations. 3. Microbial kinetics a. Microbial destruction kinetics in thermal processes has been the main focus of this group in the past and will continue to receive attention as needed in the future. Aseptic processes and other processes with HTST/UHT treatments will be studied at CA, FL, OH, and NC. The effect of moisture during heat on destruction kinetics will be studied at the MI station. The effect of temperature and buffer is being studied by the OR station for the inactivation of vegetative cells and bacterial spores. b. The FL station will be working on measurement of growth kinetics related to bioprocess operations applied to anaerobic digestion of organic feed stocks into methane (biogas) and compost. These processes are becoming increasingly important in dealing effectively with food and agricultural waste management, as well as a key element in bio-regenerative life support systems for long duration space missions important to NASA. c. Microbial destruction in non-thermal processes is a relatively new area of study and constitutes a new direction for this committee. The kinetics of these processes will be studied at the IL, VA, OH, OR, NE, TX and WA stations. 4. Enzyme kinetics a. Kinetics of enzyme destruction during processing of foods is important to further processing steps and subsequent storage. This problem will be studied at IL, IA and ND. OBJECTIVE C: To identify and characterize transport mechanisms occurring in food processes. PROCEDURES: Transport of mass, momentum, and heat are influenced by thermophysical properties such as density, viscosity, mass diffusivity, thermal conductivity, as determined in Objective A. This in turn affects the reaction kinetics and ensuing physical, chemical, and biological changes, as determined by Objective B. Thus, the knowledge obtained from Objectives A and B are very important to predict, control, and evaluate quality and safety of food products during processing and storage. 1. Heat Transfer a. Air impingement has only recently been considered for food applications (baking, drying, freezing) where multiple jets of the air are forced perpendicular to the surface of a product. Heat transfer coefficients are much higher than for conventional methods. A review of published research and industrial applications makes it clear that while impingement technology has great promise, more research in this area will improve design and energy efficiency to ensure that benefits of this technology are realized. Collaborations on impingement-related research include stations in CA, MI, NJ and NY-I. b. Heat transfer coefficients during aseptic processing (ND and IA stations) and extrusion processing (NJ and SD stations) are important to evaluate and optimize the performance of processing equipment. c. Heat transfer during immersion frying (boiling phase) will be studied at NC. Areas of study include water, oil, and vapor transport, and continued quantification of heat flux. 2. Electromagnetic Energy a. Exposure of foodstuff to ionizing radiation initiates a complex series of physical, chemical, and biological changes that may result in changes in microorganism endurance and/or quality deterioration. Mechanistic models are needed to improve our understanding of, and the ability to predict and mitigate pathogen survival to irradiation. These efforts will be studied at the TX station. Other stations studying irradiation related issues are IA, IL, IN, NASA, and ND. Interaction of electric field with microbes organization/assembly/flocculation is being studied at NJ. 2. Mass Transfer a. Modification of structural components during high pressure processing treatment and its consequence on extractability of components from soy and corn will be studied at IA. The shredability of natural cheeses is being studied by the OR station. Research with starch, soy proteins, isoflavones, soybean oil, soyfoods, and antioxidants will be carried out with collaborations between IA and ND. Other stations involved in high pressure processing are MI, NJ OH, and OR. b. Understanding, measurement, and prediction of mass transfer during hybrid jet impingement microwave baking and drying is key to predict product properties and shelf life. Moisture transfer in hybrid ovens is being studied at NJ and NY-I. Collaborative work on vacuum frying will be conducted by TX and DE stations. c. Understanding mass transfer mechanisms that affect the quality of composite foods during shelf life is being done at CA, PA, and ID. New opportunities for collaboration with NASA exist. d. Several stations (IL, NASA, NJ, OR and TX) have begun studies to understand gas transport mechanisms in food packaging (as oxygen transmission through irradiated packages and water vapor permeability in novel bio-based food packaging) e. Successful retorting of shelf-stable foods in semi-rigid trays requires sealing with minimum non-condensable gas before entering the retort. The FL station will address this problem by developing new methods for sealing retortable trays for such products. 3. Momentum Transfer a. Although progress has been made in previous years, understanding, measurement, and prediction of flow as affected by multiple jets, nozzle design, product shape and orientation need to be investigated further. Work in this area will continue at CA, NJ, and NY-I. b. The study of residence time distribution of solid-liquid mixtures has gained renewed interest due to a number of new technologies and process equipment for which residence time needs to be characterized. Studies are ongoing at the OH and NC stations. OBJECTIVE D: To develop mathematical models for simulation, prediction, design and improvement of food processes. PROCEDURES: Mathematical models made possible with results of the previous objectives can be used to predict process outcomes in response to changes in process conditions. Strategies such as feed forward, adaptive, and artificial intelligence-based control are only possible with the availability of advanced mathematical models that accurately simulate food processes. There is need to share the appropriateness and accuracies of these models in describing various food processes. The FL station will join an existing modeling subcommittee (CA, NC, NY-I, MI, OH, TX) in continuing working toward finding ways to disseminate awareness, description and access by the scientific community for utilization of the many models already developed by the various collaborating member stations of NC-136. 1. Thermal Processes a. Combining microwave with jet impingement and/or infrared heating has great potential in providing the desirable qualities such as crispiness and surface color produced by conventional heating. Models for combination microwave-jet impingement baking and cooking are being developed in NJ and NY-I stations. Collaboration will be in the areas of model development and validation, particularly in microwave heating and moisture transport (e.g., development of crust/crumb) aspects. The CA and NJ stations will be working together to validate flow and heat transfer models in jet impingement heating using a unique experimental setup (PIV system for measuring air flow around different shaped objects) at CA station. The CA and NY-I stations will be looking at modeling jet-impingement thawing to reduce thawing time considerably. These stations plan to exchange students for short term to complement modeling studies and their experimental validation. b. Food companies are quite interested in improving quality factors for fried foods such as texture. Reducing the fat content is critical to health as obesity has become a nationwide health challenge. Mathematical models are needed to understand the relationship between frying oil temperature, processing conditions (such as vacuum frying) and other factors on oil pickup and overall quality (TX, VA). c. Models for continuous flow processing will be modified and refined by the OH, VA, NC and CA stations. Work in NC will include modeling of continuous microwave processing for pasteurization/sterilization and will build on models developed in other stations. d. The FL station will attempt to develop models capable of predicting internal pressures to be expected in response to various filling and sealing conditions, strength of package material, and retorting conditions. Also, the NJ, NC, OH and VA stations will continue offering retorting capabilities on a contract basis for product and process development activities. e. Models will address the general behavior of biopolymers subjected to the mechanical, thermal, and chemical processes inherent in the extrusion process; and the interaction of the biopolymers with the size, configuration, and type of extruder with the intent of generalizing the models. The contributing CA, MI, MO, NE, NJ and SD stations will re-establish an ad hoc committee on extrusion and develop a single (combined) report on modeling. f. A new generation of models that includes detailed physics such as liquid and water vapor transport and volume change, and provide fundamental understanding of these complex food processes by relating final quality to process parameters such as baking temperature is necessary. This understanding will help in scale-up of processes that improve quality and in developing novel processes by optimally combining modes of heating (such as microwave baking) (ID, NY-I, CA, IN, NE, WA). g. Radiant heating of food, although widely used, is not fully understood due to many complications. This results in less than optimum performance and limitations in use. The modeling studies will aid in making significant improvements in appliances and equipment that use thermal radiation. Industry is quite interested in developing such processes and is looking to academia for a better understanding of them. Modeling of the radiative heating process is currently underway at NC and NY-I stations. 2. Alternative Processes a. Pressure-Assisted Thermal Processing (PATP) is a promising technology to produce high-quality sterile products. FDA's opinion has been that if temperature is a critical factor in a process, it must be properly accounted for. This needs the development of detailed models for the PATP process that includes thermal as well as compression effects. Collaborative work to develop and validate models of this process will be done by the OH, NJ, OR, VA, FL and WA Stations. Ongoing modeling work at the GA station would be enhanced through collaboration with the WA station in the area of preheating HHP systems for sterilization of low acid foods. Results will be useful in ensuring consistency of microbial inactivation in continuous flow HHP pasteurization of fluids that can provide significant improvements in quality. b. As irradiation becomes more accepted in some areas of food processing, models are desperately needed for improved treatment planning for sterilization purposes. Models are being developed at the TX station for dose calculation methods using Monte-Carlo and CT-scanning methods to obtain 3-D dose maps of complex shaped foods. The IL station will collaborate by providing experimental data (for gamma radiation) that is needed to validate models. c. Pulsed Electric Field processing (PEF) is an emerging electro-technology for food preservation that has been receiving worldwide attention from universities, research institutes, and private food industries. However, process evaluation for safety needs knowledge of the distribution of electric field and temperature distribution at every location within the processing system. Modeling will be performed by the OH, NJ and WA stations since it is not possible to measure electric field distribution at the time scales (microseconds) of the PEF process. In NJ station, a model to develop electric field on the aggregation of microorganisms in food systems is being developed. d. Modeling of ohmic heating is needed to ensure that the slowest heating particle is sterile upon outlet from the hold tube. Modeling of both continuous and batch-mode, will be performed by the OH station. Batch heating models will be used to optimize and design packages for use in long-duration space missions (e.g. Mars missions). If successful, a new method would be available for in-package sterilization for earth-based applications long before its eventual use in a Mars mission. The OH station is actively collaborating and interacting with the CA, FL and IA stations. 3. Modeling of Food Safety and Risk a. Computer modeling techniques can provide a significant boost to food safety by making available predictive tools that could provide safety information for specific products, processing conditions and microorganisms through "what-if" scenarios for unintended contamination and sabotage. MI and NY-I will collaborate in developing non-empirical models of a number of food processes and integrate them with microbiological models. 4. Process Control a. The physical and chemical properties of many foods are dynamically changing during thermal, enzymatic, or other food processes. The development of sensor technologies for measuring the fingerprints of these processes and algorithms for signal analysis of the profiles may lead to estimation of kinetics of other parameters which are correlated to the extent of processing. Chemometric techniques can be used to develop process control strategies. The KY and MD stations will be collaborating in this area.

Measurement of Progress and Results

Outputs

• New and reliable property data on alternative process technologies for use in engineering applications as well as product design.
• Kinetic parameters for physical changes, chemical changes, microbial growth/destruction and enzyme activities for thermal and non-thermal processes.
• Mathematical models of traditional and alternative food processing for design and optimization of current processing technology.
• Process control capabilities.
• Sensors for improved product characterization.

Outcomes or Projected Impacts

• Development of sensor technologies for predicting processing endpoints to increase yields and improve product consistency.
• Improved understanding of the mechanisms controlling the effects of thermal and non-thermal processes on food quality.
• Standardization of methodologies and procedures to characterize kinetics of quality changes during thermal and non-thermal processing.
• Mathematical models to solve specific problems in thermal and non-thermal processing. Process models are critical to safety assurance of thermal and alternative process technologies, and will help produce better quality products for tomorrow's consumer.
• User friendly computer based predictive tools, and easy to understand charts, tables and others that will allow processors to optimize their unit operations, and improve the quality of processed food and bioproducts.

Milestones

(1): develop a sensor technology for on-line process control by 2007 with standard optical measurement techniques established by 2006.

(2): develop a database of accurate and reliable property data (physical, chemical, microbiological, etc.) by 2008 with standard methods of measurement and prediction established by 2007.

(3): develop models for analysis, design, and improvement of new and alternative processing of foods by 2009 with non-existent data on quality of processed foods, microbial growth/death kinetics, and other property data collected by 2008.

(4): optimize model development by 2010 with the main transport mechanisms occurring in new and alternative food processes characterized by 2009.

(5): effectively predict, control, and evaluate quality and safety of food products during processing and storage by 2010 with quantitative predictive tools for quality and microbial food safety and risk developed by 2010.

Projected Participation

View Appendix E: Participation

Outreach Plan

The immediate beneficiaries of this research will be industry, government agencies, and other university scientists, who will have access to findings through peer-reviewed journal articles, abstracts, presentations at scientific meetings and workshops, books, and book chapters. A number of participating stations have extension centers that will facilitate transfer of findings to industry. Summaries of key findings will also be freely accessible through the project web site (http://nc136.foodsci.purdue.edu). Agricultural producers will also benefit by having greater access to global markets via exports of processed products, and in many cases, through vertical integration with processors. Consumers in the US and those in the world purchasing exported foods are the ultimate beneficiary.

Organization/Governance

NC-136 is organized according to the guidelines in the USDA Multistate Research Manual, as found at http://www.wisc.edu/ncra/regionalmanual.doc. Membership includes an administrative advisor (Dr. Daryl Lund), a CSREES representative (Dr. Hongda Chen) and project leaders from 28 cooperating stations, FDA and NASA. Project leaders are listed in Attachment A. A Steering Committee was created at the 2001 Annual meeting with the specific goals to improve revision and rewrite logistics; revise protocols for implementing station reports and other items into project objectives; monitor and promote impacts with industry and producers; archive collaborative efforts; and maintain focus on trends and areas of high profile, national research need. Meetings are held annually, typically in October. The secretary for the coming year is elected at the end of each meeting. The previous secretary moves up to vice-chair and the vice-chair to chair. These three officers, the past chair, and the administrative advisor constitute the executive committee. The dates of the annual meeting (typically two or three days) are determined by the host and the chair after consulting the Committee at the preceding meeting. The chair develops an agenda for the upcoming meeting in consultation with the executive committee and the feedback from the membership. The annual meeting includes technical reports from each represented station, discussion of results and future areas of collaboration, and meetings among smaller ad hoc committees. The location of the meeting for the coming year is determined by vote at the end of each meeting. Meetings are typically held at or near a member station and hosted by the official representative of that station. Minutes are prepared by the secretary and sent to members. An annual report is prepared by the chair, submitted to the administrative advisor, and posted at the NC-136 web site.

The success of this Committee over the years has been due to the strong collaborative nature of the group to resolve issues that are not easily resolved by a single research group. The ad hoc committees are an essential element for solving specific issues that arise. Ad hoc committees are formed when an issue is identified by the Committee. The interested stations develop a specific objective and collaborate to resolve the issue together. When the issue has been resolved and the results reported back to the Committee, the ad hoc committee is dissolved and members move on to work on another issue. This structure allows for individual cooperation between stations, and provides a mechanism for addressing major problems of interest across all the stations. Currently, NC-136 has a number of active ad hoc committees as described in the Procedures, with new ones being planned for future activities. With the new objectives, it is anticipated that additional ad hoc committees will be developed. Collaboration is also fostered on an informal basis at the annual meetings. Members engage in dialog throughout the year via the NC 136 list server.

Literature Cited

See Attachment C for publications related to NC-136 work

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

CA, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, UT, WA, WI

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

Industry Consultant, NASA, Texas Tech University, USDA-ARS/Pennslyvania