Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The annual meeting was held online over Zoom due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting started at 1 pm (Eastern) with the introductions and overview of the meeting agenda by Dr. Rohan Tikekar (Maryland). Welcome remarks, overview of the project’s objectives and the project’s progress were given by Dr. David Jackson. Dr. Hongda Chen (USDA NIFA) provided the USDA NIFA update. New members Dr. Juzhong Tan (Florida), Dr. Mohammed Kamruzzaman (Illinois), Dr. Ali Ubeyitogullari (Arkansas), Dr. Deepti Salvi (North Carolina), and Dr. Yuzhen Lu (Mississippi) were introduced, and each new member were given 6 minutes to present their research program and the areas of collaborations they are seeking. New member presentations were followed by Q&A. Dr. Gail Bornhorst (California) presented the NC1023 governance plan. Election for the Secretary and two Steering Committee member positions were voted. Dr. Nitin Nitin (California) was elected as new secretary. Dr. Gail Bornhorst and Dr. VM Balasubramaniam (Ohio) were selected as new steering committee members. Reports on collaborative projects were presented by a representative using 5-minute PowerPoint presentations followed by Q&A. Dr. Sudhir Sastry (Ohio) shared the updates on the Conference of Food Engineering (CoFE) that will be held on September 18-21, 2022 at Raleigh, North Carolina. Dr. Hongda Chen gave a summary of the USDA NIFA programs relevant to the NC1023 group and gave feedback to the participants on the research direction. The meeting concluded at 4 pm (Eastern). Detailed minutes are available upon request.

The project has four objectives. Individual stations have continued to work on each of the four objectives and detailed accomplishments of individual stations are available upon request. In this report, we showcase collaborative accomplishments in each of the objectives.

1. Characterize multi-scale physical, chemical and biological properties of food, biological and engineered materials

• Oregon, Nebraska, Michigan, Mississippi, Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, and Washington stations collaborated on extraction of grape pomace. The team investigated the effect of different extraction methods on the quality of grape pomace extracts. This is the first systematic comprehensive research on the effect of physical treatments on assisted extraction of bioactive compounds from a natural product.

• New York and Ohio stations collaborated on microfluidics and physics-based approaches to elucidate physical mechanisms of fresh produce microbial contamination.

• Nebraska and Michigan stations collaborated on extraction of quinoa lipids using supercritical carbon dioxide and characterized the quinoa lipids in comparison with conventional solvent extraction method. 

2. Develop new and sustainable technologies to transform raw materials into safe, high quality, health enhanced and value-added foods through processing, packaging and preservation

• Bradley Marks (PD, Michigan) in collaboration with Co-PDs Felicia Wu, Sang Jeoung, Elliot Ryser (Michigan), Linda Harris (California), Betty Feng (Indiana), Rob Scharff (Ohio), Juming Tang, Meijun Zhu (Washington), Jeyam Subbiah, Greg Thoma, Marty Matlock (Arkansas), Lindsey McGowen (North Carolina), Elizabeth Grasso-Kelley (Illinois Institute of Technology), and FDA worked on sustainable, systems-based solutions for ensuring low-moisture food safety to accelerate the adoption of a sustainable food safety culture in commodity-based low-moisture food systems via an integrated, transdisciplinary, systems-based approach, with interconnected and parallel research, extension, and education activities.

• Rakesh Singh (Georgia) collaborated with Texas station to investigate the impact of continuous flow high pressure processing on nutritional and sensory qualities of fruit juices to enhance the quality and stability while maintaining natural sensory attributes of grapefruit, watermelon, cantaloupe, and blueberry juices compared to standard HTST processing.

3. Develop mathematical models to understand, predict and optimize for safe and improved quality of foods, and to enhance consumer health

• Pawan Takhar (Illinois) and Juming Tang (Washington) collaborated on a project on multiscale mathematical modeling-based design of the next generation of microwave-assisted frying technology.

4. Disseminate knowledge developed through research and novel pedagogical methods to enhance student and other stakeholder learning and practice

• Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Virginia, Washington, and Idaho stations collaborated on enhancing learning outcomes in food engineering and processing courses for non-engineers using student-centered approaches.

• Maine, Iowa, Idaho, Virginia, Kentucky, and Washington stations have been collaborating on an education project on enhancing learning outcomes in food engineering and processing courses for non-engineers using student-centered approaches. This project is aimed at increasing student mastery and engagement with food engineering and processing concepts using innovative instructional strategies applicable to nationwide food engineering and processing courses.

• Rohan Tikekar (Maryland), Dr. Gail Bornhorst (California), and Dr. Ozan Ciftci (Nebraska) started a new NC1023 Multistate Project Initiative: An online, multi-institutional graduate course in collaboration with other stations. This new initiative is attempting to break the Covid-19 pandemic-related barriers and provide opportunities for students to interact with researchers from across the county through a new, online multi-institutional course. The multi-institutional course brings a diverse group of speakers and topics together to expand research horizons of graduate students and improve their engagement. This multi-institutional course provides a broad perspective of innovation as applied to food engineering. The course constituted weekly presentations from 12 speakers from different institutions (University of California-Davis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Illinois-Urbana, Champaign, Michigan State University, Iowa State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University, Oregon State University, The Ohio State University, New Mexico State University, and VirginiaTech) on topics in three thematic areas: By-Product Utilization, Engineering for Health, and Engineering and Processing for Sustainable Systems. The 12 universities concurrently offered the course in the spring semester/quarter of 2021 with >100 students enrolled, and new institutions will join each year. The average number of attendees was 139 per week. Following the live, online presentations each week, a moderated Q&A session was hosted. In the last 15 minutes of the session, attendees joined break-out rooms for networking with other participants from different universities. The presentations were recorded and were available to all students enrolled in the course. The recorded videos were viewed for >527 hours during the course from students across the country. The online platform has given unique opportunities for students to meet their peers and faculty from across the county, created a peer network of researchers and mentors to learn from their experiences and build a sense of community. The online platform removed geographical and capacity limitations to learning, as several students joined from abroad.

A complete list of research publications from NC1023 members is available upon request. Here, we highlight publications that resulted from collaborative activities between members in different stations.

1. Pyatkovskyy T., Ranjbaran M., Datta A.K., Sastry S.K. (2021). Factors affecting contamination and infiltration of Escherichia coli K12 into spinach leaves during vacuum cooling. Journal of Food Engineering, 311, 110735.
2. McLamore E.S., Alocilja E., Gomes C., Gunasekaran S., Jenkins D., Datta S.P.A., Li Y., Mao Y.J., Nugen S.R., Reyes-De-Corcuera J.I., Takhistov P., Tsyusko O., Cochran J.P., Tzeng T.-R.J., Yoon J.-Y., Yu C., Zhou A. (2021). FEAST of biosensors: Food, environmental and agricultural sensing technologies (FEAST) in North America. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 17815, 113011.
3. de Oliveira E.F., Yang X., Basnayake N., Huu C.N., Wang L., Tikekar R., Nitin N. (2021). Screening of antimicrobial synergism between phenolic acids derivatives and UV-A light radiation. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 214, 112081.
4. Walsh M.P., Tikekar R.V., Nitin N., Wrenn S. (2021). Phospholipid bilayer responses to ultrasound-induced microbubble cavitation phenomena. Journal of Food Engineering, 294, 110410
5. Chen L., Jung J., Chaves B.D., Jones D., Negahban M., Zhao Y., Subbiah J. (2021). Challenges of dry hazelnut shell surface for radio frequency pasteurization of inshell hazelnuts. Food Control, 125, 107948.
6. Nguyen Huu C., Rai R., Yang X., Tikekar R.V., Nitin N. (2021). Synergistic inactivation of bacteria based on a combination of low frequency, low-intensity ultrasound and a food grade antioxidant. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 74, 105567.
7. Wang W., Tang J., Zhao Y. (2021). Investigation of hot-air assisted continuous radio frequency drying for improving drying efficiency and reducing shell cracks of inshell hazelnuts: The relationship between cracking level and nut quality. Food and Bioproducts Processing, 125, 46 – 56.
8. Hemker A.K., Nguyen L.T., Nguyen L.T., Karwe M., Salvi D. (2020). Effects of pressure-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis on functional and bioactive properties of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) by-product protein hydrolysates. LWT, 122,
9. Primacella M., Acevedo N.C., Wang T. (2020). Effect of freezing and food additives on the rheological properties of egg yolk. Food Hydrocolloids, 98, 105241.
10. Chen J., Lau S.K., Boreddy S.R., Subbiah J. (2020). Modeling of radio frequency heating of egg white powder continuously moving on a conveyor belt. Journal of Food Engineering, 262, 109-120.
11. Zhang H., Wang S., Goon K., Gilbert A., Nguyen Huu C., Walsh M., Nitin N., Wrenn S., Tikekar R.V. (2020). Inactivation of foodborne pathogens based on synergistic effects of ultrasound and natural compounds during fresh produce washing. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 64, 104983.
12. Ruan R., Gomes C.L., Kaletunc G. (2020). 2018 Conference of Food Engineering Special Issue. Journal of Food Process Engineering, 43, e13412.
13. Kumar P.K., Joyner H.S., Tang J., Rasco B.A., Sablani S.S. (2020). Kinetics of Starch Retrogradation in Rice (Oryza sativa) Subjected to State/Phase Transitions. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 13, 1491 – 1504.
14. Wang W., Wang W., Wang Y., Yang R., Tang J., Zhao Y. (2020). Hot-air assisted continuous radio frequency heating for improving drying efficiency and retaining quality of inshell hazelnuts (Corylus avellana cv. Barcelona). Journal of Food Engineering, 279, 109956.
15. Wang W., Wang W., Jung J., Yang R., Tang J., Zhao Y. (2020). Investigation of hot-air assisted radio frequency (HARF) dielectric heating for improving drying efficiency and ensuring quality of dried hazelnuts (Corylus avellana). Food and Bioproducts Processing, 120, 179 – 190.
16. Xu J., Song J., Tan J., Villa-Rojas R., Tang J. (2020). Dry-inoculation methods for low-moisture foods. Trends in Food Science and Technology, 103, 68 – 77.
17. Tan J., Joyner H.S. (2020). Characterizing wear behaviors of edible hydrogels by kernel-based statistical modeling. Journal of Food Engineering, 275, 109850.
18. Cassar J.R., Ouyang B., Krishnamurthy K., Demirci A. (2020). Microbial Decontamination of Food by Light-Based Technologies: Ultraviolet (UV) Light, Pulsed UV Light (PUV), and UV Light-Emitting Diodes (UV-LED). Food Engineering Series, 493 – 521.
19. Primacella M., Acevedo N, Wang T. (2020). Effect of freezing and food additives on the rheological properties of egg yolk. Food Hydrocolloids, 98, 105241.
20. Vidyarthi S.K., Mishra D.K., Dolan K.D., Muramatsu Y. (2020). Inverse estimation of fluid-to-particle heat transfer coefficient in aseptic processing of particulate foods. Biosystems Engineering, 198, 210 – 222.