Taste and Technology

These topics were tackled by a new international course entitled "Food Technology" held by MASHAV and the Division for External Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot. The two month course drew 27 participants from 21 countries including both academics and people working in the food industry.

"The curriculum discusses both high-tech and low-tech aspects of food technology," explains Miri Ben Haim, director for External Studies at the Faculty of Agriculture, "from cloning and quality management through to packaging and sensory evaluation. Sophisticated genetic engineering and cloning techniques are not much use if crops are not stored or packaged properly so that they get spoiled before they reach the consumer."

Dr. Eli Cohen, academic coordinator of the course, adds that the curriculum was built in a very flexible way. "We want input from the participants as to what is most relevant for them," he says. "Many of the participants wanted a greater stress on dairy so we altered the agenda. And there were many requests for greater emphasis on fresh rather than frozen vegetables."

With over 2,000 students including 650 postgraduates, the Faculty is renowned worldwide for its leading edge research. Some 350 research projects are currently underway, many of them in conjunction with universities around the world.

The aim of the Food Technology curriculum, compiled by the Faculty's Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, was to train participants in the basic principles of food technology and their implementation in the food industry. The course takes a multidisciplinary approach: The Faculty is famous for its multidisciplinary research and teaching methods which integrate recent advances in both science and manufacturing.

Among the course participants was Christina Font, Assistant Chief of the Food Technology Laboratory at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. She was also until recently working in industry developing new products based on pre-cut vegetables such as peas and beans.

"I have been especially interested in new packaging techniques that have been developed here in Israel," explains Ms. Font. "New plastics and films that can keep products fresher for longer. As well as the aspects of the course that touch on packaging I am also making useful personal contacts with researchers in this area."

Ms. Font admits that most of Guatemala's population cannot afford the more upmarket pre-packed products she has been developing, nevertheless, she stresses that most of the country's population does have ample food, especially fresh fruit and vegetables.

Mark Sutherland, Lecturer in Microbiology and Biochemistry at Fort Hare University, South Africa, hopes to commence his own course in Food Technology based on much of the material he has been receiving in Israel.

"The course is comprehensive and would be very relevant for many of my students," he observes, "as most relevant job opportunities are in the food industry." Mr. Sutherland was especially interested in the subject of genetic engineering and speculated that food technology was getting close to being able to provide a protein pill as a supplementary food source.

Dr. Hanna Peleg of the Hebrew University who lectured on food sensory evaluation part of the course felt that in a competitive food industrial market protein pills would not sell very well. "The bottom line is that people will buy food that appeals to their senses," she explains. "It not only has to taste good, but look good, smell good, and also feel good and sound good. Deficiencies in any of these areas can turn somebody off. But objectively evaluating what appeals to the senses is problematic because so much is influenced by the different preferences and taboos of each culture."

But Mr. Sutherland, nevertheless, feels that the protein pill and other unappealing genetic engineering developments will be an important step in satisfying an increasingly hungry world. "In the townships of South Africa food is sometimes scarce," he explains, "especially with unemployment so high. Any new source of nutritional food is therefore welcome."

While in Israel Mr. Sutherland was also interested in investigating the most nutritional and practical crops that could be grown by township dwellers. "Many impoverished homeowners in the townships have small plots of land laying idle," he says. "We need to start schemes where they could be growing their own vegetables."

Like Mr. Sutherland, the potential of genetic engineering also interested

Dr. Pavel Dostalek, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Chemical Technology in the Czech Republic. His research interests in the relatively affluent former Soviet satellite were particularly European: malting and brewing beer.

There was not too much that Israel could teach him about beer but he was able to glean information by making contact with professors in Rehovot who had conducted unique studies into his other research interests in the biosorption and bioaccumulation of heavy metals, and the treatment of waste water by biosorption.

"But the most important lesson I have learned in Israel is how effective research and academia can be," he stresses, "when working in close cooperation with farmers and industrialists."

All the course participants were impressed by the constant close contacts between the scientists and teachers at the Hebrew University and the farmers in the field, whether private smallholdings or members of the kibbutz collectives and moshav agricultural cooperatives.

"And the professors here," observes Dr. Dostalek, "think nothing of putting on muddy boots and old clothes and dirtying their own hands in their own experimental fields and greenhouses."

Dr. Daphne Furtado, Head of the Biochemistry Department at Sophia College in Bombay, India, envied the close interest and generous sponsorship that Israeli industry had with the Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot.

"Indian industry has a lot of potential funds available for research," she explains, "but the industrialists need a lot of convincing. There is room for much more interaction between industry and academia."

Dr. Furtado, the unusual combination of a Catholic nun and university lecturer, coordinates a post-graduate course in quality assurance in the food industry. The lecturers for this course are all from industry, so it is the beginning of collaboration.

"Actually, the Indian food industry has a long way to go in obtaining consumer acceptance," she says. "Most Indians still prefer to do all their cooking at home or have a family meal out, if they can afford it.Normally we would not buy frozen foods when we can easily get fresh produce."

She observes that increasingly major multi-national companies are moving into India, especially the soft drinks conglomerates, and her college aims at supplying these companies with first rate potential executives. Employment opportunities are another means of collaboration between industry and academia.

Dr. Furtado particularly enjoyed the sensory evaluation section of the course and felt that this and other aspects of what she learned in Rehovot can be incorporated into her teaching.

Naveena Shakya, from the Central Food Research Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture in Kathmandu, Nepal, was most interested in quality and hygiene assurance for milk and dairy products as well as other food products, as practiced in Israel, for this is one of the most important functions of her laboratory.

"Israel's milk and dairy industry is impressively efficient with high yields and quality," she observes. "In Nepal we have ample amounts of food but malnutrition is still prevalent in some of the rural areas. In part this is through lack of awareness and education as to the right foods to eat. Illiteracy is still a problem in Nepal. So we need bigger yields without compromising the quality of our produce."

Those course participants who want to integrate aspects of the course into their own teaching, or help establish similar courses in their own countries, will be helped by the latest multimedia techniques. Dr. Sigal Bitzur, Multimedia Director of International Courses at the Division for External Studies in Rehovot, explains that this is the first MASHAV course that will be made available on CD (computer disc) Rom.

Both the course itself and the CD Rom cover the following topics: Food Technology; Food Industry and Packaging; Selected Topics in Food Engineering; Food Quality TQM SPC ISO 9000; Food Microbiology; Bioengineering; New Product Development; Plant Design; Sensory Evaluation; Recent Trends in Nutrition ; Effects of Processing on Nutritional Values; Food Marketing; Functional Foods and Biotechnology; Institutional Feeding; and Seed Storage.

"The CD Rom is designed for lecturers and professionals wanting to offer the course to students and professionals," explains Dr. Bitzur, "and this will help the course and other MASHAV courses reach a much wider audience."