News

Recent events: Farewell to our International students

Mon, 28 May 2012 12:33:55 +0100

All of us at FRPERC would like wish our Chinese students, who have just finished a 12 week course with us on the Food Processing and the Cold Chain, a safe journey home and good luck in the future (and keep in touch).
We hope that Vanessa ( Danxiao Chen), Emily (Huifan Liu), Janice (Yuan Yang), Trista (Chunxia Tang) and Young (Yang Yang) (pictured above with our current French student interns Prudence Bourlier, Kévin Potier and Gaëtan Bourlot) have enjoyed their time at Grimsby as much as we have enjoyed having them.

Recent meetings: ISEKI_Food 4

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:14:56 +0100

Christian James has just returned from attending the 1st overall meeting of the ISEKI_Food 4 project in Porto. ISEKI_Food 4 is a network of 89 partners from 27 European countries, including universities and research centres, professional and student associations and partners from the food industry. The main objectives of the ISEKI-Food 4 project are to: (1) innovate the education and training of Food Science and Technology (FS&T) students, by the development of guidelines to update and modernise HE courses and training programmes and tools (including new scientific disciplines and training; (2) implement soft and personal skills) to produce the FS&T professionals of the future.to implement the role of the third level of education (PhD, in particular) in promoting the employability and entrepreneurship of the graduated FS&T and Food professional by proposing (i) training tools to develop appropriate skills and (ii) a virtual environment to favour their networking; (3) create a framework offering lecturing qualification for university teaching staff.
More information on the ISEKI-Food 4 project can be found at www.iseki-food4.eu, and many of the resources produced by this (and earlier projects) are available through the ISEKI-Food Association, including teaching materials and e-learning modules (to which FRPERC have contributed). Reference and teaching materials on food-related subjects aimed at high school students, teachers and consumers produced by ISEKI-Food can be found at www.food4us.eu.

Recent events: Student visit to Air Products

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:24:53 +0100

As part of our course on Food Processing and the Cold Chain for International Students, Air Products kindly organised a two-day module for our students on the application of cryogenics to food freezing and processing at their Research Headquarters in Basingstoke.
In the initial session the Air Products Research Team (Chris Finnie, Ian Palmer, Steve Barton and Thomas Manske) introduced themselves to the students and provided the students with an introduction to the organisational structure of Air Products Ltd and the products and services that they provide as a global company.
This was followed by an overview of food preservation techniques with special emphasis on the developments in, and use of, cryogenics in food freezing and food drying processes. After covering all the safety aspects of using cryogens Steve gave an entertaining and lively demonstration of liquid nitrogen’s unique processing properties. After which the students fully appreciated the textural changing properties of nitrogen freezing with flowers being frozen in seconds and crushed to dust in front of their eyes. The altered properties of rubber after freezing and the commercial use of this process were also of considerable interest when demonstrated.
Steve went on to simply show how air could be liquidised and separated into different constituents using liquid nitrogen. He then finished the session by using balloons and Pringle cartons to demonstrate the problems encountered due to the expansion, of nitrogen when it turns from liquid to gas.
During a tour of the analytical facilities at the site, Thomas showed the students the wide range of ambient stable freeze-dried food products and powders that could be produced using cryogens. He then demonstrated the range of texture, moisture content and viscosity instrumentation used on a daily basis.
The students were then divided into groups to carry out a series of practical experimental sessions in which the cryogenic freezing of foods, calorimetry (determination of heat content of food) and measurement of heat transfer coefficients were carried out. The students finally appraised the effects of different freezing systems on food quality.
After two very successful and busy days the tired students returned to Grimsby with an in-depth technical and practical understanding of cryogenic freezing and processing.

Recent events: Visit to China

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:25:38 +0100

Christian James has just returned from visiting the Grimsby Institute’s growing number of partner universities in southern China. FRPERC are currently running a 12-week programme on Food Processing and the Cold Chain for student from Chinese universities. In a whirl-stop tour of the Institute’s partner universities, Christian James presented the work of FRPERC and introduced the current course to students and staff at South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou University, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, and Guangdong University of Technology. Christian was accompanied by Andrew McKinnon, the Institute’s Director of International, and Graham Raddings from the Media faculty, who talked about other subject areas.
For Chinese students who would like to know more about student life at Grimsby a student experience website, G-Life, has been developed by media students studying at the Institute connecting Grimsby Institute’s growing number of Chinese exchange students and partner universities in southern China .

New projects: UKIERI skills development

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 12:26:23 +0000

The Grimsby Institute and Delhi Management Association have recently been awarded a grant by the UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) to develop supply chain management skills in India.
The key aim of this project is to develop a joint comprehensive training package on all aspects of the food cold chain from a fundamental knowledge of logistics, heat and mass transfer and refrigeration theory in foods through to practical methods of monitoring temperature, yield, energy and process efficiency.

New publication: Biosecurity-Based Interventions and Strategies To Reduce Campylobacter spp. on Poultry Farms

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:50:13 +0000

The prevention and control of Campylobacter colonization of poultry flocks are important public health strategies for the control of human campylobacteriosis. A critical review of the literature on interventions to control Campylobacter in poultry on farms has been just published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. This an output of the FSA project B15025: A critical review of interventions and strategies (both biosecurity and non-biosecurity) to reduce Campylobacter on the poultry farm, in which Steve James from FRPERC was one of the research team, and is one of the authors.
Although the focus of the review is on aspects appropriate to the United Kingdom poultry industry, the research reviewed was gathered from worldwide literature. The evidence for each potential source and route of transmission on the poultry farm was reviewed critically, and the options for intervention were considered. The review concluded that, in most instances, biosecurity on conventional broiler farms can be enhanced and this should contribute to the reduction of flock colonization. However, complementary, non-biosecurity-based approaches will also be required in the future to maximize the reduction of Campylobacter-positive flocks at the farm level.
Newell, D. G. , Elvers, K. T., Dopfer, D. ,Hansson, I., Jones, P., James, S., Gittins, J., Stern, N. J., Davies, R., Connerton, I., Pearson, D., Salvat, G. & Allen, V. M. (2011) Biosecurity-Based Interventions and Strategies To Reduce Campylobacter spp. on Poultry Farms. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Vol. 77, pp8605-8614.

Current projects: Histamine questionnaire

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:43:26 +0000

We are currently reviewing the risk management practices employed throughout the fish processing chain in relation to controlling histamine formation in at-risk fish species in Scotland for the Food Standards Agency - Scotland.
The purpose of this project is to:
1. Initially identify the key risk areas concerning the control and management of histamine in the fish processing chain (from catch-to-fork).
2. Carry out a practical survey of the current management and control practices used by the fishery product sector in Scotland when catching, landing, processing or supplying at-risk species in Scotland.
3. Highlight any gaps in the management of these risks throughout the entire cold-chain (from catch-to-fork) in Scotland and identify any areas where the sector could benefit from advice or guidance.
4. Widely disseminate the results to relevant sectors of the fishing industry.
Active input from individual companies, markets and associations is essential for the successful completion of this project and as such we are now requesting all companies throughout the Scottish seafood supply chain that handle “at risk” fish species to complete a short initial questionnaire, to provide a snapshot of current industry practices and control measures relating to histamine. The survey is available on-line at www.surveymonkey.com/s/FSA_Histamine_Survey or as a word document (click here to download) that can be returned via either email or post, by 4th January 2012.
We would like to follow the fish of interest through from catch, through processing and distribution to final retail and so would be appreciate it if individual companies would pass this request for information, on to their suppliers and any trade customers.
Further activities including measurement of typical and extreme time/temperature histories of the fish and environmental conditions; quantifying handling practices; obtaining the industries views on current management practices and determine what further help/information they would like, will commence in the New Year.
If any companies would like to be involved, or know more about this project, please contact: frperc@grimsby.ac.uk.

New publications: Cold store design and maintenance and Quality and safety of frozen meat and meat products chapters

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:19:18 +0000

Sun, D. W. (2012) Handbook of Frozen Food Processing and Packaging. ISBN 978-1-4398-3604-0. Taylor & Francis.
The second edition of the Handbook of Frozen Food Processing and Packaging has just been published by Taylor & Francis. This book provides a source of up to date and detailed technical information for all those involved in the production of frozen food. New for the second edition are new sections on Emerging Technologies in Food Freezing, with chapters on ultrasound accelerated freezing, high-pressure shift freezing, electrostatic field-assisted food freezing, and antifreeze proteins, and Trends in Frozen Food Packaging, with chapters on active packaging, intelligent packaging, vacuum packaging, and edible coatings and films and their applications on frozen foods.
Our chapters, written by Stephen James and Christian James, are on “Cold Store Design and Maintenance” and “Quality and Safety of Frozen Meat and Meat Products”.

Recent conferences: 2011 World Seafood Congress

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:51:39 +0100

Christian James has just returned from the 2011 World Seafood Congress held last week (3rd-5th October 2011) in Washington DC. This was a very well attended conference and we’d like to congratulate the IAFI, the International Association of Seafood Professionals and the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), for organising such an interesting and successful conference.
Copies of the presentations Chris made at the conference can be downloaded using the following link.

James, C. (2011) Developments in chilling, (super-cooling, super-chilling) and freezing systems. 2011 World Seafood Congress, Washington DC, US, 3-5 October 2011.
Download here: FRPERC_Washington_presentation_2011.pdf

New projects: Histamine review

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:44:57 +0100

In the past three years there have been ten records on the UK Food Surveillance System of unsatisfactory fish samples due to levels of histamine above that permitted in the regulations outlining the microbiological criteria for foodstuffs.
Scombroid poisoning is a foodborne chemical intoxication associated with the consumption of spoiled fish flesh that is high in histamine. The disease causes rapid-onset headaches, sweating, rash, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea that normally lasts a few hours, but is known to continue for up to two days. It is thought that the incidence of scombroid poisoning is vastly under-reported due to the short-lived effects or misdiagnosis as an allergy.
The fish species normally associated with this are pelagic species such as mackerel, sardines, pilchards and certain tuna species, which have high levels of free histidine in their flesh.
The Food Safety Agency Scotland have just awarded the us a project to “Review the risk management practices employed throughout the fish processing chain in relation to controlling histamine formation in at-risk fish species in Scotland”.
This project will;
1. Initially identify the key risk areas concerning the control and management of histamine in the fish processing chain (from catch-to-fork).
2. Carry out a practical survey of the current management and control practices used by the fishery product sector in Scotland when catching, landing, processing or supplying at-risk species in Scotland.
3. Highlight any gaps in the management of these risks throughout the entire cold-chain (from catch-to-fork) in Scotland and identify any areas where the sector could benefit from advice or guidance.
4. Widely disseminate the results to relevant sectors of the fishing industry.
Active input from individual companies, markets and associations is essential for the successful completion of this project. We hope to follow the fish of interest from catch, through processing and distribution to final retail. We would like to measure typical and extreme time/temperature histories of the fish and environmental conditions; quantify handling practices; obtain the industries views on current management practices and determine what further help/information they would like. In the near future we will be in direct contact with individual companies/concerns to set up meeting and we hope gain their valuable input. If any companies would like to be involved, or know more about this project, please contact: frperc@grimsby.ac.uk.