Food Science Newsletter Volume 34, 2024

Department of Food Science Hosts Annual USDA Conference

The UMass Amherst Food Science Department hosted a USDA conference on June 17-18 for the Novel Foods and Innovative Manufacturing Technologies program, launched in 2019. The event brought together over 80 project directors, co-directors, and research scholars from across the country. AFRI, which funds sustainable food and nutrition security projects, showcased research findings from projects funded between 2019 and 2022. Hongda Chen, USDA/NIFA national program leader, highlighted the $40 million investment in food science, technology, and engineering. UMass Amherst was chosen to host due to its excellent reputation and success in securing funding. UMass food scientists discussing their research projects were: Eric Decker, “Predicting Lipid Oxidation Lag Phases: The Key to Determining Shelf-life and Decreasing Food Waste”; David Julian McClements, “Optimization of Soft Matter Physics Approaches for the Creation of Next-generation Plant-based Meats” and “Double-Network Composite Biopolymer Hydrogels as Next-Generation Meat Analogs”; Hang Xiao, “Functionality-guided Smart Fermentation of Soybean Meal: a Novel Approach to Producing Next-generation Meat Alternatives from a Plant-based Byproduct”; Jiakai Lu, “Innovative Structuring-Layering Technology for Large-Scale Production of Fish Analogs”; and Lutz Grossmann, “Plant Whey: Value-Added Food Ingredients from Plant Protein Precipitation Sidestreams” and “Design of Novel Post-Processing Diffusional Tenderization Techniques to Advance Anisotropic Plant Protein Textures.