Executive Board

Officers

Members-at-Large

Editorial Staff

Editor's Column

On behalf of the new Executive Committee of the Food Engineering Division of the IFT let me wish you all a very happy and productive 1998. As we approach the year 2000, the entire world is, as it appears, abuzz with the millennium bug! From our professional standpoint, I would like for all of us to start thinking about the future of food engineering as a profession. Are the food engineers organized in an effective manner to be heard in the industry? For the most part, I feel that we are not fully recognized as an engineering discipline. It is only rarely that a food industry wants to hire a ‘food engineer.’ My experiences with the engineering placement service at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are that, in most cases a chemical engineering and/or food science graduate gets hired to function as a food engineer. This may appear justified, as we do not offer a food engineering degree. The problem I am addressing is that the words food and engineering are seldom used together in the industry when it comes to hiring new graduates. In addition to not having a full-fledged food engineering degree, I feel a major reason for this is, as a profession we have not done an adequate job educating the industry about the value of the new class of engineers that are best suited to serve the food industry - the food engineers. This trend appears to be changing as most universities have begun offering at least a degree option in food engineering. But, we have to take a proactive role in promoting our profession. In this regard, I would like to call your attention to the National Engineers Week (February 22-28) described in this newsletter.

Another major reason for lack of due recognition is that food engineers are not unified as other engineering professionals. We end up splitting our professional activities among at least three major professional organizations – AICHE, ASAE, and IFT. This dilutes our efforts as the credit for our work is often given to the parent organization. It is time that we consider coming together under a unified umbrella to provide a better focus for our profession. For the past five years or so, I have had informal discussions with several food engineering leaders regarding this issue. The CoFE is a very welcome and encouraging development. There are also several other small but significant individual efforts. I believe that there is a critical mass and needed momentum for the food engineers from all fronts to come together. I hope that we will accomplish this by the year 2000!

- Sundaram (Guna) Gunasekaran

University of Wisconsin

Meet the Associate Editors

I was asked to be an Associate Editor to compile information from food engineers who are working in academia. I would appreciate receiving any relevant news items from all FED members for our future newsletters. I would also appreciate receiving your comments about this issue and suggestions for our future issues.

As Guna has pointed out in his column, we have to be proactive and aggressive in promoting our profession. At a recent freshman class survey in my department we found that less than 5% of the student population is interested in Food and Biomaterials engineering program. This trend has to change sooner and for the change to occur we must identify and use all possible sources and tools in promoting our profession.

In this regard, I would like to hear ideas, opinions and suggestions from all the members in promoting the Food Engineering profession. Best Wishes.

I graduated from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina with a B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering - food engineering Emphasis in 1994. After graduation, I worked as a Quality Control Lab Technician from 1994-95 for the C.F. Sauer Company in Greenville, SC.

From 1995-97, I worked at Fluor Daniel as an Associate Process Equipment Design Engineer in the Food, Beverage, and Consumer Products Division (now Process) at their Greenville, SC offices. I am now working at Wise Foods in Spartanburg, SC as a Production Supervisor.

I am looking forward to getting as much industry news from FED Members as possible. Please send the information in order for me to get it in our future newsletters.

Felder identified four issues: (1) How should curricula be structured? (2) How should classes be taught? (3) Who should teach them? and (4) How should teachers be trained? For each issue he discussed the traditional (T) approach and then proposed alternative (A) ideas to help focus thoughts of future directions for instruction.

How should curricula be structured?

(T) The current situation is that fundamentals (math, chemistry, physics, etc.) are taught first and then applied to the field of study (engineering, food science, etc.) at the junior and senior levels. The emphasis in the current curriculum is primarily on course content.

(A) An alternative approach is to integrate fundamentals and applications, where fundamentals are introduced on a "just in time" basis. In addition, the curriculum should stress both content and skill development (problem solving, critical thinking, communication, etc.).

How should courses be taught?

(T) Felder argues that most courses are still taught in one style - by teachers that lecture at their students with perhaps a periodic question or two. Grading is still primarily based on solving convergent (single answer) homework questions that are reproduced on exams. Students primarily work on their own (except in labs) in a competitive environment since grading is often based on relative performance (the curve).

(A) Increasingly, teachers are using multiple approaches to teach students with different learning styles. This involves many different instructional approaches (both in class and out of class). The students are asked to control their own learning to some extent through discussions, brain storming, open-ended problem solving, reflection on learning, and developing their own problems. These techniques are used to promote skill development (as discussed above) and are often accomplished in the group environment to promote positive interdependence (while maintaining individual accountability). Design projects are integrated across the curriculum (both with other disciplines and between grade levels) and grading is based on criterion referencing (no curve).

Who should teach?

(T) Felder argues that currently teaching is primarily the responsibility of PhD’s whose main activity (and grounds for advancement) is likely to be research.

(A) He suggests, however, that there should be several ladders in academic institutions. There should be a mix of fundamental researchers, applied researchers, educational scholars and teacher/practitioners. Each path should have equal opportunities with rigorous criteria set out for advancement in each. He also suggests that professors should never start on an education track but should switch to it mid-career.

How should professors be trained to teach?

(T) " No training is needed."

(A) Professors should begin learning how to teach through courses in grad school, attendance at faculty workshops and through mentoring/team-teaching programs for new faculty and advanced grad students.

Although some may disagree with certain points made by Felder, it is clear that the shape of higher education is changing and Felder provides some interesting ideas for an alternative approach to engineering education. His closing comments are "Can we afford to do all that?" and "Can we afford not to do it?".

Please feel free to send comments or questions to me. As always, I’d love to talk about these.

Visiting a local school to tell students about engineering? Engineers are invited to post information about their local events on the National Engineers Week WWW site.

University of Missouri

The mission of the program is: "Developing ways of increasing the value of agricultural products (animal & crop) before the raw products leave the locality or state"

The program direction has been established primarily by a Focus Team of 15 representatives from Extension faculty, Campus faculty, State Department of Agriculture, State Department of Economic Development, Small Business Development and other user groups. Emphasis has been placed on assembly of interdisciplinary teams to address the needs of clients with ideas for value-added businesses.

The specific areas to be addressed by the value-added agriculture program include:

1. Provide assistance on technical feasibility and technology transfer.

2. Provide information on market analysis and development.

3. Provide assistance in development of business plans based on a concept or idea.

4. Develop and present education and training programs.

5. Provide assistance in management of small businesses.

In order to provide a focal point for activities, the Office of Value-Added Agriculture Outreach was opened on January 1, 1997. This Office provides a central point of contact for information and for clients with ideas for businesses based on concepts for value-added products. The general theme being followed is to determine the market demand for the product concept followed by careful attention to economic and technical feasibility. These initial analyses are followed by in-depth product development. The outreach efforts are supported by research on value-added processes and products conducted as a part of the Food for the 21st Century program.

The staff of the Office of Value-Added Agriculture Outreach includes Dennis R. Heldman as Director, Patricia Koenigsfeld as Manager and Laura Canale as Administrative Assistance. The specific projects are conducted by faculty and staff from several different departments including Agricultural Economics, Food Science Biological Engineering, Small Business Development and several others.

A symposium titled "Ethical Challenges in Food Science and Engineering" co-sponsored by the Food Engineering Division and the Student Organization will be presented at the 1998 annual meeting. The blockbuster of speakers includes Drs. Owen Fennema, Ted Labuza, Frederick Jack Francis, Paul Singh, Peter Clark, and Andrew Cleland. There will be presentations on research administration and ethics, case studies of ethical dilemmas, code of ethics for a professional engineer, ethics in consulting, and ethics in a world with changing values. Presentation topics contain something for everyone, food scientists and engineers associated with academia or industry. Do not miss this symposium!

My entree to Ireland came through the Fulbright Program, a program instituted "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." Also key has been the support of North Dakota State University (NDSU), where I work in the Ag. & Biosystems Engineering Dept. and Cereal Science Dept. Professional leave abroad was long a goal of mine, and when I became eligible for developmental leave at NDSU, I began poring through the Fulbright catalog of academic opportunities abroad. The catalog released in early 1996 described an opportunity to assist a young B.E. Food Process Engineering program at University College Cork (UCC) in Cork, Ireland. I called Diarmuid MacCarthy, my initial contact with that department, and ensuing communications with Diarmuid encouraged me to apply by the August 1996 deadline.

The process from initiating the proposal to finally arriving at UCC was over 15 months. Upon arriving in Cork with my family in mid-September, I was launched into the amazing adventure of living and working in a different culture. Cork is a beautiful old city on the south coast of Ireland, a metropolis of over 200,000 with a damp, temperate climate. But the first week of learning how to drive in Cork was the one truly formidable obstacle--it can only be described as terrifying! Driving on the left side of the road was completely disorienting--turn signals and rear view mirrors were not where I instinctively reached or looked. The drivers, though markedly courteous, have a liberal interpretation of "defensive driving". Furthermore, the winding, sometimes preposterously narrow roads up the River Lee valley from the campus to my home in Clogheen evoke images of a bowl of spaghetti.

Some of the more "foreign" ideas which I have found embedded in Irish academia are curricula which allow students little flexibility, no courses in liberal arts, acute emphasis on end-of-year examinations, and admissions quotas which deny many students their first, second, and even lower choices for a major. I understand this system is not unlike that in much of the rest of the world, and certainly there are pros and cons to such issues. In any case, the FE students are well prepared when they emerge from this program and are already establishing an admirable career placement record. I would be thrilled to see some of our NDSU students here for a term or a year.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Fulbright Program or about my work in the UCC Food Engineering Department is welcome to contact me by e-mail at wiesenbo@plains.nodak.edu or by fax at 011-353-21-270249.

CIGR

AN ORGANISATION OF AGRICULTURAL/FOOD ENGINEERS INTERESTED IN GLOBAL NETWORKING

CIGR has 17 working groups dealing with more specific topics such as university curricula harmonization, ways to encourage mobility of young professionals, certification and quality in agricultural engineering. There is no working group on food engineering but the opportunity is there. Those interested, should contact Dr. Fred Bakker-Arkema, Chairman, Section VI (bakker@egr.msu.edu).

The current President (1997-98) of CIGR is Dr. O. Kitani of Japan (i38255@m-unix.cc.u- tokyo.ac.jp). Dr. Bill A. Stout (stout@tamu.edu) will follow him as President (1999-2000).

For more information about CIGR visit THE CIGR Website at http://www org.nlh.no/CIGR/

1.Three new faculty members have been appointed to the Department of Food Science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Kevin Keener: His research at NC State involves the study of the physical properties of agricultural, food, and biological materials; and in the noninvasive studies using NMR, MRI, NIR, and ultrasonics to improve production, quality, safety, and reduction of food waste. Keener received his PhD in Food Processing Engineering from Purdue University at West Lafayette, IN in 1996, and his title at NC State is Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist.

Christopher R. Daubert: His research at NC State involves basic and applied research and teaching of food rheology. Daubert received dual PhD’s in both Agricultural Engineering and Food Science from Michigan State University at East Lansing, and his title at NC State is Assistant Professor.

K.P. Sandeep: His research at NC State involves aseptic processing as related to food process engineering, and hi teaching involves food kinetics, packaging, and engineering. Sandeep received his PhD in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University at University Park, and his title at NC State is Assistant Professor.

2. Dr. K. Muthukumarappan has joined the Department of Agricultural Engineering at South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD., as Assistant Professor/Food and Biomaterials Engineering Program. He earned his Ph.D. in Food Engineering from Biological Systems Engineering Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI. His research interests include the study and understanding of the structural and functional characteristics of food and biomaterials. As a member of several professional and honorary societies, he will focus on developing an interdisciplinary, value added research program related to food and biological materials. He teaches one undergraduate course on food engineering and developing a graduate course on food engineering.

3. Drs. Henry Schwartzberg and Lester Whitney, Professors Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, each recently the 7^th International Conference of Engineering and Food (ICEF) in Brighton, England. Dr. Schwartzberg co-chaired a technical session on food processing while Dr. Whitney presented one of the keynote lectures on "Food Plant Design and Devastation: Response to Food Plant Catastrophe." Over 500 food engineers worldwide attended ICEF VII. ICEF VIII will be held at Mexico in 2001.

4. Dr. Pavel M. Jelen, Professor of Food Science at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, received the Milk Industry Foundation Teaching Award in Dairy Manufacturing in recognition for his excellence in teaching at the 1997 American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting at Guleph, Ontario, Canada. Jelen was elected an IFT Fellow in 1991.

5. Dr. V. M. "Bala" Balasubramaniam is Assistant Professor of Food Process Engineering, The National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST), Summit-Argo, IL. NCFST, located at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)’s Moffett Campus, is the nation’s unique research consortium where scientists from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), academia and food industry work cooperatively to study new food processing and packaging technologies with the intent to ensure safety of the nation’s food supply.

Dr. Bala is a graduate of The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH where in 1993 he earned his doctoral degree in Agricultural Engineering with specialization in Food Engineering. He earned his M.S. (Food Process Engineering) and Bachelor (Agricultural Engineering) degrees from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India respectively. Before joining the NCFST, he did two years of postdoctoral research at the Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement, University of Georgia involving value-added processing and packaging studies.

Dr. Balasubramaniam’s current research focus is to evaluate the safety aspects of traditional and emerging food preservation technologies that show the potential for quality improvement in processed foods. The projects are selected such that they are industrially relevant and contribute to the scientific evaluation of new food processes. This is done through the input he receives from scientists from the food industry and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. His current research projects include inactivation of bacterial spores by high pressure processing and electrical resistance (Ohmic) heating of multiphase foods.

High-pressure processing (HPP) of foods is a novel non-thermal means of preserving food products with no or minimal heat treatment. In a typical process, the food material is prepackaged and processed under elevated pressures (up to 130,000 psi). The data on pressure resistance of various microorganisms of public concern especially that of bacterial spores are not readily available. The main objective of this NCFST project on HPP research is to characterize pressure-temperature resistance characteristics of bacterial spores (strains of C. botulinum B. subtilis, and B. stearothermophilus) subjected to high pressure treatment. The study would also expected to contribute to the identification of a non-pathogenic indicator microorganism that would aid in validation of the designed high-pressure process.

Dr. Balasubramaniam has a joint appointment with IIT’s Chemical and Environmental Engineering, where he is teaching Introductory Food Engineering and Advanced Food Engineering courses and advise food engineering graduate students.

With a worldwide staff of leading computational fluid dynamics (CFD) professionals, Fluent is recognized for engineering excellence, technology leadership, and customer service. Welcome to this site where you can learn how Fluent can help you solve engineering problems. Fluent Inc. has customers in food industry solving challenging food processing applications. They are also an Associate member of National Center for Food Safety and Technology, Summit-Argo, IL.

Anybody interested in CFD is more than welcome to contact Kumar at ak@fluent.com or (847) 491-0200 ext. 335.

1. Heldman, D.R. and R.W. Hartel. 1997. Principles of Food Processing. New York: Chapman & Hall. 352 pp. $59.95.

This book deals with the key preservation processes used in the food industry, including basic concepts of a specific food plant unit operation. Such operations include the typical equipment used and the specific process’s influence upon the food’s quality.

2. Connor, J.M., and W.A. Schick. 1997. Food Processing: An Industrial Powerhouse in Transition. 2ⁿEd. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 688 pp. $79.95. Includes coverage of growth, division, and management of the food industry.

Discusses various canning systems used in present day canning, including the mandatory legal requirement for various process equipment and instrumentation.

4. Brody, A. and K. Marsh. 1997. The Wiley Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1,023 pp. $225.00

Did You Know?

On Yahoo’s web site (www.yahoo.com/Business_and

Kenneth J. Valentas, Enrique Rostein, and R. Paul Singh, Eds. CRC Press; 2000 Corporate Blvd., N.W.; Boca Raton, FL 33431-9868 (call 800-272-7737; fax 800-374-3401; http:\\ www.crcpress.com). 1997. 718 pp. $108.90 (incl. Shipping & Handling).

As a practicing Food Engineer, this is one of the best books that I have seen out on the market today. Though primarily a teaching textbook, it can be used for people who are out in the work force. The Handbook of Food Engineering Practice presents a generalized version of various unit operations found in food engineering, such as drying, membrane filtration systems, sterilization, freezing, rheology, material/ energy balances, and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics.

My three complaints about this book are as follows: 1) Chapter organization of the book, 2) Lack of certain food plant unit operations that are becoming more important in food engineering, 3) Support systems for the processes mentioned in the book.

1. Chapter organization would have been better if the basic information were placed first before getting into the applied processes. This would include the chapters of Materials and Energy Balances; Food Chemistry; Rheological and Thermophysical Properties of Foods; Kinetics of Food Deterioration and Shelf-Life Prediction; Food Packaging Materials; and Temperature Tolerance of Foods during Distribution. From these chapters mentioned above, unit operations such as drying, evaporation, membrane filtration, freezing, sterilization, pipeline design, sough processing, and CIP sanitation can be added. Finally, the chapters of Process Control, Economic Analysis, and Computer Simulation and Optimization would finish out the book.
2. Additional Unit Operations such as material handling (bulk bags), frying, protective equipment (in-line metal detectors), product cleaning (dirt on potatoes), quality separation (good potatoes from defective potatoes for chip-making), biotechnology (Flavr-Saver™ tomatoes), and fermentation (brewing and enology) are all missing. These Unit Operations are important in the production of many of the foods that we consume, such as alcohol, spices, fruits and vegetables, and snack foods.
3. Process Support Systems: These include electrical power, fire protection, HVAC, construction, food law, and environmental engineering. Most food plants are built for simplicity in an effort to make them as easy as possible to operate, to maintain, and to clean. This not only includes the process equipment, but also the support systems mentioned earlier. Environmental Engineering is important because food plants generate as lot of waste, mostly solid and liquid, that has to be recycled, disposed for good use, disposed for safety reasons, treated on-site, or any combination of this.

Overall, the book chapters are of very high quality done by leaders in the Food Engineering Profession and I commend their efforts, along with the editing efforts of Drs. Valentas, Rostein, and Singh.

The purpose of the Food Engineering scholarship Program is to encourage deserving and outstanding undergraduate engineering students to continue to pursue a curriculum meeting the minimum requirements of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and technology (ABET) approved curriculum leading to a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, and to pursue a career in food industry.

The applicant must be a sophomore or junior in engineering in an educational institution in the US or Canada. The student must also demonstrate a career interest in the food industry through course work and in the statement of career interest.

The awards consist of $2,500 cash and a travel grant of $500 to attend Worldwide Food Expo. The applications must be received at the IAFIS office by February 20.

Interested students should contact their Department Chairperson or the IAFIS Foundation at 1415 Dolly Madison Boulevard, McLean, VA 22101. ph. (703) 761 2600; Fax (703) 761 4334; email: info@iafis.org;

http:\\www.iafis.org.

Future Meetings

• 1998 - Atlanta, June 20-24
• 1999 - Chicago, July 24-28
• 2000 - Dallas, June 10-14

• 1998 - Orlando, July 12-16
• 1999 - Toronto, July 18-22

3. XVI Brazilian food science and technology congress, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 15-17, 1998. Sponsored by the Brazilian Society of Food Science and Technology.

Disclaimers

The opinions expressed in this newsletter are the opinions of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position of IFT, nor of the IFT Food Engineering Division and should be interpreted as such.

Discrimination based on race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, disability or veteran's status is inappropriate at any IFT function because it can interfere with the ability of members to actively participate in IFT activities and can create an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.