Tuesday 7th May 2024

8:30 – 16:45 Symposium with invited speakers from industry and academia

Schedule

08:30 Registration & Refreshments

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09:15 Welcome & Key note by E3S Chair: Food product innovation and strategies for tailor-made solutions (Dr. Sara Spinelli (E3S Chair) & Dr. Dirk Minkner (DGSens Chair)

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09:45 Food future (Prof. Dr. Guido Ritter - iSuN - Institute of Sustainable Nutrition)

The sustainability of future food systems can be improved by many ways. What are the challenges for food product development? How can sensory and consumer research contribute to the sustainability of a future food system? 

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10:15 Nutrition in space (Dr. Petra Frings Meuthen - German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine - DLR)

Numerous astronauts have participated in space missions, spending periods of up to 15 months on both the MIR and International Space Station (ISS). Health monitoring indicates that these astronauts typically consume only about 80% of the recommended daily calorie and nutrient intake. Such deficiencies raise concerns regarding potential negative impacts on astronauts' mental and physical health during upcoming interplanetary journeys, which are expected to last about three years. Among the various theories addressing this calorie gap, alterations in the smell and taste of meals might affect food intake. Ensuring the fitness of astronauts while minimizing energy usage is crucial for exploration missions. However, this objective presents challenges, especially considering the weight constraints associated with transporting food via rockets.

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10:45 Are sustainable food habits consumer relevant? (Prof. Dr. Wencke Gwozdz – University Gießen)

Which dietary behaviours have the potential to promote sustainable food systems? Do these behaviours have a high behaviour change potential? Which barriers do consumers face and what are potential leverage points to overcome those?

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11:15 Aroma Lab: Innovation made at universities (Prof. Dr. Helge Fritsch – Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University Heilbronn)

Sensory offers more than just guidance for product development and definition in an analytical role: As a source of inspiration, it has a high potential in the product innovation process.  Using the example of the stimuli area of aroma perception, it is shown how aroma science and innovation workshops can be linked specifically for food innovation design. Concrete case studies from innovation workshops already held at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University Heilbronn with food management students, as company representatives from the entire food value chain, demonstrate the approach described – engaging the senses.

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11:45 Rethinking consumer sensory science: the need for research 'in the wild' (Prof. Dr. Rebecca Ford - University of Nottingham

This talk will explore the limitations of traditional sensory consumer research methods by presenting the gap between controlled environments and real-world consumer experiences. The needs for more ecologically valid research methodologies that benefit from enhanced external validity will be discussed as well as the methodological considerations and ethical challenges for conducting research in the wild. The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and integration of new technologies will be presented using the University of Nottingham’s living lab – Connect Nottingham as an example.  

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12:15 Lunch & Poster Session

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13:15 Clinical perspectives: taste & smell (Prof. Dr. Thomas Hummel – TU Dresden)

The sense of smell is important! The lecture will show how olfactory disorders affect people, what types of olfactory disorders there are, and also touch upon aspects of how olfactory disorders can be diagnosed and treated. 

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14:00 Flash presentationsby young researchers

• The Text Highlighting Method for measuring attitudes toward sustainability: advantages and limitations (Ejona Boci - Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), University of Florence)
• Oenological measures to improve sensory quality of dealcoholised white and red wines (Lisa Käppler - DLR Rheinpfalz, Neustadt an der Weinstraße/Germany)
• Sensory Nutrition: the Umami Taste Role in Satiation and Eating Behavior (Zahra HEJAZI - University of Burgundy Franche Comte, Dijon, France)

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14:45 Coffee Break

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15:15 Award Presentation - Student Competition

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15:25 Predictive breeding for wine quality (Prof. Dr. Ulrich Fischer – DLR Rheinpfalz)

Breeding of new, fungi-tolerant grape varieties (PIWI), which will reduce pesticide treatment in integrated and organic viticulture by 80%, is still slowed down by the long time needed to obtain enough grapes for winemaking and quality evaluation. To speed up this process, a consortium of geneticist, breeder, analyst and sensory scientist joined to develop genetic marker in the grape vine genome. Genetic markers are already widely used to detect at an early stage presence of fungus resistances in a new breeding. Sensory evaluation of wines made from grapes of 150 crossings of the same two parents were done during 6 vintages and yielded a stable differentiation between good and poor quality crossings. Relating the sensory quality traits with a large and precise genetic map allowed to identify several quality markers related to biosynthesis of aroma compounds and the grape ripening process. These markers will allow now to discard at a very early stage the selection of crossing of promising wine quality from those breeding’s, which can be safely discarded due to a poor quality potential. Preference for PIWI wines have been assessed in home-use-tests by German, Danish, Dutch, French and Italian consumers and showed equal or even improved quality than the benchmarks of traditional grape varieties.

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15:55 Sensory evaluation of alternative proteins (Prof. Dr. Andrea Bauer – HAW Hamburg)

Considering the rapid growth of the global population, and challenges regarding the sustainability of animal-derived proteins, proteins from alternative sources like plants and insects are enjoying increasing interest for food and feed production. Many alternative protein ingredients already are commercially available. However, their techno-functional and sensory properties are not fully known. This makes choosing the “right” protein difficult for product developers. Therefore, a research consortium embarked on evaluating the characteristics of protein ingredients from various sources, aiming at building a protein-database for the targeted selection of protein ingredients in the product development process. HAW Hamburg examined the sensory properties of 59 protein ingredients from 13 different sources in aqueous dispersion, and in emulsion, applying the Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA)-methodology. This presentation will provide insights into the research project and share some results.   

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16:25 Different perspectives of the perfect apple (Dr. Hannah Jilani - University Bremen)

Different perspectives of consumer perception - Results from a national survey

Todays consumers are used to buy perfect looking fruits and vegetables from all over the world. But are they actually willing to buy less perfect looking products in order to prevent food waste? This choice-experiment investigated attributes (local and organic production, price, promotional claims) that may enhance the willingness of consumers to purchase 'imperfect' looking apples.

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16:40 Closing Remarks

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16:45 End of Symposium