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Purpose To clarify needs and requests of the young generation to the contemporary and future education on food systems, this paper aims to examine the following issues: students’ background knowledge, students’ behaviour as consumers and food citizenship, most interesting topics of SFS for students and students’ preferences and expectations in developing different skills, topics and preferences in teaching/learning methods. Design/methodology/approach This study was performed as an online-survey amongst eight European Universities in seven European Union (EU) countries to which 1,122 students responded. Data was analysed with descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses. Findings Taste and Health are the most important values and motives that influence students’ food buying and consumption decisions, but significant differences were found amongst students from different universities and countries. The most important topics for students for future teaching courses are “organic food”, “fair trade”, “organic agriculture” and most important skills to learn are “ability to make a judgement and justify decisions” and the “ability to create and innovate”. Excursions and field trips as teaching methods was given the highest ranks. Research limitations/implications Different study programmes and cultural backgrounds of the participating students in the different universities could be a limiting factor for the interpretation of some results. Originality/value These results provide a basis for improvement of higher education in the EU towards sustainable food systems based on experiential learning/teaching methods.

Consumers assume organic rice to be healthy. However, there are several concerns regarding the bioactive compounds and sensory properties found in organic rice. This study aims to examine the effect of the milling duration of organic rice (0s, 30s, 60s, 90s and 120s) on its bioactive compounds (total phenolic content, flavonoid content, and dietary fibre) and sensory properties (taste, aroma, colour and texture). This study reveals that the degree of milling and the degree of whiteness increase when the milling duration increases, while the total number of phenolic, flavonoid, and dietary fibres decrease significantly as the milling duration increases. Moreover, the moisture content remains constant as the milling duration increases. Panellists can divide the rice samples based on colour and taste into three distinct groups. The overall liking of organic rice at different degrees of milling revealed that as the milling duration increases, the overall degree of consumer’s preference for the product also increases.

The present study describes the effects of applying the new method crystallization with additives on cloudy and clear apple juice samples in two independent laboratories. The method has been successfully applied to grain and milk samples before. The samples presented here are characterized by means of standard analysis of apple juices and a metabolomic approach (DART-MS). The most evident difference between the two juices is the pectin concentration. Different amounts of sample and cupric chloride change the resulting patterns. The frequency of branching is clearly different between the patterns of the two samples. Based on structure analysis of the patterns, the two apple juice samples can be differentiated. The region of interest (ROI) has a stronger impact on the structure variables for cloudy than for clear apple juice. There is a significant difference between the treatments performed by both laboratories, independent of chamber and day and taking the different repetitions into account. The method principle is based on self-organization processes and not on single compound detection. Therefore, the results from crystallization with additives may complement the other measurement data for a wide range of different foods.

Quality traits are highly focused upon in the marketing of organic food products. There is a need to define and measure quality as consumers seem to have preconceived notions about the superior health value and taste of organic compared to non-organic products. A commonly held opinion among many consumer groups is that organic farming guarantees optimum quality, despite the fact that this remains unproven. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the complexity of quality traits in a plant-based food product, using carrots as an example. Selected designated quality aspects are presented to describe the complexity of quality and discuss the challenges of using these aspects in differentiating between organic and conventional products. The paper concludes we have insufficient tools to be able to adequately authenticate organically produced carrots. The same may be the case for most vegetables and fruit products. Suggestions for further studies include the soil and location aspect (terroir), in order to trace a product back to its origin in an organically or conventionally farmed field by finding a unique fingerprint for chemical constituents of samples.

Crystallization with additives is developed and standardized on wheat samples from different origins and varieties. When an aqueous cupric chloride dihydrate solution crystallizes in the presence of wheat flour as additive, specific patterns emerge which can be evaluated by image analysis. Performance tests are evaluated by structure analysis of the resulting crystallization patterns. Different factors of influence were tested, from which milling of the kernels in the sample preparation and the mixing ratio of cupric chloride and additive on the plate and the evaporation and crystallization were identified as the most crucial ones which have to be standardized. Comparisons between different laboratories indicate that the method can be used in another laboratory, but chamber conditions have to be documented and controlled.

The overall structure of dihydrate cupric chloride (CuCl2 * 2H2O) crystallization patterns in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a Petri dish is influenced by dewetting. The dewetting behavior, which can be either before or after initial CuCl2 nucleation, depends on the amount of CuCl₂ and BSA in the Petri dish. We postulate that the concentration and/or temperature gradient area in the dish, which is built up during the evaporation process, coincides with the location where dewetting predominantly starts. This hypothesis could be supported by measurements of the CuCl2 coverage of the Petri dish. During the evaporation the height of the meniscus at the rim of the Petri dish recedes in favor of the central Petri dish area. This could not be explained by the above mentioned hypothesis.

Organic agriculture can and should play an important role in solving future challenges in producing food. The low level of external inputs combined withknowledge on sustainablity minimizes environmental contamination and can help to produce more food for more people without negatively impacting our environment. Organic agriculture not only includes farming as a production practice but it also includes processing, trade and consumption. Nevertheless, Organic agriculture must always evolve to overcome emerging challenges.Science-based knowledge attained through dedicated research is required to strengthen organic food and farming as a means to solve future challenges. In 2010, a global discussion about Organic 3.0 was initiated to address current problems our agri-food systems are facing. Many scientifically and practically proven results are already available to make organic agriculture a strong tool to solve some of these challenges. However, the organic agri-food system has to be developed further to fulfill its potential. The contribution of organic agriculture to help solve current problems linked to food security and environmental quality was discussed during the International Society of Organic Agricultural Research (ISOFAR) Symposium BOrganic 3.0 is Innovation withResearch^, held September 20–22, 2015, in conjunction with the first ISOFAR International Organic Expo, in Goesan County, Republic of Korea. Some of the world’s most active scientists in organic agriculture attended the symposium. This paper is a result of their discussions and aims to give an overview of research conducted and required to strengthen organic agriculture in its ambitions to overcome agronomic challenges, contribute to food security and protect our common environment. Organic agriculture can and should play an important role in solving future challenges in producing food. The low level of external inputs combined with knowledge on sustainablity minimizes environmental contamination and can help to produce more food for more people without negatively impacting our environment. Organic agriculture not only includes farming as a production practice but it also includes processing, trade and consumption. Nevertheless, Organic agriculture must always evolve to overcome emerging challenges. Science-based knowledge attained through dedicated research is required to strengthen organic food and farming as a means to solve future challenges. In 2010, a global discussion about Organic 3.0 was initiated to address current problems our agri-food systems are facing. Many scientifically and practically proven results are already available to make organic agriculture a strong tool to solve some of these challenges. However, the organic agri-food system has to be developed further to fulfill its potential. The contribution of organic agriculture to help solve current problems linked to food security and environmental quality was discussed during the International Society of Organic Agricultural Research (ISOFAR) Symposium “Organic 3.0 is Innovation with Research”, held September 20–22, 2015, in conjunction with the first ISOFAR International Organic Expo, in Goesan County, Republic of Korea. Some of the world’s most active scientists in organic agriculture attended the symposium. This paper is a result of their discussions and aims to give an overview of research conducted and required to strengthen organic agriculture in its ambitions to overcome agronomic challenges, contribute to food security and protect our common environment.

The crystallization patterns of dihydrate cupric chloride, crystallized with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as an additive in a Petri-dish, depend strongly on the amount combinations of the salt and the protein. These patterns were studied over a wide range of amounts of the salt and the protein. Different combinations of the two substances yielded distinct patterns, which could be visually described and analytically verified. The influence of the protein was researched over a 0.1 to 10E4 monolayer range (e.g. till the inhibition of the crystallization) and the salt over a 10E2.5 mg range. The following sequence of phenomena could be described. Dewetting, deposit formation, split growth, dendrites and inhibition of crystallization (amorphous phase). The transitions between the dewetting, deposit formation and split growth areas are delimitated by specific BSA values. The other areas, with higher BSA amounts, are delimited by defined mixture ratios of salt to protein.

The biocrystallization method is based on the phenomenon that additive-specific, dendritic crystallization patterns emerge when an aqueous dihydrate cupric chloride solution with additives is crystallized on a glass plate. The patterns reflect physiological processes like ripening and decomposition and are applied in differentiating food samples according to feeding regime, production system and degree of processing. The method has been used for decades in organic food quality assessment from an ontological holistic stance. The patterns are evaluated visually and by means of computerized image analysis. The present study describes the development of the visual evaluation from a morphological description of structural features towards the perception of a Gestalt, a salient, coherent ‘meaningful-whole’, which complies more closely with the pattern formation principle of the method. The methodology was standardized according to ISO-Norms 11035 and 8587 for sensory analysis of food products, adapted for use i...

BACKGROUND There is a need for authentication tools in order to verify the existing certification system. Recently, markers for analytical authentication of organic products were evaluated. Herein, crystallization with additives was described as an interesting fingerprint approach which needs further evidence, based on a standardized method and well-documented sample origin. RESULTS The fingerprint of wheat cultivars from a controlled field trial is generated from structure analysis variables of crystal patterns. Method performance was tested on factors such as crystallization chamber, day of experiment and region of interest of the patterns. Two different organic treatments and two different treatments of the non-organic regime can be grouped together in each of three consecutive seasons. When the k-nearest-neighbor classification method was applied, approximately 84% of Runal samples and 95% of Titlis samples were classified correctly into organic and non-organic origin using cross-validation. CONCLUSION Crystallization with additive offers an interesting complementary fingerprint method for organic wheat samples. When the method is applied to winter wheat from the DOK trial, organic and non-organic treated samples can be differentiated significantly based on pattern recognition. Therefore crystallization with additives seems to be a promising tool in organic wheat authentication. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry

Although several meta-analysis studies have been published comparing the quality of food derived from organic and non-organic origin, it is still not clear if food from organic production per se can guarantee product-related added value to consumers. This paper aims to summarize the status quo in order to identify research gaps and suggest future research challenges. Organic food is described according to a quality model already published. The influence of organic production on food quality is structured in primary production and processing. Furthermore, organic food authentication is discussed. Organic food seems to contain fewer pesticide residues and statistically more selected health-related compounds such as polyphenols in plant products and polyunsaturated fatty acids in milk and meat products, but the health relevance for consumers is not clear yet. Comparing food from organic origin with so called ‘conventional’ food seems not to be appropriate, because ‘conventional’ is not defined. In organic food quality research a system approach is needed from which systemic markers can be selected. Research on the impact of processing technologies on the quality according to organic principles seems of high relevance, since most of the food is processed. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry

Organic food quality determination needs multi-dimensional evaluation tools. The main focus is on the authentication as an analytical verification of the certification process. New fingerprinting approaches such as ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, direct analysis in real time-high-resolution mass spectrometry as well as crystallization with and without the presence of additives seem to be promising methods in terms of time of analysis and detecting organic system-related parameters. For further methodological development, a system approach is recommended, which also takes into account food structure aspects. Furthermore, the authentication of processed organic samples needs more consciousness, hence most of organic food is complex and processed.

In 2007 EU Regulation (EC) 834/2007 introduced principles and criteria for organic food processing. These regulations have been analysed and discussed in several scientific publications and research project reports. Recently, organic food quality was described by principles, aspects and criteria. These principles from organic agriculture were verified and adapted for organic food processing. Different levels for evaluation were suggested. In another document, underlying paradigms and consumer perception of organic food were reviewed against functional food, resulting in identifying integral product identity as the underlying paradigm and a holistic quality view connected to naturalness as consumers' perception of organic food quality. In a European study, the quality concept was applied to the organic food chain, resulting in a problem, namely that clear principles and related criteria were missing to evaluate processing methods. Therefore the goal of this paper is to describe and discuss the topic of organic food processing to make it operational. A conceptual background for organic food processing is given by verifying the underlying paradigms and principles of organic farming and organic food as well as on organic processing. The proposed definition connects organic processing to related systems such as minimal, sustainable and careful, gentle processing, and describes clear principles and related criteria. Based on food examples, such as milk with different heat treatments, the concept and definitions were verified. Organic processing can be defined by clear paradigms and principles and evaluated according criteria from a multidimensional approach. Further work has to be done on developing indicators and parameters for assessment of organic food quality.

Crystallization with additives is developed on milk samples from different processing treatments. Performance tests are carried out based on structure analysis of the crystallization patterns. Crystallization with milk as additive is applied following changes in milk after different processing treatments. When an aqueous cupric chloride dihydrate solution crystallizes in the presence of milk as additive, specific patterns emerge, which can be evaluated by image analysis. Milk samples were heated and homogenized in a pilot plant and characterized by various parameters. Furthermore, milk samples from the market were tested. Patterns from milk after heat treatment and homogenization are significantly different from those derived from untreated milk. The experiments could be reproduced for other milk samples, on different days and in another laboratory.

The market for processed food is rapidly growing. The industry needs methods for “processing with care” leading to high quality products in order to meet consumers’ expectations. Processing influences the quality of the finished product through various factors. In carrot baby food, these are the raw material, the pre-processing and storage treatments as well as the processing conditions. In this study, a quality assessment was performed on baby food made from different pre-processed raw materials. The experiments were carried out under industrial conditions using fresh, frozen and stored organic carrots as raw material. Statistically significant differences were found for sensory attributes among the three autoclaved puree samples (e.g. overall odour F = 90.72, p

The aim of this review is to provide an update on factors contributing to quality of carrots, with special focus on the role of pre- and postharvest factors and processing. The genetic factor shows the highest impact on quality variables in carrots, causing a 7–11-fold difference between varieties in content of terpenes, β-carotene, magnesium, iron and phenolics as well as a 1–4-fold difference in falcarindiol, bitter taste and sweet taste. Climate-related factors may cause a difference of up to 20-fold for terpenes, 82% for total sugars and 30–40% for β-carotene, sweet taste and bitter taste. Organic farming in comparison with conventional farming has shown 70% higher levels for magnesium and 10% for iron. Low nitrogen fertilisation level may cause up to 100% increase in terpene content, minor increase in dry matter (+4 to +6%) and magnesium (+8%) and reduction in β-carotene content (−8 to −11%). Retail storage at room temperature causes the highest reduction in β-carotene (−70%) and ascorbic acid (−70%). Heat processing by boiling reduces shear force (−300 to −1000%) and crispiness (−67%) as well as content of phenolics (−150%), terpenes (−85%) and total carotenes (−20%) and increases the risk of furan accumulation. Sensory and chemical quality parameters of carrots are determined mainly by genetic and climate-related factors and to a minor extent by cultivation method. Retail temperature and storage atmosphere as well as heating procedure in processing have the highest impact in quality reduction. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

International audience; This review summarises existing evidence on the impact of organic food on human health. It compares organic vs. conventional food production with respect to parameters important to human health and discusses the potential impact of organic management practices with an emphasis on EU conditions. Organic food consumption may reduce the risk of allergic disease and of overweight and obesity, but the evidence is not conclusive due to likely residual confounding, as consumers of organic food tend to have healthier lifestyles overall. However, animal experiments suggest that identically composed feed from organic or conventional production impacts in different ways on growth and development. In organic agriculture, the use of pesticides is restricted, while residues in conventional fruits and vegetables constitute the main source of human pesticide exposures. Epidemiological studies have reported adverse effects of certain pesticides on children's cognitive development at current levels of exposure, but these data have so far not been applied in formal risk assessments of individual pesticides. Differences in the composition between organic and conventional crops are limited, such as a modestly higher content of phenolic compounds in organic fruit and vegetables, and likely also a lower content of cadmium in organic cereal crops. Organic dairy products, and perhaps also meats, have a higher content of omega-3 fatty acids compared to conventional products. However, these differences are likely of marginal nutritional significance. Of greater concern is the prevalent use of antibiotics in conventional animal production as a key driver of antibiotic resistance in society; antibiotic use is less intensive in organic production. Overall, this review emphasises several documented and likely human health benefits associated with organic food production, and application of such production methods is likely to be beneficial within conventional agriculture, e.g., in integrated pest management.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of using front face fluorescence (FFF) to monitor the impact of industrial process on carrot baby food, and to calibrate their content in neoformed compounds (NFC). Chromatographically measured NFC included furosine, carboxymethyllysine, and furan. The effect of using different raw material, fresh carrots, frozen cubes or pasteurized puree on NFC content in the resultant sterilized puree was also tested. Bidimensional FFF spectra acquired on the samples were decomposed using multiway PARAFAC model and used to predict the chromatographically measured NFC. FFF PARAFAC sample intensities systematically evolved with successive industrial process steps. The levels of NFC increased the most during heat treatment operations. Frozen cubes resulted in the purees with the lowest content in NFC, compared to fresh or pasteurized carrot cubes. Satisfactory calibration models (R2 > 0.94) of the chromatographically measured NFC were obtained using FFF PARAFAC sample intensities as predictors. The multivariate regression models root mean square of cross validation for furosine, carboxymethyllysine, and furan were 3.98 mg/kg, 1.38 mg/kg and 5.23 µg/kg, respectively. From these first results we conclude that FFF is a promising tool to monitor fast and easily vegetable processing in a quality control approach.

BACKGROUND: There is a need to advance the study of the effects of organic and conventional systems on product quality. In particular, little is known about the importance of different farming practices concerning nutrient cycling and the use of external inputs within organic farming for the quality characteristics of the products. In this study the quality characteristics of carrot grown under different farming practices (conventional and three organic cropping systems) over a two-year period were analysed with the aim of discriminating between organic and conventional and investigating the effect of different organic farming practices concerning nutrient recycling and use of external nutrient input. RESULTS: All quality characteristics measured did not give a clear differentiation between the carrots from the different growing systems, even when multivariate statistical evaluation (principal component analysis) was applied, because of the significance of the differences between the field replicates within each management system and of the seasonality. Only some tendencies were emphasised over the two years that could be related to the fertilisation practices and the external inputs used. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that it was not possible to discriminate over the years between carrots from conventional and different organic cropping systems even though controlled conditions and a multi-method approach of analysis were adopted. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

As a contribution to the debate on the comparison of nutritional quality between conventional versus organic products, the present study would like to provide new results on this issue specifically on dairy products by integrating the last 3 years’ studies using a meta-analysis approach with Hedges’ d effect size method. The current meta-analysis shows that organic dairy products contain significantly higher protein, ALA, total omega-3 fatty acid, cis-9,trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid, trans-11 vaccenic acid, eicosapentanoic acid, and docosapentanoic acid than those of conventional types, with cumulative effect size (±95% confidence interval) of 0.56 ± 0.24, 1.74 ± 0.16, 0.84 ± 0.14, 0.68 ± 0.13, 0.51 ± 0.16, 0.42 ± 0.23, and 0.71 ± 0.3, respectively. It is also observed that organic dairy products have significantly (P < 0.001) higher omega-3 to -6 ratio (0.42 vs. 0.23) and � 9-desaturase index (0.28 vs. 0.27) than the conventional types. The current regulation on organic farming indeed drives organic farms to production of organic dairy products with different nutritional qualities from conventional ones. The differences in feeding regime between conventional and organic dairy production is suspected as the reason behind this evidence. Further identical meta-analysis may be best applicable for summarizing a comparison between conventional and organic foodstuffs for other aspects and food categories. c � 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

Consumers buy organic food because they believe in the high quality of the product. Furthermore, the EU legal regulatory framework for organic food and farming defines high quality of the products as an important goal of production. A major challenge is the need to define food quality concepts and methods for determination. A background is described which allows embedding of the quality definitions as well as evaluation methods into a conceptual framework connected to the vision and mission of organic agriculture and food production. Organic food quality is defined through specific aspects and criteria. For evaluation each criterion has to be described by indicators. The determination of indicators should be through parameters, where parameters are described by methods. Conversely, the conceptual framework is described according to underlying principles and starting definitions are given, but further work has do be done on the detailed scientific description of the indicators. Furthermore, parameters have to be defined for the evaluation of suitability of these indicators for organic food production.

Organic and conventional winter wheat farm pair grain samples were tested with the copper chloride crystallisation method and submitted to computerised image analyses followed by pattern recognition and classification with multivariate statistical tools. Appropriate discriminant analyses (DA) models were established. Depending on the analysed region of interest up to 100% of ''unknown'' samples could be correctly predicted using the DA models.

The overall structure of the crystallization results of dihydrate cupric chloride with additives in a petri dish is affected by the duration between the beginning of the evaporation and the start of the crystallization. Experiments done with polyvinylpyrrolidone and freeze-dried carrot as additive are compared with those of the additive free case. The dependency of dewetting on the dihydrate cupric chloride amount is discussed in terms of depletion of the solution and the surface tension properties of the system. The possible influence of the depletion is depending on the moment the crystallization starts. This is defined by the size of the evaporated area on the dish.

The growing organic market demands methods which can describe food quality within the organic system. With the Steigbild technique, patterns are produced on thin-layer chromatographic paper and evaluated as a fingerprint of the sample as a whole. To be applied in routine analysis the method has to be standardized. After the laboratory process was documented and a standardized visual pattern evaluation method was developed and applied, the method was standardized for selected carrot and wheat samples, which is described here. For standardization, several factors of influence were tested and the reproducibility between three different laboratories in the EU was investigated. The method is able to differentiate patterns from samples from different farming treatments and processing steps. Farm pairs of organic and conventional farm management can be distinguished as statistically significant and classified according to the farming system (carrots, wheat). This represents a significant step forward be...

The concept of structure and the term ‘structure’ are widely used in manifold applications and disciplines in the conventional and organic sector of food research. This literature survey focuses on the tension charged field of food quality. After the identification of very differing meanings and contrasting attributes of the concept of structure in the two traditions, the usage and interpretation of the term were examined and explained against the background of underlying paradigms and in the context of application. Processes in the agricultural production and food processing were among others directed and controlled on the basis of different interpretations of the term ‘structure’. This could have severe consequences for the quality and safety of food. In the organic tradition the concepts of wholefood nutrition which are referring to the term ‘structure’ are not accomplished but seem to uphold core aspects of food quality and safety which have been lost in current mainstream concepts. Structure...

The growing organic market demands methods which can describe food quality within the organic system (authentication). Several studies indicate that methods, such as the biocrystallization method, are suitable for this question. More or less reproducible crystallization patterns emerge when an aqueous dihydrate cupric chloride solution with plant extract is crystallized on a glass dish. The emerging patterns are characteristic of sample material. To be applied in routine analysis for example for authentication of organic products, the biocrystallization method has to be standardized. After the laboratory process was documented and a computerized pattern evaluation tool was further developed and applied, the method was standardized for selected carrot samples, which is described here. For standardization, several factors of influence were tested and the reproducibility between three different laboratories in the EU was investigated. The method is able to differentiate patterns from samples from di...

The regulation of organic production and processing focuses on process-related quality concepts rather than product oriented quality management. Therefore no standards exist that define the product oriented quality aspects of organic food. Methods such as the biocrystallization method seem to be able to classify organic products. Methods that are applied must reflect the history of the sample in growth and processing. These methods can be applied either for authentication or in relation to technical aspects (storage, processing steps) as well as human health. Each quality determination needs a question which will be answered from the laboratory method. The question needs to be specific enough and the method needs validation. Validation means testing if the method can answer the question or not. The process of validation is defined for analytical methods (single compound determination) in international norms such as the ISO 17025 for testing laboratories. The article describes how validation proce...

The market for organic produce is growing since consumers lost confidence in conventional food products in view of food scandals in the EU. There is thus an urgent need for suitable methods that can be used to demonstrate the authenticity of organic produce. In addition, consumers expect health benefits from organic products. For that the question of secondary plant compounds has been intensively discussed. Whether produce from organic farming results in higher content of health-related substances has been examined in several studies but no clear evidence was found. Secondary plant compounds may also be used in authentication of organic products. In this literature review various factors which may influence the content of carotenoids and polyphenols as two important classes of secondary metabolites in carrots are evaluated. For polyphenols in carrots there is a lack of studies apart from the influence of the variety. It has been shown that variety and environmental factors, like climate and soil,...

The biocrystallization method has been used as a holistic method for evaluating food samples since the 1930s and has, as recent reviews have concluded, been successful in discriminating farming systems in several studies. However, it is noted that a standardization and validation for more objective means of evaluation of biocrystallization pictures and a clearly defined and communicable language, as well as possibilities for verification, are still lacking. During the years 2002–2006 a project for standardizing and validating the visual evaluation of these biocrystallizations took place, performed by a group consisting of three European research institutes. As no pre-set methodology nor norms for the visual evaluation existed, the choice was made to work according to existing norms on sensory analysis and to adapt these to the visual evaluation. The main norm, ISO-Norm 11035, for establishing sensory profiles was adapted towards these pictures. A panel was formed, mainly morphological descriptors...

The biocrystallization method has been standardized for plant products. The standardized biocrystallization method is tested on milk and butter samples from controlled feeding trials. When computerized image analysis is applied, samples from different origins (feeding regimes) can be distinguished significantly.

Organic production and consumption provide a delineated food system that can be explored for its potential contribution to sustainable diets. While organic agriculture improves the sustainability performance on the production side, critical reflections are made on how organic consumption patterns, understood as the practice of people consuming significant amounts of organic produce, may also be taken as an example for sustainable food consumption. The consumption patterns of regular organic consumers seem to be close to the sustainable diet concept of FAO. Certain organic-related measures might therefore be useful in the sustainability assessment of diets, e.g., organic production and organic consumption. Since diets play a central role in shaping food systems and food systems shape diets, the role of organic consumption emerges as an essential topic to be addressed. This role may be based on four important organic achievements: organic agriculture and food production has a definition, well-established principles, public standards, and useful metrics. By 2015, data for organic production and consumption are recorded annually from more than 160 countries, and regulations are in force in more than 80 countries or regions. The organic food system puts the land (agri-cultura) back into the diet; it is the land from which the diet in toto is shaped. Therefore, the organic food system provides essential components of a sustainable diet.

After herbivore attack, plants launch a suite of direct and indirect defense responses that must be coordinated if plants are to realize a fitness benefit from these responses. Here we characterize the volatile emissions in the native tobacco plant, Nicotiana attenuata Torr. ex Wats., that are elicited by tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta L.) attack and are known to function as attractants for parasitoids. To provide the first ecophysiological comparison of examples of both types of defense in the same species, we characterize the elicitation and signaling mechanisms, the resources required, and the potential costs and benefits of the volatile release and compare these traits with those of the well-described induced direct defense in this species, nicotine production. The release of (E)-β-ocimene, cis-α-bergamotene and linalool is dramatically induced within 24 h by application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA), caterpillar feeding, and the treatment of mechanical wounds with larval oral secretions (OS), but not by mechanical damage alone. Plants from different geographic locations produce volatile blends that differ in composition. The most consistently released component from all genotypes, cis-α-berga-motene, is positively related to the amount of MeJA and the level of wounding if OS are applied to the wounds. The volatile release is strongly light dependent, dropping to undetectable quantities during dark periods, even when temperatures are elevated to match those of the light period. Inhibitors of wound-induced jasmonate accumulation (salicylates and auxins), which are known to inhibit wound-induced nicotine production, do not inhibit the release of volatiles. By individually inducing different leaf positions with OS and, on other plants, excising them after induction, we demonstrate that the emission is largely a systemic, whole-plant response, which is maximally triggered when the second fully expanded leaf is induced. We conclude that while both are whole-plant, systemic responses that utilize recently acquired resources for their production and are activated by the jasmonate cascade, the elicitation of the volatile release exhibits greater tissue sensitivity and utilizes additional signaling components than does nicotine production. In contrast to the large investment of fitness-limiting resources required for induced nicotine production or the resources used in benzyl acetone release from flowers for pollinator attraction, the resource requirements for the volatile release are minor. Hence the argument that the volatile release incurs comparatively large physiological costs cannot be supported in this system.

Isoprene (C5H8) is one of the most important biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. To calculate the impact of isoprene on atmospheric processes models have been developed that describe the isoprene release from plants. Measurements of this release require techniques for a fast, sensitive, on-line isoprene detection. Photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy is applied here for the first time to monitor biogenic isoprene emissions. A CO overtone PA spectrometer is used for the detection, probing the C-H stretching vibrations in the 3 to 4 μm range. This allows us to detect isoprene down to a few ppb with a time resolution of one minute in a continuous gas flow. The number of laser lines can be adjusted to meet the requirements of the respective experiment in terms of time resolution and selectivity against other possibly interfering VOCs. This results in a highly versatile instrument for the isoprene detection in biological experiments. Furthermore, the infrared fingerprint offers the potential to detect different isoprene isotopomers simultaneously, thus allowing us to carry out on-line labelling experiments. The new apparatus was used to study the light dependence of isoprene emission from Eucalyptus globulus. The results demonstrate, that the detector system is a promising tool for the study of plant gas emissions. It allows the validation of existing emission models which are important for atmospheric processes.

Plants can use different carbon sources for the biosynthesis of individual C10-volatiles. Feeding 13 CO 2 to Fagus sylvatica plants, we monitored the incorporation of 13 C into the emitted compounds by mass spectrometry. By analyzing the rate and the distribution of labelling in the different fragments of the released compounds, we distinguished the instant emission within minutes after CO2 assimilation from the delayed emission from storage compartments. The experiments provide evidence that the carbon skeleton of the emitted monoterpenes derived from two different carbon sources and that the contribution of the sources can be completely different for individual monoterpenes.

Organic food quality determination needs multi-dimensional evaluation tools. The main focus is on the authentication as an analytical verification of the certification process. New fingerprinting approaches such as ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, direct analysis in real time-high-resolution mass spectrometry as well as crystallization with and without the presence of additives seem to be promising methods in terms of time of analysis and detecting organic system-related parameters. For further methodological development, a system approach is recommended, which also takes into account food structure aspects. Furthermore, the authentication of processed organic samples needs more consciousness, hence most of organic food is complex and processed.

In 2007 EU Regulation (EC) 834/2007 introduced principles and criteria for organic food processing. These regulations have been analysed and discussed in several scientific publications and research project reports. Recently, organic food quality was described by principles, aspects and criteria. These principles from organic agriculture were verified and adapted for organic food processing. Different levels for evaluation were suggested. In another document, underlying paradigms and consumer perception of organic food were reviewed against functional food, resulting in identifying integral product identity as the underlying paradigm and a holistic quality view connected to naturalness as consumers' perception of organic food quality. In a European study, the quality concept was applied to the organic food chain, resulting in a problem, namely that clear principles and related criteria were missing to evaluate processing methods. Therefore the goal of this paper is to describe and discuss the topic of organic food processing to make it operational. A conceptual background for organic food processing is given by verifying the underlying paradigms and principles of organic farming and organic food as well as on organic processing. The proposed definition connects organic processing to related systems such as minimal, sustainable and careful, gentle processing, and describes clear principles and related criteria. Based on food examples, such as milk with different heat treatments, the concept and definitions were verified. Organic processing can be defined by clear paradigms and principles and evaluated according criteria from a multidimensional approach. Further work has to be done on developing indicators and parameters for assessment of organic food quality.

The aim of this review is to provide an update on factors contributing to quality of carrots, with special focus on the role of pre- and postharvest factors and processing. The genetic factor shows the highest impact on quality variables in carrots, causing a 7-11-fold difference between varieties in content of terpenes, β-carotene, magnesium, iron and phenolics as well as a 1-4-fold difference in falcarindiol, bitter taste and sweet taste. Climate-related factors may cause a difference of up to 20-fold for terpenes, 82% for total sugars and 30-40% for β-carotene, sweet taste and bitter taste. Organic farming in comparison with conventional farming has shown 70% higher levels for magnesium and 10% for iron. Low nitrogen fertilisation level may cause up to 100% increase in terpene content, minor increase in dry matter (+4 to +6%) and magnesium (+8%) and reduction in β-carotene content (-8 to -11%). Retail storage at room temperature causes the highest reduction in β-carotene (-70%) and ascorbic acid (-70%). Heat processing by boiling reduces shear force (-300 to -1000%) and crispiness (-67%) as well as content of phenolics (-150%), terpenes (-85%) and total carotenes (-20%) and increases the risk of furan accumulation. Sensory and chemical quality parameters of carrots are determined mainly by genetic and climate-related factors and to a minor extent by cultivation method. Retail temperature and storage atmosphere as well as heating procedure in processing have the highest impact in quality reduction.

Consumers buy organic food because they believe in the high quality of the product. Furthermore, the EU legal regulatory framework for organic food and farming defines high quality of the products as an important goal of production. A major challenge is the need to define food quality concepts and methods for determination. A background is described which allows embedding of the quality definitions as well as evaluation methods into a conceptual framework connected to the vision and mission of organic agriculture and food production. Organic food quality is defined through specific aspects and criteria. For evaluation each criterion has to be described by indicators. The determination of indicators should be through parameters, where parameters are described by methods. Conversely, the conceptual framework is described according to underlying principles and starting definitions are given, but further work has do be done on the detailed scientific description of the indicators. Furthermore, parameters have to be defined for the evaluation of suitability of these indicators for organic food production.

There is a need to advance the study of the effects of organic and conventional systems on product quality. In particular, little is known about the importance of different farming practices concerning nutrient cycling and the use of external inputs within organic farming for the quality characteristics of the products. In this study the quality characteristics of carrot grown under different farming practices (conventional and three organic cropping systems) over a two-year period were analysed with the aim of discriminating between organic and conventional and investigating the effect of different organic farming practices concerning nutrient recycling and use of external nutrient input.All quality characteristics measured did not give a clear differentiation between the carrots from the different growing systems, even when multivariate statistical evaluation (principal component analysis) was applied, because of the significance of the differences between the field replicates within each management system and of the seasonality. Only some tendencies were emphasised over the two years that could be related to the fertilisation practices and the external inputs used.The results indicated that it was not possible to discriminate over the years between carrots from conventional and different organic cropping systems even though controlled conditions and a multi-method approach of analysis were adopted.

The organic market is growing rapidly. This is because customers expect organic food to be authentic and healthy. For plant products the awareness of pesticide residues is one main point in customers' decisions for organic food, but in terms of secondary plant compounds, antioxidants are also expected benefits of organically produced foods. For wheat the xanthophylls are one group of those secondary plant compounds. There are no recent studies about the influence of cultivation practices on the xanthophyll content. This study examined the influence of the farming system on the content of lutein and zeaxanthin. To evaluate this, samples of a long-term field trial were examined by comparing conventional (nonorganic) and organic produce grown under controlled conditions. Additionally, samples were examined from farm pairs located in Germany. Each of the pairs consisted of one organically and one conventionally producing farm, located in local neighborhood and cultivating the same wheat variety. To summarize, the influence of the farming system is very small. The differences are mainly caused by different kernel sizes (thousand-kernel weight), which are found to be correlated to the lutein content.