CPDO and CALC|UM welcomed Jeff Swada, Gale Strasburg, and Poulson Joseph to the Chemistry department for an overview of the food chemistry landscape. Additionally, they provided valuable insight about how the specific expertise of chemists can be beneficial for getting a job in food chemistry.
Jeff and Gale started off detailing their experiences with food chemistry at Michigan State in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition. Gale’s research focuses on molecular mechanisms responsible for muscle growth, development, and their relationship to inferior muscle meat quality. His talk, however, focused on earlier research into the chemistry of flavinoids. Structural-property studies of this class of antioxidants revealed that metal chelation was an important contributor to their antioxidant properties. Chemists abilities to understand and investigate the specific details of oxidation mechanism and synthesize a library of compounds are particularly valuable.
Jeff reiterated this sentiment – food chemistry is real chemistry, except that you get to eat what you make (some of his work is with chocolate). His research involves concepts of crystallization/materials characterization to understand tempering of chocolates (and how to make it faster) and also uses biochemical understanding to study how enzymatic activity can affect the nutritional profile of fruits.
Dr. Poulson Joseph is the Lead Scientist and Team Leader (Antioxidants/Meat & Poultry Applications) at Kalsec, Inc., Kalamazoo, MI. At Kalsec, he leads the meat, poultry, and seafood applications team with research emphasis on natural antioxidants as well as works closely with customers offering technical and analytical support related to natural antioxidants, natural colors, and spice & herb extract applications. Poulson was able to highlight some of the key trends in industry, where consumers are demanding less “chemical sounding” ingredients. Kalsec’s solution to this is natural extracts, whether it is antioxidants found in rosemary or the vibrant color of beets.
The speakers persuaded the audience that the food industry requires the expertise of chemists, and they followed up with suggestions on how we can get involved. Connecting with food chemistry through ACS is an easy start; if people
want to dive right in then the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) will be their best resource. The IFT is the biggest professional organization of food chemists, and the Great Lakes Chapter hosts events in the Michigan area. Many job opportunities in academia, industry, and government are available – download
the slides for more specific information. Poulson also shared a posting at Kalsec for a Lead Scientist-Hops for which chemistry PhDs are eligible.
Regardless of whether food chemistry is right for you, there are plenty of opportunities to engage students with chemistry content through food. Gale’s slides provide a list of recent J. Chem. Ed. articles with examples that we
could use to engage students with real life chemistry problems related to food.
Peter Goldberg, PhD Candidate, McNeil Lab