91吃瓜网

While we haven鈥檛 yet created聽Charlie and the Chocolate聽Factory鈥檚 chewing gum meal,聽91吃瓜网 scientists, researchers,聽and food and beverage service聽aficionados are exploring聽innovations related to what聽and how we eat. From finding聽solutions to current and future聽problems to enhancing the聽restaurant experience, here聽are a few areas experts are聽investigating.

Detecting Food Fraud

From meats to grains and聽honey, fillers can cause聽people to pay more for聽lower quality food, violate聽religious restrictions on聽diet and pose problems for聽those with allergies. Current聽tests to detect adulterated聽foods that are effective are聽expensive and complicated,聽while cheaper tests aren鈥檛 as聽accurate. Associate Professor聽of Chemistry Xiaohu Xia is聽leading a team to develop聽a cost-effective strip test, similar to an聽at home pregnancy test, that鈥檚 more聽sensitive than others.

To do this, the researcher and his team聽will update existing detection technology,聽known as a colorimetric lateral flow聽assay, which uses gold nanoparticles to聽detect meat proteins. They will create a聽new metallic coating, made of platinum,聽palladium 鈥� which tests 100 times more聽effective than current tests 鈥� or iridium,聽that will go around the gold nanoparticles聽to increase their sensitivity.聽鈥淚t would be a test inspectors, as well聽as consumers, could use,鈥� Xia says.

Augmenting Food Service

As everyday life becomes increasingly聽interwoven with technology, some聽restaurants are >implementing robots and聽artificial intelligence into food service.聽Rosen College of Hospitality Management聽Assistant Professor Arthur Huang, who聽has a background in engineering and聽tourism research, teaches a section on聽this topic. From chatbots and AI scanners聽that can provide suggestions on what to聽order to robots that can prepare food and聽cocktails and serve dishes right to your聽table, Huang鈥檚 lessons cover the spectrum聽that potential technology can play in the聽dining experience. He also emphasizes聽automating some restaurant positions to聽evolve current responsibilities, such as a聽chef who can spend more聽time creating and testing聽new dishes.

鈥淩estaurant managers聽should ensure service聽robots have a nice image,聽have a positive attitude,聽and a sense of safety so聽that customers can clearly聽perceive their benefits and聽value, which has a positive聽influence on satisfaction聽and future use intentions,鈥澛燞uang says.

Growing Food in Space

Chemistry alum Kathleen聽Loftin 鈥�89 鈥�00MS 鈥�09PhD loves to聽grow produce, like papayas, in her home聽garden, but the Kennedy Space Center聽chief technologist is also focused聽on another horticulture method 鈥斅�farming in space. As NASA prepares for聽sustainable life and work in deep space,聽it must accelerate its research on in-situ聽resource utilization, which involves聽generating products in space with聽local materials. Working with crops like聽red lettuce, Swiss chard, radishes and snow聽peas, Loftin leads a team investigating how聽to overcome challenges such as high carbon聽dioxide levels and radiation to grow plants聽on lunar and Martian surfaces.

鈥�Spaceflight research challenges us to聽learn to make optimal use of our resources聽鈥� power, water, food and air 鈥� and this is聽completely applicable to our challenges on聽Earth to maintain our precious resources,鈥澛燣oftin says.

Delivering Cost-effective Food

Apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash聽have made delivery service even more聽convenient, with delivery sales estimated聽to rise an annual average of more than聽20% to $365 billion worldwide by 2030,聽according to a Forbes report. Keeping聽up with the demand for delivery, Rosen聽College of Hospitality Management聽Professor Kevin Murphy says ghost聽kitchens are on the rise. The concept is聽a physical space without a dining area,聽where food is made for delivery or pickup.聽With customer service and dining areas聽accounting for about 75% of an average聽restaurant鈥檚 square footage, according to聽Murphy, ghost kitchens can help business聽owners cut a significant cost. Not only do聽ghost kitchens require less space, they聽also don鈥檛 need to be located in expensive聽retail areas, which can contribute to聽savings on rent. This can聽help restaurants gain back聽some of the profit they聽may lose using third-party聽delivery services, but the聽benefits don鈥檛 just stop there.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have all that聽retail space, you can build a聽much larger kitchen that you聽can share that with [other聽restaurants to support]聽multiple concepts, all while聽using the same delivery聽service,鈥� Murphy says.聽鈥淕host kitchens are also a聽good way for restaurants to聽expand their reputation by聽running a second delivery-based聽restaurant out of the聽same space.鈥�