'We are not food meddlers'

Farmer Jimmy Doherty asks what really goes into supermarket food

Professor Bob Rastall, head of Food and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Reading, is aware that food scientists are seen as 'meddlers'.

He and his colleagues acted as advisors on the food science behind the experiments in the BBC series, Jimmy's Food Factory.

Here he explains why the high demand for food scientists can help improve the world's health.

Jimmy's Food Factory starts on Wednesday 21 October 2009.

How do we safely feed 60 million people?

"Food scientists have, from time to time, been labelled as 'meddlers' in food, of creating 'unnatural foods' that are the antithesis of the 'grow your own' movement. In short, the bad boys of food!

Fish fingers are one of the nation's favourite processed foods

"Yet, the reality of the work of food scientists and technologists in today's world could not be farther from the truth, which may explain why we are in demand.

"The health and well-being of the nation depends on the ready availability of good quality food.

"How to feed 60 million people and ensure the safety and quality of the food products that they eat? That's partly the work of the food scientist.

"How does the food we eat impact on our health, for better or worse? That's our work too.

"How can food companies develop new products linked to optimal nutrition?

"And perhaps, most importantly, who is advising the Government about food security and the role that the UK will have to play in the future security and sustainability of the world's food supply?

From Appert to Birdseye

"Traditionally, food processing has been largely concerned with preserving the safety and nutritious properties of food whilst allowing distribution to consumers.

"Canning was, for instance developed by Nicholas Appert during the Napoleonic wars as a means of preserving food for the French Army.

Jimmy Doherty with some genetically modified purple tomatoes

"He used glass jars which were replaced by metal cans in early canning processes such as that of Donkin Hall and Gamble in Bermondsey.

"Canned products were originally for the army and navy but consumer products rapidly followed.

"Other significant developments include the development of the quick-freezing process in 1932 by Clarence Birdseye which laid the foundation of the frozen food industry.

Processed food isn't just ready meals

"To some people the terms 'food processing' and 'processed food' are synonymous with ready meals laden with fat and salt. This is, however, a very misleading picture of food processing.

"At its simplest, the harvest, packing, transport and storage of fresh produce is a food process.

"The processed food industry currently covers many sectors such as dairy (fresh milk, UHT milk, yoghurts, ice cream), baking (sliced bread, bread rolls, cakes, home bake products, biscuits), cereals (breakfast cereal products, mueslis, cereal bars), snack foods (crisps and snacks, nuts), confectionary (chocolate and sweets), eggs, prepared vegetables (washed and cut vegetables, mixed salad leaves in bags), canned products, frozen foods, tea and coffee, soft drinks, wine and beer and fresh produce (vegetables, meat and fish).

"In short, the food that makes up a vast proportion of our weekly shop.

In sickness and in health

Reading University food processing pilot plant

"While there is an increasing demand for convenience foods such as ready meals and bags of salad to fit in with our busy lives, we are all more aware of the risks of too high consumption of salt and saturated and trans fats.

"Food scientists are needed to find that difficult balance between reformulating food products to reduce levels of salt, saturated fats and trans fats while ensuring their functional roles within food products are not lost.

"Trans fats, for instance, play an important role in maintaining an acceptable texture in food products, but in recent years the food industry in Europe has reduced the content of trans fats in foods due to concerns about the nutritional effects of trans fats in the diet.

"Alternative formulations, which include some increases in saturated fat content and alternative processing, are needed to achieve the desired texture.

"Obesity is an increasing problem for society affecting nearly a quarter of adults and a fifth of children. Research is giving us increased understanding of how food products impact on satiety and the physiology of the gut, hopefully allowing the formulation of food products with reduced potential for contributing to obesity."