The proposed themes for the three-day workshop are described below, along with examples of emerging research topics. A steering committee comprising 15 members from academia, industry, and government agencies will discuss, modify, and/or add new themes before we solicit white papers for presentation at the workshop.
Sanitation technologies. Sanitation is critical for producing safe, high-quality food, but new technologies are needed to reduce the considerable amounts of water and energy required by current sanitation methods, and to mitigate their significant waste streams. These current methods also lead to production downtime, which increases industry costs and the cost of food for consumers. Some examples of research topics to address these challenges include:
- Novel and functional nanomaterial surfaces to minimize fouling of food contact surfaces and foster their hostility to pathogens
- Innovative electric and magnetic fields to detach microorganisms from food-contact surfaces
- Focused electrostatic spraying of antimicrobials on food and equipment surfaces to reduce chemical and water use while enhancing food safety and quality
- Inexpensive, low-cost sensors to automate sanitation, and monitor quality and safety
- Wireless transmission of sensor data for real-time acquisition and analytics
- Big data analytics to process and use sensor data
Waste reduction technologies. Reducing waste in the food and bioprocessing industries is key to reducing water and energy use and improving sustainability. Some examples of research topics include:
- Innovation in re-use of waste, such as extracting bioactive compounds from waste streams to be incorporated as natural ingredients for formulating healthy foods
- Water recovery and reconstitution in current processes to reduce or eliminate waste streams using risk assessment and life cycle analyses
- Innovative waste-to-energy concepts ranging from microbial fuel cells to novel anaerobic digestion systems
Process design and modeling. Innovative process design and modeling are needed for green processes that produce value-added, convenient, nutritious, and safe food. Some examples include:
- Multiphysics modeling for design of “green” processes, both non-thermal and novel thermal, using a systems approach
- Multi-scale modeling to enhance understanding of process interactions with food
- Developing sustainability metrics incorporating resource utilization and food quality and safety in order to quantify the impacts of transformative technologies developed
Socioeconomic behavioral analysis to mitigate barriers for technology adoption. The food industry tends to be conservative in adopting new technologies for reasons including low profit margins, regulatory requirements, decentralized decision-making, and consumer perceptions. For instance, while irradiation is an effective, proven method to increase food safety without generation of waste streams, consumer resistance to food irradiation has so far prevented the success of this technology. Another example would be plant operators’ resistance to adopting new technologies due to space limitations and the production downtime that results from the upgrade process. Understanding the socioeconomic factors that drive the behavior of plant personnel and consumers is critical for successful transfer of technologies from the laboratory to industry. Examples of potential topic areas in this theme include:
- Innovative economic methodological frameworks to examine the determinants of market acceptance and success of new technologies, their economic impacts, and the optimal regulatory response to innovations
- Application of behavioral and experimental economics methods to study attitudes toward transformative food technologies and estimate their valuation under different information structures
- Development and application of theoretical frameworks to study risk perception and decision-making at the facility level related to the application of transformational food technologies
While these will be the central topics and the primary focus of the themes, the discussions will certainly be within the context of the interconnected relationships between Food, Energy, and Water
