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Nature Food (2022)
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Computer-aided food engineering (CAFE) can reduce resource use in product, process and equipment development, improve time-to-market performance, and drive high-level innovation in food safety and quality. Yet, CAFE is challenged by the complexity and variability of food composition and structure, by the transformations food undergoes during processing and the limited availability of comprehensive mechanistic frameworks describing those transformations. Here we introduce frameworks to model food processes and predict physiochemical properties that will accelerate CAFE. We review how investments in open access, such as code sharing, and capacity-building through specialized courses could facilitate the use of CAFE in the transformation already underway in digital food systems.
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A.D. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grant no. 2018-67017-27827. B.N. and P.V. gratefully acknowledge financial support from KU Leuven (project C1 C16/16/002), the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) (project G090319N) and the European Commission (H-2020 project ENOUGH 101036588). The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of PepsiCo, Inc.
Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Ashim Datta
Biosystems Department – MeBioS Division, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Bart Nicolaï & Pieter Verboven
Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, UMR 0782 SayFood, Massy, France
Olivier Vitrac
Department of Food Engineering, Ankara University, Golbasi-Ankara, Turkey
Ferruh Erdogdu
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
Francesco Marra
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Portici, Italy
Fabrizio Sarghini
PepsiCo R&D, PepsiCo, Plano, TX, USA
Chris Koh
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A.D. conceptualized and spearheaded the overall process, including editorial integration of individual contributions. B.N. provided editorial integration, critical review and overall focus of the entire manuscript. P.V., B.N. and A.D. produced the diagrams. A.D., B.N., P.V., O.V., F.E., F.M., F.S. and C.K. contributed sections in their individual areas of expertise, and critically reviewed and commented on the overall manuscript. C.K. brought in industrial perspective throughout the document.
Correspondence to Ashim Datta.
C.K. is an employee of PepsiCo R&D. All other authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Food thanks Aberham Hailu Feyissa, Bruno Carciofi and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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