Researchers showcase their findings at Canada’s food university
On June 2, Guelph Talks Food was held at War Memorial Hall for the public. The event, co-sponsored by the Canadian Science Writers’ Association (CSWA) and University of Guelph’s Food Institute, showcased the variety of research being conducted across U of G’s colleges with the common theme of food.
Professors representing all seven of U of G’s colleges gave seven-minute talks about their exciting research in relation to food and human food systems.
The evening began with U of G’s vice-president of research, Malcolm Campbell, and Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security Evan Fraser, who is also a professor in the Department of Geography.
“We have to start from a position where we acknowledge that we have enough food, yet this food is so badly distributed that every night approximately 2 billion people go to bed either overweight or obese, while almost 800 million remain undernourished,” said Fraser. “The conclusion we have to start from is that the global food crisis is more how we produce food and what foods we consume than it is about producing enough.”
The first to take the stage was Professor Kate Parizeau from the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences. Her research team analyzes the quantity and quality of household waste, meaning that they open up compost bins to see what is being thrown out. Among her observations is a widespread lack of food literacy regarding how long food can be stored and eaten. This can be attributed to misconceptions about the significance of best before dates, which actually don’t have much to do with food safety. In reality, they’re an indication of when the manufacturer thinks the food will be at its peak quality. Best before dates were created for foods with a shelf life of 90 days or less, like fruits, vegetables, and dairy. However, they become obsolete when applied to processed foods like granola bars or cookies. This misuse leads to consumers desiring only the “freshest” foods, and throwing out foods lining the cupboards simply because of the best before date. Conversely, grocery store chains respond by continually replacing shelved foods before they can be bought.
“Environmentally, food waste represents a waste of all the inputs that went into growing that food in the first place,” said Parizeau. “We’re wasting the land, the water, the fuel, [and] the nutrients that went into that production cycle.”
Second was Professor Nigel Raine, the Rebanks Family Chair in Pollinator Conservation at the Ontario Agricultural College. Raine researches the impacts of pesticides on the behaviour of bees with a particular interest in pollinator-dependant crops. Raine has proven that even low levels of exposure to pesticides containing neonicotinoids, a chemical compound used as a seed treatment, affect bee behaviour ranging from pollinating technique to reproduction. Raine’s talk quickly debunked some myths about bees.
Of the 20,000 species of bees on the planet, almost 95 per cent are solitary, and the majority of those are ground-nesting. Raine cautioned that not only bee populations, but bee behaviour, are what affects farm productivity in pollinator-dependant crops.
“About one in three mouthfuls of food that we eat is dependent on the unmanaged pollination services of bees,” said Raine.
Next to speak was the Ontario Veterinary College’s Professor Shayan Sharif from the Department of Pathobiology. Sharif’s research primarily concerns the Avian Influenza and how it could affect the poultry industry as well as human health if an outbreak were to occur.
Professor Catherine Carstairs from the College of Arts’ Department of History introduced listeners to “food celebrities.” Why is it that we trust celebrities that are virtually untrained in dietary health to tell us how to eat? Carstairs cited post-World War II icons Gayelord Hauser and Adelle Davis, who provided North Americans with advice ranging from lifestyle choices to food safety in the wake of the Cold War.
Professor Mike von Massow from the College of Business and Economics spoke about how the food industry is shifting from a commodity market to one of specificity and consciousness. Some examples are the organic produce and meat industries, where consumers are increasingly concerned with the conditions in which food is produced.
“We, as North Americans, as Canadians, are thinking more about the food we eat. And we’re thinking differently about the food we eat,” said von Massow. “We are not in a commodity market anymore.”
From the College of Biological Sciences, Professor Bob Hanner’s research in molecular species recognition or “DNA barcoding,” invented at U of G, is part of the project to create a library cataloguing the molecular makeup of foods. In his research, Hanner and his team found that 25 per cent of fish fillets sampled from North American restaurant chains were mislabelled. Specifically, consumers were getting a fillet from a species of lesser economic value than what they ordered. This “food fraud,” as Hanner calls it, is systemic in global food trade. DNA barcoding will help to properly identify species within foods and what’s more, prevent the laundering of illegally harvested species.
Lastly, Professor Dan Gillis from the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, demonstrated how his background in mathematics and statistics is instrumental in the ongoing project Farm to Fork. According to his presentation, 16.4 per cent of Guelph households are food insecure. The original Farm to Fork project created a communication system that enabled people to connect with a local food bank like Hope House or the CSA Food Bank. The system included an email listing specific foods in demand on the day they usually shop, and a pledge to purchase said items on their grocery run. The new website, which will be launched this fall, will broaden its scope to be applicable anywhere in the world.
The research showcase proved first and foremost the true scope of ongoing food research at the University of Guelph.
“Too often we’ve taken complex problems and reduced them to technological solutions,” said Fraser. “It’s reductionist thinking. I really do think that bringing multiple perspectives has to be the way forward.”