IUFoST Food 101 – Stories About Food by Dr. Donald Mercer

More than 100 reader-friendly articles by Dr. Don Mercer, University of Guelph, Canada, are available online. Created as one of IUFoST’s food education initiatives, they present important information in a way that helps consumers to make informed choices and avoid food-related health issues, amongst other things. Examples of the range of articles available include The Origin of the Metric System; Syneresis: A big word for an annoying problem; Food Drying-‘DIY’; and Food Spoilage-You know its spoiled when…

  1. Food Drying – ‘DIY’
  2. Solar Drying – Let the Dryer Beware
  3. Food Spoilage – You know its spoiled when…
  4. Turkey Cooking – Don’t be a “Turkey” When It Comes to Food Safety
  5. Cranberries – A Business That Likes to Be “In the Red”
  6. Coffee Beans – The Long Journey of a Little Bean
  7. Tea – It’s All in the Leaves
  8. Maple Syrup – Kemptville Campus Agro-Forestry Centre: A Modern Approach to an Old Tradition
  9. Mangoes in Malawi
  10. Baby Carrots – The “Jurassic Park” Approach in Action
  11. Ancient Food – Looking Back… Way Back!
  12. Backyard Nutrition – Taste and Nutrition, Right in Your Own Backyard
  13. The Marvels of Cinnamon
  14. The Power of Doubling
  15. Probiotics – Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Nutraceuticals
  16. Food Additives – “Dad, what’s sodium bicker-bonnet?”
  17. Intro to Food Drying – Planning ahead for summer
  18. Decaffeination – An interesting history
  19. Power Outages – A really “cool” idea
  20. Jam Making – Why all the sugar?
  21. Adding some Sparkle and Glow to your life
  22. Fats 1
  23. Fats 2
  24. Sugar in the Salt
  25. Dandelions
  26. Expiry Dates
  27. Super Slurpers
  28. Modifying the Atmosphere for Quality
  29. Looking for Sweetness Without the Calories
  30. A Look at “Malnutrition Matters”
  31. Osmosis – Nature’s Water Pump
  32. Salt is Salt – Or Is It?
  33. The Challenge of Drying Berries
  34. Potato Battery
  35. E-coli Article
  36. Blanching
  37. Ice Crystals
  38. Global Community
  39. Canning Tomatoes
  40. Canning
  41. Aspectic Packaging
  42. Popcorn
  43. Hurdle Technology in Food Processing
  44. Tea Stains
  45. Turning up the heat on peppers
  46. Solvent Extraction
  47. A Tanzanian Snapshot
  48. Cross-Contamination
  49. Water in Tanzania
  50. Time and Temperature
  51. Floating Ice
  52. Vitamin C
  53. Freeze Drying
  54. The Origin of the Metric System
  55. Six Elephants on a Dime!
  56. Syneresis: A big word for an annoying problem
  57. An Impressive Natural Defense Mechanism
  58. Processing Food Using an Electric Current
  59. Some Serious Action at the Molecular Level
  60. Happy PI Day
  61. The Dangers of Carbon Monoxide-Part 1
  62. The Dangers of Carbon Monoxide-Part 2
  63. Unwelcome Picnic Visitors
  64. Ice Crystal Formation
  65. The Benefits of Rooibos Tea
  66. The Complexities of Bread Staling
  67. Proving That Blanching Works
  68. Food Processing is Not a Four-Letter Word
  69. Food Supplies and the World Population
  70. What is An Emulsifier
  71. Mango Processing Workshops
  72. Climacteric Ripening
  73. Extruded Snacks
  74. Some Casual Observations About Pressure
  75. Some Cereal Really is Shot from Guns
  76. A Look at Pasteurization Methods
  77. Strange Things Happening in the Freezer
  78. Taking a Look at How Detergents Work
  79. Oh That Ugly Soap Scum
  80. Water Softening-101
  81. Food Fraud and Adulteration
  82. Candy Making-Starch Molding
  83. Pectin Making
  84. Relative Humidity
  85. Moisture Loss in Storage
  86. Chocolate Bloom
  87. Pineapple Tenderizer
  88. Sulphur Smell
  89. Washing Food
  90. Acronyms
  91. Water Bottles
  92. e on Package Weights
  93. Sun-Burned Potatoes
  94. Coffee Package Button
  95. Cis Trans Satd and Unsatd
  96. Safety and Quality
  97. Bath Bombs and Alka Seltzer
  98. Milk Homogenization
  99. Coir
  100. Hard Ice Cream Coating
  101. Freezer Temperatures
  102. Frozen Lettuce
  103. Sugar Substitutes in Cooking
  104. Re-using Plastic Bottles
  105. Re-using Boxboard
  106. Orbitz Beverages
  107. Calcium Precipitation

© IUFoST 2021