From this came the idea for Burgundy blackcurrant producers and the CEPPARM¹, directed by Michel Krausz, to find new outlets for the regional production. "Vitagora helped us a lot in setting up the project and has been a great assistance for the last three years", insists Michel Krausz.

A project also involving company Frutarom and two Burgundian cooperatives, the Coteaux Bourguignons and Socofruit, DEFICASSIS has already reached its initial goals. "The food-readiness,in other words the authorisation to use blackcurrant buds in food products, were the key point of DEFICASSIS. Thanks to the significant work carried out by the laboratory Lara Spiral and the involvement of its president Michel Prost, we were able to obtain this point. This was the opening allowing us to go further," explains Michel Krausz.

With the involvement of INRA, the product, in a marketable form, has been characterised in terms of physical, chemical and taste profiles. "We are currently finalising descriptive product brochures and outlining a communication campaign that should be launched around next spring."  

In parallel, meetings are being set up with potential buyers. "All through this process, we are hoping to have the support of top chefs. For example, the Relais Bernard Loiseau (a Burgundy establishment with three Michelin stars) is already working with us," indicates the director of CEPPARM.

If to start with only one product is being launched, albeit in several forms, the partners of DEFICASSIS are planning in the long term to build a whole range of Burgundy spices. For the moment, an additional six months have been accorded by the project financers in order to finalise all the results of the project. "Overall, we are satisfied, even if the hardest step, carrying out the market launch of our product, still remains to be done," concludes Michel Krausz.

1) Economic committee of aromatic and medicinal plants - Comité Economique des Plantes à Parfum Aromatiques et Médicinales

Contact
Michel krausz
Email : michel-krausz@wanadoo.fr

Source : Agence JFD and Co

August 20, 2009 From July 24th to 30th, the 8^th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium, of which Vitagora was a partner, took place in Florence, Italy. Alongside the congress of the ECRO (European Chenoreception Research Organisation) and that of its American equivalent, Pangborn is one of the most important events in the area of sensory evaluation.

“If the ECRO and American congresses are essentially about basic research, the Pangborn Symposium is more oriented towards applications, and allows us, as researchers, to meet industry representatives,” explains Benoist Schaal, director of the European center for the sciences of taste (CESG) in Dijon, and who presented a plenary session during the Pangborn Symposium. His scientific conference was a summary of the latest results of his 30 year research into “maternal effects” – the genetic influence of mammal mothers, including humans, on the sensory, emotional and cognitive development of their offspring. “We are trying to understand how mothers transmitelements of information to their children that model and modulate their perceptive systems and their brain mechanisms,” he explains.

This research has shown in particular that, from the gestation period, the mother transmits information, mostly chemico-sensory in nature, to the child that “sculpts” his future olfactive and gustative capacities. “The child therefore already has memories of certain odors that are familiar to him and that he will then find in the postnatal environment, notably in breast milk.” The child’s brain continues this learning process, progressively adding new foods to a repertoire that determines his responses to environmental stimulations, especially food.

“Overall, we are working on the nerve and chemical bases of these two phenomena in order to find answers to the following questions: what information is transmitted by food? How is this information memorized and for what length of time? Is it a linear phenomenon during early childhood development or are there specific, so-called “sensitive” periods during which the brain absorbs more new information?”
 
Today, Benoist Schaal’s team is one of the few in the world, along with an American team at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, to work on this area. “This is demanding research. Public funding allows us to develop research that is not immediately transferable, even if the long-term potential is very promising for industry,” he indicates. Hence the increasing interest of the food industry for this area of science. Food manufacturers indeed seem to have gained an awareness that segments of life are not homogenous and that the perinatal period, the postnatal period and childhood are quite significant. “The wave of metabolic disorders or of diabetes observed since childhood in the past few years has only increased this awareness, and food manufacturers are becoming more involved in the ethics of their industry,” observes Benoist Schaal.

Contact
Benoist Schaal
Email : schaal@cesg.cnrs.fr

Source : Agence JFD and Co

August 17, 2009  “As a university researcher and lecturer, I have always had a lot of contact with industry through my research on microorganisms that present an interest for various sectors such as the food industry, pharmacy and agro-environment. It was it in context that I met Patrice Arbault, an engineer with a significant experience in managing a company,” explains Jean Guzzo.

From this encounter the company Nexidia was created en 2007, an SME specialized in microbiology with Patrice Arbault as president and Jean Guzzo acting as scientific consultant. The company now has a total of 6 employees: in addition to the two founders, there are two PhDs – including the R&D manager, Nicolas Desroches, who has been with the company from the beginning and whom Jean Guzzo calls a “major component” of the company –, two technicians and a PhD student.

The research of the PhD thesis is being carried out within Jean Guzzo’s own research unit at the University of Burgundy, the laboratory of vine and wine research (REVV) directed by Hervé Alexandre. “For a number of years, we have been working on a few proteins of microbial origin with interesting properties that we are attempting to exploit for various sectors such as food and pharmacy,” Jean Guzzo explains. The first patent related to this research was applied for by Nexidia in 2008.

Nexidia is already involved in two large Vitagora accredited projects that have received national funding. The first, PROBIOTICS, is lead by the companies Senoble and Merck Médication Familiale and aims to optimize the technological application of probiotic microorganisms. The second project, NUTRICE, lead by the kitchen appliance manufacturer SEB, has the aim of developing new preparation processes for rice-based portions with improved taste and nutritional properties.

“These are two important projects for Nexidia. In the project NUTRICE, for which the R&D program will begin in 2010, we were very active during the development phase of this project thanks to our expertise in the area of microorganisms,” underlines Jean Guzzo, who also acknowledges that this type of collaborative project is of great value for a company of the size of Nexidia. This is doubtless one of the strengths of R&D network organizations like Vitagora, in that they allow a project to be built around very varied but entirely complementary capabilities. “We would never have imagined that Nexidia would take part in a project alongside SEB,” states Jean Guzzo. 

Contact
Jean Guzzo
Email : jean.guzzo@nexidia.fr
www.nexidia.fr

Source : Agence JFD and Co

August 17, 2009 On July 3rd, Camille Schwartz presented her doctoral thesis entitled “The dynamic of taste preferences: effects of dietary experiences and impact on appreciation of food products”.

This research, carried out within the FLAVIC research unit (Flavor, Vision and Consumer Behavior) in Dijon, under the supervision of Sophie Nicklaus and Sylvie Issanchou, was developed within the framework of the Vitagora accredited project OPALINE (Observatory of food preferences in newborns and toddlers). This project is unique in the world for its subject matter and scope and has the aim of gaining a greater understanding of the factors explaining the variety of food preferences by the age of two.

Camille Schwartz has in particular been working on the area of “taste reactions” in children. “The first part of my research consisted of observing how babies aged 3, 6, 12 and 20 months appreciate taste solutions (flavored liquids) representing the 5 flavors (sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami) in comparison with plain water. In the second part, I was looking on the one hand to correlate their dietary experiences during the first year and their acceptance of the taste solutions and, on the other hand, to determine if there was a link between the acceptance of the taste solutions and the acceptance of new foods introduced into the child’s diet during the diversification phase (between 5 and 7 months)”, she explains.

Concerning the dynamic of taste preferences, the reactions of babies to the taste solutions evolved during the first year. Indeed, the sweet and salty solutions were the two most preferred, but the preference for the sweet solution compared to water tended to go down whereas the preference for the salty solution clearly increased. “We also observed that there is a large variation in the babies’ reactions to the various flavors during the first year”, she underlines. Later, during the second year, at 20 months, all the flavored solutions are rejected compared to water, except for the sweet solution for which the children in general had no preference.

Concerning the effect of the child’s dietary experiences on their acceptance of the taste solutions in comparison with water, this research showed that the longer the baby is exclusively breastfed, the greater his preference at the age of 6 months will be for umami flavor compared to water. “This comes from the fact that breast milk is about 14 times richer in glutamic acid, of which the umami flavor is composed.”, explains Camille Schwartz. Another observation: foods introduced between 5 and 7 months were mostly accepted.

However, there were differences in appreciation according to the taste profile of the food, vegetables being somewhat more appreciated when they were lightly salted. “We didn’t observe any clear rejections of the most sour or bitter foods, which is an interesting result. More generally, the occasional rejection that we observed did not constitute an obstacle for the introduction of new foods during the phase of dietary diversification. This phase seems to be a favorable period for making children discover different types of food”, she concludes.

Contact
Camille Schwartz
Email : schwartzcamille@yahoo.fr

Source : Agence JFD and Co

August 3, 2009 It must be noted that high quality wines currently on the market generally contain increasingly high levels of alcohol, in contradiction with public health and road safety messages. Improvements in viticulture and climate change are, in part, the causes of this increase over the last 20 years.

It is in this framework that the project VDQA (Vins de Qualité à teneur réduite en Alcool – reduced alcohol quality wines) was launched in 2006. Funded by France’s national research funding agency, ANR, this Vitagora accredited project brings together 11 public and private sector partners. It has a three-way aim: optimize technologies for alcohol reduction, study the potential target market of these new products and, finally, evaluate the impact of alcohol reduction on the sensory perception of wines and their consumer acceptability. This project, coordinated by Jean-Louis Escudier (INRA Narbonne), is now coming to the end of its extensive three year program.

Sophie Meillon is an engineering graduate from Poly’Tech Montpellier and with a Masters in Management of Sensory Properties of Food Products from her studies in Dijon. She has now nearly finished her doctoral thesis and hopes to carry on with post-doctoral studies, preferably overseas. “My research was funded by the Pernod Ricard research center and concerns the sensory aspect of VDQA. I carried out the research at the European Center for Sciences of Taste (CESG) in Dijon under the supervision of Pascal Schlich and Marc Danzart”, she explains.

Within her research, in which Christine Urbano, an engineer at the CESG, also participated, four varietals have been studied: Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. These varietals have been supplied and de-alcoholized by the experimental unit of Pech’Rouge of INRA. The wines were treated by the process of reverse osmosis, a technology that is commonly used in the low-alcohol wine market.

“This research has allowed us in particular to show that the reduction in alcohol levels in wine is perceptible on average from a reduction of 3%. In red wines, it induces a reduction in the perception of warmth and bitterness, with an increase in astringency. In white wines, however, it induces a reduction in the perception of warmth, with an increase in bitterness or acidity. Finally, it also reduced the perception of “length” in both whites and reds,” Sophie Meillon explains.

This research has also shown that this information – that is the fact of knowing you are about taste a low alcohol wine – can have a negative effect on overall consumer perceptions of quality with, it must be noted, a stronger effect for red wines. “However, we have been able to show the existence of a segmentation of two groups, the first for whom the information has no negative impact or a significant positive impact, and the second who thinks that wine labeled as being alcohol reduced will have a poorer taste quality,” she indicates. “Now, we still have to understand why alcohol reduction is perceived negatively by consumers in order to find the best way of informing them about it.”

Contact
Sophie Meillon
Email: meillon@cesg.cnrs.fr

Source: Agence JFD and Co

July 27, 2009 The 8th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium, of which Vitagora is a sponsor, is one of the most important scientific events for the world of sensory evaluation.

The symposium was created in 1992 in honor of Rose-Marie Pangborn, an eminent researcher in this area, with its first edition held in Dijon in 2001 and entitled “The odyssey of the senses”. It now takes place every two years and its latest edition, held in Florence, was the occasion for several researchers and doctoral students from FLAVIC* (Flavor, Vision and Consumer Behavior) and the European Center for the Sciences* of Taste in Dijon to take part in the program.

Sylvie Issanchou, director of the “Food Preferences and Behaviors” research team within FLAVIC, gave a general presentation on so-called “hedonic” measurements, which means measuring the enjoyment and satisfaction level of the consumer. “It is an area which is at the heart of the activity of our team since our research essentially looks into behavior, preferences and consumer satisfaction”, she explains.

Widely used by food manufacturers, service providers and public research institutes like FLAVIC, hedonic measurements are generally carried out in blind consumer tests – where the consumers have no information at all on the product they are testing. This is in contrast to so-called “objective” testing, where the enjoyment component is excluded and the tester carries out a precise description of the various product characteristics (aroma, flavor, texture etc.) – generally carried out by carefully selected testers trained in this exercise. “For several years, specialists in hedonic measurements have been questioning the validity of objective testing, that is to say the predictive value of the level of satisfaction of the average consumer. It must be said that we are often confronted with numerous difficulties for which we don’t always have the answers”, she concludes.

Sylvie Issanchou is also making the most of this event to put together an overview of hedonic measurement techniques, this being an area with a lot of scope for advancement, and to identify potential future research areas. “One of the recommended approaches is to develop more real-life situational measurements”, she indicates.

This subject is all the more important for the Dijon-based research teams for the fact that they are among the leading scientists throughout the world in the area of sensory evaluation, along with a few American and Northern European research teams. “Today, France, and in particular the region of Burgundy thanks to the AgroSup Dijon engineering school, are offering a range of specific training courses in the area of sensory evaluation of which there are very few equivalents throughout the world. Hence the significant presence in overseas laboratories of PhD and post-doctoral researchers who have come through these training courses”, she concludes.

*
- FLAVIC, Unité Mixte de Recherche (INRA, AgroSup Dijon, Université de Bourgogne)
- CESG, Unité Mixte de Recherche (CNRS, Université de Bourgogne, INRA)

Contact
Sylvie Issanchou
Email : sylvie.issanchou@dijon.inra.fr

Source : Agence JFD and Co

July 24, 2009 Within the FLAVIC* (Flavor, Vision, Consumer Behavior) research unit, Marie-Chantal Canivenc-Lavier is carrying out research as a part of the “Food preference and behaviors” research team directed by Sylvie Issanchou.

Having previously worked on the topic of “cancer and endocrine disturbances”, this specialist in endocrinology and animal physiology recently joined FLAVIC. “During a bibliographical study during the set up of a research program launched in 2005, I noticed that dietary behavior and sensory perception were under the influence of estrogens and androgens, and that there are specific characteristics according to sex  and age”, she explains. She notes that there are several examples within scientific literature of modifications to dietary behavior and sensory perceptions caused by endocrine disturbances, but little understanding of the implied mechanisms.

These reflections lead her to become interested in the impact of exposure to xenohormones on the development of saliva glands and taste buds, two organs that are essential to sensory perception. By exposing rats to xenohormones during the neonatal period, Marie-Chantal Canivenc-Lavier was able to modify their sweet taste perception. “These effects were obtained in the conditions of dietary exposure, so small doses. In adults, the effects were not very noticeable, but juvenile animals, in particular males, had an increased preference for sugar. In other words, this translated into a “feminizing” of their behavior as females had a greater preference for sugar than the males.”

In addition, the structure of the saliva glands of these rats showed certain modifications. “In young males we observed particular structures like those naturally present in fetuses. In other words, there seemed to be a slowing in the development of the saliva gland. We now have to explain these modifications and to see if they can be correlated with effects on dietary behavior.” It is in this context that the project CIME has just been launched. “We are continuing our research with the aim of better understanding the impact of xenohormones, during repeated exposures, on various organs associated with dietary behavior, but notably saliva glands”, she concludes.

Marie-Chantal Canivenc-Lavier’s research can also be linked to food safety. Indeed, imagine if babies who consumed a diet containing xenohormones (phyto-estrogens, pesticide residues, plastics…) were then oriented in their taste preferences. Only epidemiological studies can verify if there is indeed a risk of increasing the sweet taste preference of children.

“It is essential to try and understand better the potential risks on children even if it involves an approach that is difficult to set up”, she indicates. This research also presents an interest for the elderly, women undergoing menopause, and other groups that have the common point of suffering from mouth dryness. We know that falling hormone levels or a disturbance in endocrine balance can be a cause, leading to a reduced efficiency of saliva glands and their secretions. “Nutritherapies aiming to orient the diet of these people towards foods that are rich or poor, according to the case, in phyto-estrogens, for example, could be envisaged in order to re-establish a correct level of saliva for good sensory perception,” she concludes.

*
FLAVIC, Unité Mixte de Recherche (INRA, AgroSup Dijon, Université de Bourgogne)

Contact
Marie-Chantal Canivenc-Lavier
Email: canivenc@dijon.inra.fr

Source: Agence JFD and Co

May 18, 2009 Three French clusters, Agrimip Innovation, Valorial and Vitagora have created a French Food Cluster, or F²C Innovation. Covering together food and non-food agricultural production, functional ingredients, new product development and innovative technologies adapted to the taste and nutrition needs of tomorrow’s consumers, the 3 clusters aim to pool their expertise and resources in particular concerning their international development.

The objectives of F²C Innovation are the following:
 Identify and cooperate with centers of scientific excellence throughout the world in order to overcome technological industry obstacles
 Identify and cooperate with clusters for the development of joint projects aiming at economic growth for cluster members.
 Promote the expertise within the F²C Innovation network throughout the world

The first official presentation of F²C Innovation will be during the IFT Food Expo (Institute of Food Technologists) that takes place June 6th-9th 2009 in Anaheim California.

Like most clusters, the networks of Agrimip Innovation, Valorial and Vitagora are coordinated by small teams whose numerous activities include ensuring the preparation and selection of innovation projects under development, supervision of projects already underway, communication and promotion, carrying out market intelligence, prospecting on an international level… It is in this context that the interest of the 3 clusters to find a way of stretching their resources was born. In addition, the respective areas of expertise of the clusters were found to be entirely complementary. “By pooling our expertise and resources, while maintaining our respective areas of interest according to the scientific activities of our home regions, we are able to be much more efficient in our activities, more ambitious in terms of projects and more attractive for partners on an international scale,” explains Michel Pinel, Director of Valorial.

By communicating more often between themselves, favoring exchanges and discussions, working together on specific studies, developing innovation projects together, setting up partnerships with clusters outside of France, taking part in trade shows under a joint banner, and even co-organizing international fact-finding missions – these are the intentions of the 3 partners of F²C Innovation. “By adopting this strategy, which aims to mutually enrich our knowledge base and contacts, we are progressing faster and avoiding finding ourselves in a closed off environment,” underlines Patrice Roché, Director of Agrimip Innovation.

As such, from next June, Christophe Breuillet, Director of Vitagora, and his team will represent F²C Innovation during the IFT Food Expo 2009 in Anaheim, California. “We will also be present together later in June at a French trade show in Lille, NutrEvent, where we can make contacts with European clusters and scientific research centers. On an international level, we are all interested in presenting ourselves as one entity, one that has the necessary size and scientific excellence to be a serious player in the food industry on an international level,” concludes Christophe Breuillet.

Contact:
Marthe Jewell
Communication Manager
Vitagora Taste-Nutrition-Health
Tél.: +33 3 80 78 97 92
Email: marthe.jewell@vitagora.com

Download Press Release

March 24, 2009 “Under-nutrition in the elderly is a subject that we are talking about more and more throughout the world. It’s a reality that has recently been uncovered. The statistics are worrying since we are talking about 40, 50 or even 60 % of this population segment who have difficulty eating. However, there are not very many people working on solutions”, explains Thérèse Dufresne, who created the Canadian company Prophagia in 2000. This trained nutritionist took part in the 4th Taste-Nutrition-Health Congress in Dijon, participating in a round table debate on food and the elderly.

In 1993, while working for the Hôpital Sainte-Anne, belonging to Canada’s Ministry for returned servicemen, she launched a development program aiming to eradicate the risks of under-nutrition, choking and avoidable death in the elderly due essentially to an inadequate level of food intake. “More than 900 people were taken care of by these services, nearly 40% of which had severe eating difficulties”, she explains. After 5 years of studies, Thérèse Dufresne and her team were able to present the very positive results of their research: to this day none of the residents at the Hôpital Sainte-Anne suffer from under-nutrition. The Ministry for returned servicemen then requested that this technology be transferred for the benefit of other elderly people in Canada. This lead to the creation of the spin-off company Prophagia.

“In the elderly, the whole of the buccal and pharyngeal apparatus no longer functions correctly. It is thus imperative to find a solution so that they do not suffer from under-nutrition but are not at risk of choking”, Thérèse Dufresne summarizes. Prophagia has thus developed a technology for modifying and adapting food products and in order to avoid all risks, as well as offering a range of appetizing products (vegetables, meat, fruit, desserts…). “We work in particular on the texture of food products, whether by adapting or testing precisely in order to compensate for the “handicapped” oropharyngeal apparatus”, she indicates. In order to do so, the team at Prophagia, made up of 6 people – including 5 scientists specialized in human nutrition and food technology and 3 also trained as nutritionists – measure the firmness, elasticity, adhesive and cohesive properties of a food, allowing them to calculate the “Safe Swallowing Texture Index”, a mathematical formula discovered by Prophagia.

Today, they  have about 60 specifically textured products in order to be able to create varied and balanced menus that are consumed each day by thousands of elderly people who can once again find enjoyment in eating with no risk. Since October 2007, these products have been available for those at home. Several countries are interested in using them. “Prophagia doesn’t manufacture these products. We licence our technology which is the subject of two patent applications”, explains Thérèse Dufresne. Her participation in the Taste-Nutrition-Health Congress is thus the opportunity for Thérèse Dufresne to present this solution to French companies. “The greatest challenge is to manage to change the mentalities in each country regarding the elderly”, she confirms. “This is not an aggressive therapy. It is just allowing the elderly the opportunity to enjoy eating in safety.

Contact
Thérèse Dufresne
Email: therese.dufresne@vac-acc.gc.ca
www.prophagia.com

Source : Agence JFD and Co

March 24, 2009 On March 18, during the Taste-Nutrition-Health International Congress, Vincent Boggio chaired a pratical workshop entitled “The food preferences of children”, a topic that he has long been interested in.

A lecturer in physiology at the University of Burgundy and doctor in pediatrics at the Dijon University Hospital, Vincent Boggio was indeed at the forefront of the “Gaffarel Study”, launched in 1982 and named after a crèche in Dijon. “Until then, my work was mostly on the nutritional aspect of diet. But progressively, I became interested in children’s food preferences.” It was in this context that Vincent Boggio launched the Gaffarel study with the aim of studing the food choices of children ages 2-3 years. Between 1982 and 1999, the children of this crèche were allowed to put together their own meals each day from a base of 8 food products. “We were able to show what the food preferences were of 418 2-3 year-old children,” he explains.  

Nearly 20 years later, 341 former Gaffarel crèche “students”, aged 4 to 22 years old, were questioned in Dijon, at the FLAVIC laboratory of INRA and at the European Center for the Sciences of Taste, about their current preferences for the food products that were given that the crèche, on the variety of their diet and their degree of food neophobia. “This research showed that the food choices of two year-olds are a predictive variable of future food preferences. Of course, this weakens with age but the traces were still there, even when they had no memory of the food products they were offered,” he concludes. Since then, Vincent Boggio has taken part in two projects accredited by Vitagora, Edusens and Opaline. As the only medical doctor in the two project teams, he has in particular been in charge of recruiting children and mothers for the studies.

“The intuition of Pascal Schlich, director of the laboratory LIRIS at the European Center for the Sciences of Taste, was to see that there was all the expertise and experience we needed in Dijon to initiate the observatory of food preferences”, he insists. Opaline (Observatory of food preferences in new-borns and young children), is the first branch of this project. But this pediatrician also hopes to see the emergence of other branches emerge, focusing in older children, teenagers, even seniors, in order to “follow” food preferences throughout the lifetime. “Until now, we have neglected behavioral aspects, in particular for food preferences, when it comes to diet. We urgently need to take a closer look”, he insists.

Contact
Vincent Boggio
Email: vincent.boggio@chu-dijon.fr

Source: Agence JFD and Co

March 24, 2009 During a scientific conference on March 10 to 12, Pascal Schlich, director of the LIRIS laboratory of the European Center for the Sciences of Taste, presented the project Edusens. Accredited by Vitagora, this project has the aim of studying the effects of a “sensory education” on the dietary behavior of children aged 8-10 years. In total, 7 research teams were involved in this project*, including 4 Dijon-based teams – a total of 14 researchers.

For the program of this project, 4 specific experiments were carried out, each for duration of 15 months. “We wanted to successively test the effect of a sensory education given in the classroom, then in a school canteen, finally at home”, explains Pascal Schich. In reference to the “Taste Classes” carried out several decades ago by Jacques Puisais, these 3 experiments were called “Classes du Gout” (Taste Classes), “Restos du Goût” (Taste Cafeteria) and “Familles du Goût” (Taste Families). For each experiment, an experimental group, undergoing the sensory education, and a control group were put together, each composed of around a hundred children ages 8-10 years. “For the last 3 years, we have had 530 children at the European Center for the Sciences of Taste and have devoted 188 days to the various sessions and laboratory analyses”, Pascal Schich explains.

If the results have not yet all been analyzed, the essential conclusion is already available. “We can confirm that “Taste lessons” are essential for allowing children to acquire the ability to verbalize their sensations. They can then go beyond the hedonic stage to the descriptive stage” he explains. An education that seems to allow children to adopt behavior that is more open to newness and experimentation. But if this education appears to have an impact on the tasks and behaviors with a cognitive aspect, it is not the same concerning affective responses to differing formulations of the same product. In this case, experience seems more important. “It seems that a sensory education must be accompanied by sensory experiences” underlines Pascal Schlich who adds that, as often is the case with education, the absence of the parental relay means that the experiment could not go as far as would have been liked. This raises the point of the role that school can play in organizing activities in close partnership with families.

*
- Equipe Liris, Centre Européen des Sciences du Goût (INRA-CNRS-Université de Bourgogne)
- Unité Mixte de Recherche FLAVIC (INRA-Agro Sup Dijon)
- Institut du Goût (Association loi 1901)
- Unité de Sociologie Rurale, AgroParis Tech
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de l’Education (IREDU) – (CNRS-Université de Bourgogne)
- Faculté de Médecine de Dijon
- Utrecht University, Psychology Department

Contact
Pascal Schlich
Email: schlich@cesg.cnrs.fr

Source: Agence JFD and Co

October 22, 2008 Vitagora today hosted in Dijon a delegation from the National Food Institute of Thailand for the signature of a partnership agreement between the two organizations.

This agreement is the result of the initial contact between Vitagora and the NFI in May 2008, during the visit to Thailand by a delegation of members of the French cluster. The group lead by Vitagora also visited 3 other countries in Asia, Vietnam, Singapore and Japan.

The NFI is an information and research organization attached to the Thai Ministry of Industry whose aim is to foster development and the competitiveness of the Thai food industry. The agreement with Vitagora will involve knowledge sharing and setting up student and teacher exchanges between France and Thailand, with the aim of fostering research and development activities in the areas of food products, packaging and any associated areas.

In 2008, Vitagora organized 3 international missions – in Asia (May), in the USA (July) and in Canada (September), with positive outcomes for the cluster and its members in terms of institutional and business partnerships. In addition, the International Taste-Nutrition-Health Congress, also organized by Vitagora every year in Dijon (the 4th edition will take place on March 18th -20th 2009), brings together the network set up by the cluster’s program of international development.

Contact
Marthe Jewell
Email : marthe.jewell@vitagora.com

March 3, 2008 This surprising apparatus has been under development for a number of years by the team of Christian Salles in the publicly-funded research unit FLAVIC (Flavour Vision Consumer Behaviours).

This research team is specialized in the mouth mechanisms that lead to the perception of what we call flavours. There are currently two approaches for this type of research. The first, the “in vivo” approach, requires a panel of human tasters, sometimes a significant number, and has certain disadvantages. “The sensitivity of human receptors is not consistent. As such we are often faced with a very large variability between individuals”, explains the Burgundy-based researcher.

The second, so-called “in vitro” approach, has led this research team to design a prototype “masticator”, in other words an apparatus that simulates the chewing action. Even if it is far from claiming to have all the characteristics and functions of a real mouth, the artificial mouth none-the-less has teeth, a tongue and a supply of artificial saliva. “We can connect various machines, a mass spectrometer for example, as we have done in the past with human subjects, which allows us to follow in real time the liberation of a number of flavour components as the food is chewed in the mouth”, explains Christian Salles.

Today, the members of this Dijon-based team are developing a new version of this groundbreaking prototype, the first of its kind both in France and the world. “We would like to optimise certain functions and add a few others, such as a swallowing system. One of our long term objectives is to connect the mastication simulator to digestors in order to study the whole chain”, he explains.

Carried out as a part of a Vitagora accredited project, this research is made all the more interesting for the fact that it involves specialists from a whole range of disciplines, including biochemistry, mechanics, electronics, automated systems... “At a later date, we are hoping to integrate vision into the simulator, probably using imaging technologies, in order to follow the destruction of the food bolus during mastication.” An exciting undertaking that is being followed with much interest by the food industry!

Contact
Christian Salles
UMR FLAVIC
Email: salles@dijon.inra.fr

February 21, 2008 This is the question to which the scientists in the “Eye and Nutrition” team of the research unit FLAVIC will be attempting to answer in the next two years.

Their research will take place within the framework of the project FATTY (an acronym taken from the words “Factors of nutrition, AThero-Thrombose et maculopathY”). FATTY has received accreditation from Vitagora and funding from the Burgundy Regional Council, Bausch & Lomb – a US multinational especially interested in links between vision and nutrition –, INRA* and the Dijon University Hospital. This project may allow its team, co-directed by Lionel Bretillon and Catherine Creuzot-Garcher, to confirm a hypothesis that a number of small scale studies have indicated.

“The AREDS study (Age Related Eye Disease Study), funded by the National Institute of Health in Bethesda in the US, in particular showed that a significant consumption of Omega-3 could prevent Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)”, says Lionel Bretillon.

The first stage of the project has already been launched, consisting of esetablishing a cohort of elderly patients. They have been recruited from the register of coronary incidents kept by the Côte-d’Or district in Burgundy – in order to integrate the aspects of cardiology – or from the register of cerebral vascular incidents – for the neurological aspect. Some patients have also been recruited from geriatric services where elderly patients often present symptoms of AMD.

“Among these patients, we are going to study if nutritional factors predispose them to developing this pathology”, explains Lionel Bretillon. This research is all the more important for the fact that a large number of people suffer from this disease. In France alone, the number is estimated at around 1.25 million. Besides the basic research element, the scope of this project is promising for long term practical applications. “There are already a number of nutritional supplements on the market that we suspect could offer an improvement to eye function”, says Lionel Bretillon.

*INRA – the French national institute of agronomic research (Institut National de Recherche Agronomique)

Contact
Lionel Bretillon
Equipe Oeil et Nutrition
UMR FLAVIC
Email: bretillon@dijon.inra.fr

Source: Agence JFD and Co

February 4, 2008 This is the objective chosen by the partners of "DEFICASSIS", a project coordinated by the CEPPARM ((Comité Economique des Plantes à Parfum Aromatiques et Médicinales).

Accredited by Vitagora, this project was born out of the observation that the consumption of blackcurrant buds over the last few years has been gradually decreasing. Burgundy is the main producer of blackcurrant buds, which are mostly used in perfume manufacturing. From this emerged the idea of finding new outlets for the regional production of these buds.

"Vitagora has helped us a lot with this project, mainly by facilitating contacts with companies such as Frutrom", sys Michel Krausz, the director of CEPPARM. The project that took shape from these meetings aims thus to develop a "Burgundy" spice using the "highly aromatic" blackcurrant buds. The initial taste tests carried out on this product have been very promising.   

DEFICASSIS, whose R&D program has just been launched, brings together two food manufacturers (Frutarom and Canéo) as well as two Burgundy fruit producers (Coteaux Bourguignons and Socofruit). The local Chamber of Agriculture, the Laboratoires Spiral and two regional technology transfer centres (the CRITT 2ABI and the CRITT AE) are also involved.

"It is necessary to carry out agronomic selection trials in order to determine the most appropriate varietals for each usage, and also research into processing methods", says Michel Krausz. In addition, the project's partners will be calling on the Dijon School of Business to find a commercial name for this emerging "Burgundy Spice"

Contact
Michel Krausz
Email: michel-krausz@wanadoo.fr

Source: Agence JFD and Co

January 31 2008 Last October, 350 varietals of wheat were planted for the project FLOUR+. These varietals will be the studied closely once harvested next July and for three successive harvests, until 2010. “Of course, we have already carried out a number of tests as 250 varietals have already been planted since the autumn of 2006. The next stage is a meticulous analysis of these harvests”, explains Jean-Philippe Fasquel, scientific manager of Eurogerm and project coordinator.

In addition, a doctoral thesis funded by the company BTC, the project leader, has begun which is co-directed by the European Centre for the Sciences of Taste and the FLAVIC research unit, both based in Dijon. A second thesis will be launched during 2008. BTC has also created two staff positions to run the various structures needed to carry out the activities of FLOUR+. “For this project, we are really moving into a higher gear”, explains Jean-Philippe Fasquel.

FLOUR+ is a flagship project for Vitagora whose goal is to develop new methods of characterizing wheat varietals according to their nutritional and sensory potential. Its originality resides in the fact that hit covers the whole of the production chain, from seed production right through to the final consumer. “We are trying to optimize each stage all the whole ensuring a permanent transfer of new technology towards food manufacturers, as well as getting feedback regarding wheat selections.” This project has developed three specific tools: FERME d’EXCELLENCE®, a varietal and quality research platform, CEREALISABLE®, a cereals R&D centre, and CONSOLAB, which helps to analyze consumer preferences. A team of 25 people are currently working on this project, which received national funding in July 2007.

Contact
Jean-Philippe Fasquel
Email : jpfasquel@eurogerm.com

Source: Agence JFD and Co

January 31, 2008 A research team in Dijon may have discovered the key to the how humans perceive fat in their food.

The research carried out by members of the Laboratory of Physiology and Nutrition at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, directed by Philippe Besnard, already suggests that the protein CD36, a Fatty Acid Transporter, is also a fat-taste receptor in mice. This is the scientific basis for SENSOFAT, a nationally funded research project accredited by Vitagora, which is officially being launched this year. “The goal of this project is to understand how CD36 works, whether at the level of the tongue, the intestine or even the brain”, says Philippe Besnard.

Focusing on the tongue, this project aims to find out if this protein is indeed a fat-taste receptor in humans. As CD36 is also present in the intestine, researchers are trying to discover what role it plays. “Is it a fatty-acid transporter increasing the absorption of lipids, or a fat-receptor that allows the intestine to pick up on the presence of fats in the digestive tract”, explains the research team. But CD36 is also found in the brain, in particular in the hypothalamus, an area of the brain involved in eating, hence the question of the role of CD36 in dietary behavior.

Two doctoral theses have already been launched in relation with SENSOFAT. “As we did not have all the skills needed to quickly carry out all the research, we have put together a joint team with four other research units at the University of Burgundy, the University Paris VII and the Insitut Pasteur in Lille”, says Philippe Besnard.
 

Contact
Philippe Besnard
Email : Philippe.Bernard@u-bourgogne.fr

Source: Agence JFD and Co

  In 2007, the two international events organised by Vitagora — the 2nd health & Nutrition International Congress and the 1st "Taste-Nutrition-Health" European Partnership Meetings — were a great success. In 2008, these two events will be merged to form the 3rd Taste-Nutrition-Health International Congress, which will take place the 23rd to the 25th of April, 2008,  at Dijon's Expo Centre.

  This event has a unique position at the crossroads of the food industry and health professions. It also serves to highlight the scientific and technological excellence to be found within the Burgundy and Franche-Comté regions of Franche brought together by the cluster Vitagora.

  All participants of the Congress will be able to attend conferences, given by leading international experts, and practical workshops on the topics of 'Fats', 'Vitamins' and 'Nutrition and bone metabolism'. Round table debates bringing together leaders of food manufacturing and research will also be organised on the topics of 'Fats' and 'Dietary behaviour'. 

  The final program for these sessions will be available on the website www.vitagora-sante.com from the 15th of November.

  The exhibition hall with 300m² of booths will once more allow participants to highlight their scientific or technological expertise. The Speaker Corner of 2008 will feature a focus of 'Regulation' and 'Presentations of innovative projects'

  All participants will also be able to program one-to-one business meetings according to offers and demandes of technologies or scientific expertise.

  Finally, the 22nd of April, the CRITT 2ABI (centre for agro-food and bioindustrial technology transfer based in Dijon) is offering a full day training program on the topic "Texturising processes: towards a better taste control of low-fat food"

  As well as professionals of the food and health sectors, the Congress also invites members of the public to its Public Opening, with a focus on 'Wine and Nutrition'.

www.vitagora-sante.com