Category: Food and Nutritional Science

A leading food scientist at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is part of a team that has received the most competitive grant offered by the National Institutes of Health to investigate whether plant-rich diets can become the newest weapon in the fight against cardiovascular disease.

For urban farmer Garrett Corwin, the results of research at NC A&T into the use of lasers to make microgreens more vibrant and nutritious are a win-win.

Anyone who has ever cooked with onions knows about the peel. It’s the dry, translucent outer layer that crinkles like paper as it’s ripped from the edible bulb.

Imagine whipping up a few eggs for breakfast in the morning and that’s your medicine for the day.

Why is deep-fried food so delicious? Is it the crunch of a crispy coating? The salty, tenderizing marinades? Or is it the fact that humans have programmed by years of evolution to love high-calorie dense foods?

Call it the paradox of the American diet.

Americans have more information about food and nutrition than ever before — about where and how food is grown, about what’s in foods, about foods that can make people look and feel better.

The loss of cereal grains to insect infestation and mold contamination during post-harvest storage is no small matter for farmers and grain processors, especially those working in extremely hot and humid climates.

At one point in his life, Rishipal Bansode, Ph.D., seemed destined for a career as a food engineer.

Shengmin Sang, Ph.D., received a prestigious Research Project Grant to pinpoint the role that dietary flavonoids play in preventing metabolic diseases.

The trouble with truffles – the pricey, edible soil fungus synonymous with nose-to-the-ground dogs and flavorful dinners in five-star restaurants – is that they’re hard to grow. Soil and water conditions must be managed. The weather must be moderate. The tree host must be in good health. If it’s too hot, too wet, too dry, too cool, or any of an assortment of more nebulous conditions that even experts can’t always pinpoint, they won’t grow.

Ask any scientist who studies foodborne illnesses to name the bacteria, virus or parasite that causes them the most sleepless nights, and near the top of their list will be these two scary words: listeria monocytogenes.