Cannabinoids as Food Ingredients

You may be shocked to know that cannabinoids can be used in baked goods, beverages and even condiments being served at your next BBQ or picnic. In the food ingredient sector, CBD and THC are leading trends in new food ingredients. Marketing experts, product developers and food scientists are on the cusp of creating a new generation of CBD-infused food and beverage must-haves. (Did you miss our article explaining the differences between CBD and THC? Read it here.) These products are being developed from three CBD-derived ingredients that are currently available to food companies. They are cannabis-infused butter, cannabinoid oils, and water-soluble cannabinoids. Each product has specific recommendations and uses. The Science of CBD-infused Products This next section will allow us to understand the science behind CBD-infused butter and oils. It may seem technical, but don’t give up. A little food science never hurt anyone! CBD-infused butter is made by infusing decarboxylated cannabis compounds into butter under low heat for a specific period. It’s then strained to remove any non-essential leftovers or impurities. During the decarboxylation process, which includes heat, the molecular structure of THCA is changed, thus activating the psychoactive components of THC in marijuana. That’s why raw leaves are non-psychoactive. THCA requires heat to convert into THC’s psychoactive state. But wait. What on earth is THCA? THCA is tetrahydrocannabinolic acid. It’s a cannabinoid that’s related to THC and can be technically described as the “precursor to THC.” Within the actual cannabis plant, THCA is produced before THC. It is then transferred through the decarboxylation process. This process includes heat, sunlight or even curing for an extended period. During this time the carboxylic acid – the A in THCA is removed, leaving behind THC. Cannabinoid oils are produced through several methods linked together from start to finish. Once extracted […]

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What Is Propylene Glycol, and What Does It Do in Our Food?

As you put away the flour from making pancakes, you glance into the pantry and notice a second box of that cake mix you used for your last Thanksgiving dinner. You remember how tasty the cake was, and how moist it stayed, even after a week. You may wonder, “How could cake made from a simple box mix maintain its texture so well?” And before you know it, you’re craving it again! You can thank the food ingredient known as propylene glycol for helping your cake stay moist and intact for so long. But what exactly is propylene glycol, and how did it get into your cake mix? What is propylene glycol? Propylene glycol is a synthetic liquid that is clear, colorless and tasteless. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers propylene glycol safe for a variety of uses, including for the absorption of extra water in our foods, in medication, and in cosmetics so that they maintain their moisture and preserve color and consistency. Propylene glycol also helps to dissolve ingredients that are added to products so that the product forms an ideal consistency. It’s also a safe food additive that exhibits low levels of toxicity within the body. What foods contain propylene glycol? Propylene glycol is approved for use in many processed and packaged foods, including: Considering all the foods that propylene glycol is added to, it’s also helpful to know that it functions in food as a humectant (pulling moisture toward it) and solvent (helping to dissolve one ingredient in another). Propylene glycol is also an anti-caking agent, antioxidant, dough strengthener, emulsifier, flavor agent, formulation aid, stabilizer and thickener, glazing agent, texturizer, and antimicrobial agent (helping to kill or slow the growth of microorganisms, like bacteria or fungi that may contaminate food). While this information may […]

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Get the Lead Out

Spring is in the air—and so are the annual testing lab reports on everything from cars to washers and dryers and even lead in fruit juices. That report reminded me of how fortunate I am that I understand where our food comes from. With my background in Food and Nutrition Sciences, I was not shocked to know that low levels of metals—such as lead, cadmium and arsenic—are present in our day-to-day meals. As a typical science nerd, I’ve memorized every element on the classic periodic table and learned that most elements are found naturally on the earth. Elements can be solid or liquid and metals are typically seen in their solid forms. Elements Are Essential for Life My nutrition training has helped me understand how natural elements can promote good health and are critical to sustaining life. We interact with some elements more than others. Some elements help us build strong bodies and others help us build the structures and technologies that make our lives easier. In addition to commonly known elements, like oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen, there are dozens of others on the periodic table that are particularly necessary and beneficial to our health and well-being. For example, It All Starts in the Soil Plant-based foods and beverages all start in the soil. Plant life depends on the elements that are naturally present in the earth to grow. When fully grown, these plants are harvested, cleaned and sometimes processed to become the familiar foods we enjoy every day. Our bodies don’t produce every nutrient we need. We rely on our food to receive many of them. As part of their own growth process, plants take up all-natural forms of elements from the soil, air and water using their roots and stomata. Along the way, trace levels of natural metals […]

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What You Should Know About Plant-Based Alternatives to Meat

Download the Fact Sheet Here Vegetarian alternatives to meat are nothing new—veggie burgers, vegan deli meat and chicken-less nuggets have been around for decades. But while these products typically have aimed to meet the needs of vegetarians and vegans and don’t consistently match the taste and texture of meat, newer plant-based alternatives to meat are attempting to mimic animal proteins as much as possible. In this explainer, we’ll take a closer look at how these products are made, their nutritional attributes, and their environmental impact. To date, many of these new products have been created to serve as alternatives to foods traditionally made with red meat, like burgers and sausages, so we’ll focus on these alternatives. However, new products meant to mimic poultry, eggs and seafood are now also being sold, and more are coming to store shelves—an indicator that this novel wave in protein innovation may just be getting started. How are plant-based alternatives to meat made? Plant-based alternatives to animal meat are made with ingredients and processing techniques that create colors, textures and flavors that are similar to those of animal meat. Protein sources in these plant products range from soy and potatoes to peas, rice and mung beans. The type of dietary fats used to make them include canola oil, cocoa butter, coconut oil and sunflower oil, and they’re usually bound together by methylcellulose, which is used as a thickener and emulsifier in many types of foods. In addition to the ingredients needed to build color, structure and flavor, plant-based alternatives to meat are sometimes fortified with vitamins and minerals, like vitamin B12 and zinc, in order to offer some of the same nutrients that are inherent to animal meat. How do plant-based alternatives stack up nutritionally? Even though meatless protein foods benefit from a “health halo” […]

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IFIC Spotlight Survey: 2020 Year-End Survey: Consumer Insights From A Year Like No Other, Plus A Look To The Year Ahead

Highlights We’ve almost reached the end of 2020—twelve months that have been more challenging than we ever could have predicted, defined by the upheaval of many aspects of our lives. As we mark the end of this consequential year, IFIC has conducted a survey on what we know best: the world of food. In this research we learned more about how COVID-19 has shifted peoples’ eating, drinking and cooking habits; what diet trends were on our minds in 2020; how holiday plans have changed; and what we’re looking forward to and concerned about in the year ahead. The full report is linked above; here are a few key findings: METHODOLOGY   One thousand online interviews were conducted among U.S. adults ages 18+ from December 3–5, 2020, and were weighted to ensure proportional results. The margin of error was ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level.     IFIC has been tracking the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food purchasing, eating behaviors and perceptions of food safety since April 2020. To learn more about these findings, click on the following links:  

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The Case For Consumer-Centric Communications On Ultra-Processed Foods

Imagine a world where consumer communication outpaces the speed of scientific rigor. Where concepts that sound science-based, and make sense on the surface, shape real-life food beliefs, decisions, and eating behaviors. Where food and nutrition opinions, sentiments, and habits are formed and reinforced for generations. Now imagine that the scientific evidence catches up, and in fact, we have gotten ahead of ourselves, leading to unintended consequences related to consumers’ food and nutrition beliefs and behaviors, and subsequently, health outcomes. In reality, we may be at this inflection point with processed foods. What Is Processing and Ultra-Processed Food? Processing is the step that keeps much of our food safe. Food processing also decreases waste and plays a role in U.S. food and nutrition security. Various systems have been created to measure the level of processing in foods and identify those that are ultra-processed (UPF). Notably, there is a lack of consensus around one standardized system, making it difficult to scientifically test any potential impact of food processing on health beyond effects that are nutrition-related and well-known. In fact, several research roadmaps have been developed to address research gaps, including one from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Still, in the media and public discourse, UPFs are often represented as “junk food” and linked to various environmental and health maladies. They have also become public enemy #1 in dietary guidance around the globe. Despite Long-Standing Advice, Diet Quality Remains Elusive The U.S. is experiencing a prolonged food and nutrition security crisis – Americans are malnourished. Food insecurity rates increased from 2021 to 2022, and millions of Americans live in areas that are low-income and have low access to nearby supermarkets. The average Healthy Eating Index (HEI) diet quality score is 59 out of 100 – a failing grade. In short, we are a […]

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World Food Day: All Heroes Don’t Wear Capes

It is harvest season in various parts of the world for many different crops. In honor of World Food Day, we are spotlighting the people who work at the center of food production, the farmers. While farming is one of the oldest professions, many advances have made farming more efficient, environmentally friendly and reliable for both the farmers and us. You can think of farming innovation as the “superhero gadgets” that help “save” our food system. Below, we’ll cover four innovations that are utilized by our farming food heroes to help support our food system daily. Regenerative agriculture Regenerative ag helps farmers employ land management techniques that ensure natural elements are able to replenish themselves while they are used during food production. Regenerative ag practices are focused on building up high-quality soil, retaining rainwater, improving the water cycle, increasing biodiversity and promoting both human and animal welfare. A priority action in regenerative ag is focused on carbon management since carbon is a fundamental element that makes up all living things, including our food. Thus, keeping carbon levels at optimum ranges in soil and the atmosphere are essential. Actions such as no-till farming, composting and the planting of perennial crops all help with carbon management. Precision agriculture Technology is a “friend” to many of us to help do our jobs more efficiently, and this holds especially true for farmers. Today’s farmers use self-driving tractors, tablets, smartphones, satellite imaging and even drones. These technologies enable farmers to grow more food on their land while reducing their water, fertilizer and pest-control needs. Using these technologies can help increase crop yield but can also save resources and help to produce more food with less energy, time and related inputs. Some popular new precision ag techniques include the use of specialized sensors. There are sensors […]

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A Background on Carbohydrates and Sugars

This article provides an overview of how carbohydrates and sugars are classified, common types that are found in foods, their impact on health and what the latest dietary guidance recommends about their consumption. Carbohydrates are one of the three basic macronutrients needed to sustain human life—the other two are fats and proteins. Carbohydrates encompass a broad range of fibers, starches and sugars. Foods that contain carbohydrates provide a variety of other important nutrients to the diet (such as vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants). Carbohydrates occur naturally in whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains and dairy products. Carbohydrates are in most packaged foods as well. Carbohydrate classification The basic building block of a carbohydrate is a simple union of the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (CHO). The chemical definition of a carbohydrate is any compound containing these three elements which typically has twice as many hydrogen atoms as carbon and oxygen atoms (CH2O). Some types of carbohydrates may have more carbon atoms than oxygen atoms, but all carbohydrates will have twice as many hydrogen atoms as oxygen atoms (CxH2yOy). There are three classifications of carbohydrates: sugars (these include monosaccharides and disaccharides), oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. Saccharide originates from the Greek word for sugar, “sákkharon.” Mono-, di-, oligo- and poly- refer to the number of sugar units present in a carbohydrate. Sugars in foods When you hear the word “sugar,” you likely think of the white granulated version found in sugar bowls and tabletop packets. That type of sugar is called sucrose. But there are many other types of sugars, all of which scientists classify according to their chemical structures. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides; these are made up of single sugar molecules. The three main monosaccharides that we consume are fructose, galactose and glucose. These monosaccharides combine in various pairs to […]

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