Avenues for non-conventional robotics technology applications in the food industry.

Robots in manufacturing alleviate hazardous environmental conditions, reduce the physical/mental stress of the workers, maintain high precision for repetitive movements, reduce errors, speed up production, and minimize production costs. Although robots have pervaded many industrial sectors and domestic environments, the experiments in the food sectors are limited to pick-and-place operations and meat processing while we are assisting new attention in gastronomy. Given the great performances of the robots, there would be many other intriguing applications to explore which could usher the transition to precision food manufacturing. This review wants open thoughts and opinions on the use of robots in different food operations. First, we reviewed the recent advances in common applications - e.g. novel sensors, end-effectors, and robotic cutting. Then, we analyzed the use of robots in other operations such as cleaning, mixing/kneading, dough manipulation, precision dosing/cooking, and additive manufacturing. Finally, the most recent improvements of robotics in gastronomy with their use in restaurants/bars and domestic environments, are examined. The comprehensive analyses and the critical discussion highlighted the needs of further scientific understanding and exploitation activities aimed to fill the gap between the laboratory-scale results and the validation in the relevant environment.

Promotion of the mediterranean diet incancer long-survivors by means of the Med-Food Anticancer Program: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: The intervention "Med-Anticancer Food Program" has proven to be effective in promoting the Mediterranean Diet, significantly increasing the Mediterranean Adequacy Index in healthy subjects. There are no studies that have investigated the effectiveness of this intervention in individuals who have had a diagnosis of cancer. OBJECTIVE: To perform a pilot study to assess the opportunity of employing the methodology of the Med-Anticancer Food Program in order to encourage "long-term cancer survivors" to adhere to the Mediterranean Diet, as well as healthy people, and this in order to apply the program to larger groups. METHODS: From the residents' register of Foggia, a city in southern Italy, forty adults of both sexes, over 25 years of age, were recruited at random and assigned (1:1) as follows: - Twenty healthy subjects to the intervention-1 group - Twenty long-term cancer survivors to the intervention-2 group. The Med-Anticancer Food Program was applied to both groups with an articulated intervention 11 weeks long, followed by a 52-week period of follow up. By means of a food diary of the last 3 days, the Mediterranean Adequacy Index values were calculated before intervention (T0), after a period of 11 weeks of interventions (T1) and at the end of the 52 weeks of follow-up period (T2). The H0 hypothesis of the study was that there are no differences between the two interventions in reaching by T1, and maintaining at T2, values of Mediterranean Adequacy Index around 7, considered the optimum for adherence to the Mediterranean diet. RESULTS: Out of the subjects assigned to the intervention-1 group (n = 20), 11 subjects have completed the 52-months follow-up (55.0% ); for intervention-2, 16 (80%) out of 20 have completed it. The average age of subjects was 52.1 years. The Mediterranean Adequacy Index, of intervention-1 group significantly increased from 2.8 (T0) to 9.2 (T1) and to 9.0 (T2) (p <0.0001); whereas, in the intervention-2 group, Mediterranean Adequacy Index moved from 2.4 (T0) to 10.2 (T1) and to 9.3 (T2) (p <0.0001). The difference of Mediterranean Adequacy Index between the two study groups at T1 and T2 was not significant. Such non-significance persists also after the stratification by sex and age obtained with Mantel-Haenszel procedure. The performance of the values of the laboratory parameters considered (folic acid, total cholesterol, alkyl resorcinol) was similar in the subjects of both intervention 1 and 2, without any difference, while considered at a basal level T0, at T1 and at the end of the follow-up period (T2). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our work suggest the feasibility of conducting the Med-Anticancer Food Program in long-term cancer survivors. The results of the pilot study show that such intervention, carried on a small number of long term cancer survivors, is adequate to assess its feasibility but, due to the limited size of our study, a confirmation is required through larger nutritional prevention intervention studies.

The Official Control beyond the Official Control. How To Plan And Schedule Controls Starting From Risk Assessment Along The Agro-Food Supply Chain.

Every year the Italian Ministry of Health, on the basis of regional data, draws up the "Report on Official Controls" to be submitted to the Parliament. The report contains abundant data, diagrams and charts and illustrates the number and type of official controls (OC) performed by the pertinent Bodies (Ministry of Health, Regional and Local Health Authorities) over the previous year on Food Business Operators (FBO), in accordance with the EC Regulation 882/2004. The trend - which has consolidated over the years - relates to the multiplicity of OC and shows a decrease of such controls compared to an increase in "non-conformities". OC frequency is established by the Regional Authorities on the basis of the categorisation of both a "generic risk" for companies calculated taking into account the probability of occurrence of a "non-conformity", and a "specific" risk, assessed on the basis of the results of the OC actually performed on a given "Operatore del Settore Alimentare" (Food Sector Operator, in Italian: OSA). Thus, categorisation (i.e. the probability of occurrence of non-conformities) is the main driver of the OC scheduling and planning process. We have been asking ourselves whether the current OC planning/scheduling method is still suitable for ensuring food safety in the face of internalisation of the food supply chain. As a matter of fact, food safety is now becoming increasingly variable due to the globalization of consumption where "farm to fork", rather than "border to fork", food safety must be ensured. On the basis of these considerations, a different OC planning /scheduling method is being proposed based on the assessment of risks and the estimation of the occurrence of the same along the agro-food chain.

Training the teachers for improving primary schoolchildren's fruit and vegetables intake: a randomized controlled trial.

Effectiveness comparison of different school-based nutrition education interventions to improve fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption in schoolchildren not yet well researched. We evaluated the effectiveness of two school-based interventions promoting fruit and vegetable intake among Italian schoolchildren. In this randomized intervention trials, the first intervention was conducted by schoolteachers who attended a nutritionist-led training course (group-1), the second intervention conducted by schoolteachers who performed a self-training course (group-2). Thirty-two second to fifth-grade elementary classes enrolling 96 schoolteachers and 813 schoolchildren were randomized, and assigned to the two different nutrition education interventions. 804 students completed the study. By the end of the study, the group-1 (n = 409) followed by the teachers who attended a nutritionist-led course successfully increased the consumption of fruit and vegetables: in 183 (44.7%) and 157 (38.3%) schoolchildren respectively; the group-2 (n = 395) with teachers who performed a self-training course reported an increased consumption of fruit and vegetables in 81 (20.5%) and 76 (19.2%), respectively. This study indicates that a school-based nutrition education conducted by teachers who attended a nutritionist-led training course has a significant impact on primary school-age children's F&V intake.

Randomized, controlled nutrition education trial promotes a Mediterranean diet and improves anthropometric, dietary, and metabolic parameters in adults.

Several studies have shown that uptake of a Mediterranean diet could prevent many chronic diseases, such as cancer. However, the effectiveness of Mediterranean diet promotion interventions has not been well researched. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a nutrition education intervention for promoting the Mediterranean diet, by assessing changes in anthropometric, physical activity, dietetic and metabolic parameters in healthy adult subjects, before and after the intervention. Eighty participants, both sexes, aged 51-59 years, were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to the intervention or the control group. The intervention group participated in the Med-Food Anticancer Program (MFAP), designed to promote a Mediterranean diet. This was organized into 15 weeks of intensive training and 10 weeks of consolidation. Participants of the two groups were assessed at baseline (T0) and after 25 weeks (T1) for anthropometric, physical activity, dietetic, and metabolic parameters. The hypothesis was that subjects participating in MFAP would show an improvement in these parameters. The primary endpoint was an improvement of the Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI), calculated by dividing the percentage of total energy from typical Mediterranean food groups by the percentage of total energy from non-typical Mediterranean food groups. At T1, the intervention group showed a significant decrease in body weight (-8.3%, P = 0.045), body mass index (-12.4%, P = 0.05), cheese (53.0%, P < 0.0001) and meat (-49.3%, P = 0.005) intake, fasting glycaemia (-9.2%, P = 0.012), and fasting insulin (-32.6%, P = 0.014), C-Reactive Protein (-34.0%, P = 0.005). They showed a significant increase in MAI (+213, P < 0.0001), physical activity (expressed in steps per day, +200.4%, P < 0.0001), fruit (+38.8, P < 0.0001), vegetables (29.3%, P < 0.0001), and dietary fiber (+38.6%, P = 0.04) intake. In contrast, the control group presented non-significant variations in measured parameters, for exception of cheese intake (+18.2%, P < 0.0001). The MFAP was found to promote uptake of the Mediterranean diet, and improve anthropometric, physical activity, dietary, and metabolic parameters in healthy subjects.

[Nutrition prevention intervention for cancers: "Med-Food Anticancer Program"]. / L'intervento di prevenzione nutrizionale dei tumori: "Med-Food Anticancer Program".

Several studies recommend the Mediterranean diet and daily physical activity to prevent cancer development. These recommendations, however must be transformed into public health structured programmes, so that they assume operational effectiveness. The aim of the diet and lifestyle intervention called Med-Food Anticancer Program (MFAP) is to promote the Mediterranean diet and physical activity in the adult population. In particular; the target for participants in the intervention is the increased consumption of legumes, fish, whole grain bread and cereals, fruits and vegetables, and the decreased consumption of meat, cheese and foods of animal origin. At the same time, it is recommended to make at least ten thousand steps a day. Two studies have shown the effectiveness of MFAP.