CaIFF Webinar: Remko Boom

Mild processing for lower environmental impact: rapid experimentation methods and machine learning for efficiently using new food ingredients

Prof. Remko M. Boom

Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen
Food Quality and Design Group, Wageningen University

The protein transition has caused a shift from using animal-derived food ingredients towards other sources, such as plants and using fermentation, for example using precision fermentation to produce animal/similar proteins.

However, the gain in environmental impact in the production of non-animal food ingredients strongly depends on the amount of processing that they undergo, and our current processes for isolating ingredients from plant raw materials or fermentation fluids require extensive purification. Reduction of the degree of processing strongly reduced the overall environmental impact, but this means that we have to work with increasingly complex mixtures. This makes formulation of these ingredients into finished foods much more difficult, as there are many non-ideal interactions between constituents. We could show that in many cases, the properties of these partially processed ingredients can be better than those of the purified ones.

Machine learning can be used to capture these non-ideal interactions, and inversion of these models allows the formulation of foods with them. Sufficient data need to be generated for these models, however. We are currently developing rapid experimentation methods that capture the typical functional properties of food ingredients, such as rheological properties, interfacial properties (emulsification and foaming) and digestion. The webinar will discuss the rationale for using these models and methods and the design and use of some of these rapid experimentation methods.

Remko Boom has a background as chemical engineer with specialization in membrane separations. After working for 6 years for Unilever Research, he chaired the Food Process Engineering group at Wageningen University for 27 years. He was appointed full professor at the University of Copenhagen in 2025, where he is currently building a new group on food materials engineering, while maintaining a parttime position at Wageningen University.

Registration link to Zoom Event

https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dKOX_lg8QX6qjSeRb4wnkw