What is the profile of Food Engineering education in Brazil? Are we following the contemporary professional renewal trend? Driven by these questions, the present study analyzed data regarding 21 academic courses, which represent approximately 22% of the total bachelor’s degree in food engineering courses offered in the country. Samples were defined considering a Brazilian annual ranking of undergraduate programs: very good (four stars) and excellent (five stars). Next, information was recovered from both the Brazilian Ministry of Education and institutional homepages of each analyzed program. The results suggest that food engineering programs exhibit relative identity, naturally due to their history and the path of each program and their faculty, shaping particularities in how fields of knowledge are constituted, in addition to their representativeness in the total workload of the program. However, initial analysis is suggestive regarding understanding that Brazil is not properly doing its homework, based on global movement, concerning food engineering education. The need to rethink Brazilian technical education, without culminating in additional workload, is emphasized, not only regarding new materials and technologies for learning and teaching, but also in terms of bringing a human and market approach. The achievement of this complex goal seems to be provided by the encouragement of student associations, transversal learning processes, and learning experiences outside the classroom as a means of improving undergraduate programs and human resources.

The objectives of this study were to make yoghurt from camel milk and determine its physicochemical, microbiological and sensory qualities. The quality of camel milk yoghurt was compared with cow milk yoghurt and all parameters were analyzed following standard procedures. Yoghurt of acceptable consistency was made from camel milk using 1.2% gelatin, 5% bovine skim milk powder, 1.5 ml/L of calcium chloride, 40 ml/L of maple strawberry syrup and 6% yoghurt culture (YF-L811) and by incubating the milk at 42°C for 18 h. The average values for moisture, ash, syneresis, pH, titratable acidity and total solids of camel milk yoghurt were 83.4%, 1.13%, 58%, 4.37, 1.255% lactic acid and 16.7%, respectively. The corresponding values for cow milk yoghurt were 80.6%, 0.71%, 56%, 4.67, 0.865% lactic acid and 19.5%, respectively. The titratable acidity of camel milk yoghurt was significantly higher (P<0.05) than cow milk yoghurt; however, no significant difference was observed between the two yoghurt types for the other parameters. Coliforms were not detected in both yoghurt types. The sensory analysis showed that cow milk yoghurt was more preferred by the panellists than camel milk yoghurt. Production of yoghurt from camel milk using the same procedure as for cow milk yoghurt proved to be difficult.  Further research is called for to improve the acceptability of camel milk yoghurt using locally available and acceptable flavouring agents. Research needs to be conducted to optimize the operating parameters and standardize the production procedures of camel milk yoghurt in the future.

This study employs the logit model to assess the determinants of consumers’ willingness to consume cassava leaves as a leafy vegetable in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 180 respondents for the study. The study found that majority (76%) of the respondents had no knowledge of the nutritional value of cassava leaves, though they had consumed the product before. The empirical results showed that socioeconomic characteristics of respondents such as age, sex, household size and monthly income, as well as their perceptions on the attributes and use of cassava leaves as food have significant influence on willingness to consume cassava leaves as a leafy vegetable. There is the need to provide information on the nutritional benefits of cassava leaves to facilitate decision-making on its utilisation/consumption. Programmes aimed at promoting the consumption of cassava leaves should consider the significant variables that have influence on the consumption of the product.

Osmotic dehydration of chestnut slices in sucrose was optimized for the first time by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Experiments were planned according to a three-factor central composite design (α=1.68), studying the influence of sucrose concentration, temperature and time, on the following parameters: volume ratio, water activity, color variation, weight reduction, solids gain, water loss and normalized moisture content, as well as total moisture, ash and fat contents. The experimental data was adequately fitted into second-order polynomial models with coefficients of determination (R2 ) from 0.716 to 0.976, adjusted-R2 values from 0.460 to 0.954, and non-significant lacks of fit. The optimal osmotic dehydration process conditions for maximum water loss and minimum solids gain and color variation were determined by the “Response Optimizer” option: 83% sucrose concentration, 20 °C and 9.2 hours. Thus, the best operational conditions corresponded to high sugar concentration and low temperature, improving energy saving and decreasing the process costs.