Archive For The “Israeli FoodTech” Category

Can We Be Duped Into Eating More? Yes and No.

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Can We Be Duped Into Eating More? Yes and No.

For decades, researchers relied on the Delboeuf illusion to explain how the size and shape of the serving object effects how much we actually eat. In a recent 2012 study, scientists asked their participants to serve themselves soup in bowls of different sizes. The people who used larger bowls poured themselves more soup than those with smaller bowls. This is the classic understanding of the Delboeuf illusion.

Since then, restaurants responded by adjusting the size of serving plates. It depending, however, on their clientele. For health-conscious venues, the plates got smaller. But for fast food restaurants, “supersizing” was all the rage. And ever since, the food industry has invested billions in finding what works best for their customers, what can be rightly stated as a manipulation they enjoyed.

But some Israeli researchers are questioning all of this, not that it’s wrong per se, but that it’s not necessarily the size that matters. What matters more is your level of hunger. Using the Delboeff illusion again, they did the standard object manipulation, only this time their participants hadn’t eaten for three hours whereas the other group ate just one hour before.

The findings were eye-opening. Those who were considerably hungry were to accurately size up the true quantity of food regardless of the plate size while the group who just ate experienced the classic Delboeff illusion; the size of the object cause them to misrepresent the service size.


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Researchers believe that this latest study show evolutionary tendencies in action. In other words, the more hungry we are, the more attuned we become toward objective reality, that is, the true situation. When we’re not so hungry, we are easily manipulated by the Delboeff illusion. Put slightly differently, the more hunger becomes an existential need, the more focused and accurate our assessment of our world becomes.

An interesting follow-up study would be to extend the length of food deprivation to see at what point (in time) the accuracy of assessment begins to veer off.

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Israeli Scientists Debunk The Smaller Meals Myth?

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Israeli Scientists Debunk The Smaller Meals Myth?

If you ever tried to lose a few pounds — which is nearly everyone — a smaller meal with greater frequency strategy for dieting is a common way to combat conventional diets. In fact, some argue that it’s not about calories but metabolism and keeping your intake consistent and steady throughout the day.

But a study published in the medical journal Appetite by Dr. Tzvi Ganel of the Laboratory for Visual Perception and Action in BGU’s Department of Psychology and BGU PhD student Noa Zitron-Emanuel found that when people are hungry, or food-deprived, they’re more likely to identify a portion size accurately, no matter how it is served.

I am not one who is quick to question scientific research with a simple anecdotal evidence for obvious reasons. First, anecdotal evidence is the least reliable of all evidentiary candidates. We often misrepresent, intentionally or not, what we’re recalling. Then there’s the problem of just being wrong about our recall, actually depicting an event and its particulars which turn out to be flat wrong, or wildly inaccurate.


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Controlled studies, on the other hand, take out human bias, and thus provide more objective and reliable reporting. What this means is that there’s every reason to trust controlled studies over anecdotal evidence, which is why it is so odd about what I’m going to say. I simply do not, and never have been able to apportion my plate to my level of hunger. Never! So does this mean that I’m some sort of outlier like the Israeli researchers would strongly suggest? Could be.

Or maybe something else is going on which can explain my personal experience in a way that does comport with the research. And it’s pretty simple.

While I may not deviate by how much I load up my plate, I can control the amount I actually eat. Not because I have awesome discipline but rather because my biological indicators do it for me. And I’m no outlier here. The reason is simple. I tend to feast or famine with my daily caloric intake. If I’m really focused, I can go almost an entire day without eating. When I stop I then notice very quickly how hungry I am and will eat anything in site to address a totally out of whack metabolism. This explains why I will fill my plate regardless of how hungry I am. It’s because I’m almost always very hungry because I don’t eat frequent meals. I often (not recommended) eat one meal per day.

Yet there’s a real possibility that I am misreporting my plate filling habits. In the coming weeks, I’m going to pay closer attention to this and then report back. After all, anecdotal evidence is unreliable.

It should be interesting.

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Pepsi Buys Israeli Company Sodastream for $3.2 Billion

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Pepsi Buys Israeli Company Sodastream for $3.2 Billion

Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi is going out with a bang. Nooy, already credited with increasing Pepsi’s sales by 80 percent over her tenure, reorganizing the company into three divisions, and placing more emphasis on consumer demand for healthy alternatives, just completed a $3.2 billion acquisition of Israeli company Sodastream as part of the healthy alternative option.

Sodastream is a do-it-yourself (DIY) soda alternative that provides the sweet taste without the sugar found in conventional sodas, as well as on-demand flavors, makes a lot of sense for Pepsi, and its healthy alternative strategy. As a DIY device, it also extends Pepsi’s distribution to the growing DIY market for which Pepsi was on the sidelines. (Expect Coca Cola to follow for obvious reasons). Based on news of the deal, along with Sodastream’s repositioning as a sparkling water company, its stock surged more than 320%.


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The deal will be funded using Pepsi’s cash on hand and has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies. It is expected to close by January, pending a SodaStream shareholder vote and certain regulatory approvals.

Nooyi, who will be replaced by Ramon Laguarta, Pepsi’s head of global operations, helped turn Pepsi into one of the most successful food and beverage companies in the world. Sales grew 80% during her 12-year tenure.

For this latest move, and likely her last, Nooyi’s legendary status as a food and beverage rainmaker is solidified.

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Israeli Startups: Vanguard In FoodTech

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Israeli Startups: Vanguard In FoodTech

Where do we draw the line between general chemistry and food innovation? It’s a difference without any meaningful distinction. Just ask the 750 or so Israeli Foodtech startups. That’s no typo. 750 Foodtech startups. If they have it their way, one day in the not-so-distant future, the 3D printer may be the new microwave of the 21st century! But are we ready to start printing our food? Don’t be so quick to react, especially if the ingredients taste better and are better for us.

The students, aboard some three hundred attendees, participated in FoodTech Nation 2018 conference last month, an occurrence control to celebrate the institution’s seventy fifth day of remembrance. whereas showcasing future food product, the event additionally hosted food school researchers, professors, investors, entrepreneurs, and lecturers together with Dr. Oded Shoseyov, a Hebrew University academician of supermolecule engineering and nano-biotechnology acknowledged for his 3D printing school, and Dr. Alon Samish of the Davidson Institute of Science Education at the Chaim Azriel Weizmann Institute and also the founder and chief operating officer of Amai supermolecule, a procedure supermolecule style and biotech company.

An avocado energy bar, a “clean ingredient” food product coconut pudding, a Stevia-flavored natural paste cup, cocktails with natural pear sweetening, and frozen dessert created with supermolecule powder from dipteron larvae rounded out the innovative food school mixtures created and given by teams of scholars from a food development course at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Henry M. Robert H. Smith college of Agriculture, Food and setting in Rehovot.

Israel is one amongst the highest countries within the world for innovation in food school, each Shoseyov and also the event’s organizer Oren Froy, head of the Institute of organic chemistry, Food Science, and Nutrition at Hebrew University stressed to NoCamels at the confab.

“First of all, there’s tons of startups in Israel in food technology,” Froy says, inform to Israeli company Tivall, that he says was among the primary to introduce meat substitutes into the market. Tivall is in hand by Osem, one amongst the most important food makers and distributors in Israel. 10 years past, Tivall signed associate agreement to buy the US company FoodTech for $20 million. FoodTech developed and marketed frozen meat substitutes sold-out within the US and North American country underneath the name, VeggiePatch.

Froy adds that Israel additionally makes property a high priority. “When we have a tendency to create new product we expect inexperienced, we expect regarding the way to create a product that’s higher for the setting, that wouldn’t damage or injury the setting and minimize refuse,” he says.

Froy suggests that food school leadership may additionally stem from the challenges expose by growing crops in Israel’s dry climate.


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“I assume it will play a task, the very fact that it’s associate arid place here, however, we have a tendency to try and get {the higher|the higher} of it and use it to induce better product and fashionable product,” he says.

Israel is home to some 750 active startups and corporations within the food school and agriculture school industries, consistent with a could report by the Israeli non-profit Start-Up Nation Central.

Ahead of the event, yank international International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) company noninheritable Israeli company Frutarom, one amongst the ten largest corporations within the field of flavors and fine ingredients, for $7.1 billion. A month before the acquisition, Frutarom {and the|and therefore the|and additionally the} Israel Innovation Authority also proclaimed the gap of FoodNxt, the fully-equipped innovation science laboratory for food-tech startups in Israel’s north.

“Israel being a ‘startup nation’ isn’t simply a commonplace,” says Yoni Glickman, President of Frutarom Natural Solutions same at the time. “Startups became the expansion engine of the food trade, and Frutarom, through FoodNxt, is functioning to accelerate this innovation – by providing power, processes, technologies, and experience to assist overcome challenges, nurture development, and launch new product into the world market.”

As a startup nation, the young entrepreneurs in Israel aren’t intimidated by issues and problems, Shoseyov same at the Gregorian calendar month event. The Israeli mentality teaches youngsters, together with young entrepreneurs within the food school trade, that failure could be a reality of life and simple to induce over, he explains. “They square measure able to jump in, therefore i feel this can be the correct place.”

Shoseyov, for his half, is creating his own “imprint” Israel’s food school innovation trade – virtually – with technology that may change the 3D printing of food to be used private homes, restaurants, schools, and establishments, consistent with the consumer’s predefined criteria. This groundbreaking school, developed last year aboard Ido Braslavsky, head of the Bachelors of Science program in organic chemistry and Food Science, is about to alter the approach we have a tendency to eat, what we have a tendency to eat, and the way we have a tendency to create our food.

Shoseyov incorporates nanocellulose, a tasteless plant-produced, zero-calorie, probiotic fiber into Chefit, his digital cook supported 3D printing technology. Chefit is what permits the user to customize a meal employing a 3D printer, equipped with cartridges of nanocellulose, protein, fat, and different ingredients, besides a “very targeted infrared head that you simply will bake, fry or grill,” he says.

While he’s already called one amongst the leading food 3D printing innovators in Israel, he’s additionally fast to imply that it’s additionally as a result of Israel as a rustic is kind of technologically savvy during this specific field.

“On the aspect of the technology that comes from 3D printers, Israel is certainly the leader,” he tells NoCamels, “We have several 3D printing corporations and a few of the most important in addition, therefore it’s very a hub. the fundamental power is here.”

Student displays

In the food development course at the Henry M. Robert H. Smith college of Agriculture, Food and setting, students specialize in topics adore raw materials and ingredients, why new product square measure developed, and new trends within the food trade. once they produce their food product, they face limitations, as they’d within the planet.

“The purpose of the category is scaling for production,” same Tammy Meiron, the Hebrew University academician teaching the course, “We offer students the tools to search out future product.”

This year, during a course 1st, students were asked to share their food school mixtures and creations at the conference. the scholars were split into 5 groups, assigned a food topic that required to be developed into a physical product, and collaborated with native food corporations and startups to return up with their formulations.

Students from the Terrabites cluster (l to r. Peleg Vareli, Hadas Wennstein, Esti Mirel, and Mor Maayan) cause with Jerusalem Venture Partners chairman and founder Erel Margalit. Courtesy

The Terrabites team was tasked with mistreatment the scraps of avocados, that square measure sometimes disposed of within the food trade.

The team’s goal was to isolate the fiber, therefore, it may well be extra into different product to extend the fiber content while not adding calories or unhealthy ingredients. Their 1st try resulted in massive fibrous items however when some tries, they terminated up with a refined powder that was straightforward to combine into different ingredients. Their final product was a gluten-free, all-natural energy bar, that was property. Avocado fiber augmented the bars fiber content from eight p.c to twenty p.c.

FOMO

This group’s challenge was to form a “clean label” delicacy. operating with Tnuva, the most important producer in Israel, that makes a specialty of milk and dairy farm product, they determined to form a coconut pudding with pineapple.

“Tapioca coconut are some things we have a tendency to don’t see within the food market,” student Li Ganor same. “We had coconut, cream, milk, tapioca, and vanilla sugar. we have a tendency to had to search out the simplest way to heat it and blend it in.”

The team learned there have been 2 ways that to solidify food product – by mixture and heating it – and that they had to experiment to induce the best magnitude relation of each while not having the food product pearls sink or split up. the scholars made a recent vegetarian course with natural ingredients. the toughest a part of the method, they said, was scaling it up for production, while not sacrificing the standard of the food product or the thickness of the bottom.

Moscatina

Insect larvae isn’t the perfect ingredient for frozen dessert, however a student cluster known as Moscatina managed to include it into a delicious frozen treat, with facilitate from Israeli startup Flying Spark, an organization that developed property and edible supermolecule powder from the larvae of Mediterranean fruit flies.

The cluster extra it to paste frozen dessert and berry sherbet, increasingthe supermolecule content from three.5 p.c to ten p.c for frozen dessert and from zero five|to five} p.c for sherbet.

You might be fooled by the palatability of this frozen dessert treat. It’s truly made up of the supermolecule powder of dipteron larvae! Courtesy

The students during this cluster were assigned to figure with a neighborhood Israeli spice plant. rather than going the plain route by creating spice kits for cookery, they selected to form cocktail mixtures which will be sold-out in packs. The cubes of cocktail mixtures square measure unbroken within the deep-freeze associated born into an alcoholic or non-alcoholic base liquid to remodel them directly into a replacement drink. The blends created by the cluster square measure all sugared with natural pear sweetening, not processed sugar.

Now here’s a Reese’s paste cup you won’t feel guilty regarding feeding. The Reesless team worked with Unavoo Food Technologies, an organization that created its own sweetener made up of all-natural ingredients with a glycemic worth of zero, no artificial or chemical ingredients, no sugar parts, and virtually no calories.

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