Partner Spotlight: Dr. Mary Ellen Camire, Past President of Institute of Food Technologists
As a food science professor at the University of Maine and a longtime member of the Institute of Food Technologists, Dr. Mary Ellen Camire works to usher in the future of food. Her expertise has made her a sought-after consultant for companies, research grant panels, and, yes, interviewers with all sorts of food FAQs. Read on for our chat with Dr. Camire, which includes the multiple reasons why “processed” shouldn’t be a bad word, plus advice for dealing with young, picky eaters.
CURIOSITY: Could you summarize IFT’s mission, and tell us why it’s so relevant today?
DR. MARY ELLEN CAMIRE: Our mission [at IFT] is to advance the science of food, and its application across the global food system. Today, your groceries come from all over the world—we want to make sure that everyone has access to sustainable nutrition and a sustainable food supply. It's a tall order!
C: Why is sustainability so important, and how has it factored into your work?
MEC: We waste a tremendous amount of food in the world, and we're really not going to be able to produce that much more food in the future. We have to be wiser about how we use it. I've been very interested in looking at food processing byproducts, and how we could reuse those. My first research project as a professor was studying the potato peels left over from making french fries, and how to use them as a fiber supplement.
We've also developed some healthy salmon jerky from strips of salmon that were left over from a smoked salmon plant. They needed the smoked salmon to fit inside their packaging, and so they would trim the fish, and there'd be pieces left over that they had no market for. We took those and made a healthy snack out of it.
So, I’m trying to find ways to use what's left over in a healthy way, to reduce the amount of energy that's needed to process foods, and to support expansion of local food systems.
C: The word “processed” is pretty demonized when it comes to discussing healthy food. Is that outlook warranted?
MEC: We hear that a lot in our classes, "How can you promote processed foods, they're so bad for you?" I say, "Did you have coffee this morning? Did you have a beer last night? Those are processed foods." Raisins, you take a grape and you dry it, that's processing. People just want to get on the bandwagon and say, “let's burn the monster.”
If they really stopped to think about what their lives would be like if they didn't have processed food … I don't want to go back to the time when women spent most of the day growing and preparing food! I have a profession, if I had to grow all my food, I wouldn't be able to do my job. I really think, growing up back in the 60s, that my mother was able to go back to college and have her career because of the availability of processed foods.
It's made a big difference, we're seeing major growth in other countries too. Women are working and they need foods that are more convenient. And being convenient doesn't mean it’s unhealthy. Oftentimes, processing means it’s safer!
MEC: A big emphasis among the members of IFT is nonthermal processing—ways to use energy to process the food so it looks and tastes and feels fresh, but it’s [been] processed to kill bacteria.
One way to do that is with high pressure. You might have seen packages of guacamole in the supermarket that can last a long time, because they've been high-pressure processed. The bacteria, they're very small, but the pressure is enough to pop their membranes and kill them, and it doesn't really change the taste and the appearance of the guacamole.
One [method] that's not out commercially yet is using plasma electricity to sterilize the surface of foods. Think of those balls at the science museum with all the electricity inside them. Think of something like that being applied to the surface of your food, zapping it. You still have a fresh fruit or vegetable, but the bacteria on the surface has been knocked out.
It's exciting to see those technologies coming closer and closer to commercialization.
C: That’s awesome! Are there any other popular misconceptions about food that bother you right now?
MEC: Well, some of the consumer nutrition trends are not necessarily science-based. Right now, some people are trying to go gluten-free when they don't have celiac disease. I'm very interested in whole grains and dietary fiber, and we have a lot of people who are removing those foods from their diets, and that's causing other health problems.
And potatoes! I'm of Irish descent, so my family came over to the U.S. during the potato famine in the 1800s. Today people vilify potatoes as being fattening and full of carbs, but potatoes have a lot of potassium, fiber, and antioxidants. They're really actually good for you, if you don't douse them in hot oil and get them all crispy.
C: If someone's studying nutrition, what are some strategies for separating the hard science from the pseudoscience?
MEC: Look out for emotionally charged words like toxins, poison, magic, miracle … any of Dr. Oz's favorite words. There's a lot of hype out there. I'll see things on Facebook like, “This diet will help you lose 10 pounds in two days.” Don't perpetuate something that you can't verify!
I recommend that people learn who a reputable source is. WebMD fact checks their information; the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a profession group for dieticians, they have a lot of good information about nutrition; and IFT has a Food Facts page for consumers about food issues. Not every dot-org is sound science, but there are a lot of good ones out there.
C: Do you have any advice for parents who are trying to encourage healthy eating habits in their children?
MEC: “You have to eat your vegetables if you want dessert” is not an effective strategy. If you want them to eat fruits and vegetables, don't [present] it as a regular meal. Make it a treat, make it a snack. "Your cousins are coming over, look, we're going to have some special purple cauliflower." If there are other children around who you're pretty sure will eat the food, peer pressure works really well! If mom tells you to eat it and you see your friends eating it, you'll eat it because you'll be cool with them.
C: How do you stay curious?
I think I was born curious! I was really lucky, my folks encouraged me to go into science. I try to spend time with my three grandchildren, and they have a lot of questions. Sometimes their questions are naive but very insightful. They get me wondering, “Why is it this way?” and they trust me to go look it up for them.
Interview conducted by Melanie Kassel
