Food

Sweet potatoes are a popular food choice for consumers worldwide because of their delicious taste and nutritious quality. The red, tuberous root vegetable can be processed into chips and fries, and it has a range of industrial applications, including textiles, biodegradable polymers, and biofuels.

In his State of the Union address last week, President Biden touched on a topic close to the hearts of U.S. consumers: food prices. In this election year, we can expect high food costs to come up repeatedly, with candidates from both parties invoking price gouging, shrinkflation, and corporate greed. But who do consumers blame? And how do political leanings shift those opinions? A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economist explains. 

Early childhood is an important time for learning about nutrition and establishing healthy eating behaviors. Young children rely on parents to provide food options, and the availability of food in the home affects their dietary choices.

March is National Nutrition Month™, an educational and informational campaign sponsored by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This year’s theme is “Beyond the Table,” encouraging people to think about nutrition from farm to fork, including food production and distribution to grocery stores and farmers markets. It includes how we eat at the table, on the go, in schools, restaurants, games, and events, and emphasizes sustainability and decreasing food waste.

Leafy green vegetables are important sources of dietary fiber and nutrients, but they can harbor harmful pathogens. In particular, lettuce has often been involved in outbreaks of foodborne illness across the U.S. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines factors that affect E. coli contamination on five different leafy greens – romaine lettuce, green-leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, and collards. 

Valentine’s Day is here and plenty of couples are celebrating, but for some, chocolate is their one true love. Elvira de Mejia, professor of food science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), investigates the health benefits of dark, white, milk, and even Valentine’s Day chocolates.

As demand for food from restaurants soars in the U.S., so does the importance in understanding the impacts of foodborne illness outbreaks. A new paper co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert in food marketing and food policy finds that outbreaks spanning multiple states bring swift financial losses, increased media attention and a public-relations hit that makes smaller outbreaks more financially damaging. 

Scientists in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a portable, self-powered ultraviolet-C device called the Tribo-sanitizer that can inactivate two of the bacteria responsible for many foodborne illnesses and deaths.

URBANA, Ill. – The infant formula shortage crisis in the United States and Canada, which began in February 2022, revealed vulnerabilities in the industrial food system and disproportionately affected low-income families and those relying on specialty formulas.

Since 1973, food industry professionals have bolstered their skills and furthered their careers through the Master of Science in Food Science (MSFS) program in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.