Nature’s Influence: Understanding Environmental Impacts on Crop Flavor and Nutrition

Event Overview

Understanding the intricate relationship between environmental factors, such as climate change and pest infestation, and the flavor, nutrition, and taste quality of crops is paramount for ensuring food security and agricultural sustainability.

However, analyzing such natural products poses several challenges because of their diverse matrices and wide-ranging volatile components.

In this webinar, Dr Luke Bell (University of Reading) will demonstrate how the enhanced separation of GC×GC-TOF MS, alongside advanced extraction and enrichment techniques, can unravel the complexities of plant and food volatiles. By integrating sensory evaluations with advanced analytical methodologies, this research aims to provide a deeper understanding of how climate change and pest pressures influence the volatile profiles of food produce.

By attending this webinar, you will:

• Discover how integrating sensory evaluation with chemical characterization can enhance your understanding of aroma profiles.
• Learn how chemometric data analysis can identify key features that distinguish between complex samples.
• See real-world applications spanning food, flavor, and environmental sciences, including the volatile composition of honey, the effects of herbivory and pollution on poplar tree VOC emissions, and the effects of growing media on flavor compounds produced by kale.

Who should attend?

• Food and flavor scientists seeking insights about potential applications
• Plant and environmental scientists interested in field sampling techniques for volatiles
• GC(–MS) users eager to explore the value of GC×GC for complex sample analysis

What you need to know:

Date: 10 July, 2024

Start times:

Broadcast #1: 10 July - 10 am BST (London) / 11 am CEST (Paris/Berlin) / 2:30 pm IST (New Delhi) / 5 pm SGT (Singapore)
Broadcast #2: 10 July - 10 am PDT (Los Angeles) / 12 pm CDT (Chicago) / 1 pm EDT (New York)

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes

Presenter: Luke Bell (Lecturer in Temperate Horticulture, University of Reading, UK)

Dr Luke Bell is Lecturer in Temperate Horticulture at the University of Reading and holds degrees in Ecology & Biology (BSc) and Plant & Environmental Science (MSc), as well as a PhD in Food & Nutritional Science from the University of Reading. He has previously worked in industry as a vegetable plant breeder and geneticist and now leads a research group at the University of Reading investigating crop-environment interactions, with a particular focus on how changes in the environment give rise to differences in nutrition, taste, and flavor quality of crops.