Friday, April 17, 2015

The Science of Food

Do you know what is in your food?  The food manufacturers and activists make many claims but what is science telling us?  Dr. Martin Scanlon, Scientist with the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences Department at the University of Manitoba spoke to the Biology 40 and Food and Nutrition 30S classes at Carman Collegiate on Thursday, April 16.  He spoke with students about his career as a scientist and then described what goes into the creation of different foods in order to make them appealing to consumers.  Students learned that air and water makes up a lot of what we eat and that they need to read labels in order to understand what they are eating.  He spoke about the volume of air in ice cream and that is what makes it taste so creamy.  Students might say that one of the highlights of the presentation was at the end when Dr. Scanlon handed out ice cream (and lots of air) for everyone.