海角直播

Students given a taste for food technology

College students from across the region have taken part in a special event at 海角直播 looking at the impact of the horsemeat scandal.

The students took part in a series of workshops which showcased the different techniques used by food laboratories to investigate what goes into our food. The experiments which used the University鈥檚 facilities and expertise included DNA testing to identify what goes into burgers and other processed foods.

They also used the laboratories to evaluate the nutritional value of different types of food and discover the real cost of the food on supermarket shelves by calculating its carbon footprint.

The day was designed to raise awareness of courses and careers associated with degrees at 海角直播 such as Food and Nutrition, Chemistry, Environmental Health and Forensic Biology.

With the help of Dr Zuzana Bajuszova, Helen Hodgson and Shirley O'Hare, Principal Lecturer Dr Liam O鈥橦are led an experiment to check for the equine painkiller, phenylbutazone, which could potentially be harmful to humans.

He said: 'This test is actually one which we do on our undergraduate courses.

'It鈥檚 also something which is done regularly in commercial laboratories and we wanted to show the students the practical implications of experiments such as these.'

David Chen, 16, from King鈥檚 Academy, Middlesbrough, said: 'It鈥檚 been really interesting and we鈥檝e really learned a lot.

'It鈥檚 been great to use the equipment here.'

Luke Pratt, 16, also from King鈥檚 Academy, added: 'Everything鈥檚 been explained to us so we know why it is we鈥檙e doing things at every stage in the process.

'I鈥檝e found it very interesting.'

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