Society of Food Associated Disciplines (SOFAD) is an association which brings together social, career, and academic opportunities for individuals interested in a range of food associated disciplines. It also raises awareness of the importance of these disciplines and provides general support for members.

1. Introduction
SOFAD is an association which brings together social, career and academic
opportunities for individuals interested in a range of food associated disciplines
(Food Science, Nutrition, Food Safety, Food Process Engineering, Dietetics,
Population Health Nutrition, Exercise Nutrition and Wine Science).
It also raises awareness of the importance of these disciplines.
Society of Food Associated Disciplines
SOFAD Newsletter
A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 — I S S U E 3
Past Events • Lightning Seminar Series
• Tip Top Manufacturing Plant tour.
• Opportunities in Food & Wine with
Paul Kilmartin & Paul Harrison.
• Semester 2 Opening
• Student Dietitians Panel
AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER
• Fonterra Careers Talk
• Annual General Meeting
• Careers Insight
• Employment
Workshop
• Food Waste
Management Tour
Monthly SOFAD Lightning Seminar Series
Upcoming Events

2. Current News
A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 — I S S U E 3
S O F A D N E W S L E T T E R
Climate change reducing nutrition in staple foods
In field trials, C3 grains and legumes (such as wheat,
rice, peas and soybeans) grown with elevated atmospher-
ic CO2 resulted in decreased zinc and iron compositions.
This finding has important implications on the ongoing
climate change and may exacerbate current iron and zinc
deficiencies already affecting two billion people world-
wide.
By Myers et al., Nature
Invasion strategy of the foodborne pathogen:
Salmonella Typhimurium
Epithelial cell linings defend our gut against pathogenic
attacks. However, salmonella has virulent genes that can
pass these epithelial cells and systemically infect the
body through transport via invaded macrophages. It was
discovered Salmonella Typhimurium maintain its viru-
lence within the epithelial cells by critically depending
on glucose as fuel for growth and reproduction.
By Bowden et al., PLoS ONE
Trends and solutions in combating global food fraud
Widening of the global food supply chain increases the
challenges to safeguard against food fraud from “source
to fork”. The types of food fraud include adulteration,
tampering, overrun, theft, diversion, simulation and
counterfeit. Solutions suggested include increasing sci-
ence-based regulations, standards and acts, and imple-
menting scientifically sound food defence plans.
By Patrick Pimentel, Food Safety Magazine
Mechanism elucidated for DHA blood-brain barrier
transport
DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid essential for brain growth
and cognitive function. Despite our brain being abundant
in DHA, it cannot be synthesized locally and requires
delivery from the circulation. Using mice models, the
mechanism of DHA transport across the blood-brain bar-
rier has been discovered to mediate through the Mfsd2a
transporter.
By Nguyen et al., Nature
Transgenic mice can produce polyunsaturated fatty
acids on a carbohydrate diet
Omega-3 fatty acids maintain important bodily functions
and offer a range of health benefits but these cannot be
synthesized internally by mammals. Recently, a group
of researchers managed to engineer a transgenic “Omega
mouse” which is able to produce omega-3 fatty acids.
This allows future mammal meat and milk to be endoge-
nously enriched with omega-3.
By Pai et al., PLOS ONE

3. Research at the University of Auckland
“Guilt-Free” Chocolate
Brooke Mullins; Associate Professor Siew-Young Quek;
School of Chemical Sciences
For my 3rd year product development project I worked
with 2 classmates to develop a chocolate that women
could eat without the guilt that usually accompanies
chocolate consumption. There were 2 aspects to the con-
cept of the product – irstly the chocolate had no sugar
added to it and secondly we incorporated a pomegranate
illing, because of their associated health bene its to
breast cancer. These combined aspects allowed us to
market this as a “women’s” product, as women tend to
be more health conscious than men. The biggest chal-
lenges we encountered during the development of our
products were related to lavour and texture, as remov-
ing the sugar from chocolate has a signi icant impact on
both components. We explored a variety of substitute
ingredients in order to overcome these challenges and
deliver a chocolate product which still had a great la-
vour and texture!
Caffeine improves Eye Movement during Exercise
Charlotte Joy Waikauri Connell; Dr. Nicholas Gant;
Dr. Benjamin Thompson; Department of Sports and
Exercise Science
During exercise, both the exercising muscles and the
brain suffer from fatigue. At present, scientists know
little about ‘brain fatigue’. Previously, our lab has shown
that prolonged exercise fatigues the brain and slows the
speed of eye movements. This is concerning because our
eyes need to move quickly and accurately to focus on
important aspects in our environment. Caffeine is a
widely used drug with known fatigue-reversing proper-
ties. For the irst time, our study demonstrates that caf-
feine reverses the decrements in eye movement velocity
following the exercise-induced fatigue. Slow eye move-
ments could restrict the brain’s ability to recognise im-
portant changes in our surroundings. A moderate dose of
caffeine during exercise prevents this and may enhance
performance by increasing the speed that the visual sys-
tem operates.
Ultrasound Inactivation on Bacteria
Shengpu Gao; Associate Professor Yacine Hemar;
Professor Gillian Lewis; School of Chemical Sciences
Ultrasonic treatment is a potential method to inactivate
microorganisms in food. Several bacteria were treated at
different growth phases by both low-frequency (20 kHz)
and high-frequency (850 kHz) ultrasound in aqueous
solutions. After low-frequency treatments, lethal damage
to Enterobacter aerogenes and Bacillus subtilis was in-
duced. However, only minor effects were observed for
Staphylococcus epidermidis, at least in part due to their
protective capsule layer (extracellular polysaccharide)
that was resistant to the ultrasound caviation-induced
damage. Conversely, with the high-frequency treatment,
all bacteria were inactivated from the sonication-
generated hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen peroxide. A
post-ultrasonication effect was identi ied as bacteria
continued to be inactivated after the treatment.
S O F A D N E W S L E T T E R
A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 — I S S U E 3

4. Careers Pathway
Ahmed Al-Sa i
Food Technologist, B&H Foods Ltd.
The primary role and responsibilities for a Food Technol-
ogist varies from one industry to another, I am currently
responsible for managing the Food Safety Programme,
quality assurance, research and development and solving
technical problems in the factory. It is very challenging
and rewarding to be part of a growing industry special-
ised in the manufacture of sauces, mayonnaises, toppings,
juices and many more, to ensure all products are safe for
consumption. It is also extremely rewarding to produce a
laboratory scale food prototype that makes it all the way
to the industrial scale production.
Cindy Li
Laboratory technician & Export Co-ordinator,
Matakana Estate Winery
Matakana Estate Winery is located not too far outside of
Auckland. It is away from the concrete buildings and
makes me feel more free and relaxed during work. My
main role during harvest season is to do some routine
tests on grape juice or wine fermentation, such as sulfur
tests, residual sugar, acidity tests and more. Since at the
moment, China is the biggest overseas market, I also help
with supply chain operations and coordinate exports to
China. I truly enjoy working here; it gives me a close and
unique opportunity to know the romance and science that
swirl around wine and the wine industry.
David Cifuentes
Process Technologist - CNI, Fonterra Co-operative
Group Limited
My current position and department at Fonterra provides
me with thrilling knowledge, challenges and opportuni-
ties that substantially progress me in my professional
development and career pathway. My role allows me to
interact with the production and the suppliers as well as
several other areas within the company. Here, I put my
engineering and food technology skills to good use on the
manufacturing and managing projects I am responsible
for. These projects enable Fonterra to continue to be pic-
tured as a trustworthy source of dairy nutrition world-
wide and make advancements to remain at the frontier of
the industry.
The Committee
Janine Lawton - President
Linh Ta - Vice President & Treasurer
Trang Duong - Advisor
Brianna Dean - Head Events Co-ordinator
Wayne Lee & Agata Djongianto
- Events Co-ordinators
Laura Aprilyani - Secretary
Charlotte Oelofsen - Media Design
Shikha Pundir - External Communication
Seresa Lapaz & Brian Fu- Photographer
Vic Shoao-Chih Chiang - Founder & Advisor
Editorial Team
Editorial Lead: Vic Shao-Chih Chiang
Media Design: Charlotte Oelofsen
Reviewer Panel: Charlotte Oelofsen, Brianna Dean,
Shikha Pundir
Contact Details
Our email:
Þ uoasofad@gmail.com
You can also ind us on Facebook:
Þ https://www.facebook.com/uoasofad
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