Thread by @realscientists

So how did I get from being interested in food and the sensory of food to my current research?

I started with an undergrad in Food Science which I found when I was looking at all the different science courses.

It was a 4-year course & I was happy with my decision to do it!

During that course, I completed two internships, one in a bread factory, & doing research with a company into cooked meat & vegan/vegetarian meat replacements.

I really loved everything about food science & when I was in my 4th year, I was trying to figure out what to do..

In my mind, it was you go to college and then you get a job in a company.

I never knew there was an option to do research degrees and get paid a stipend to do them. In my mind, only rich people got to do that.

So when I found out about that I was shocked but ecstatic because there was now an opportunity for me to do research and further learning which has always interested me!

My final year undergraduate thesis project was looking at if castration and the age lambs are slaughtered at has an effect on the rate of time it takes for cooked meat to go off.

Why is this worth studying?

Castration of animals especially lambs is a practice that is being questioned. Is it really necessary?

Castration is a practice that is common in some meat-producing countries but is banned in other countries.

So why is it even done? It's generally accepted that male animals have a "taint" that is caused by hormones but there are arguments against this too.

We know (in research) that this is a big problem in pigs but there's not so much evidence that it's a problem with other animals.

However, a lot of the meat production companies won't buy meat from male animals that are not castrated so the practice continues in many countries.

So if we want to change this practice, we need ALOT of research to convince meat companies to change this practice.

And I also know that a lot of people don't like to talk about meat as animals - it evokes what is terms "meat-eaters paradox" (we're back to eating psychology!)

This doesn't affect everyone but for some people talking about meat as the animals makes them feel morally conflicted.

Just in case anyone is feeling awkward about the end of this thread.

People who aren't in farming/agriculture, food or meat areas generally aren't used to talking about meat as animals so may feel more conflicted about this.

But just to also say that all animals that are produced for food are subject to strict welfare laws and anyone who does research on animals also has to adhere to those laws. They can vary depending on where you are in the world so I am under EU laws.

A completely different fun fact - there's a lot of research going into insects as food at the moment & there's a lot of confusion about how insects production for humans will impact these laws cause technically they need to be adhered to even though they were not written for them

So a question:

Would you even eat any insects or a food that insects have been added to?

You answer to this can depend on your culture. Culture & nationality can impact your buying but they can also impact how you see food.

Cultures draw the lines about what is food & what isn't differently. This is especially apparent around seafood & insects.

There's also research going into using insects as ingredients rather than eating them whole as some people don't like the idea of eating them like that.

If I was to include crickets in muffins, would you eat them?

Also apologies for all the topic changes in this & all my other threads...

ADHD for the win.... this is what being in my brain is like 🤣🤣