Category Archives: BioEngineering

By ISAAC OTWII

Government is set to commission two more fruit processing factories in Nwoya and Yumbe districts in June, an official has said.Mr Daniel Mabirizi, the planning, monitoring and evaluation officer at National Agriculture Advisory Services (Naads) secretariat, said the government is commissioning the factories to increase processing facilities in the country.We have been supporting production over a period of time. Consequently, this has led to the need to support farmers at the upper end of the value chain, he said on Tuesday.

Mr Mabirizi said the facilities set for commissioning are Yumbe Mango Fruit Processing Factory, with a capacity of five metric tonnes per hour and Kayunga Fruit Processing Plant. Kayunga factory has a capacity of 600kgs per hour.

In 2017, government encouraged farmers in Nwoya District to grow citrus fruits, mangoes and cassava with a pledge that there would be ready market after the completion of a Shs8.5 billion mango processing factory.

Naads and Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) then signed a memorandum of understanding with mango farmers in Yumbe District under their umbrella association Aringa Fruit Farmers Cooperative Society Ltd (AFFCSL). This was to establish a five-metric tonne per-hour fruit processing factory in the area under a public sector initiative. The project is being undertaken by FoNuS, a company owned by Makerere University lecturers from the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bioengineering.

Mr Mabirizi said the installation of the equipment is ongoing at the two facilities pending commissioning in June. Mr Patrick Alip, the agricultural officer in charge of Operation Wealth Creation in Lira District, said fruit farmers in Lira are demotivated after they were turned down by authorities at Soroti Fruit Factory.

Lira fruit producers association went to Soroti Fruit Factory to look for market for their fruits and they were told the variety they had was of low quality, he said.Soroti Fruit Factory was launched in April 2019 to tap into the abundant citrus fruits for commercial production of oranges and mangoes. However, the joy of farmers, who had anticipated to reap from the sale of their produce, has since died out due to lack of market for the fruits. Between November 2019 and January, more farmers a cross Teso watched in disbelief their fruits got rotten.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

See the original post here:
Government to open 2 fruit processing factories - Daily Monitor

Bioreactors and Fermenters Market report provides a thoroughly researched abstract of the key players with considerable shareholdings at a global level regarding demand, sales, and income through providing better products and services, in addition to after-sales practices. Research Report outlines a forecast for the global Bioreactors and Fermenters market between 2020 and 2025. In terms of value, the Bioreactors and Fermenters industry is expected to register a steady CAGR during the forecast period.

To begin with, the report delivers various fruitful ideas related to Bioreactors and Fermenters like contribution, active players. This study demonstrates the Bioreactors and Fermenters market share dynamics and trends globally across various regions. This functions to influence the current nature and the impending status of the Bioreactors and Fermenters industry during the forecast period.

Click Here To Access The Sample Report: https://www.acquiremarketresearch.com/sample-request/286452/

Market Segment as follows

key players operating in the Global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market: Sartorius AG (BBI), Thermo Fisher, Merck KGaA, Danaher (Pall), Eppendorf AG, Praj Hipurity Systems, Pierre Guerin (DCI-Biolafitte), ZETA, Applikon Biotechnology, Bioengineering AG, Infors HT, Solaris

Market Size Split by Type: Single-use Bioreactors, Multiple-use Bioreactors

Market Size Split by Application: CROs, Academic and Research Institutes, Others

This research report provides a detailed overview of global Bioreactors and Fermenters market analysis and deep insights about the diverse factors driving the popularity of the Bioreactors and Fermenters and its features. The market study provides a comprehensive assessment of Bioreactors and Fermenters stakeholder strategies and imperatives for succeeding in the business. The report includes an extensive analysis of the key drivers, restraints, structure and Bioreactors and Fermenters market trends.

To Get This Report At Beneficial Rates: https://www.acquiremarketresearch.com/discount-request/286452/

The Bioreactors and Fermenters Research Report offers insight study on: 1. The assessed growth rate together with Bioreactors and Fermenters size & share over the forecast period 2020-2025.2. The key factors estimated to drive the Bioreactors and Fermenters Market for the projected period 2020-2025.3. The leading market vendors and what has been their Bioreactors and Fermenters business progressing strategy for success so far.4. Important trends boosting the growth possibility of the Bioreactors and Fermenters Market.

Based on regions, the market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. The study is likely to furnish detailed qualitative and quantitative information on the above-mentioned segments for every region and country covered under the scope of the study.

The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt)North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada)South America (Brazil etc.)Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)

Report Highlights: 1. Detail pricing analysis on the basis of product, application, and regional segments2. The detailed assessment of the vendor landscape and leading companies helps to understand the level of competition existing in the global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market3. Deep insights about regulatory and investment scenarios of the global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market4. Analysis of market effect factors and their impact on the forecast and outlook of the global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market4. A roadmap of growth opportunities available in the global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market with the identification of key factors5. The exhaustive analysis of various trends of the global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market to help identify market expansions

To Know More About The Assumptions in This Market Report: https://www.acquiremarketresearch.com/industry-reports/bioreactors-and-fermenters-market/286452/

At Acquire Market Research the database of the company is updated on a daily basis to provide the clients with reports containing the latest trends and in-depth analysis of the industry. While each report initially generated is prepared with a set benchmark of the industry, the reports are customizable to meet the requirements of the client. After careful validation of the report by our expert analysts, the report on the Bioreactors and Fermenters Market has been published.

Follow this link:
Bioreactors and Fermenters Market New Business Opportunities and Investment Research Report 2025 - Dagoretti News

UTD researchers hope to push drug research forward bydeveloping technology that mimics the human eye, to provide some insight on howexactly the eye heals.

Researchers in the department of bioengineering at UTD areworking in collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical Center on the project.Professor of bioengineering and principal investigator David Schmidtke saidsmall ropelike bundles of collagen called fibrils and their aligned crisscrossarrangement in the eye is believed to have an effect on the healing of injuredeye tissue.

What were trying to do is create an in-vitro platform thatcan answer some of these questions, Schmidtke said. If we can mimic thestructure of these collagen fibrils and then combine them with growth factorsand grow cells on them, we can then see how important the alignment is to thesefibrils.

The experiment employed the use of microfluidic devices,small plastic pieces with thin hair-like channels that allow fluid to passthrough them, Schmidtke said. Graduate research assistant Kevin Lam said heworked on developing a substrate, a surface for the chemical reaction, thatwould mimic the structure of the cornea and provide a surface on which to placethe collagen fibrils.

In order to do that, we employed a microfluidic device thatwould attach over glass, Lam said. Then from that we infused a collagensolution.

A cold collagen solution was infused through themicrofluidic device while the device was on a hot plate, Lam said. This formedan aligned collagen fibril on top of the glass substrate he developed.

In normal wound healing, Schmitdke said, the keratocytes,which play a key role in maintaining the structure of the cornea, help repairinjury, leading to recovered normal vision. In abnormal wound healing, scartissue forms, impairing vision. The keratocytes are wedged between crisscrossinglayers of fibrils in the cornea, Schmidtke said.

Its thought that in wound healing, that keratocytes gettransformed, Schmidtke said. Whether you have normal wound healing, whereyouget your vision back versus scarring its thought that the topography orthe structures of these aligned fibrils plays an important role.

Possible applications of the research, Schmidtke said wouldbe to test the effects of certain drugs on eye healing.

Right now, its being used to understand some of the biologyof the cornea. Assuming that its an accurate mimic, then potentially you couldstart doing some drug screening assays, he said. If the cells behave similarto what they would do in vivo, then you can start looking at how drugs affectthe wound healing process.

See the article here:
Researchers Develop Eye Healing Model - THE MERCURY - The UTD Mercury

In grocery store freezer cases, Impossible Foods' ground plant-based meat stands out.

The packaging looks similar to its competitors in the space: heavy duty plastic formed around a square of the plant-based ground beef. A label proclaiming "burger made from plants" in all capital letters on the front, as well as a rundown of some nutritional benefits: 19 grams of protein per serving, no animal hormones or antibiotics, 0 milligrams of cholesterol.

The unique part is on the back of the package. In the lower right-hand corner, above symbols proclaiming the product is halal and kosher, is the new USDA-approved "Bioengineered" product label.

The Impossible Burger, which can "bleed" using heme made from genetically modified soy leghemoglobin, is among the first food products to use the soon-to-be federally mandated GMO label. According to AgNews, the symbol has been on product packages since at least October.

Jan. 1 began the official implementation period for the labeling law, which was signed by President Barack Obama in 2016. Large food companies can now start using the symbolto show consumers information about ingredients that meet the government's definition of bioengineered, more commonly known among consumers as GMOs. They can also use simple text,a smartphone-scannable code, a telephone number or text message to provide the disclosure.

According to the law, large manufacturers those with more than $2.5 million in annual receipts are required to have one of the approved forms of disclosure on their packages by Jan. 1, 2022. Attorneys and analysts told Food Dive they think most of the other products in the grocery store won't be featuring the disclosure until then.

Megan Poinski

"I don't think a lot is going to happen quickly," Jesse Zuehlke, general manager of Prime Label Consultants, told Food Dive. "I think my sense is people are feeling their way through this, and I think the supply chain is sort of trying to adjust."

Though it's been more than a year since USDA released its final regulations on the labeling law, there are still many issues that food manufacturers are trying to understand. Attorney Martin Hahn, a partner at Hogan Lovells who works with food manufacturers on several issues, has long said obtaining clarity on the labeling law and what does and does not fall under the government's definition of what needs a GMO label is paramount.

While Hahn told Food Dive many of his clients started working on the process of adding GMO information to their labels soon after the regulations were published,questions about what actually meets the definition of GMO material and how the disclosure can appear on labels stopped them from charging forward. And as new definitions published for the sake of clarity appear to bring onerous processes and more confusion into the mix, Hahn said it gives manufacturers and suppliers more cause to pull back on adding the disclosure.

"We're running into somewhat of a brick wall here because implementation requires that you develop the documentation from your ingredient suppliers, and the ingredient suppliers need to provide documentation that an ingredient's been refined and does not contain detectable levels of DNA," Hahn said. "And until we can get that document from the ingredient supplier, we're not going to be, as a finished food manufacturer, in a position to be in compliance."

On its face, the law is quite simple. Food products with detectable biologically engineered DNA need to be labeled. Items deliberately containing GMOs, like the Impossible Burger, have to tell consumers they were made through bioengineering. And products that inadvertently contain 5% or more of biologically engineered material need to have a disclosure.The law exempts meat, poultry, dairy and egg products from animals given genetically modified feed, as well as products having one of those items as a primary ingredient, like broth.

Food manufacturers that make products that contain GMOs, but don't meet these standards ingredients that are made from GMO crops that are so highly refined there is no detectable biologically engineered DNA, or inadvertently containing less than 5% GMO material are permitted to voluntarily disclose their GMO material, but are not required.

USDA representatives, who spoke to Food Dive on background, said the department may receive complaints about improper disclosure between now and the 2022 mandatory deadline, but will not enforce the labeling law until then. And even then, enforcement is likely to only come from complaints. The disclosure law is run out of the department's Agricultural Marketing Service, which is not an enforcement agency, and USDA will not be in stores examining labels.

"I don't think a lot is going to happen quickly. I think my sense is people are feeling their way through this, and I think the supply chain is sort of trying to adjust."

Jesse Zuehlke

General manager, Prime Label Consultants

However, there's much more to how the law is interpreted. Many manufacturers are working to determine if their ingredients meet the definition of biologically engineered, and it's not entirely clear what the testing procedure is. After all, according to USDA data, GMOs are widespread in common food crops 94% of all soy grown in the U.S., 83% of domestic corn and, according to statistics reported by Harvest Public Media, 95% of U.S. sugar beets. Many food products contain the refined products of these crops, so it's vital for manufacturers to know whether there's anything that needs to be disclosed.

"They are guilty until proven innocent under this rule, if you will," Zuelhke said. "...I need to have data on hand that proves that they're non-BE. And it's unclear what the rules of the road are. ...I think that may help shake things loose when some of that gets resolved."

While USDA representatives told Food Dive they are providing more information as quickly as they can, there are still gray areas. And some information intended to provide additional clarification actually has had the opposite effect, attorneys and analysts said.

A draft instruction that lays out how to validate a refining process basically the way to ensure that a certain refined ingredient does not need to be constantly tested to prove the absence of detectable GMOs has confused many, Hahn said. The draft was first published Dec. 17. Hahn said the regulation introduces food safety terminology to this process a completely different realm of food manufacturing, since GMOs have nothing to do with whether food is safe and requires ingredient suppliers to specifically designate the steps in the process that actually make the DNA non-detectable and monitor them.

"It would appear based on the draft instruction that there's an expectation that the industry would be expected to do all this continual testing, which seems to be unnecessarily burdensome and really costly," he said.

Earlier this month, USDA reopened the comment period on that instruction, based on the year-end holidays and extension requests. People will have until Feb. 7 to offer input, according to the announcement in the Federal Register.

Attorneys and consultants working with labeling had nothing negative to tell Food Dive about USDA's management of figuring out the law so far.

"I think they are being incredibly responsive, and I think we're going to continue to get a lot of information from AMS that's going to help with the rollout in the interim," Robert Hibbert, a partner at law firm Morgan Lewis, who advises clients on food-related regulations, told Food Dive. "There's certainly some questions about some of the detail of that regulation. A lot of that's been cleared up."

Bioengineered Arctic apples do not brown when cut.

Okanagan Specialty Fruits

The GMO labeling movement was born out of consumers who wanted more information about what is in their food. The implications of actually having a label on a product, however, might not be good for consumer perception.

Across the board, studies on GMOs in food have shown consumers don't understand what they are and are wary to try products containing them. In 2018, pro-GMO organization GMO Answers found 7 out of 10 adults don't really know what GMOs are, and less than a third are comfortable having GMOs in their food. The same year, a study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and published in the Annual Review of Nutrition found even 20 years after wide cultivation of GMO food began, many consumers are still "grossed out" by them.

Kathy Musa-Veloso, director of health claims in the food and nutrition group of quality assurance testing company Intertek,presented some other study findings last summer at the Institute of Food Technologists conference. Consumers said they felt GMO crops some of which are altered to be more pest-resistant were harmful to the environment.In another study,the vast majority of people who avoid GMO crops said they were concerned about human health,although most health professionals say GMOs are just as healthy as their non-biologically engineered counterparts.

As far as a label goes, a consumer study of a product with a mocked up GMO label showed nearly a third of consumers noticed it, Musa-Veloso shared. And of those consumers who took notice, about half were influenced not to buy the product.

"We can sit here and talk about bioengineering, but most consumers don't necessarily even resonate with the term 'bioengineering.' So how consumers will react is going to become one of the bigger question marks."

Robert Hibbert

Partner, Morgan Lewis

Adding to the potential confusion for consumers is how these ingredients will be represented on the label. While "GMO" has been the popular terminology for decades, the federal law requires these kind of ingredients to be called "bioengineered" or "derived from bioengineering." This terminology is completely accurate, but Hibbert pointed out it's another degree of uncertainty for consumers.

"We can sit here and talk about bioengineering, but most consumers don't necessarily even resonate with the term 'bioengineering,' " he said. "So how consumers will react is going to become one of the bigger question marks."

From where he sits, Hibbert said he sees manufacturers are keeping product reformulation on the table as a potential option to avoid the GMO label. However, he said, many are still trying to figure out whether they need to disclose anything.

Soon after the GMO labeling law was passed, several companies did high-profile reformulations to replace ingredients that may lead to disclosure.Del Monte reformulated fruit, vegetable and tomato productswith non-GMO ingredients, as did Hormel's Applegate brand. Grocery store Earth Fare removed genetically modified ingredientsfrom its private-label products. In the last two years, more brands may have worked toward reformulation, but quietly.

It's still up in the air whether manufacturers will take steps to educate consumers on what "bioengineered" (or "GMO," for that matter) actually means. Zuelhke said this has almost always been a question, especially considering some GMOs were created as a more high-tech alternative to cross-breeding to do things like increase yields or become more pest and disease resistant.

Hibbert said that companies could have an opportunity to explain what GMOs mean and are through the disclosure itself. After all, the disclosure law allows companies to offer a smartphone-scannable panel that provides a product's GMO information. It isn't inconceivable that manufacturers could use the same website that provides that information to explain the reasons behind using GMO-derived ingredients. The law also allows the disclosure to come through a telephone number or text message, both of which could also provide more in-depth information about GMOs.

However, Hibbert said, it's likely that some food and drink categories have consumers who are less concerned with whether a product contains GMOs. In the more natural or health-oriented food space, he said, people are much more likely to be paying attention. In other areas, like private label, which entails many different kinds of product lines, manufacturers are likely to opt for digital disclosure.

Consumer acceptance of the label and the backstory of the products it is on has always been a big question for industry, Hibbert said. And it's a question that it will be difficult to answer until the labels start to appear in larger quantities on grocery store shelves.

"Will consumers understand this?" Hibbert asked. "If they simply understand this as being genetically engineered, [they could think] 'Maybe I'm OK with that.' And if not, then yes, we'll look at a reformulation, but [companies are] still sort of in fact-finding mode on their own products and on the consumer front first before they can reach a decision on whether to reformulate."

See the original post here:
Food manufacturers can put GMO labels on their products in 2020. Will they? - Food Dive

KANSAS CITY While barriers to commercialization remain, there are signs cell-based meat may soon be a commercial reality.

Investments in cultured meat start-ups increased more than 120 percent between 2018 and 2019.

Several companies, including BlueNalu, Future Meat Technologies, Finless Foods, Wild Type and Aleph Farms, all raised more than $10 million last year, bringing the total amount raised by cultured meat start-ups since 2015 to more than $155 million. That number more than doubled last week, when Berkeley, Calif.-based Memphis Meats secured $161 million in the categorys first Series B round.

The breakthrough round was the largest to date for the cell-based meat industry.

Not only does this investment supply Memphis Meats with capital to scale, but it could also signal potential partnerships with their new investors portfolio companies, said Nate Crosser, business analyst at the Good Food Institute (GFI). GFI hopes and expects that this fundraising round will serve as the spark that ignites a Cambrian explosion in the industry a shift from gradual to exponential change.

Around 40 companies developing more than a dozen types of meat have entered the space since the first cultured burger was produced in 2013. Advancements in bioengineering and regenerative medicine have enabled start-ups to produce a variety of palatable prototypes, including pork, chicken, beef and even duck.

Several players now are beginning to move from the laboratory to the factory.

The potential of cell-based or cultured meat has never been in doubt, said Andy Coyne, food correspondent at GlobalData. However, turning that potential into a market-ready product is arguably an even greater challenge than the incredible scientific work done in the labs.

Low scale, high cost

Cell-based meats are notoriously expensive to create. The first cultured hamburger patty, created in 2013 by Mosa Meat co-founder Mark Post, cost more than $278,000 to produce.

Fast forward to 2019, and that number is down to around $100.

Costs will continue to decrease as production capacity increases, said Liz Specht, senior scientist at GFI.

It is likely that cell-based meats can achieve price parity with mainstream conventional meat once produced at an industrial scale, she said.

No company has a scaled-up facility or supply chain in place, though leaders in the space are making progress.

Future Meat Technologies is using capital from its recent funding round to build a full-scale production facility. Hybrid products combining plant-based protein with cultured fats could launch as early as 2021, followed by 100 percent cultured meat products in 2022, the start-up said.

Memphis Meats and Mosa Meat are working with investors to build pilot plants designed to grow commercial products.

New Age Meats plans to use the funds from its recent round to invest in automation equipment. Its goal is to bring a pork product to market within the next several years. Dutch start-up Meatable is using the $10 million in funding it received last month to launch a pork prototype this summer. The company plans to have a full-scale plant up and running by 2025.

Government green light

Government regulation is another barrier to commercialization. No jurisdiction has approved cultured meat for consumption, and data on large scale consumer safety tests has yet to be released.

In 2018, the USDA and the FDA agreed to create a joint regulatory framework that combines the formers experience regulating livestock and poultry with the latters experience regulating cell-culture technology. Additional guidance was anticipated in 2019 but never came.

Memphis Meats said it is working with regulators to ensure a safe and timely market entry, though no timeline or launch date has been announced.

Just, a company known for its plant-based egg alternative, said its cell-based chicken nugget has been ready for small-scale commercialization since 2018. While price remains a challenge (the nuggets cost around $50 a piece to make), government regulation has been the biggest barrier.

The company has been in talks with regulators in Asia for several years and plans to launch its cultured meat in select food service channels once approval is granted.

Original post:
Are cell-based meats moving closer to commercialization? - Meat & Poultry

Described by celebrities such as Stephen King and Don Winslow as "The Grapes of Wrath of Our Time," Jeanine Cummins' book about a mother and son fleeing from the persecution of a drug cartel in Mexico has caused a stir in the Latino community, not only because of the media attention it has received but because of what they claim is a clich-laden account of the immigrant experience that masks a "whitewashing" in the book industry as well.

With no intention of continuing feeding thecontroversythe editorial blurb, we've decided to highlightbooks written by Latino authors that together make up a wide and rich range of the sentiment and harsh stories about migrants arriving in the United States.

Between novels and hybrid essays that deserve our full attention, these are our top picks:

Signs That Precede the End of the World

The second novel by Mexican writer Yuri Herrera is a display of narrative virtuosity with a female protagonist, Makina, a Mexican telephone operator who must undertake a dangerous journey to the United States in search of her brother.

A novel that reflects very well the migrant experience and the harshness of the border police, as well as describesthe life and speech of the border people shown through nine mythological journeys. Without any doubt, a book to delve into a Mexico of legends and also great sorrows, full of emotion and a universe of its own.

The Devil's Highway

Written more than 16 years ago by renowned Chicano poet and writer Luis Alberto Urrea, "The Devil's Highway" has become a nonfiction classic. It tells the story of 26 Mexican men who, in 2001, crossed the border into the inhospitable Arizona desert area known as Devil's Highway, facing many dangers, including the border patrol (La Migra), armed guards, rattlesnakes and the harshness of a bipolar climate - intense cold at night and relentless sunshine during the day -Urrea goes beyond the clichs, and reflects the absurdity of walls and migration policies in a book thatis totally up-to-date.

Tears of the Truffle-pig

Born in Mexico but raised in Texas, Fernando Flores has turned out to be one of the strangest and most revealing new voices of the past year, as has his unusual new weird dystopia, "Tears of the truffle-pig." Imagine a parallel universe, a South Texas in a strange dimension where drug trafficking is completely legal, but there is new contraband: extinct animal species that are raised through bioengineering. A surreal and hypnotic story dotted with legends about tribes and the mysterious cult of a Truffle Pig that is said to possess strange powers. A delirious, twisted and bold vision of the border that shows how inhumane border policy has become.

Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

A mixture of essay, autobiography, and poetry, this jewel of Chicano activist Gloria Anzalda is as mestizo as its title. An essential work to understand the complexity of Chicano identity and a twist to the discourses on gender. What makes us border subjects? How many borders besides the physical ones shape us? Indigenous woman, lesbian, border dweller, this book not only addresses cultural mestizaje from Anzalda's own experience but is an x-ray of this identity flow that often causes confusion and even isolation to Latinos born in the United States or those who have grown up in the country.

The rest is here:
Four books about the immigrant experience which are not American Dirt - AL DIA News