D&T issues

Cooking, food technology and nanotechnology – an unholy ménage à trios?
Author: David Barlex

Is the future of the food industry about to change? Will nanotechnology change what we eat? Will it be safe? Where will young people learn about it?

The government insists that every young person
What food looks like really close up
a) Polysaccharide and (b) Protein Networks
should learn to cook – hence we have the Licence to Cook initiative, recently piloted with a view to being rolled out nationally. Each young person aged 11 – 14 will receive practical tuition in learning to cook nutritious, healthy affordable meals – obviously a good thing. The pilot used expert food technology teachers and this is taken as a sign that it is within food technology as part of design & technology that this entitlement will find its place in the curriculum. Indeed the FAQ provided by Licence to cook states

“If you have a good key stage 3 programme in place, this may already meet most of the requirements for the Licence to Cook. It is intended that most schools deliver the Licence to Cook through their existing modified key stage 3 schemes of work.”

This begs the question as to whether this is what should be taught in food technology especially if it is the technology of food that we are interested in teaching. Other focus areas in design & technology have modernised in response to the ‘teaching technology’ imperative. The CADCAM initiative has brought state of the art software and hardware into work with resistant materials, textiles and systems and control. Smart materials have made an impact on resistant materials and textiles. PIC chips are becoming the norm within systems and control. What about food technology?

Welcome to the world of nano foods, described by Steve Boggan in a recent article in the Guardian “Once bitten … (26.03.08) According to Steve nanotechnology is set to revolutionise the food industry. Nano foods could …
• Be used to stabilise the vitamin C in fresh orange juice
• Provide smart pesticides that only work when they are in the pests’ stomach
• Prevent allergic ingredients from doing harm,
• Provide packaging that stiffs out and destroys micro organisms that make food go bad
• Provide burgers that lower cholesterol

Questions to consider are
• Does the new KS3 programme of study give room or encouragement for studying nano foods?
• Will nano foods appear in the new GCSE specifications for food technology?
• Where will nano ingredients figure in license to cook?

Want to know more? Googling nano foods gives 696,00 entries.
Try the Observer which is absolutely fascinating and definitely food for though – sorry bad joke! But there are serious educational issues here. Modern food technology is about to undergo a revolution that could fundamentally change what we eat and it looks as if this won’t appear in the school curriculum. What do you think?

PS
And it is topical – see letter in the Guardian Saturday March 29th from Sue Davies Chief Policy Adviser, Which?

If you are seriously interested go to nano technology part of the Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich.

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