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To clarify needs and requests of the young generation to the contemporary and future education on food systems, this paper aims to examine the following issues: students’ background knowledge, students’ behaviour as consumers and food citizenship, most interesting topics of SFS for students and students’ preferences and expectations in developing different skills, topics and preferences in teaching/learning methods.

This study was performed as an online-survey amongst eight European Universities in seven European Union (EU) countries to which 1,122 students responded. Data was analysed with descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses.

Taste and Health are the most important values and motives that influence students’ food buying and consumption decisions, but significant differences were found amongst students from different universities and countries. The most important topics for students for future teaching courses are “organic food”, “fair trade”, “organic agriculture” and most important skills to learn are “ability to make a judgement and justify decisions” and the “ability to create and innovate”. Excursions and field trips as teaching methods was given the highest ranks.

Different study programmes and cultural backgrounds of the participating students in the different universities could be a limiting factor for the interpretation of some results.

These results provide a basis for improvement of higher education in the EU towards sustainable food systems based on experiential learning/teaching methods.

Public perception of health benefits derived from organic foods is often misaligned with scientific evidence. This study aims to examine the factors affecting public perception of scientific information about organic foods.

The authors conducted multinominal and multiple linear regression analyses to examine associations between public perception of scientific information about organic foods and 19 factors using data from a descriptive survey (N = 763).

Perceived benefits of organic foods, trust in scientists, communicator credibility, preexisting beliefs and events related to science (e.g. COVID-19) were significant predictors of public perception of scientific information about organic foods.

Cognitive dissonance and recreancy theoretical frameworks help describe relationships between beliefs, science, trust and risk. These theories intersect when purchasing credence goods (i.e. organic foods) whose qualities cannot be observed during or after purchase. Hence, public trust of scientific information about perceived health benefits of organic foods may conflict with strongly held beliefs that contradict scientific findings.

Scientists can more effectively share research findings after trust is established through the listening, asking and sharing values process. Therefore, by following the path of listening, asking and sharing the endogenous/exogenous factors in this study, scientists and the public can have meaningful conversations about perceived health benefits and nutritional values of organically and conventionally grown foods.

Current research on perception factors about organic foods often examined consumers' perceptions and purchase intentions but rarely considered perceptions of scientific information about organic foods. This study examined relationships between public perception of scientific information about organic foods and endogenous/exogenous factors.

This paper aims to examine the effects of professional job experience on the lifestyle and dietary habits of participants who have studied food science and nutrition and acquired a dietitian license. The dietary habits of students of departments of food science and nutrition have been reported. However, no study has compared the dietary habits of graduates with and without actual clinical experience.

In total, 206 participants who graduated from the department of food science and nutrition of a university located in Tokyo between 1975 and 1984 completed a questionnaire on food and nutrient intake and lifestyle habits in 2011.

Total fat and SFA intake adjusted for energy intake or frequency of snack and fast food intake differed among participants with and without experience as dietitians, indicating that dietitian experience influenced the dietary habits of participants for approximately 30 years after graduation. Nutritional knowledge and skills acquired during attendance at a dietitian school are effective in maintaining favorable behavior for a long time. However, nutritional knowledge and skills were enhanced by later professional experience.

The refining effect of clinical experience appears to contribute to the maintenance of daily dietary habits and health. Professional experience can contribute to the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases not only personally but also for other people in terms of public health nutrition or nutritional education.

This study aimed to identify the main and emerging structural patterns in the growth of the literature on probiotic research in food science, analyze current trends and determine gaps and present future projections.

A total of 1,301 scientific documents retrieved from Scopus database dated from 1993 to 2021 were analyzed by using bibliometric and scientometric tools.

The most influencer journals, leading countries and hotspots were identified by scientometric mapping. “Lactic acid bacteria”, “lactobacillus”, “lactobacillus plantarum”, “viability”, “functional foods” and “microencapsulation” were the top keywords that indicate main emerging areas. After a clear understanding of the current situation, future directions can be better projected. Therefore, investigating new probiotic microorganisms with advanced health promoting properties, adapting the new organisms to various food formulations, identifying the probiotic potential of unexplored traditional fermented foods and developing of nondairy probiotic foods can be the studies of the future.

Probiotic concept has been revised during years and valuable knowledge has been accumulated over past decades. The findings demonstrate the development and trends of probiotic related food science researches. This is the first study to address the limitations of prior systematic literature reviews by applying network analysis and guide future works to fill the identified gaps.

The probiotic concept has been revised for years and valuable knowledge has been accumulated. Within the expanding literature, scientometric and bibliometric analysis will provide valuable contribution for identifying the main patterns, analyzing current trends, determining gaps and presenting future projection. This work presents detailed analysis to determine tendencies in probiotic research in food science.

Domestic refrigerators could be considered as one of the major potential sources of food-borne diseases, in addition limited data are available regarding the level of contamination of domestic refrigerators in Iran. The purpose of this paper is to detect some of bacterial contamination in domestic refrigerators.

In total, 104 households were randomly selected from ten health centers in five areas of Tehran, Iran. Visual inspection and temperature evaluation of the households’ refrigerators were done. In addition, the refrigerators were swabbed and analyzed for contaminants using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. DNA was isolated and purified by the proposed standard protocol.

Screening of the domestic refrigerators by PCR method showed that 51.7 percent of the samples were positive for pathogens as follows: L. monocytogenes 41.6 percent, S. aureus 5.5 percent, Salmonella spp 4.6 percent, and E. coli O157:H7 0 percent; consequently, none of mentioned pathogens were detected in 48.3 percent of the refrigerators. Results of the visual inspection indicated that 57 percent of the refrigerators were on desirable, 36.5 percent were acceptable, and 7 percent were weak conditions. Most of the refrigerators about 44 percent had desirable temperatures. There were no significant correlations between the visual inspection scores, temperature and frequency of isolation of specific pathogens in the domestic refrigerators. A significant correlation was observed between contamination and education of parents (p < 0.05).

Determination of the bacterial contamination and evaluating the temperature of domestic refrigerators in Iran can be considered as a novel approach of current study. These findings could be employed in designing and implementing appropriate educational interventions to promote food safety and diminish the risk of food-borne illnesses. Also, obtained results might be applied as introduction for further investigations.

This paper aims to unveil how sustainability is integrated into the courses/programmes of higher education institutions. The research question addressed is: how do academics representing different disciplines cooperate and engage in the work of integrating sustainability into their teaching programmes.

This paper draws upon the notions of practise variation and institutional work from institutional theory and empirically focusses on the case of Kristianstad University (Sweden). This case is based on an autoethnographic approach and illustrates the experiences shared by six colleagues, representing different disciplines, engaged in implementing sustainability in their courses/programmes.

The findings highlight how academics representing different disciplines, with specific traditions and characteristics, face the sustainability challenge. Despite being bound by similar sustainable development goals, differences across disciplines need to be acknowledged and used as an asset if trans-disciplinarity is the ultimate goal.

Although the intrinsic motivation of individuals to work with sustainability might be a strong driver, the implementation of sustainability within courses/programmes and across disciplines requires joint efforts and collective institutional work.

By highlighting how academics engage in the work of integrating sustainability, this study emphasizes that managers of higher education institutions need to account for the time and additional resources needed to ensure that academics effectively cope with sustainability. Intrinsic motivation may not last if organizational structures and leadership are not supportive on a practical level and in the long run.

With the successful implementation of a holistic approach to sustainability, students will have better insights and understanding of both themselves and the surrounding society, laying the ground for an inclusive future society.

This paper emphasizes the gradual approach to be followed when sustainability becomes part of an organization-wide discourse. Dialogues within and across disciplines are needed to overcome silo thinking and stimulate cooperation within a trans-disciplinary approach.

Previous research shows that identity formation is a crucial bridge between higher education and future employment. The objective of this study was to improve our understanding and knowledge of food technology students' prior interests, their perceived identity formation, perceptions of food technology and the profession of food technologist.

A qualitative study was conducted and the data consisted of audio recordings of 10 semi structured group interviews of first-, second- and third-year students, as well as alumni, at work. The interviews were transcribed and analysed by conventional content analysis, here following an inductive approach.

Most students had previous general culinary interest, an interest in the science behind or an interest in contemporary food-related issues. Regardless of the year group and prior interest, most felt that graduation was the stage at which they could identify themselves as food technologists. They evolved from having a rather diffuse understanding of food technology and what is a food technologist before they started to have an increased awareness in their second and third years.

The research findings inform higher education food technology programmes aiming to promote the development of food technology students' professional identity. The study suggests that a holistic approach to teaching, as well as context-based and professional activities at an early stage might help students in their identity formation.

Insufficient attention to the specific nature of healthy food experiences might limit the success of related innovations. The purpose of this article is to adopt a value‐in‐use perspective to conceptualize healthy food consumption as experiential and emotional, rather than the mere intake of nutrition, and to examine the development of healthy food communication with a service science approach.

With a service science approach, this study proposes a virtual healthy food platform for children. The key data come from internal project documents, workshops with children and other stakeholders (e.g. parents, teachers), and interviews with project team members.

The simultaneity of functional and hedonic benefits, implications for multiple stakeholders, social norms, and need for expertise characterize healthy food experiences. The proposed framework accounts for enablers, principles, outcomes, and challenges affecting the development of communication integral to healthy food experiences, using project data and tools as illustrations.

This study contributes to growing literature on service science by introducing key principles and contingency factors that influence the success of experience‐centric service innovations. Quantitative research should validate the established framework and investigate the elements' relative usefulness for developing healthy food communication.

The service science approach involves multiple stakeholders, empathic data collection, and visual tools to develop an entertaining platform to help children learn about healthy food.

This research conceptualizes and validates healthy food experiences as value‐in‐use offerings. The proposed service science approach accounts for the interactions among stakeholders, the holistic nature, and specificities of a real‐life decision context for improving healthy food experiences.

There is limited knowledge about the association of food insecurity and dietary quality among the Iranian households. The purpose of this study is to determine diet quality among the Iranian households and to investigate whether dietary quality is associated with food security status in this population.

The 18-item household food security questionnaire was administered to 200 households from different parts of Isfahan, Iran. Households were selected by two-stage cluster randomized sampling. Households were categorized into four groups based on their score on the questionnaire; food secure (total score 0), mild food insecure (total score 1–2), moderate food insecure (total score 3–7) and severe food insecure (total score 8–18). In the second stage of the study, 25 households were selected from each food security status group to evaluate the micronutrient adequacy and assess the adherence to Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010).

Food-secure households had higher adherence to the AHEI-2010 than food-insecure households (p < 0.001). Food-secure households consistently achieved higher value of the nutrient adequacy ratio for most of the micronutrients than food-insecure households, with the greatest differences seen for zinc (p < 0.001) in households (father, mother and first child), vitamin D (p < 0.001), vitamin A (father: p = 0.05, mother: p = 0.04), calcium (p < 0.001) and iron (father: p = 0.02, mother: p < 0.001) in mother and father.

Low dietary quality was associated with food insecurity. Food-secure households had higher micronutrient adequacy ratio for most of the nutrients.

With increasing emphasis on public engagement and scientific communication and dissemination, scientists are increasingly required to redefine their academic identity. Theoretical frameworks of academic identity and social media functionality were used to explore food researchers' attitudes towards social media.

An online study was carried out with 80 scientists working in publicly funded food research.

Commitment to scientific rigour, disseminating science to society, and being part of an academic community were important facets of academic identity and shaped participants' perceptions of social media functions. Functions offered by social media were most favourably viewed by the food research community for academic peer engagement and academic community building.

Cultural and organisational changes are needed to mobilise food researchers to view public engagement as an important facet of academic identity.

The current study adds to the theoretical literature on academic identity and social media functionality by providing empirical evidence outlining how scientists working in publicly funded food research feel about engaging with social media within their professional role.