California State University, Fresno

C A L I F O R N I A A G R I C U L T U R A L T E C H N O L O G Y I N S T I T U T E

WIN

TER

2008-0

9 In this issue...Water paper draws response .. 4

Winery unveils new vintage ... 5

Winemaster weekend set ....... 7

Omega eggs analyzed ............ 8

Wawona President

Bill Smittcamp

(above left) discusses

operation of a

prototype lye-peeling

system with Fresno

State professor Gour

Choudhury and area

processing industry

leaders during a

recent visit to the

Clovis plant.

New lye-peeling system reduceswater use in fruit processing

A

See Safety, Page 3

Gilliland returnsto keynote agsafety event

Suniversity-industry partner-ship begun several yearsago is bearing fruit – in theform of new technologies

that could significantly enhance thesustainability of California’s foodprocessing industry.

Among several projects aimed atimproving efficient use of naturalresources is a plan to reduce water useand discharge at Wawona Frozen Foods,a multifaceted fruit processing companybased in Clovis, California.

Leading the work for Fresno Stateis professor Gour Choudhury of theDepartment of Food Science andNutrition. Choudhury, who also directsthe university’s Center for Food Scienceand Nutrition Research (CFSNR), is aspecialist in food processing systemsengineering and development and hasobtained several U.S. patents. Directingthe work at Wawona is Bill Smittcamp,company presidentand also a memberof the CFSNRadvisory board.

Wawona has been involved withFresno State in various research anddevelopment projects for many years,but the partnership to improve water useefficiency began shortly after Choudhuryjoined the Fresno State faculty in 2004.He and Smittcamp began discussingsustainability in food processing.

One of their shared concerns waswater use.

“Water is the most important andessential input to fruit and vegetableprocessing plants,” Choudhury said.“Companies use large volumes of waterand also generate large amounts ofwastewater, and disposal issues arebecoming a major impediment to growthand expansion of the food processingindustry in the Central Valley, particu-larly in Fresno County.”

A specific problem in the Fresno areais disposal and treatment of wastewater.

See Water, Page 2

pecialists and speakers fromdozens of areas of agricul-ture and ag business are

gearing up to share their insightsinto California’s most pressingagricultural safety issues at the 15th

annual AgSafe Conference to beheld Feb. 25-27 at the HyattRegency in Monterey, California.

The annual event, which drewmore than 800 participants lastyear, continues to be the state’spremier agricultural safety confer-ence, offering more than 90 classesrelated to safety at a single venueover three days.

Leading off the conference willbe speaker and business consultantSteve Gilliland, back as keynotespeaker by popular demand of bothparticipants and the planningcommittee.

“Steve shared such great

2 WINTER 2008-09 UPDATE

Water: New system called ‘eco-friendly’

“Sometimes it just takes another set of eyes to lookat our situation and ask questions on how we coulddo things differently.”

Fresno State food science

professor Gour Choudhury

examines the output

conveyor of the prototype

lye-peeling unit. The unit

operates at approximately

one-fifth the capacity of a

standard commercial peeler.

from Page 1

The combination of 500,000 residentialwater users and a few fruit processingplants has brought Fresno’s municipaltreatment facility to near capacity. Anexpansion is planned, but in the mean-time, the city may have to reduce inputs.

Smittcamp says the city tends toaim first at industry when it comes towater discharge restrictions, andWawona is seeking to be preemptive inreducing the company’s water use, aswell as wastewater discharge, beforeincreased regulations are enacted.

“The water use issue in anything wedo is huge,” Smittcamp said. “Some-times it just takes another set of eyes tolook at our situation and ask questionson how we could do things differently.”

That happened through the newpartnership.

Choudhury began exploring ideasfor reducing water use and dischargeduring fruit peeling and in other areas.One idea was to employ a fluid mixtureof liquid and gas to take the skin off thepeach. A specially-designed process wasdeveloped and tested in a laboratorysetting at Fresno State; it was successful,with a “very significant” 80 percentreduction in water use, Choudhury said.

Choudhury then designed a com-mercial prototype unit and contractedwith a local manufacturing company forfabrication. Wawona engineers helpedto oversee installation and operation inthe Clovis plant last summer.

Choudhury has labeled the newprocess an “eco-friendly lye-peelingsystem,” because it uses significantlyless water than a conventional systemand generates less wastewater.

“It peels very well,” Choudhurysaid. “Now the hard numbers on its

water use have to come in.”That will have to wait till next

season: since the prototype unit wasinstalled late in the processing seasonlast fall, engineers had just enough timeto focus on operation and fine-tuning.During the winter months some adjust-ments will be made, and next summer,analysis of real water use and dischargewill be conducted.

If the system proves viable, the pro-cessing industry will have an opportunityto increase sustainability statewide.

“Successful implementation of thisproject will result in the development ofa technology that will comply with state

and federal pollution control regulationsand decrease the discharge from fruitprocessing plants, thereby reducing thedisposal cost,” Choudhury said. “Such asystem will reduce water intake andimprove the profitability and the overalleconomic viability of the food process-ing industry in California.”

Smittcamp noted that cost ofconversion to new systems can be highfor the processor and will likely takeyears to accomplish, assuming thetechnology proves durable. Choudhury

said once the process is patented andlicensed, it could be manufacturedlocally and processors would have topurchase the equipment and install it.

Not surprisingly, the intent toreduce water use in processing hasspawned other ideas that also are beingexplored, Choudhury reported. In fact,he is testing a second concept thatwould reduce water use in another phaseof peach processing at Wawona. Healso is exploring a third idea for reusingprocessing by-products as an organicsubstrate for producing specialty cropssuch as mushroom.

Research work at the Wawona plantwill likely continue for several years asnew processing systems are evaluatedand improved. Choudhury hopes theefforts will expand industry-wide.

Results will be reported, as workcontinues, through various Fresno Stateoutlets, including through the CaliforniaState University Agricultural ResearchInitiative (ARI) program, whichprovided funding jointly with Wawonafor this work.

For additional project information,contact Choudhury via email atgchoudhury@csufresno.edu.

UPDATE WINTER 2008-09 3

Center for Agricultural Business

Safety: New courses target human resourcesfrom Page 1

Special reports on more than a dozen ofCalifornia’s top commodities are nowavailable from the Center for Agricul-tural Business (CAB).

The reports are part of the pro-ceedings for the annual AgribusinessManagement Conference hosted byCAB last November. The conferenceoffers insights from experts on expectedtrends in agriculture and agribusinessfor the coming year.

The commodity reports presentdata on production and sales trends of

the top farm commodities in the region.This year’s outlooks covered

almonds, beef cattle, citrus, cotton,dairy, grains and protein meals, pimacotton, pistachios, raisins, table grapes,tomatoes, tree fruit and wine grapes.Copies of the proceedings may beordered from CAB by calling 559-278-4405. Cost is $10.

For more information on CAB,including current research activities andupcoming events, visit the website athttp://cati.csufresno.edu/cab.

Participant surveys indicated desire for moretraining in how to handle personnel issues

Commodity information available

insights last year, that participantswanted to hear him again,” reportedSabrina Dilley, executive assistant forAgSafe and one of the lead conferenceplanners. Gilliland also has beenscheduled to lead two breakout sessions– one on “Tactics for Managing yourWorkforce,” and another on “Dealingwith Negative Attitudes during Uncer-tain Times,” Dilley noted.

Following Gilliland’s keynotewill be another plenary address onFeb. 26 by Len Welsh, chief ofCalifornia’s Division of Occupa-tional Safety and Health (alsoknown as Cal-OSHA). Welshwill discuss the broad implica-tions of heat stress in agricul-ture and also will serve on a paneladdressing the proposition: “True orFalse: I’m from the government andI’m here to help you.”

For this year, California’sDivision of Labor Standards Enforce-ment has approved a variety of classeswhich qualify for credit for all eighthours of coursework required by thestate for farm labor contractors toearn or renew their license, Dilleysaid. California Agricultural SafetyCertificate Program classes are includedin the approved courses, she added.

Ten human resources courses willbe offered, featuring titles such as“The 5 W’s of Performance Reviews,”“Developing Leaders,” “How to Preventyour HR from Becoming a PR Night-mare,” and “All in the Family: WhatHappens When You Hire a Village.”

Additional courses will coverworkers’ compensation, hazard riskassessment, and incident investigation.Several roundtable discussions areplanned, where participants are encour-aged to bring their ideas, questions andcomments. Discussion topics willinclude vineyard safety, winery safety,and safety in plants, packing housesand coolers.

Four course tracks totaling morethan 20 classes will be presented inSpanish, Dilley said. Topics will includeheat stress prevention, machine hazardawareness, gas and electric safety, andthe California Agricultural SafetyCertificate Program.

Several train-the-trainer classesare offered in both English andSpanish. They include “TractorSafety” and “Pesticide Train-the-Trainer for Field Workers.” Conference participantswill be able to visit exhibits

featuring safety products,services and equipment,

and to network with others at Wednesdayevening’s reception and Thursdayevening’s awards banquet.

Preceding the conference on Feb. 24will be the second annual AgSafe GolfTournament at the historic Old DelMonte Golf Course.

Registration for the entire confer-ence is $395 for AgSafe members or$495 for nonmembers. One- and two-daypackages also are available. Fee includescontinental breakfast, lunch, the recep-tion and awards dinner. Golf tournamentfee is extra.

For conference registration infor-mation, visit the AgSafe website athttp://www.agsafe.org.

4 WINTER 2008-09 UPDATE

Center for Irrigation Technology

CIT training helps to equipspecialists in testing program

Institute waterstudy drawscommentaryBill Power (right)

and son Devin (left),of Power Hydro-dynamics Inc. of

Modesto, California,calibrate their flow

testing equipment ata recent seminar

hosted by the Centerfor IrrigationTechnology atFresno State.

t’s all about efficiency –pumping efficiency; it willsave you energy, save youmoney, and it can increase

Program eligibility extends to allowners or users of a nonresidential,PG&E electric or natural gas accountthat is primarily used for pumping waterfor production agriculture, landscape orturf irrigation, and municipal purposes,including potable and tertiary-treated(reclaimed) water. It excludes pumpsused for industrial processes, rawsewage, or secondary-treated sewage.

Education and training also are keyfacets of the program, Weddington said.Workshops are offered regularly forboth pump users and testers.

Workshops for pump testers focuson equipment testing and calibration.Recent workshops were held in Decem-ber, and more are planned for late spring.

For more information on the APEPprogram and workshops, visit the web-site at http://www.pumpefficiency.org.

C

See Commentary, Page 7

Iwater use efficiency.

That’s the message repeated reg-ularly by members of the AgriculturalPumping Efficiency Program (APEP),based at Fresno State and directed bythe university’s Center for IrrigationTechnology (CIT).

Twin goals of the APEP are “to gethighly efficient hardware in the field,including pumping plants, irrigationsystems, and water distribution systems,and to ensure that this hardware is man-aged correctly,” said John Weddington,pump test and retrofit manager for theprogram. “We’re working to savekilowatt hours by making pumps moreefficient.”

onclusions of a majorwater study recentlyreleased by the Pacific

Institute of Oakland have beenquestioned by a group of researchersfrom California State Universityand the University of California.

The challenge comes as apublished report titled, “AgriculturalWater Conservation and Efficiencyin California – A Commentary.”Authors include David Zoldoske,Ed.D., director of Fresno State’sCenter for Irrigation Technologyand the executive director of WaterResources and Policy Initiativesfor the California State University.

According to Zoldoske, he andother irrigation specialists weretroubled by some of the methodol-ogy used to draw conclusions in thePacific Institute report, titled“More with Less: Agricultural WaterConservation and Efficiency inCalifornia – A Focus on the Delta.”Among that report’s conclusions:California farmers could save up to3.4 million acre-feet of water eachyear by utilizing what the authorscall “Smart Irrigation Scheduling.”

In fact, California’s agriculturalindustry has been developing andimplementing more efficientwatering systems and managementfor decades, and that effort continuestoday, Zoldoske said.

“It is our opinion that certainpoints in the Pacific Institute paperdraw incorrect conclusions, or inferincorrect conclusions based on errorsin the underlying assumptions,”stated Zoldoske and the other writersin their commentary.

A potential problem for the

Irrigation technology seminar set for Jan. 15The Center for Irrigation Technology ishosting a free irrigation technologyseminar on Thursday, Jan. 15, to helpgrowers take advantage of irrigationtechnology developments.

The first seminar in 2009,“WATERIGHT – Web Based IrrigationScheduling,” will be from 9:00 a.m. tonoon in the Agricultural Sciences

Building at Fresno State.The seminar will teach participants

how to use web-based WATERIGHTirrigation scheduling programming todevelop site-specific, seasonal irrigationschedules.

To register or for more information,visit www.californiawater.org/IrrigationTech or call (800) 845-6038.

UPDATE WINTER 2008-09 5

Viticulture and Enology Research Center

Upcoming eventsFresno State enology research team has made advances in fermentation techniques by

current trends in winemaking featuringthe use of indigenous yeasts. Theseyeasts – found on the skin of the grapesas they are harvested, can producepleasing new flavors and aromasin wine when compared to the useof conventional yeasts, but the“spontaneous” yeast fermentationsalso can produce an assortment ofundesirable characteristics if they arenot properly controlled.

With the help of fellow VERCresearch scientists Susan Rodriguez,Thornton successfully developedantibodies that could be used in a

Jan. 28 – Annual Fresno State Alumni &

Friends Reunion at the Unified Wine & Grape

Symposium, from 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. at the

Hyatt Regency Park Capitol Hotel in Sacra-

mento. Sponsored by the Viticulture and

Enology Alumni Association. For more info,

visit http://cast.csufresno.edu/ve.

Feb. 7 – FFA Vine Pruning Contest at the

Fresno State Vineyards. Call 559-278-2089

for details.

March. 6-8 – Annual Fresno State Wine-

masters Weekend at the Tenaya Lodge at

Yosemite. For more information, see article on

Page 7 or visit http://cast.csufresno.edu/ve.

Indigenous yeast study provides newinsights into red wine fermentation

See Yeast, Page 7

Left: VERC DirectorRobert Wample (left)and university PresidentJohn Welty (right)celebrate release of thenew Carlos Muller 10thAnniversary Syrah, withthe honoree’s photo inthe background. Mullerwas unable to attend thecelebration because ofillness but has sincerecovered, friends say.Below: Close-up of label.

Kudos given to enology program leaderRetired professor Mullerhonored with release of10th Anniversary Syrah

One of the founding fathersof Fresno State’s enologyprogram and commercialwinery was recognized last

month with a reception at the universitywinery, where an official 10th Anniver-sary vintage Syrah wine was released inhis honor.

Carlos J. Muller, professor ofenology at Fresno State for 26 yearsprior to retiring in 2004, was not able toattend the Dec. 5 ceremonies because ofan illness. But he sent his greetings andthanks to the more than 100 guests whogathered to celebrate his service to theuniversity.

Muller was one of the visionarieswho made the winery possible, statedRobert Wample, director of the Viticul-ture and Enology Research Center(VERC) and chair of the Departmentof Viticulture and Enology, at thereception.

“Dr. Muller is credited by many asbeing the individual driving force behindmaking the Fresno State Winery areality,” Wample said. With studentsactively involved in all aspects of

production and marketing, the programnow sells 27 wines and one vinegar,Wample noted.

Wines produced by Fresno Statestudents, under the direction of Muller,as well as university winemasterKenneth Fugelsang and winemakerJohn Giannini, have won more than 200awards in prestigious competitions, andmany Fresno State enology graduateshave gone on to important positions inthe wine industry both regionally andinternationally.

“This kind of success among our

alumni is atestamentto FresnoState’sviticultureand enologyprogram andespecially to faculty like Dr. Muller,”Wample said. “It is very significant thatmany former students have returned tohonor him with us.”

Fresno State viticulture and enologyprograms have served students since1948 through several departments.

Aidentifying methods of detection andcontrol of yeasts that grow naturallyon red wine grapes.

Microbiologist Roy Thornton, aprofessor and scientist for the Viticul-ture and Enology Research Center(VERC), recently completed a studyof two new methods for detecting theindigenous yeasts. The methods areknown as flow cytometry (FCM), andFourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR)spectroscopy.

The research was prompted by

6 WINTER 2008-09 UPDATE

Chart shows ETo variation from normal over last three months.

For more CIMIS information...

Northern District

Mark D. Rivera

(530) 529-7301

mrivera@water.ca.gov

Central District

Jan Carey

(916) 376-9630

jcarey@water.ca.gov

San Joaquin District

Steve Ewert

(559) 230-3334

sewert@water.ca.gov

Southern District

Sergio Fierro

(818) 543-4652

sergiof@water.ca.gov

CIMIS information is published quarterly in the CATI Updatenewsletter. Articles are provided by the California Depart-ment of Water Resources, CIMIS program staff.

For more information about CIMIS or its programs,contact any of the following representatives at these offices:

Weekly ETo Comparisons for FresnoCIMIS Station #80 at Fresno State 09/01/08 – 11/30/08

JAN

UA

RY

200

9

Visit the CIMIS home page at

http://www.cimis.water.ca.gov

Upgrades improve data quality, accessibility

T

CaliforniaIrrigationManagementInformationSystem

Note: All columns

are 7-day totals.

Sept Oct Nov

he CIMIS program is continu-ally working to respond to theincreasing demand for CIMIS

data and the growing needs of data users.One aspect of meeting this demand

is regularly upgrading the system asneeds become apparent. The most recentupgrade to CIMIS included severalmajor and minor fixes based on userfeedback. We are also implementingsignificant upgrades to our hardware(database server and polling PCs) andcommunications software. Here aresome additional notable upgrades thathave either been released or are to bereleased in the near future:

Email Scheduler – A recent upgrade tothe CIMIS system involves the additionof an important feature known as theEmail Scheduler. This new featureenables users to receive CIMIS dataautomatically via email. Although some

users already download CIMIS dataautomatically (via FTP or the Web), thevast majority get their data by manuallyretrieving from the CIMIS website. TheEmail Scheduler is a quick and conve-nient method for getting the CIMIS data;it does not require the user to performcomputer programming. It can be set upby clicking on the MyCIMIS tab fromthe CIMIS web site, logging into theuser’s account, and clicking on the“customize” link. More detailedinstructions can be found at CIMISFAQ’s at www.cimis.water.ca.gov.

Daily ETo Map – The daily ETo map isthe result of coupling satellite imageryfrom the Geostationary OperationsEnvironmental Satellite (GOES) with

data from the CIMIS network. Thisupgrade will provide a daily map ofreference evapotranspiration (ETo) forCalifornia on a two-square-kilometergrid. Users will be able to retrieve EToinformation from any location in Calif-ornia by specifying geographic coordi-nates, zip codes, or selecting an area ofinterest. This product is being beta testedand will be released in early 2009.

Web Services – This upgrade will allowautomated direct delivery of updated ETdata to any device with Internet connec-tivity, such as irrigation controllers,PCs, and PDAs. The user will specifythe data that is wanted, how often, andwhere it is to be delivered. DWR andwater agencies statewide are working onthe development of a standard protocolfor the transmission of the ET data inorder to facilitate this upgrade. The webservices will be released in 2009.

ETo

(Inc

hes)

Normal Year Current Year

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

UPDATE WINTER 2008-09 7

ARI/CATI on the Web!

The California State University Agricultural Research Initiative (ARI) oversees applied

agricultural, agribusiness and natural resources research on behalf of California agriculture.

For information on our research and project results, visit our website at http://ari.calstate.edu.

The California Agricultural Technology Institute (CATI) administers ARI funding and oversees

additional applied agricultural research. For more information about CATI and its research

centers, visit us at http://cati.csufresno.edu, or at our centers:

Center for Agricultural Business (CAB) – cati.csufresno.edu/cab

Center for Food Science and Nutrition Research (CFSNR) – cati.csufresno.edu/cfsnr

Center for Irrigation Technology (CIT) – cati.csufresno.edu/cit

Viticulture and Enology Research Center (VERC) – cati.csufresno.edu/vercAgricultural Technology Information Network (ATI-Net) – cati.csufresno.edu/atinet

process to identify two of the indigenousyeasts, Hanseniaspora/Klorckera andMetschnikowia pulcherrima. With thataccomplished, he was able to use twoexperimental tracking procedures todetermine how the two yeasts performedunder different fermentation regimens.

As part of his conclusions, Thorntondetermined that the two indigenousyeasts “can compete with other yeasts inwine grape fermentations and survive insufficient numbers to present possible

pecialists in wine blendingand food and wine pairingwill be among the guestssharing their expertise at

The Saturday morning wine-blending workshop will be led by OndineChatten, director of winemaking atGeyser Peak Winery in Geyserville,California. Chatten earned her master’sin enology from Fresno State andjoined Geyser Peak in 1999.Her areas of expertiseinclude natural yeastfermentations, traditionalwinemaking and advancesin science and technology.

The food and wine paringworkshop will be led by FredrickClabaugh, executive chef at TenayaLodge. Specializing in the use of organicand seasonal local ingredients, Clabaughhas developed one of the most respected

Yeast: Indigenous species can compete

Commentary: Paper

available for viewingfrom Page 4

spoilage threats to the wine.”He also found that one of the yeasts,

Hanseniaspora/Klorckera, showedresistance to sulfur dioxide, which istypically used to eliminate bacteria andsensitive wine grape yeasts.

Details of the project, includingmethodology, results and recommenda-tions, have been made available throughpresentations and reports presented bythe research team. For more informationon this work, contact Thornton via emailat rthornton@csufresno.edu

from Page 5

Blending planned for winemasters weekend

gourmet kitchens in the Sierra Nevadaand in the Central Valley area.

The Saturday afternoon workshop istitled “Wines of the World,” and will beled by Paul Wagner, founder of BalzacCommunications. Wagner is a columnist

for Vineyards & Winery Managementmagazine. He also teaches

at the MIB school inTrieste Italy and theENESAD program

for the University ofBurgundy in Dijon.

For WinemastersWeekend registration

information, visit the website of FresnoState’s Viticulture and Enology Depart-ment at http://cast.csufresno.edu/ve.

Viticulture and Enology Research CenterSthe 2009 Winemasters Weekend slatedfor March 6 and 7 at the Tenaya Lodgein Yosemite.

The annual event includes a winereception Friday, followed on Saturdayby winemaking courses and a five-course gourmet dinner featuring FresnoState wine and agricultural products.

irrigation industry is that the PacificInstitute paper has been circulated inSacramento and could be used bysome as a basis for new legislationaffecting state water policy.

“We want to make sure that anylegislation is based upon good scienceand not on questionable assumptionsor outdated information,” Zoldoskesaid. “I would also note, however, ouragreement with some of the conclu-sions found in the report. Those wouldinclude promoting wider acceptanceof proven efficient irrigation technolo-gies, improved data on actual wateruse, and, of course, more funding foragricultural outreach.”

Additional commentary authorsinclude Charles M. Burt, Ph.D.,professor of irrigation at CaliforniaPolytechnic State University, San LuisObispo; Peter Canessa, P.E., programmanager for the Pumping EnergyEfficiency Program at Fresno State;and Lawrence Schwankl, Ph.D., irri-gation specialist with the Universityof California Cooperative Extension.

The authors invite interestedpersons to read the full commentary,which is located on the CaliforniaWater Institute website at http://www.californiawater.org.

The Pacific Institute report maybe viewed at http://www.pacinst.org

8 WINTER 2008-09 UPDATE

CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL

TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE

California State University, Fresno

2910 E. Barstow Ave. M/S OF115

Fresno, California 93740-8009

Update is published quarterly by the

California Agricultural Technology Institute

College of Agricultural

Sciences and Technology

California State University, Fresno

Winter 2008-09

CATI Publication #090101

Voice number: (559) 278-2361

Fax number: (559) 278-4849

Director of Operations: Joe Bezerra

Publications Editor: Steve Olson

Non Profit OrganzationU.S. PostagePAIDFresno , CAPermit No. 262

Address Service Requested

In the event of incorrect address information or extra copies to your workplace, please return this

address label by mail or fax with your requested changes. CATI fax number is (559) 278-4849.

food nutrition specialist fromCalifornia State PolytechnicUniversity, Pomona hascompleted research that

her report outlining the study.A major source of certain long-

chain omega-3 fats is cold-water fish,Burns-Whitmore noted. However, forthose who do not consume fish, anothergood source of these nutrients isnecessary.

The goal of the study was toprovide more information regardingchanges in blood lipid and othercompound levels as a result of eatingeggs regularly.

Subjects participating in the studywere lacto-ovo vegetarians – peoplewho do not eat beef, pork, poultry, fish,shellfish or animal flesh of any kind,but do consume cheese, butter, yogurtand eggs. Lacto- means “milk” and ovo-means “egg.”

The treatment for study participantsconsisted of diets including one organicegg, one n-3 fatty acid-enhanced egg, orone ounce of walnuts, six times perweek for one month, with a four-week“washout” period between each diettreatment.

Results indicated that omega-3enriched eggs provided essential n-3fatty acids in the lacto-ovo vegetariandiet, and these n-3 fatty acids maymaintain optimum blood lipid param-eters in healthy populations.

The study results substantiateresults of earlier research indicating thatlutein from eggs seems to be highly bio-available in healthy, lacto-ovo vegetar-ian subjects. Whitmore concluded thatboth types of eggs increase serum luteinlevels in the test volunteers.

The work was funded in part by theCalifornia State University AgriculturalResearch Initiative (ARI), based at theCalifornia Agricultural TechnologyInstitute (CATI) at Fresno State.

Full project details, including tech-nical information and data tables, areavailable in the final report and researchreport, accessible on the ARI website athttp://ari.calstate.edu. The project istitled, “Effects of Feeding Regular Eggs,Omega-3 Eggs, and Walnuts on SerumLipids, Membrane Incorporation ofEssential Fats, Prostaglandins, andSerum Lutein Levels in Free-livingLacto-ovo Vegetarians,” (ARI Project#04-4-085).

Pomona researcher finds diet using Omega-3 eggsincreases serum lutein levels in test participants

A

Study confirms benefits of ‘designer eggs’

could boost the standing of California’spoultry industry.

Recent studies conducted by nutri-tion scientist Bonny Burns-Whitmoreindicated that omega-3 eggs increaselong-chain omega-3 fats, while decreas-ing C-reactive proteins – thus providinga healthier diet for consumers.

Omega eggs are a type of “designeregg,” in which the yolk’s fatty acidprofile has been modified by altering thehen’s diet. Specific lipids – fatty acidsand fat soluble vitamins – can bemodified in the egg yolk by feeding thehen increased proportions of “good”fatty acids and increased amounts of fatsoluble vitamins from dietary sourcessuch as flax seed, fish oil or bioengin-eered algae. Omega eggs containincreased amounts of n-3 fatty acids anddecreased amounts of saturated fattyacids.

“Studies have shown that Americansdo not receive enough omega-3 (n-3) fatsin their diets,” Burns-Whitmore wrote in