The theme “What is natural food” gathered together people from Finnish food industry, research organizations and media to discuss about naturalness of food in Nutritech seminar on 24th January. Naturalness is an upward trend among consumers. But what is actually natural food nowadays? How has the conception of naturalness changed? What makes ingredients and food production methods natural? Can processed food or additives be natural? And on the other hand, what is natural food for our gut microbiota.

In spite of the health-beneficial character of whole grain rye its use may be limited because of bitter taste. The impact of various processing techniques such as fractionation and fermentation on the flavour of rye has been widely studied. The study of Heiniö et al (2011) concerns the effects of enzymes on the perceived flavour.Different types of commercial enzymes were used to modify the composition of rye flour and after that the perceived rye flavour was determined.

The 6th European Symposium of Enzymes in Grain Processing (ESEGP) was held at Carlsberg Research Center in Copenhagen, on 28^th-30^th November 2011.  The scope of the meeting covered both classical topics such as enzyme structure-function relationships, baking and brewing, as well as the new genomic technologies and emerging areas for grain research covering bioenergy, feed, biorefineries and functional ingredients.

VTT and Gebrüder Lödige Maschinenbau GmbH have designed a new type of small bioreactor for use in high consistency biomass treatments in Otaniemi Biotechnology pilot hall. It provides the possibility to process biomass in very high consistency allowing the development and optimization of several different types of processes in the field of biomass refining. The equipment offers efficient processing of different kinds of raw materials, e.g. cereals and berries in high consistency.