AUT - Owen Young

Professor Owen Young

Academic Leader, Food Technology

Email: oyoung@aut.ac.nz

Qualifications:

• B.Sc. (Hons) (Canterbury)
• Ph.D. (La Trobe)
• Grad. Dip. Marketing (Waikato)

Memberships and Affiliations:

Member of The Royal Society of New Zealand
Member of The New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology

Biography:

Owen Young has been in academia for only four years after 30 years in industry based commercial research, mainly in the Australasian meat industry. Although he still has connections and research projects in this industry he is now more concerned with a wider range of foods.

Teaching Areas:

Food Chemistry, Research Project Design

Research Summary:

My prior (industrial) research interests were in the chemistry of muscle foods, with a particular emphasis on the flavour chemistry of sheepmeat, and the development of innovative meat products. A significant parallel research interest was and continues in the rapid and early prediction of meat quality in a slaughter house environment. This is commercial research and is subject to confidentiality.

Current Research Projects:

At AUT flavour chemistry has been extended to novel applications of New Zealand-unique ingredients in alcoholic drinks. Another flavour interest concerns the reduction of goaty flavour in goat milk products by the use of cyclodextrins.

A parallel activity at AUT is food industry problem solving and product development. Recent and current topics include development of a gluten-free commercial bread, food allergen control in food processing, flavour problems in oats, applications of kiwifruit enzymes in enteric health, and eel aquaculture.

Topics suitable for postgraduate study include:

• Development of novel food and drink products from indigenous New Zealand species, with a particular emphasis on lactic and alcoholic fermentations.
• Food industry problem solving.
• Refinement of methods to predict meat ultimate pH in slaughter animals.

In the case of doctoral students there is an additional requirement to expand the boundaries of knowledge, rather than just to develop a novel product.

Publications:

O.A. Young, G.A. Lane, C. Podmore, K. Fraser, M.P. Agnew, T.L. Cummings and N.R. Cox (2006). Changes in composition and quality characteristics of ovine meat and fat from castrates and rams aged to two years. N.Z. J. Agricultural Research 49, 419-430.

O.A. Young, D.L. Hopkins and D.W. Pethick (2005). Critical control points for meat quality in the Australian sheepmeat supply chain. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 45, 593-601.

O.A. Young, S.X. Zhang, M.M. Farouk and C. Podmore (2005). Effects of pH adjustment with phosphates on attributes and functionalities of normal and high pH beef. Meat Science 70, 133-139.

S.X. Zhang, M.M. Farouk, O.A. Young, K.J. Wieliczko and C. Podmore (2005). Functional stability of frozen normal and high pH beef. Meat Science 69, 765-772.

J. Prescott, O.A. Young, S. Zhang and T.L. Cummings (2004). Effects of added "flavour principles" on liking and familiarity of a sheepmeat product: A comparison of Singaporean and New Zealand consumers. Food Quality and Preference 15, 187-194.

O.A Young, J. West, R.D. Thomson, V.G. Merhtens and M.P.F. Loeffen (2004). Industrial application to cattle of a method for the early determination of meat ultimate pH. Meat Science 67, 107-112.

O.A Young, J. West, A.L. Hart, and F.F.H. van Otterdijk (2004). A method for early determination of meat ultimate pH. Meat Science 66, 493-498.

J. Prescott, O.A. Young, L.M. O'Neill, N. J. N. Yau and R. Stevens (2002). Motives for food choice: a comparison of consumers from Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and New Zealand. Food Quality and Preference 13, 489–495.

O.A. Young, D.W. Pethick, and I. Ross (2006). Improving lamb and sheepmeat eating quality (SMEQ). Publication Code 1740366700, Meat and Livestock Australia, North Sydney. This book is a guide for Australian lamb and sheepmeat producers and covers the entire value chain. ISBN 1740366700

T.J. Braggins, M.P. Agnew, D.A. Frost, C. Podmore, T.L. Cummings and O.A. Young (2004). The effects of extended chilled storage on the odor and flavor of sheepmeat. In: Quality of Fresh and Processed Foods. Eds: F. Shahidi, A. M. Spanier, Chi-Tang Ho and T. Braggins. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York. Volume 542, pp 51-99. ISBN 0306480719