The Science You Eat ~ Ontario Visited Behind the Scenes ~ Canada Agriculture & Food Museum!

We welcome you to come along as Ontario Visited Tours the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum … continues … The Science You Eat!

Ontario Visited captures the set-up
Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
"The Science You Eat"!

A new exhibition on food science opened in the month of May at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum. Food Preservation: The Science You Eat highlights the role science plays in delaying food decay and keeping food nutritious and safe from farm to fork.

“The exhibition Food Preservation: The Science You Eat is based on the fact that food rots, but also that in every culture – whether through trial and error or through scientific research – humans have discovered ways to preserve food,” says Kerry-Leigh Burchill, Director General of the CAFM.

The exhibition explores how science helps us to understand why food decays, and how we can extend its shelf life. Today, we eat a staggering variety of food from around the world, all year round. Innovations and new discoveries have made our food safer than ever before, and we are constantly developing new ways to feed a growing world. The exhibit was developed by the CAFM with support from Nestlé Canada, the Government of Canada, and Bernardin Ltd.

“We are proud to help nourish Canadians at all stages of life, at every time of day,” said Shelley Martin, President and CEO, Nestlé Canada Inc. “Nutrition education is so important and we’re honoured to be a key partner on this fun, dynamic exhibit that teaches children and families about how food is preserved so that it is safe, tasty and nutritious.”

''Science and technology have a very important role to play in Canada's food safety and security. In this new exhibition visitors will be exploring a variety of food preservation processes and will learn a little bit more about the journey our food takes between the farm and our forks. The museum is well positioned to articulate this message given its growing presence and strong following, our expertise combined with that of partners has resulted in an amazing product we are very proud of,”' said Fernand Proulx, Interim President and CEO of the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation.

In this interactive museum experience, visitors can explore the fascinating world of food preservation both at home and in larger scale operations. Learn the scientific reason why long-used methods of food preservation are still in use today, and discover new innovations that will affect our food choices into the future.

Through the creative interplay of audio, video, and touch screen technologies, the exhibition provides interactive experiences for visitors of all ages, including a rotting food video, food scanning game, or by stepping inside a replica 1890s root cellar from Newfoundland.

Food Preservation: The Science You Eat is part of the CAFM’s five-year commitment to food literacy. To see more of the events and products related to food literacy, visit us online.

Ontario Visited view behind the scenes
Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
"The Science You Eat"

In our Tour today, we saw a “pre-view” to an interesting video presentation of “a hamburger rotting” which shows children how quickly food will “rot” if not preserved. To say it was “gross” was an understatement, but, we were able to understand the concept quickly. Here they discuss the importance of how to prevent contamination and food “rot” and teach us how to prevent germs, bugs and all kinds of bacteria. They go through the years of home preserving in the “olden days” and now with the technology and industrial advancements how we preserve today. For example they show why salad does not “rot” in a plastic bag. One of the goals here is to “debunk the myths” about the preservation and importance of food for our future.

Stay tuned for more “Behind the Scenes” Tour with the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum (in the meantime, check out their great website for lots of fun and information at http://cafmuseum.techno-science.ca/en/index.php.)