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{/googleAds} As 2014 approaches, here are just a few of their food-related predictions – everything from better fruit packaging to a new focus on reducing food waste – that may soon be on the public’s radar--

Good taste, less waste: Food researchers say roughly one-third of food produced for humans around the globe is lost or wasted each year – 1.3 billion tons of it. Discussion of this problem is expected to make its way from food industry and academic circles and into homes, with home food preparers becoming more sensitive to reducing food waste.

Garlic: Sue Percival, chairman of IFAS’ Food Science and Human Nutrition department, and colleagues found modest changes in the immune responses of human subjects who consumed an aged garlic extract every day, as part of a six-month research study. A control group took placebos. Both groups kept health diaries and gave blood samples. The garlic didn’t prevent colds or flu, she said, but researchers did find that cold and flu symptoms were reduced between 30 and 50%.

Eat your broccoli: Consumers will begin to focus more on vegetable consumption, both for better health and to lessen their environmental footprint. Demand may outpace supply, and while Food Safety Modernization Act requirements will help ensure safer produce, it will undoubtedly boost costs for growers, packers and grocers – and consumers.

And your mushrooms: In a more recent study, Percival’s team tested shiitake mushrooms’ effect on human health outcomes. One group ate a daily serving of chopped, dried mushrooms; a second group ate two servings. Blood was taken from both groups at the start and end of the study. Both groups’ test results revealed 'remarkable' beneficial changes in their immune-system regulating cytokines and immune function, she said.