Food science meets plant science: A case study on improved nutritional quality by breeding for glucosinolate retention during food processing

• An approach to improve food quality by combining plant and food science is presented.
• Phytochemical (e.g. glucosinolate) stability was selected as quality attribute.
• Benefits and challenges of such an interdisciplinary approach are identified.
• Breeding for glucosinolate retention is a promising way to improve food quality.

Nutritional quality of vegetables is affected by several steps in the food chain. Up to now the effects of these different steps are mostly studied separately. We propose the cooperation between plant breeding and food technology by using food technological parameters as breeding traits to identify genetic loci associated with food processing. An example of mechanistic studies of glucosinolate losses during cooking is used to discuss requirements, possibilities, challenges and benefits of such an integrated approach with the final aim to breed for vegetables with higher retention of glucosinolates, as example for other phytochemicals, during food processing.