Miloslav Kaláb

Miloslav (Miloš) Kaláb, Ph.D., was a full-time Principal Research Scientist at the Centre for Food and Animal Research, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa until August 1995. After his retirement, he continued - part time - to do electron microscopy studies of foods and foodborne microorganisms at the Food Research Program in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, while he stayed in the Ottawa laboratory.

As a native (1929) of the former Czechoslovakia, he obtained his B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in chemical engineering at technical universities in Brno and Bratislava, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree in chemistry at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. His Ph.D. Thesis was on pectic substances in "wild apples" growing in eastern Slovakia.

Before he came to Canada as a National Research Council post-doctorate fellow in 1966, he had already gained practical experience as a sugar factory chemist, research chemist at a food refrigeration research institute, research scientist in the area of waste water purification at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Palacký University in Olomouc, and associate professor and chairman of the Department of Organic and Biological Chemistry at the same university in Czechoslovakia.

As a postdoctorate fellow, he studied low-density lipoproteins in pig blood serum and published 4 scientific papers. He was scheduled to return to his work and students in Olomouc on August 25, 1968. Only 4 days before the date that he was supposed to leave Ottawa wish his family to return to Czechoslovakia, the country was invaded by the Warsaw Treaty armies. The family decided not to return home.

Lucky coincidences played an important role in M. Kaláb's life: Two weeks before his fellowship would be terminated, he was curious to know why Canadian Cottage cheese was markedly different from Cottage cheese made in his home country. His colleagues at the National Research Council referred him to Dr. D.B. Emmons at the federal Department of Agriculture, who was a world authority on Cottage cheese research and technology. Dr. Emmons donated two days of his time to the Czechoslovakian post-doc and his book on Cottage cheese and then waved him good bye.

Two weeks later, the new immigrant was desperately looking for a job. It was very difficult to find employment, but Dr. Emmons persuaded his Director at the Food Research Institute to hire the former post-doc. His beginnings at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are described in the History of Food Structure.

The new employee specialized in electron microscopy of foods, particularly milk products, and expanded his interest from heat-induced milk gels to other dairy products, particularly yogurt and cheese. The American Dairy Science Association awarded him with the 1982 Pfizer Award for his contribution to dairy research. Together with 3 American scientists, Dr. S. H. Cohen, Dr. Eugenia Davis, and Dr. D. N. Holcomb, M. Kaláb established a new scientific journal, Food Microstructure (later renamed Food Structure) and was elected its Editor-in-Chief. The journal was published from 1982 by Scanning Microscopy International (Dr. Om Johari) in Chicago, IL, USA, until the end of 1993 when the publisher discontinued it without an explanation.

With the other editors of Food Structure, M. Kaláb co-organized international meetings of food microscopists for many years. In 1986, he served at the National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal, Haryana, India, as a United Nations Organization consultant, with the objective of extending there the use of electron microscopy in dairy research. In 1989, he obtained a scholarship from the Government of Japan to share his expertise in food structure studies with Japanese scientists at the National Food Research Institute in Tsukuba. Later he enjoyed his work as a visiting scientist at the Department of Food Science, Utah State University in Logan, where he was the guest of Dr. J.D. McMahon.

M. Kaláb published over 160 scientific and technical papers (some may be found in Food Structure), 3 book chapters on electron microscopy of foods and cheese, 1 encyclopedia chapter on the microstructure of foods, and he co-authored a book chapter on processed cheese.

For several years, he used to maintain many websites. The starting point is entitled "Foods under the microscope" at http://www.magma.ca/~scimat/, where all updates are announced. The greatest volume of information was on the server of the Department of Food Engineering at the University of Lund in Sweden which, thanks to Professor Dr. Petr Dejmek, had generously provided M. Kaláb for many years with space on the university server. Those websites were discontinued in 2006. M. Kaláb has been gradually relocating some of the more useful websites, particularly those showing electron micrographs of food-borne microorganisms.

Some of his most recent findings may be found at the website entitled Talking about Electron Microscopy of Foods with Miloš Kaláb. As of 2013, he is an Honorary Research Associate at ECORC, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.

M. Kalaacute;b considers the following publications of particular interest to students of electron microscopy in food structure research. Reprints of several scientific publications on paper are available in PDF format to researchers who would ask for them. He may be reached in the laboratory at Milos.Kalab@agr.gc.ca.

Selected publications

  1. Kaláb, M.: Practical aspects of electron microscopy in cheese research. In: Chemistry of Structure-Function Relationships in Cheese. Malin, E. L., Tunick, M. H., editors, Plenum Press, New York, 247-276 (1995).
  2. Kaláb, M., Allan-Wojtas, P., Miller, S.S.: 1995. Microscopy and other imaging techniques in food structure analysis. Trends in Food Science & Technology 6, 6:177-186 (1995).
  3. Kaláb, M.: Practical aspects of electron microscopy in dairy research. Food Struct. 12(1) 95-114 (1993).
  4. Carić M, Kaláb, M.: Processed cheese products. In: Cheese: Chemistry, Physics and Microbiology. Volume 2. Major Cheese Groups. 2nd ed., P. F. Fox (ed.), Chapman & Hall, London, UK, 467-505 (1993).
  5. Kaláb, M.: Food structure and milk products. In: Encyclopedia of Food Science and Technology. Y.H. Hui (ed.), Wiley Interscience, New York, 1170-1196 (1992).
  6. Kaláb, M, Carić, M, Milanović, S.: Composition and structure of demineralized spray-dried milk permeate powder. Food Struct. 10(4), 327-332 (1991)
  7. Kaláb, M,, Modler H.W,, Carić, M,, Milanović, S.: Structure, meltability, and firmness of process cheese containing White cheese. Food Struct. 10(3), 193-201 (1991).
  8. Kaláb, M.: Microparticulate protein in foods. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 9(4), 374-387 (1990).
  9. Kaláb, M,, Carić, M.: Food microstructure - evaluation of interactions of milk components in food systems. Proc. XXIII Internatl. Dairy Congress, Montreal, Vol. 2, 1457-1480 (1990).
  10. Veliky, I.A., Kaláb, M.: Encapsulation of viscous high-fat foods in calcium alginate gel tubes at ambient temperature. Food Struct. 9(2), 151-154 (1990).
  11. Modler, H.W., Yiu, S.H., Böllinger, U.K., Kaláb, M.: Grittiness in a pasteurized cheese spread: A microscopic study. Food Microstruc. 8(2), 201-210 (1989).
  12. Gavarić, D.Dj, Carić, M., Kaláb, M.: Effect of protein concentration in ultrafiltration milk retentates and the type of protease used for the coagulation on the microstructure of resulting gels. Food Microstruc. 8(1), 53-66 (1989).
  13. Kaláb, M., Carić, M., Zaher, M., Harwalkar, V.R.: Composition and some properties of spray-dried retentates obtained by the ultrafiltration of milk. Food Microstruc. 8(2), 225-233 (1989).
  14. Tamime, A.Y., Kaláb, M., Davies, G.: Rheology and microstructure of strained yoghurt (Labneh) made from cow's milk by three different methods. Food Microstruc. 8(1), 125-135 (1989).
  15. Kaláb, M., Gupta, S.K., Desai, H.K., Patil, G.R.: Development of microstructure in raw, fried, and fried and cooked paneer made from buffalo, cow, and mixed milks. Food Microstruc. 7(1), 83-91 (1988).
  16. Harwalkar, V.R., Kaláb, M.: The role of β-lactoglobulin in the development of the core-and-lining structure of casein micelles in acid-heat-induced milk gels. Food Microstruc. 7(2), 173-179 (1988).
  17. Kaláb, M.: Encapsulation of viscous foods in agar gel tubes for electron microscopy. Food Microstruc. 7(2), 213-214 (1988).
  18. Kaláb, M., Yun, J., Yiu, S.H.: Textural properties and microstructure of process cheese food rework. Food Microstruc. 6(2), 181-192 (1987).
  19. Carić, M., Kaláb, M.: Effect of drying techniques on milk powders quality and microstructure: A review. Food Microstruc. 6(2), 171-180, (1987).
  20. Kaláb, M., Palo, V.: Development of microstructure in Olomouc cheese cakes: Electron microscopic study. Milchwissenschaft 42(4), 207-211 (1987).
  21. Harwalkar, V.R., Kaláb, M.: Relationship between microstructure and susceptibility to syneresis in yoghurt made from reconstituted nonfat dry milk. Food Microstruc. 5(2), 287-294, (1986).
  22. Carić, M., Gantar, M., Kaláb, M.: Effects of emulsifying agents on the microstructure and other characteristics of process cheese - A review. Food Microstruc. 4(2), 297-312, (1985).
  23. Harwalkar, V.R., Kaláb, M.: Thermal denaturation and aggregation of β-lactoglobulin in solution. Electron microscopic study. Milchwissenschaft 40(2), 65-68 (1985).
  24. Kaláb, M., Modler, H.W.: Milk gel structure. XV. Electron microscopy of whey protein-based Cream cheese spread. Milchwissenschaft 40(4), 193-196 (1985).
  25. Kaláb, M., Modler, H.W.: Development of microstructure in a Cream cheese based on Queso Blanco cheese. Food Microstruc. 4(1), 89-98 (1985).
  26. Kaláb, M., Allan-Wojtas, P., Phipps-Todd, B.E.: Development of microstructure in set-style nonfat yoghurt - A review. Food Microstruc. 2(1), 51-66 (1983).
  27. Modler, H.W., Kaláb, M.: Microstructure of yogurt stabilized with milk proteins. Journal of Dairy Science 66, 430-437 (1983).
  28. Kaláb, M.: Electron microscopy of foods. In: Physical Properties of Foods, M. Peleg and E.B. Bagley (eds.), AVI Publishing Co., Inc., Westport, Connecticut, USA, 43-104 (1982).
  29. Kaláb, M., Lowrie, R.J., Nichols, D.: Detection of curd granule and milled curd junctions in Cheddar cheese. Journal of Dairy Science 65, 1117-11221 (1982).
  30. Lowrie, R.J., Kaláb, M., Nichols, D.: Curd granule and milled curd junction patterns in Cheddar cheese made by traditional and mechanized processes. Journal of Dairy Science 65, 1122-1129 (1982).


E-mail:
scimat@magma.ca

Updated: January 31, 2013.