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The mechanical properties as well antioxidant/antimicrobial effects of active packaging for beef produced from cornstarch, linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), and citric acid (CA) were evaluated. The addition of starch in the blends influenced the mechanical characteristics of the films, with reduced ultimate tensile strength (TS), elongation at break (E), and modulus of elasticity (ME) parameters for films with a higher starch concentration. Conversely, greater solubility and degree of swelling of the films were observed when the starch content was increased, with gradual release of the CA from the packaging to the product. Characterization by thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that the incorporation of starch affected the thermal stability and chemical composition of the blends. The "in vitro" biodegradability was shown by gravimetric evaluation, with weight loss and decrease of TS of the films. Meat samples packed with the active films and stored under refrigeration showed a significant reduction of the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARSs) and a decrease of about 1 log in the total bacterial count in the beef, compared with the control film (nonactive). The color was also affected, with an increase in the a* (redness) parameter, which characterizes the desirable red color in beef. The biodegradable packaging of starch/LLDPE incorporating CA prevented oxidative and microbial processes, besides providing a more desirable color to the meat during storage. In this study, we hypothesized that the effects were related to CA presence.

There is growing interest in the food industry to develop approaches for large-scale production of bioactive molecules through continuous downstream processing, especially from sustainable sources. Membrane-based separation technologies have the potential to reduce production costs while incorporating versatile multiproduct processing capabilities. This review describes advances in membrane technologies that may facilitate versatile and effective isolation of bioactive compounds. The benefits and drawbacks of pressure-driven membrane cascades, functionalized membranes and electromembrane separation technologies are highlighted, in the context of their applications in the food industry. Examples illustrate the separation of functional macromolecules (peptides, proteins, oligo/polysaccharides, plant secondary metabolites) from complex food-based streams. Theoretical and mechanistic models of membrane flux and fouling are also summarized. Overcoming existing challenges of these technologies will provide the food industry with several attractive options for bioprocessing operations.

The work aimed to encapsulate oils recovered from brewer’s spent grain by particles from gas saturated solutions technique using supercritical carbon dioxide as solvent and polyethylene glycol as wall material. The process conditions (pressure and temperature) and the wall material content were tested to produce an ingredient with enhanced physical properties and oxidative stability. Among the applied pressures (10, 20, 30, and 35 MPa), temperatures (45 and 55 °C) and oil to polyethylene glycol mixing ratios (1:5; 1:3, 1:2.5 and 1:2), the highest encapsulation efficiency was obtained at 20 MPa, 55 °C with an oil to polyethylene glycol mixing ratio equal to 1:3. With such conditions, the particles reported 73.5 ± 1.5% of encapsulated oil, with 58.1 ± 2.8% of the powder showing a mean diameter equal to 375 μm. The bulk and tapped densities were equal to 0.35 ± 0.01 and 0.38 ± 0.01 g · cm−3, while the wettability resulted of 3.2 ± 0.01 min. Furthermore, the encapsulated oil was oxidative stable up to 130 ± 3.2 h at 40 °C, as measured by isothermal calorimetry and peroxide value. The findings showed the potentials of particles from gas saturated solutions technique for the production of an ingredient for food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications.

This study evaluated the effect of plasma-activated water (PAW) treatment and blanching on the microbial and quality attributes of tiger nuts. In this study, 15 min of single PAW-10 washing and blanching at 60 °C for 5 min (BLN) resulted in 3.53 and 3.51 log CFU/g reductions for Klebsiella pneumoniae and 3.22 and 3.14 log CFU/g for total background bacteria. The sequential treatment of PAW-10 and BLN led to 3.7 and 4.36 log CFU/g reductions in K. pneumoniae and total background bacteria, respectively. Total phenolic content, lipid oxidation, DPPH scavenging activity, and sensory attributes of the treated tiger nut extracts did not change significantly compared with the control, whereas pH, total color value, FRAP radical scavenging activity, and total flavonoid content were altered. The microbial inactivation and changes observed in the treated samples were attributed to the synergistic effects of reactive species and blanching during the individual and combined treatment. This result has established PAW in combination with BLN as a promising hurdle intervention to curtail the spread of microorganisms.

In order to realize the early warning of spoilage during banana storage, 3D fluorescence data of the storage room gas corresponding to two batches of bananas with different storage dates were collected. On the basis of scattering elimination and Savitzky-Golay (SG) smoothing treatment of these collected fluorescence data, three methods, namely, contour maps, fluorescence regional integration (FRI), and systematic cluster analysis (SCA), were employed to define the benchmark of banana spoilage. Then, to eliminate the dimension influence between different physical and chemical indicators, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to fusion the physical and chemical data of different indicators, and the principal component was selected as fusion data. And then, according to least square regression (LSR), the feature wavelengths were selected for the two batches of test data, and the same and similar ones as the common feature wavelengths were also picked. Finally, a unified spoilage benchmark for the two batches of bananas was constructed by the common feature wavelengths. Based on their respective benchmarks and the unified benchmark, Mahalanobis distance (MD) was adopted to realize the early warning of banana spoilage with two batches. The research results show that the MD can realize early warning of banana spoilage during storage for different batches according to the unified benchmark. This shows that the determination methods of the spoilage benchmark and the early warning method during banana storage are effective.

Gas hydrates constitute of gas as a guest molecule in hydrogen-bonded water lattices. This review covers ongoing hydrate research in food technology with a spotlight on carbon dioxide (CO2) application as a hydrate. The application of gas hydrates in the concentration of juices, desalination, carbonation, and food preservation has been covered in the review. One of the applications of CO2 hydrate technology was in the concentration of orange juice which gave a dehydration ratio (DR) of 57.2% at a pressure of 4.1 MPa. Similarly, one study applied it for the tomato juice concentration and had a DR of 65.2%. The CO2 hydrate rate constants recorded were 0.94 × 10−8 and 1.65 × 10−8 J−1 mol2 s−1 at a feed pressure of 1.81 and 3.1 MPa respectively. Hence, CO2 hydrate can be used effectively for the juice concentration as well as for other applications too. The review will cater insights on the generic trends of hydrates in food research with respect to their kinetics properties and their role in food applications. Despite the fact that there are no technology stoppers to exploit CO2 hydrates, a downright technological quantum leap is the need of the future in this riveting field. Thus, the perspectives and key challenges in food research are also discussed. The food applications of CO2 gas hydrates are still very scarce so there is an urge to carry through more theoretical and experimental analysis to elucidate various applications of hydrates in food and to positively validate its sustainability.

The computer vision and a stereoscopy technique were used to characterize and detect changes in the capacity of the salmon fillet surface to recover its original form after a constant weight was applied. A curvature index (associated to fillet firmness) calculated by means of 3D information data obtained with the stereoscopy technique from the fat stripe on the fillets was estimated over 6 months and was suggested as a characteristic of the recovery property of the fresh salmon fillet surface. Simultaneously, instrumental firmness using a LFRA1500 texture was measured. The values for the fresh salmon fillet measurement curvature index during a period of 6 months were established in the range of 0.05 and 0.10 (dimensionless), and this value was used in the experiments to represent fresh salmon fillets. Changes in the curvature index (associated with similar changes in firmness) for salmon fillet surface treated with enzymes (pepsin and papain) were registered on the second day during storage at 2 °C. In general, stereoscopy is a technique that can be used on salmon fillets to detect changes in the recovery properties of the salmon fillet surface and to determine when salmon fillets can be classified as a fillet that has not been processed with enzymes.

Abstract The influence of temperature-time gelatinisation conditions on the gel forming kinetics and final gel mechanical features of commonly used starches as potato starch was studied. The proximate physicochemical properties of potato starch as well as the thermorheological and textural characteristics of the corresponding potato starch gels (native, NPS, and at different GD, PS) were determined. Thermorheological testing at small amplitude oscillatory shear and texture profile analysis were used to evaluate the systems structure evolution and the final gel texture, respectively. High purity (total starch content > 98.5 ± 0.7% dry basis, d.b.), intermediate amylose content (21.2 ± 0.8%), low damaged starch levels (2.7 ± 0.8%), crystallinity (B-pattern) level of 22.9 ± 1.1% and average particle size (60.3 ± 4.3 μm) were the main physicochemical features of tested NPS. Rheological outcomes indicated that only potato starch samples heated at temperatures above 50 °C for tested gelatinisation times were able to form gels. The largest gel strength was identified for NPS, PS70:20 (temperature/time) and PS80 independently of gelatinisation time. Viscoelasticity of PS85 and PS90 gels significantly drop with increasing temperature-time gelatinisation conditions. Temperatures between peak (58 °C) and final (70 °C) gelatinisation temperatures favour the formation of stronger and fully thermal reversible gels, remaining practically invariant until 80 °C. Texture studies indicated that an acceptable linear dependence (R 2 > 0.96) between viscoelastic gel properties determined by rheology and textural parameters can be established.