Soy proteins are globular in nature and are resistant to denaturation with lower intensity thermal treatments like cooking. Likewise, germination can also alter the protein structure through the activity of various enzymes and sonication can disrupt the molecular structure through cavitation and other ultrasound effects, and contribute to some reduction in immunoreactivity (IR) of allergens. This study evaluated the effects of germination and sonication pretreatment in combination with common cooking on lowering the soy allergen IR. Germination was carried out for up to 120 h and ultrasound sonication treatments were given for 20, 40 and 60 min at room temperature. Cooking at 100 oC was carried out for 10 to 60 min. The soy allergen IR was evaluated using a commercial sandwich ELISA kit. The combined action of germination, sonication and cooking helped to reduce the soy allergen IR to single digit mg/L levels from the nearly 400 mg/L initial level in the 5% soy slurry (> 99% reduction). These levels are lower than the reported threshold values of soy allergens in foods. In addition, the germination and ultrasound process was shown to reduce the anti-nutritional properties and enhance the phenolic and radical scavenging activity by over 50%.
Marine protein hydrolysates and peptides have grown in popularity due to their biological activities and robust properties. They are increasingly studied in the functional food, pharmaceutical, and cosmeceutical sectors. This article discusses the current knowledge about preparing protein hydrolysates and peptides from seaweed, seafood, and seafood processing byproducts. Gaps in knowledge and technical expertise required for their industrial integration have been identified. The desire for natural substances to use as functional food has gained prevalence as consumers have become more aware of the adverse side effects of synthetic drugs. Aging-related chronic diseases, including cancer, arteriosclerosis, and diabetes, can be prevented by actively introducing food-based functional ingredients. Marine-derived proteins and peptides still face several hurdles to commercialization, such as scaling up production and maintaining a sustainable supply of raw materials. Further understanding of the physiological functionalities, action mechanisms, and clinical efficacy of these peptides and proteins would facilitate their use in biomedical applications and as functional ingredients in food and cosmetics.
High hydrostatic pressure has become a non-thermal alternative to thermal pasteurization in dairy product processing. In this study, we investigated the effects of the treatment of high hydrostatic pressure on the bacterial composition in donkey milk using high-throughput sequencing technology and culture-dependent methods. Compared with the microbial composition in the untreated donkey milk, the relative percentage of Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter in donkey milk after high hydrostatic pressure was significantly decreased by 4.92% and 4.82%, respectively. Beta diversity analysis demonstrated that the treatment of high hydrostatic pressure affected the microbial composition in donkey milk significantly. The potential probiotic Enterococcus casseliflavus isolated from the untreated donkey milk has a good acidifying ability. This study revealed the effects of high hydrostatic pressure treatment on the microbial composition in donkey milk, exhibiting its practical industrial application and the potential use of biological resources in the future.
Not from concentrate (NFC) fruit juice is the crucial clean label ingredient for new-style tea-making due to its pleasant color and fresh aroma. Here, we compared the effects of mild heating (MH) and high pressure processing (HPP) on physicochemical characters and phytochemicals in NFC spine grape juice based on metabolomics analysis. Similar compound profiles were observed between HPP-treated and fresh juices. The richer phytochemical compounds comprised malvidin-3- O-glucoside, malvidin-3,5-di- O-glucoside, quercetin-3- O-rhamnoside, quercetin-3- O-glucuronide, catechin, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, procyanidin B1, procyanidin B2 were obtained after MH treatment. Nine marker phenolics and two marker tripeptides (i.e., Glu-Val-Phe and Leu-Leu-Tyr) were identified to differentiate MH from HPP treatment, of which higher contents occurred in the MH group. Storage time experiments showed that the Glu-Val-Phe could serve as potential markers for monitoring storage of spine grape juice. These results provide new insights into the effects of processing on individual phytochemical changes and the guide for commercial application of production of spine grape NFC juice.
Quality changes in ready-to-eat, shelf-stable foods, during storage can be influenced by many factors, such as processing, storage conditions, and the barrier properties of the packaging. This research investigated retention of vitamin C and anthocyanin in purple mashed potatoes as influenced by packaging barrier properties and encapsulation during storage after microwave assisted thermal sterilization. Purple mashed potatoes fortified with encapsulated (EVC) or non-encapsulated vitamin C (NVC) were packaged in two high-barrier polymer pouches (TLMO and PAA), processed with a pilot-scale microwave assisted thermal sterilization (MATS) system ( F 0 = 10.7 min), and stored at 37.8 °C for 7 months. MATS processing caused a significant increase ( P < 0.05) in the oxygen transmission rates (OTRs) of PAA pouches but did not affect the barrier properties of TLMO pouches. PAA film also had a significantly higher ( P < 0.05) water vapor transmission rate (WVTRs) than TLMO films, which resulted in a significantly higher ( P < 0.05) weight loss in the samples packaged in PAA pouches than TLMO pouches. Purple mashed potatoes containing encapsulated vitamin C in both TLMO and PAA pouches showed the highest retention over 2 months of storage at 37.8 °C than non-encapsulated vitamin C. Additionally, purple mashed potatoes exposed to 700 lumens light showed a significantly higher ( P < 0.05) deterioration in the anthocyanin, total phenolic content, color, and vitamin C. Overall, MATS processed purple mashed potatoes in high barrier polymeric packaging can minimize the quality changes when stored in dark conditions during storage and have an extended shelf life.
The reported cases of food allergies are steadily increasing. With the invention of more novel foods, new and unfamiliar allergens are being introduced into our diets, which raises concerns about the potential risk of novel food allergies. The purpose of this review is to assess the allergenic risks associated with novel food components, strategies for assessing risk in relation to novel food allergens, and current regulations for managing food allergens in novel food products.
While high-hydrostatic pressure (HHP) has successfully been applied to the pasteurization of fruit and vegetable juice beverages, their quality-stable shelf life during storage has not been fully elucidated. Therefore, we investigated the effect of HHP (550 MPa/10 min) treatment on polyphenols, carotenoids, ascorbic acids, and antioxidant capacity in tomato juice and their changes during 4-week refrigerated storage. High-temperature short-time (HTST, 110 °C/8.6 s) treatment was used as a control. The results revealed a significantly greater presence of polyphenols, carotenoids, ascorbic acid content, and antioxidant capacity in tomato juice after HHP processing than after HTST processing. However, the total carotenoids and total phenolic content in HHP-treated tomato juice decreased dramatically and approached that in the HTST-treated tomato juice after 1 week of storage. Therefore, HHP’s advantage in maintaining antioxidant compounds and capacity was only evident during the first week of storage in tomato juice. Nevertheless, the post-storage caffeic acid, quercetin, ferulic acid, and p-coumaric acid concentrations were 8.31, 4.77, 1.86, and 6.84 μg/g higher in the HHP-treated than in HTST-treated tomato juice, respectively. This study provides a new perspective for predicting HHP products' quality-stable shelf life.
Nanobubble technology is one of the latest green technologies in food industry applications. Nanobubbles (NBs) are gas-filled nanoscopic bubbles with a diameter of < 500 nm. The mass production of bulk nano-bubbles raises growing interest due to their high stability, internal pressure, and an enormous surface-to-volume ratio. Also, they can increase surface area, alter the physicochemical characteristics of the medium, and facilitate mass transfer. Along with their size and stability, air, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, NBs are widely recognized for their significance in food processing. The potential existence and ability of NBs to remain stable in liquids under ambient conditions have been a contentious issue for a long time due to the conventional thermodynamic theory. In this review, fundamental properties, and several generation methods of NBs have been described along with their mechanism. Moreover, NBs generation methods can produce fine and undeviating gas diffusion characteristics, which can be used to control the uniformity and textural qualities of various creamy and gel-based foods. Thus, we also described the possible applications of NBs along with their mechanism of action in extraction, freezing, foams, and film formation. The ability of NBs to impart health benefits makes them new, improved, and environmentally safe green techniques.
Prepared aquatic products refer to ready-to-eat, heated, ready-to-cook, and paired food derived from marine products, which are growing as attractive convenience food. Flavor is a vital factor for consumers in choosing prepared aquatic products. Suitable packaging materials and methods are the crucial pathways used to maintain the flavor and control the off-flavor of prepared aquatic products. Compared to vacuum packaging and modified atmosphere packaging, innovative packaging, including biodegradable, edible, active, and intelligent packaging, has received attention due to the potential advantages of flavor regulation. The mechanism of flavor change in package-associated prepared aquatic products is surveyed in this paper according to the reaction of lipids, proteins, microorganisms, and enzymes. Further, the effects of innovative packaging materials and methods on the flavor regulation of prepared aquatic products are summarized under the investigation of typical packaging. Moreover, prospects for innovative packaging materials and methods for flavor regulation in prepared aquatic products are proposed. This review provides references and bases for developing innovative packaging that maintain the flavor and wipes off-flavor.
Pecans have many health benefits and are known for being part of a heart-healthy diet. Nutrition education is a key component in increasing pecan consumption among young consumers. In an effort to improve the efficacy of nutrition education targeting a younger demographic, this study aims to investigate how the information quality of a nutrition education program affects consumers' nutrition knowledge, trust, and intentions to recommend and try pecans. A total of 271 usable questionnaires were collected from college students at a southeast university. Our findings indicate that information quality could directly influence consumer knowledge and trust in an information source and indirectly influences consumers' willingness to recommend or try a product. This study also showed that improved consumer knowledge and trust in an information source could strongly affect their willingness to recommend pecan products. The findings of this study can be used to increase the efficacy of educational marketing strategies in the pecan industry and drive an increase in consumption among younger populations.
Prevalence of kidney stones has increased continously over several decades worldwide, the major causes of which are largely unknown. To explore the dietary causes of kidney stones, and reveal mechanisms underlying dietary risk factors inducing kidney stones, animal experiments using mice as the disease model were performed. Eight-week old male CD-1 mice were treated by ethylene glycol, cholesterol or/and apple tannins for 3 d, respectively. In the present study, the crystalline analysis in urine and kidney tissues, HE staining kidney sections as well as observation of micro-stones, tannins and cholesterol deposition in kidneys of mice in different groups were conducted. We found that gavage with ethylene glycol, cholesterol and tannins resulted in mice urine solute supersaturation in renal tubules and forming kidney stones. Significant cholesterol and tannin deposits in mouse kidney were observed by laser confocal microscopy and crystals were shown either adhered with or co-deposited with cholesterol and tannin deposits. The primary crystals were found in renal cortex, medullar, especially papilla in the kidney sections under polarized microscope. These findings demonstrate that interaction of cholesterol and tannins in kidney plays a critical role in the formation of kidney stones.