Food Chemistry

This study aimed to investigate the effect of fermentation with Lactobacillus plantarum NCU137 on the nutritional, sensory and stability properties of Coix (Coix lachryma-jobi L.) seed. The nutritional compounds, including free amino acid, free fatty acid, soluble dietary fiber and organic acids of fermented coix seed were significantly (p < 0.05) increased than those of non-fermented coix seed. The fermented coix seed exhibiting a special flavor, due to the production of acids, the decreased level of aldehydes and ketones, and the increased level of alcohols in the volatile compounds, whereas the amount of hazardous substance 2-pentylfuran was reduced and natural antiseptic hexanoic acid was produced. The increased viscosity together with the larger particle size and the reduced absolute ζ potential contribute to the stability of the fermented coix seed paste system. Therefore, fermentation with L. plantarum NCU137 could improve the nutritional, sensory and stability properties of coix seed.

Extracts from the edible insects Acheta domesticus and Tenebrio molitor were obtained by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and pressurized-liquid extraction (PLE) using ethanol (E) or ethanol:water (E:W). Extraction yield, fatty acid profile, nutritional impact and cholesterol content were determined and compared with the initial insects. The highest extraction yield corresponded to PLE-T. molitor extracts. A decrease in total saturated fatty acid (SFA) and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) contents, and an increase in the total polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content were observed for both UAE-E:W insect extracts, due to an enrichment in linoleic acid. The lipid indices (PUFA/SFA ratio, atherogenic and thrombogenic indices) for both UAE-E:W extracts were significantly improved compared with the initial insects. Although either extraction procedure led to cholesterol enrichment, the UAE-E:W conditions favoured the lowest concentration. Therefore, insects extracts with improved fatty acid profile can be selectively obtained, being UAE-E:W conditions preferred from the nutritional point of view.

In this study, pulse protein isolates (PPIs) were extracted from 0, 1, 3, and 5 days germinated chickpea, lentil, and yellow pea flours by alkaline extraction–isoelectric precipitation method. The germination time had negligible impact on the proximate composition of PPIs. In total, 67 volatiles in PPIs were identified via HS-SPME–GC–MS/O. Among all the identified volatile components, seven of them, including hexanal (11), (E)-2-octen-1-ol (7), (E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal (17), 3-octen-2-one (33), 3,5-octadien-2-one (34), 2-methoxy-3-isopropylpyrazine (56), and 2-methoxy-3-(1-methylpropyl)pyrazine (57), contributed to the beany-related odor of PPIs but much less than that in raw flours. However, the overall beany-related odor of PPIs increased when the germination time exceeded 1 day. Both the activity of lipoxygenase and the free radical populations in PPIs were positively related to the overall beany-related odor. Our findings are crucial for the preparation of germinated pulse proteins with improved functionality but without increasing undesirable odor.

In order to further determine the interaction between polysaccharides and polyphenols, the complex of soluble dietary fiber (SDF) and two phenols were prepared. According to the results, at the conditions of pH = 4, temperature = 60 °C, concentration ratio of polysaccharide and phenol = 4:1, the maximum adsorption of catechin and gallic acid in the SDF complex was 155.74 and 134.05 mg/g, respectively. Due to UV–Vis and FT-IR analysis, it could be speculated that the interaction between SDF and phenols resulted in chemical combination. Furthermore, the monosaccharide composition and molecular weight distribution of SDF were significantly altered after conjugated with phenols. However, it showed no significant difference between two different SDF-phenol complexes, referring to GC and GPC data. The surface of SDF-phenol complex was loose with uniform arrangement, while the physical mixture surface was porous with irregular holes and cracks. Both SDF-CC and SDF-GA complex indicated higher thermal stability than the mixtures by TGA analysis.

In this study, for the first time, hollow fiber and monolithic fiber were fabricated based on metal-organic framework deep eutectic solvents/molecularly imprinted polymers (MOF- DES/MIPs) and were used for microextraction of phthalate esters under termed hollow fiber liquid membrane-protected solid-phase microextraction (HFLMP-SPME) followed by gas chromatography- flame ionization detection. Several parameters influencing extraction recoveries of phthalate esters including adsorption and desorption parameters were investigated and optimized using fabricated MOF- DES/MIPs monolithic fiber. Under optimal conditions, detection limits (S/N = 3) of the method were in a range of 0.008–0.03 µg L⁻¹ and limits of quantification (S/N = 10) were between 0.028 and 0.12 µg L⁻¹. RSD (%) for intra-day and inter-day precisions were between 2.4–4.7% and 2.6–3.4%, respectively. Subsequently, this procedure was successfully applied with satisfactory results in the determination of phthalate esters in yogurt, water, and soybean oil samples. The R (%) ranged from 95.5 to 100.0% in different samples.

Pasteurized donor human milk (PDHM) for preterm infant nutrition is fortified with hydrolyzates of cow’s milk proteins, which have been poorly investigated in relation to heat-damage and occurrence of the bioactive peptides β-casomorphins (BCMs). Therefore, thermal protein modifications of three commercial fortifiers were assessed by measuring well-recognized indexes of heat load. The fortifiers did not contain pyrraline, whereas furosine and lysinoalanine levels roughly overlapped the lowest values reported for liquid formulas addressed to term infant nutrition. Bovine BCMs 3 to 7 and human BCMs 3 to 9 were searched. Bovine BCMs 3, 4, 6 and 7 were found in the undigested fortifiers. Following in vitro digestion simulating the digestive conditions of premature infant, bovine BCMs still occurred in fortified PDHM; the human BCMs 3, 7, 8 and 9 formed. Overall, these results better address the nutritional features of protein fortifiers and fortified PDHM intended for nutrition of preterm infants.

Phenolic compounds largely contribute to the nutraceutical properties of virgin olive oil (VOO), the organoleptic attributes and the shelf life due to their antioxidant capabilities. Due to the relevance of malaxation in the oil extraction process, we tested the effects of malaxation time on the concentrations of relevant phenolic compounds in VOO, and we evaluated the influence of performing malaxation under vacuum. An increase in malaxation time significantly decreased the concentrations of aglycone isomers of oleuropein and ligstroside but, conversely, increased the oleocanthal and oleacein contents. Additionally, malaxation under vacuum led to an increase in phenolic contents compared to standard conditions carried out at atmospheric pressure. Finally, we explored the possibility of predicting the VOO oxidative stability on the basis of the phenolic profile, and a model (R² = 0.923; p < 0.0001) was obtained by combining the concentration of the VOO phenolic compounds and the main fatty acids.

The occurrence of the quercetin oxidation metabolite 2-(3,4-dihydroxybenzoyl)-2,4,6-trihydroxy-3(2H)-benzofuranone (BZF), whose antioxidant potency is notably higher than the antioxidant potency of quercetin, was investigated in twenty quercetin-rich plant foods. BZF was identified (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS) only in the dry outer scales of onions and shallots. Aqueous extracts of onions (OAE) and shallots (SAE) were evaluated for their antioxidant and cytoprotective properties. OAE, whose potency did not differ from SAE, protected ROS-exposed Caco2 cells against oxidative (78%) and cellular (90%) damage at a 3 µg/L concentration (corresponding to 0.03 nM of BZF). After chromatographic resolution of OAE, the BZF peak accounted fully and exclusively for its antioxidant effect. The antioxidant effects of OAE and of a pure BZF were described by two perfectly overlapping curves whose concentration-dependence was within the 3 × 10⁻⁴ to 10² nM BZF range. Such unprecedented low concentrations place BZF-containing plants on the frontier of the search for novel sources of antioxidants.

Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is a new type of water-saving irrigation technology developed in recent years which was well suited to arid and semi-arid grape plant areas. The anthocyanin synthesis of grapes under RDI was revealed through omics in this study. RDI slightly decreased the hundred-grain weight and increased the soluble solid content, juice pH, reducing sugar content, and total anthocyanin content. Meanwhile, the total acid content decreased before ripening. Transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses revealed that large numbers of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and significantly changed metabolites (SCMs) were filtered in the RDI groups. RDI1 with 30% ETc upregulated 7 related gene expression levels in the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway and also increased some metabolites contents. Eventually, the contents of most monomeric anthocyanins in the RDI groups were increased, and the proportion of Mv increased in the ripe grapes of the RDI groups. In all, RDI is a useful water-saving irrigation method which could also increase anthocyanin content in grapes.

Flavonoids are key determinants of grape quality and wine color. Grapevines growing in alkaline soil are prone to manganese deficiency, which can decrease the contents of secondary metabolites, including flavonoids. We determined the effects of a foliar Mn treatment (MnSO₄·H₂O) of Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines (V. vinifera L.) growing in alkaline soil on the flavonoid contents in grape skin, and the quality of wine. The Mn treatments were applied in 2017 and 2018, and tended to increase the grape sugars, berry weight, and the contents of phenolic compounds from veraison until harvest. The Mn treatments increased the amounts of acetylated, methylated, and total anthocyanins, as well as the total flavonol contents in grape berry skin at harvest. The wines prepared from these grapes had a higher color intensity than those prepared from grapes from control vines. Foliar-applied MnSO₄·H₂O can promote flavonoid biosynthesis in grape berries, and improve the color of wine.

There are few studies for risk assessment of cartap and its metabolites, although cartap is easily transformed into metabolites which could induce higher toxicity. This study aimed to investigate the dissipation pattern of cartap and its metabolites during tea planting, manufacturing and brewing for evaluating the safety of cartap pesticide. Cartap metabolites were identified using Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry. Half-lives of cartap in fresh tea leaves ranged from 0.49 to 0.59 days. Cartap decreased rapidly with time, and it was degraded into nereistoxin and cartap monothiol during tea production chain. Cartap monothiol residues dissipated rapidly by 98% in three days during tea planting. Nereistoxin had a longer residual period than cartap and it dominated the total residue in made tea after tea manufacturing. Transfer rates of nereistoxin during tea brewing ranged from 78.24% to 121.56%. Therefore, we suggested sum of cartap and nereistoxin residues as maximum residual limits in tea.

An 8-week feeding trial and transcriptome analysis were conducted to investigate the potential mechanism of muscle-hardening caused by faba bean in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus). Ordinary grass carp (fed with practical diet) and crisp grass carp (fed with faba bean meal) groups were designed. Lower water holding capacity and higher some texture parameters were observed in the muscle of crisp grass carp compared with another group. 19.62 GB clean reads were generated, and total 1354 genes exhibiting differentially expression were identified (FDR < 0.05). Genes function enrichment revealed up-regulated genes in crisp grass carp mainly in response to myofibroblast proliferation, while down-regulated genes in response to immune regulation. Consistent with this, the tight junction pathway and the NF-κB signaling pathway were likewise significantly enriched. In summary, this study identified several candidate genes and putative signaling pathways deserving further investigation to the mechanism of muscle-hardening in fish fed with faba bean.

The polyphenolic content and the antioxidant capacity of seven tannins with different botanical origin were measured with spectrophotometric methods (Folin-Ciocalteu, Total Polyphenols Index, DPPH, FRAP), HPLC (phloroglucinolysis), voltammetric analysis (Linear Sweep Voltammetry, LSV). The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) was measured in an oxygen saturated model wine solution, containing transition metals and metabisulphite, with a noninvasive luminescence-based technology. The results showed a high variability in polyphenolic concentration related to the botanical origin of tannins. The OCR determined over 21 days was described by quadratic equations, with coefficients varying with tannin botanical origin, dose and SO₂ concentration. The tannins ranked differently for antioxidant capacity, depending on the kind of test. The oxygen consumption parameters were positively correlated only with the LSV data measured with anodic current between 100 and 1200 mV (LSV_1200mV) and with the FRAP index.

This study mainly investigated changes in milk serum proteins by simulating the industrial processing of whole milk powder using a label-free proteomic approach. A total of 391 proteins were identified, 89 of which were quantified in all groups. Compared with raw milk, the milk subjected to the heating pasteurization process showed significantly decreased the serum protein profile, whereas that subjected to vacuum concentration and spray-drying showed minimal changes. The LC-MS/MS results were further confirmed by determining the activity of bioactive xanthine oxidase and retention of lactoferrin and immunoglobulins. The data showed that 70%–85% of lactoferrin and immunoglobulins were retained in vacuum-concentrated or spray-dried milk but were hardly identifiable in heat-pasteurized milk or whole milk powders. These findings indicate the need for improving the current milk powder-manufacturing techniques to allow the retention of active milk proteins.

We examined the morphology of a network made with native BSA molecules being crosslinked with genipin at ambient temperature. Ninhydrin assay, FTIR, WAXD, SEM and mechanical tests documented successful crosslinking that enhanced the structural properties of the three dimensional structure. Its hydrophilic nature allows swelling with water absorption, which can be monitored with the modified Flory-Rehner theory to predict the molecular weight between adjacent crosslinks, network mesh size and crosslinking density as a function of crosslinker addition. Characterisation studies were carried out with a view to developing a delivery vehicle for the controlled release of vitamin B6 over a prolonged period of observation. Moving boundaries associated with swelling of the protein matrix resulted in vitamin transport that could be described with the interplay of diffusional and relaxational kinetics via the Peppas-Sahlin equation. Combination of diffusion and swelling equilibrium theories unveils a measurable effect of network characteristics on vitamin B6 release.

Poly(β-cyclodextrin-ionic liquid) grafted magnetic nanoparticles combined with 1-octanol as supramolecular solvents (SUPRASs) presenting new ferrofluid was developed and successfully applied in the dispersive liquid-phase microextraction of seven representative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. One variable at-a-time (OVAT) analysis and response surface methodology (RSM) were used for efficient optimization of the main variables. The calibration curves were found to be linear in the range of 0.1–150 ng mL⁻¹ with correlation of determinations (R²) ranging from 0.9944 to 0.9986. Detection limits ranged at 0.02–0.07 ng mL⁻¹ for all studied PAHs. The intra and inter-day precision values (RSD %) were in the range of 1.80%–7.56% and 2.97%–8.23%, respectively. The ferrofluid showed a satisfactory reproducibility between 1.72% and 5.90%, and acceptable recovery values at 84%–110% were obtained for the real samples analysis. The optimized method was successfully applied to access the content safety of the PAHs studied in a variety of commercial food and beverages available in Malaysia.

The study analyzed the inhibitory effects (IC50) of crude and purified extracts from Maliniak, Cerise, Black Prince and Lima tomatoes on the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), the activity of angiotensin-converting (ACE) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzymes. Polyphenol composition (LC-MS) and antioxidant capacity (PCL, FRAP) were measured. The purified extracts of Black Prince tomatoes were the most potent inhibitors of AGEs in BSA-GLU (7.20 mg/mL) and BSA-MGO (9.53 mg/mL) models. The purified extracts of Cerise and Black Prince tomatoes had the highest ACE (0.50–0.44 mg/mL) and AChE (7.93–5.83 mg/mL) inhibitory activity. Cerise variety showed the highest polyphenol concentrations in crude (488.93 μg/g DM) and purified (8394.99 μg/g DM) extracts. The highest PCLACW and FRAP values were found for Cerise purified extracts (71.83 and 87.78 μmol Trolox/g DM). Caffeic acid, caffeoyl-glucose, linocaffein, glucosyl-coumarate, vanillic acid, rutin and TPI values were significantly correlated with BSA-MGO, anti-ACE, anti-AChE and PCLACW parameters.

The effects of Ca(OH)₂ on the physicochemical, mechanical and microstructural characteristics, intermolecular forces and protein patterns of preserved egg white (PEW) were investigated. Results suggested that Ca(OH)₂ (0.1%) reduced the free alkalinity content and turbidity and increased the brightness of PEW. The surface hydrophobicity of PEW protein with added Ca(OH)₂ decreased during the pickling period owing to the hydrophobic residues being hidden in the interior of the protein. Total content of sulfhydryl and disulfide bonds in PEW decreased. Non-specific cross-linking, hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions were the primary intermolecular forces. For textural properties, hardness and springiness had obvious prominence. A loose porous and regular network-like microstructure formed as the Ca(OH)₂ increased and Ca(OH)₂ delayed denaturation of the PEW protein. The physical properties of PEW correlated with molecular interactions and the microenvironment. Ca(OH)₂ improved the contribution of surface hydrophobicity, disulfide bonds and hydrophobic interactions to the gelation process.

The development of a sensitive and rapid detection approach for allergens in various food matrices is essential to assist patients in managing their allergies. The most common methods used for allergen detection are based on immunoassays, PCR and mass spectrometry. However, all of them are very complex and time-consuming. Herein, an aptamer biosensor for the detection of the major shrimp allergen tropomyosin (TM) was developed. Graphene oxide (GO) was used as a platform for screening of the minimal-length aptamer sequence required for high-affinity target binding. A fluorescein dye labeled GO quenches the truncated aptamer by π-stacking interactions. After the addition of TM, the fluorescence was restored due to the competitive binding of the aptamer to GO. One of the truncated aptamers was found to bind to TM with four-fold higher affinity (30 nM) compared to the full-length aptamer (124 nM), with a limit of detection (LOD) of 2 nM. The aptamer-based sensor demonstrates the sensitive, selective, and specific detection of TM in 30 min. The performance of the sensor was confirmed using TM spiked chicken soup, resulting in a high percentage recovery (~97 ± 10%). The association of GO and labelled aptamer sensor platform has shown the rapid detection of TM in food, which is compared to other methods very sensitive, specific and performs in high throughput application.

Nuts and dried fruits have been part of the human diet since prehistoric times. They are nutrient-rich foods and constitute an excellent means to deliver health-promoting bioactive compounds. As such, they serve as important healthful snack items, besides being part of many traditional and new recipes of gastronomy worldwide. Frequent consumption of nuts and/or dried fruits is highly recommended to obtain the full benefit of the nutrients, bioactives, and antioxidants that they contain, together with their desirable flavour. The macronutrients, micronutrients, and other health-promoting bioactive compounds contained in nuts and dried fruits may synergistically contribute to modulate the risk of cardiometabolic and other non-communicable diseases through various mechanisms. Experimental research, prospective studies, and human clinical trials have reported beneficial effects of nut consumption on various health outcomes. The benefits of dried fruits, however, have been less explored. This review summarizes recent findings on bioactive constituents, health claims, and health benefits of nuts and dried fruits and also discusses their great potential as healthy foods to benefit a number of diseases afflicting human beings.

Little is known of plasma-mediated relations between major food components and their biological capacities. In the present work, the effects of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma irradiation on pure sesamol and sesame oil were investigated using spectroscopic (LC-MS, NMR) and bioassay methods. Sesamol was degraded when subjected to plasma irradiation for 40 min, and the exposed products exhibited improved anti-glycation capacities against advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation and better ONOO⁻ scavenging ability. Structures of newly formed compounds were determined spectroscopically. Quantitative LC-MS analysis of the major products generated in sesamol and sesame oil was achieved using isolates 1–4 of purified sesamol plasma treated for 40 min. These results indicate that the predominant chemical changes induced in sesamol and sesame oil by DBD plasma treatment might enhance biological properties.

Sunflower oil enriched with curcuminoid compounds (CUs) was gelled by adding 5% (w/w) saturated monoglycerides (MG), rice bran waxes (RW) or a mixture of β-sitosterol and γ-oryzanol (PS). The resulting oleogels differed for rheological properties and firmness due to the difference in gel network structure. PS oleogel was the firmest sample followed by RW and MG ones. Upon in vitro digestion, fatty acid release as a function of digestion time was greatly affected by oleogel structure: the extent of lipolysis decreased as oleogel strength increased (PS < RW < MG). On the other hand, the nature of the oleogelator affected CUs bioaccessibility, which was lower in oleogels containing crystalline particles (MG and RW). These findings appear interesting in the attempt to develop oleogels able to control lipid digestion as well as to deliver bioactive molecules in food systems.

The antioxidant activity of sugarcane molasses ethanol extract (ME) and its fraction (ME-RBF) was evaluated using ABTS, ORAC 6.0 and CAA assays and ME-RBF demonstrated 26-fold, 12-fold and 2-fold higher values, respectively than ME. Likewise, total polyphenol and flavonoid concentration in ME-RBF are more than 10-fold higher than ME, that suggested antioxidant activity is correlated with polyphenol composition. Quantitative analysis of 13 polyphenols (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, sinapic acid, syringic acid, vanillin, homoorientin, orientin, vitexin, swertisin, diosmin, apigenin, tricin and diosmetin) was carried out by LCMS. MS/MS analysis allowed the tentative identification of seven apigenin-C-glycosides, three methoxyluteolin-C-glycosides and three tricin-O-glycosides some of which have not been reported in sugarcane before to the best of our knowledge. The results demonstrated that sugarcane molasses can be used as potential source of polyphenols that can be beneficial to health.

Lipolysis products released during digestion exert positive metabolic impacts on the nutrition of newborns. However, the lipolysis behavior of yak milk lipids during digestion remains unknown. In this study, the simulated in vitro infant gastrointestinal digestion of cow, yak and standardized yak milk fat globules the same size as those from cow milk (Cow MF, Yak MF and Yak SMF) were compared. Although Cow MF showed a higher lipolysis rate at the beginning of gastric digestion, Yak MF and Yak SMF exhibited a higher lipolysis level during later gastrointestinal digestion. Higher hydrolysis efficiency of yak milk lipids was due to their lipid properties, including their composition and structure. Furthermore, yak milk lipids released more unsaturated fatty acids than Cow MF throughout digestion. This study highlights the crucial role of lipid characteristics in the efficient digestion of milk lipids and provides new insight for the design of yak milk infant diets.

The copigmentation effects of polyphenol with different structures vary greatly. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate possible interactions in red wine model solutions between oenin and three phenolic compounds: danshensu, caffeic acid and rosmarinic acid. Our results show that the copigmentation of rosmarinic acid is the strongest among the compounds tested. The colourimetric parameters indicate that colour intensity becomes enhanced with increasing concentration of these copigments, leading to darker and more vivid bluish colours. Thermodynamic and quantum chemical investigations are performed to interpret the absorption properties in the visible range. Fluorescence spectroscopy confirms the interaction between caffeic acid and oenin, while FTIR spectroscopic results further suggest a role for hydrogen bonds in the overall process. To our knowledge, this is the first experimentally corroborated direct evidence of hydrogen bonds in copigmentation.

Turanose, a potential novel sweetener in food industry, can be synthesized by Neisseria polysaccharea amylosucrase (NpAS). However, the malt-oligosaccharide byproduct affects the yield. In this study, the NpAS mutant G396S, which was expected to interfer with the extension of glucan by increasing steric hindrance, was obtained. The NpAS and G396S were heterologously expressed in Bacillus subtilis and enzyme properties were analyzed. Results showed that the polymerization activity of G396S was decreased. In addition, the mutant was used in the preparation of turanose. When using 2 M sucrose as substrate, the turanose yield reached 410.4 g·L⁻¹, an increase of 61 g·L⁻¹ compared with that of NpAS. When fructose was added, the optimal fructose concentration for G396S decreased from 0.75 M to 0.5 M. The turanose production reached 523 g·L⁻¹ with the conversion rate of 76.5%. This study contributes the use of turanose in food industry.

The effect of Mesona blumes polysaccharide (MBP) on the microstructure and gel properties of glucono-delta-lactone-induced soy protein isolate (SPI) gels was evaluated by texture, water holding capacity, rheology, and microstructure analysis. The results showed that the apparent viscosities and storage modulus (G′) of the SPI-MBP gels were increased as the MBP concentration increased. The addition of MBP promoted the water holding capacity (WHC) and gel strength of SPI-MBP gels. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that, in the presence of MBP, the surface of mixed gels became smooth and the structure became dense. Additionally, the zeta potential and interactions results indicated that electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions played an important role in maintaining the three-dimensional structure of SPI-MBP gels. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that MBP is desirable for SPI-MBP gels as a gelling agent.

The detection of phospholipids oxidation is important for meat control and disease prevention. In this paper, a photoelectrochemical sensor based on printable mesoscopic chip (PMC) for fast and real-time monitoring phospholipids oxidation was designed and fabricated. TiO₂, ZrO₂ and carbon films of PMC were screen-printed onto the FTO glass layer by layer. The PMC and the feasibility for determination of phospholipids oxidation were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV–vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammograms (CVs) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), etc. The short circuit current (J_sc) was used as a signal current, which would decrease if phospholipids in PMC were undergoing oxidation for the change of electrical properties. Compared with other methods, phospholipids in PMC did not require pretreatment, and the process was nondestructive and real-time. Meanwhile, this method showed high sensitivity and good selectivity. The fabricating process of PMC is simple, and the costs are low, relatively.

Instant detection of antibiotic residues in dairy products has been remained a challenge. Current methods require careful samples storage and handling, skilled personnel, and expensive instrumentations. Herein, we report the preparation of a ratiometric fluorescent sensor that contains different colored Carbon dots (CDs) as dual fluorophores, and a mesoporous structured molecularly imprinted polymer as a receptor (B/YCDs@mMIP) for penicillin-G (PNG) detection in milk. Upon PNG addition, only the fluorescence of yellow emissive CDs was quenched due to analyte blockage, while that of the blue emissive CDs stayed almost constant, which led to an obvious change in the fluorescence color from the yellow to blue. A linear response in the range of 1–32 nM with a detection limit of 0.34 nM and excellent recognition specificity for PNG over its analogs were also observed. Comparing our sensor with its counterparts, it exhibited a promising potential in the in-situ PNG detection in milk.

A novel approach for effective sample pretreatment of food was developed. This approach was based on in situ deep eutectic mixtures formation between analytes (hydrogen bond donors) and choline chloride (a hydrogen bond acceptor) supported in a hydrophilic porous membrane. By this action, the analytes were extracted and retained into the hydrophilic porous membrane. Finally, the hydrophilic porous membrane containing the analytes was transferred into an aqueous phase and back-extraction occurred due to deep eutectic mixture decomposition in the aqueous phase. The developed approach was applied to the HPLC-FLD determination of phenols (phenol, o-cresol, p-cresol, eugenol, isoeugenol and guaiacol) in smoked food samples. The limits of detection, calculated from a blank test based on 3σ, were 0.3 µg kg⁻¹ for phenol, o-cresol, p-cresol; 0.6 µg kg⁻¹ for eugenol, isoeugenol; and 1 µg kg⁻¹ for guaiacol.

In this study, square wave anodic stripping voltammetry using two different types of electrodes (carbon nanotube electrode and graphite electrode) was combined with chemometric methods – partial least squares (PLS) and artificial neural networks (ANN) for determining copper, zinc, cadmium and lead in cachaça. The objectives were comparison of methods developed and the verification of the quality of artisanal cachaças in terms of metal content. For the development of the methodology, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) was used as reference technique. The performance of multivariate models obtained was evaluated by the coefficient of determination (R²) and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP). F test was utilized for comparing methods at confidence level of 95%. Better results were observed by using carbon nanotube electrode regardless of the multivariate method proposed. The methodology is simple, fast, and inexpensive and it can be used in quality control laboratories.

In this work, a kinetic model for protein extraction from Camellia oleifera seed cake using high voltage electrical discharge extraction (HVED) was built with discharge energy inputs as primary variables. The results showed that both the equilibrium yields and the mass transfer coefficient of HVED were highly dependent on the HVED specific energy input per pulse (kJ/kg). After linear and nonlinear fitting with five different basic functions, the best model satisfied the power function relationship through optimizing the influence of specific energy input per pulse on the equilibrium yields and the mass transfer coefficients. Based on the observations, a predictive model that correlates the energy input, mass of raw material and kinetics of HVED extraction was proposed. The validity of the predictive model was verified, and the observed deviation was found to be less than 10%. This could provide a model basis for optimization of HVED at different processing capacities.

Casein-based hydrogels are biocompatible, biodegradable, renewable, easy to obtain, inexpensive, and non-toxic. They exist in different physicochemical states, e.g. particle hydrogels, which can be dived in suspensions or emulsions and macro hydrogels that are gel colloid type. These biomaterials have drawn increasing attention in recent years due to their abilities to form networks of different tensile strengths and to encapsulate, protect and release biomolecules. This mini-review outlines the recent advances in casein-based hydrogel research and the uses of casein-based hydrogels as drug delivery system for both hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules. The food and biomedical potential along with possible future uses of the casein-based hydrogels are discussed throughout the document.

In this work an electrohydrodynamic process (electrospray) was used to produce β-carotene loaded nanocapsules based on whey protein isolate (WPI). WPI solutions were prepared in aqueous solutions with different concentrations of ethanol (5, 10 and 15%) which were used for β-carotene solubilization. Different electrospray conditions were tested and the morphology and molecular organization of the nanocapsules were studied on dried and hydrated state. The size of the dried nanocapsules ranged between 227 and 283 nm. After hydration, there was a significant increase in the mean size of the nanocapsules, being the sizes higher for nanocapsules produced with increasing concentrations of ethanol. Results, obtained from the reactivity of free sulfhydryl groups and fluorescence analysis, showed that the increase of ethanol concentration had a destabilizing effect on the protein unfolding.

Electrosprayed WPI-based nanocapsules can be used for the encapsulation of β-carotene answering the industrial demand for novel encapsulation technologies to protect sensitive bioactive compounds.

This study investigates whether the formation of monochloropropane diol fatty acid esters (MCPDE) can be mitigated by removing the residual sediments from vegetable oils. Settling and centrifugation were conducted in crude sunflower and palm oil and the purified oils and their sediment-rich fractions were heated and analyzed for their MCPDE content.

Increased MCPDE levels by factors of x2 to x6 were found in the sediment-rich fractions of settled sunflower oils compared to the sediment-free oil. The sediment-containing fraction could be however purified by ultracentrifugation resulting in the mitigation of MCPDE levels by a factor of 10.

The effect of residual sediment on the MCPDE formation was also confirmed in the case of palm oil showing x2 to x10 more MCPDE formation in the sediment containing fractions compared to the purified oil.

These results confirm that the mechanical removal of the trace sediments from crude vegetable oils results in reduced MCPDE levels.

The aim of this study is to analyze in depth, by means of proton nuclear magnetic resonance, ¹H NMR, the changes caused by nixtamalization and tortilla making in the lipid composition of two corn varieties. This technique permits the characterization of not only main but also minor lipid components of both corn and tortilla. Ferulates have been found for the first time among the minor components of these lipids. It has been proved that this processing affects the lipids of both corn varieties in a similar way. The total loss of fatty acids occurs as does partial loss of minor components. Furthermore, a slight oxidation is provoked during this processing as well as a small reduction in the unsaturation degree of the lipids. In spite of this a similar distribution of the different kinds of acyl groups has been found in corn and tortilla within each variety.

The objective was to investigate the effects of heat pretreatment and simulated gastrointestinal digestion on potential antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities of hempseed (Cannabis sativa L.) proteins. Unheated isolated hempseed protein (IHP) and its heated counterparts (100 °C, 15 min and 30 min, termed as HP15D and HP30D) were hydrolyzed sequentially with pepsin and pancreatin and analyzed for digestibility and bioactivity (antioxidant, anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory properties). Heat pretreatment led to an increase of low molecular weight proteins and degree of hydrolysis, and decrease of concentration of soluble protein, which means heat pretreated can significantly improve the digestibility of IHP. Pepsin-pancreatin digests released from heat pretreated IHP possessed less antioxidant, antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory properties than digests from unheated IHP. In conclusion, heat pre-treatment improved the digestibility of IHP but the resulting digests from heated IHP had lower bioactivity.

The aim of this study was to develop a scalable crossflow diafiltration/ultrafiltration procedure for quinoa 11S globulin purification starting at the bench scale using Ultra15 centrifugal filter devices. The electrophoretic profiles of centrifugal ultrafiltration fractions showed a high heterogeneity in the bands, while crossflow ultrafiltration reduced the phenomena of protein sticking to the membrane, avoiding aggregate formation. In the crossflow protein concentration, flux decline curves were studied according to Hermia’s fouling mechanisms and the resistance in a series model. High reversible resistance was related to external mechanisms due to complete blockage of the membrane surface followed by cake formation. The crossflow ultrafiltration was the most efficient technique for obtaining 57 kDa chenopodin isolate with higher processing capacity, purity and protein yield. The diafiltration/ultrafiltration process proved to be adequate and easy to handle to scale up the production of the 11S quinoa globulin.

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of the phosphorylation levels of glycogen phosphorylase on its activity in mutton sarcoplasmic protein samples during incubation at 4 °C. Samples of sarcoplasmic proteins from mutton longissimus thoracis muscles were prepared and separated into three treatment groups to obtain glycogen phosphorylase with different phosphorylation levels, which were (1) treated with protein kinase A, (2) treated with alkaline phosphatase, and (3) left untreated (control). Glycogen phosphorylase phosphorylation levels and activity as well as the levels of related endogenous substances were assessed. The results showed that phosphorylation of glycogen phosphorylase in mutton promoted its activity during incubation at 4 °C. The activity of glycogen phosphorylase was also influenced by other factors (glycogen, glucose, glucose 6-phosphate, ATP, etc.) in vitro. The combined effects of phosphorylation and endogenous substances on glycogen phosphorylase activity varied at different incubation times.

There is an ever-increasing need to protect health-beneficial β-carotene (BC) from degradation with novel ingredients. Natural antioxidant-loaded protein-polysaccharide ternary complex has great potential for BC emulsions stabilization. In this study, curcumin (CUR)-loaded pea protein isolate (PPI), and high methoxyl pectin (HMP) ternary complex (804.0 nm) was fabricated by a self-assembly approach for BC emulsions stabilization. Highest CUR loading amount (LA, 33.19 μg/mg) was obtained in CUR-PPI-HMP complex. Hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bonding were the prime driving forces for ternary complex formation. XRD results showed that CUR was amorphous. BC emulsion with PPI-HMP and CUR-PPI-HMP possessed higher droplet sizes (357.8 and 360.2 nm) than that with PPI and CUR-PPI (325.6, and 313.5 nm). Excellent physical stability with PPI-HMP and CUR-PPI-HMP was observed. BC retention with CUR-PPI-HMP was highest exposure to UV light (76.15%, 8 h), or heat treatment at 25 (91.50%) and 50 °C (74.35%) for 30 days.

Licania tomentosa is a Brazilian plant species that produces edible fruits, yet there is little information available concerning their nutritional and/or bioactive composition. This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional and polyphenol composition of L. tomentosa fruits (pulp and seeds) and measure antioxidant activity in ethanolic extracts.The pulp and seeds were excellent sources of fiber (25.62%–41.70%) as well as minerals and vitamins. L. tomentosa contained no lectins or protease inhibitors (chymotrysin and trypsin) and 12 polyphenol compounds were identified in the seed extracts with a predominance of flavonoids. The seeds also presented antioxidant activities using the DPPH (SC₅₀10.30–15.87 μg/mL), TBARS (IC₅₀ 18.46–20.84 μg/mL), and FRAP (RC₅₀ 0.203–0.309 μg/mL) assays. Due to its nutrient and antioxidant content, L. tomentosa may be used for food applications.

Effects of Chlorogenic acid-Gelatin (CGA-Gel) combined with partial freezing on quality change of sword prawn (Parapenaeopsis hardwickii) stored at −5 °C were evaluated for 23 days. Changes in sensory score, total viable counts (TVC), and physiochemical indexes including pH, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and Ca²⁺-ATPase were examined. All shrimp treated with CGA and CGA-Gel had lower total viable counts compared to control (P < 0.05). The value of TVB-N and TBA of CGA-Gel treated group at day 13 were 18.4 mg N/100 g and 0.175 mg/100 g respectively, both below the proposed safe limits and values of CGA treated group. All the results demonstrated that Chlorogenic acid can inhibit growth of microorganism, lipid oxidation and protein degradation. CGA-Gel treated samples presented better quality preservation effects than CGA treated alone. Therefore, CGA-Gel combined with partial freezing is promising in sword prawn shelf life extension.

The illegal use of β-agonists often endangers animal-derived food safety. In this study, a selective detection method for β-agonists in swine urine was established via the combination of polymeric ionic liquid-molecularly imprinted graphene oxide-miniaturized pipette tip solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography. It is worth noting that this method relied mainly on the designed adsorbent, which presented a rich adsorption mechanism, fast mass transfer rate, and high selectivity, and was successfully utilized in the selective extraction of β-agonists from swine urine samples. The proposed method has low LOD (0.20–0.56 ng/mL), high recovery (94.9–107.9%), and high reusability (4 times, 91.9–108.8%), which indicates its high potential as a selective, sensitive, accurate, and nonfatal method for monitoring the illegal use of β-agonists in the livestock breeding stage.

Cows’ milk may contain two types of β-casein: A1 and A2. A1 digestion is associated with the release of β-casomorphine-7 peptide, which can cause adverse gastrointestinal effects. Two methods – high-resolution melting (HRM) and rhAmp® SNP genotyping – were developed to identify the β-casein gene (CSN2) A1 and A2 alleles directly in milk. DNA milk samples from 45 animals were examined and 10 samples were also sequenced to confirm the accuracy of the assays. The analytical sensitivities of both strategies for A1 allele identification were evaluated by testing decreasing dilutions of A1 allele DNA copies (500 – 5 copies) in the A2 sample. The limits of detection for A1 in A2 samples were 10% (100 copies) and 2% (10 copies) for HRM and rhAmp, respectively. Both techniques were specific, differentiating between A1 and A2 alleles. However, we recommend rhAmp genotyping testing over HRM because of its enhanced sensitivity for A1.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the profile and level of betacyanins in the gastric content, blood (portal and main veins) and urine of rats after an intragastric administration of fermented red beet juice with various betacyanin doses. Samples were collected within 2 h after juice administration into the stomachs, separated from the digestive tract of a living rat. In the gastric content, betacyanins administered underwent intensive degradation and changes in their profile, as a result of the conditions prevailing in the stomach and the intensity of the absorption process. Detection of 19 betacyanins (8 native compounds and 11 metabolites) in rats’ physiological fluids with the HPLC-MS/MS method proves betacyanin absorption from the stomach. In addition, the study results suggest that betacyanin dose affects the rate and extent of betacyanin degradation in the gastric content, as well as the intensity of absorption, metabolism and excretion of these pigments.

Persistent halogenated compounds (PHCs) contamination has become a major concern over the world. Here we investigated occurrence, spatial distributions, congener profiles, as well as health risks of PHCs in farmed golden pompano in China using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The concentrations of PCBs, PBDEs and OCPs were in the range of 0.78–4.79 ng/g wet weight (ww), not detected (nd)-1.14 ng/g ww and 1.1–38.8 ng/g ww, respectively. Furthermore, ρ,ρ′-DDT, ο,ρ′-DDT and PCB 101 were the dominant PHC contaminants. The estimated daily intakes of PHCs through consumption of golden pompano were up to 12.86 and 131.34 ng/kg body weight/day based on the mean and 95th concentrations determined in golden pompano, respectively. Risk-based analysis indicates that target PHCs in golden pompano would not pose risks to human. Our study presents the first report of a nationwide survey of PHCs contamination in farmed golden pompano in China.

In sparkling wine, foam characteristics are one of the major attributes. The foam quality depends on wine components. Bentonite is added to the base wine to facilitate the riddling process, but causes a loss of foamability. Acacia gum can be used as additive in wine. We have studied if the addition of Acacia senegal gum (AsenG), Acacia seyal gum (AseyG) and different AsenG fractions could improve the foamability of different base wines treated with bentonite. The foamability differs depending on the gum or the gum fraction treatment but also on the wine, being these differences linked to some aspects of their respective compositions and molecular parameters. AsenG and AseyG increase the foamability (by Mosalux - sparging procedure), respectively, in five and seven out of eight base wines treated with bentonite. Therefore, AsenG and AseyG are potential treatments increasing the foamability of these wines.

A thermoseparating aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) based on ethylene oxide-propylene oxide (EOPO) copolymer and deep eutectic solvents (DES) was developed for the extraction and preliminary purification of polysaccharides in Camellia oleifera Abel. seed cake. DESs were used as the extraction media for obtaining the crude extract. The maximum extraction yield (Y) of polysaccharides was 152.37 mg/g in the crude extract. Then the crude polysaccharides were extracted and preliminary purified by EOPO/DES ATPS. The maximum extraction efficiency (E.E.) of polysaccharides was 86.91% in EOPO-rich phase by the first ATPS extraction. The EOPO-rich phase was separated and the polysaccharides were recovered by temperature-induced phase separation. The maximum recovery efficiency (R.E.) was 84.92% in aqueous phase by the second ATPS extraction. This thermoseparating ATPS possesses the merits of good environment-friendlies, simple operation, and easy recovery of components, which can be used as an efficient method for the extraction and separation of polysaccharides.

A metabolomics strategy was developed to differentiate strong aroma-type baijiu (SAB) (distilled liquor) from the Sichuan basin (SCB) and Yangtze-Huaihe River Basin (YHRB) through liquid–liquid extraction coupled with GC×GC-TOFMS. PCA effectively separated the samples from these two regions. The PLS-DA training model was excellent, with explained variation and predictive capability values of 0.988 and 0.982, respectively. As a result, the model demonstrated its ability to perfectly differentiate all the unknown SAB samples. Twenty-nine potential markers were located by variable importance in projection values, and twenty-four of them were identified and quantitated. Discrimination ability is closely correlated to the characteristic flavor compounds, such as acid, esters, furans, alcohols, sulfides and pyrazine. Most of the marker compounds were less abundant in the SCB samples than in the YHRB samples. The quantitated markers were further processed using hierarchical cluster analysis for targeted analysis, indicating that the markers had great discrimination power to differentiate the SAB samples.

The unique nanocage structure of ferritin can be used as functional nanomaterials and has wide application prospects. However, thermal treatment may affect the structure of ferritin, further affecting self-assembly property. In this study, the oyster ferritin gene GF1 was obtained, prokaryotically expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). Then the purified ferritin was heated from 60 to 100 °C for 10 min with untreated ferritin as a control sample. The aggregation state of ferritin was investigated and the difference in protein structure was evaluated in terms of particle size and protein structures. The results of electrophoresis indicated that thermal treatment induced denaturation and aggregation of ferritin macromolecules. Moreover, the particle size distribution shifted to larger size trend and aggregates were visible with the heated samples and the secondary structure and tertiary structure were destroyed gradually. The findings are beneficial for understanding the relationship of the structure and function of ferritin.

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia, which can be counteracted by inhibition of α-glucosidase and α-amylase, both involved in the carbohydrate metabolism. Fourteen C-glucosidic ellagitannins and three galloylated glucoses were studied as potential α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitors. Most of the compounds were found to be moderate inhibitors of α-amylase, but potent inhibitors of α-glucosidase, showing low-micromolar IC₅₀ values, far lower than that of the antidiabetic drug acarbose. This selectivity can be an advantage for their possible application as functional food ingredients with anti-diabetic properties because strong α-amylase inhibition generally causes undesired side effects. The best inhibitors were selected for further studies. Intrinsic fluorescence measurements confirmed their high affinity towards α-glucosidase, highlighting a static quenching mechanism. Circular dichroism measurements and kinetics of inhibition indicated that the most active C-glucosidic ellagitannin roburin D (RobD) is a competitive inhibitor, whereas α-pentagalloylglucose (α-PGG) acts as a mixed-type inhibitor.

Based on various antioxidant mechanisms, four kinds of antioxidants including ascorbyl palmitate (AP), vitamin E (VE), phytic acid (PA) and one of the polyphenols (antioxidant of bamboo leaves, tea polyphenol palmitate or tea polyphenols (TP)) were used in combination to improve oxidative stability of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) algae oil. To achieve the best effect, the formulations and mixture ratios of the antioxidant combinations were optimized. The effects were monitored by peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, acid value, free radicals, Rancimat induction time and fatty acid composition of DHA algae oil undergoing accelerated storage. Finally, the DHA algae oil containing 80 mg/kg AP, 80 mg/kg VE, 40 mg/kg PA and 80 mg/kg TP had the highest oxidative stability. Furthermore, the shelf life of DHA algae oil containing the optimum composite antioxidant was predicted by using accelerated shelf life testing coupled with Arrhenius model, which was 3.80-fold longer than the control sample.

The effects of fermentation on the dynamic state of proton populations, digestibility, and functional properties of potato flours prepared from Atlantic and Kexin No. 1 were investigated. Depending on the changes in moisture content and digestibility of potato flours during fermentation, three proton populations were distinguished. Populations P₂₁ and P₂₂ of fermented potato flours gradually increased during fermentation, resistant starch content, swelling power, and pasting properties also increased, whereas moisture content, digestible starch content, and water solubility index gradually decreased. Correlation analyses showed that populations P₂₁ and P₂₂ had significantly positive correlations with resistant starch content, swelling power, peak viscosity, and breakdown viscosity of fermented potato flours (p < 0.05), while population P₂₃ had significantly positive correlations with moisture content, digestible starch content, and water solubility index (p < 0.001). The results implied that the proton population was an important factor influencing the digestibility and functional properties of fermented potato flours.

The fermentation products of edible fungi are rich in anthraquinones and have a variety of activities, including the antioxidant activity. Because of the large number of combinations, it is very difficult to obtain the optimal multi-strains co-fermentation to improve the yield of anthraquinone. In the present study, an intelligent model based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) using backpropagation (BP) and radial basis function (RBF) algorithms was developed and validated to predict the anthraquinone contents in 136 two fungi and 680 three fungi co-fermented products. After experimental validation of the anthraquinone contents, the mean absolute error and the mean bias error of the results from RBF ANN were lower than those from BP ANN. The results indicated that the anthraquinone contents in A. bisporus, C. comatus and H. erinaceus co-fermentation product was the highest (2.11%). Furthermore, this co-fermentation product showed strong antioxidant activity.

The polymorphism of buffalo α_s1-casein has been reported, but little is known about their effect on the biological properties. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of α_s1-casein polymorphism on the digestive properties and bioactivities of buffalo milk protein in simulated gastrointestinal digestion. In this study, two variants of α_s1-casein, with one amino acid substitution of Leu193 (AA) → Ser193 (BB), were used. Under acidic gastric conditions, the particle size of α_s1-casein variant BB was smaller and showed higher digestibility compared to variant AA. A total of 154 and 149 peptides were identified, respectively, from simulated gastrointestinal digestion of variants AA and BB; of three peptides have been previously reported to exert ACE-inhibition, anticancer, antioxidant, and anxiolytic activities. Our study demonstrated that α_s1-casein polymorphism affects the digestive properties and the formation of bioactive peptides.

Concentrated pomegranate peel extract (CPE) was supplemented to ewes, and milk yield and fat content—fatty acid (FA) and phospholipid (PL) composition—were monitored. CPE-fed ewes had higher milk yield, and fat, protein and lactose contents than controls. Milk PL content—20% higher in the CPE-supplemented group—was regulated by treatment and not by total fat content; milk phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine increased by 22 and 26%, respectively, in CPE-supplemented vs. control ewes. Milk saturated FA concentration was higher, and total polyunsaturated and monounsaturated FA content lower in the CPE vs. control group, regardless of milk total fat content. CPE supplementation increased milk antioxidant capacity, suggesting antioxidant transfer from dietary source to milk, increasing stability and nutritive value. Our study provides first evidence for milk quality improvement in terms of antioxidants and PL enrichment without compromising total milk fat, suggesting strategies to improve dairy animals' milk composition without compromising total production.

Low calorie foods are products designed to replace complete meals or to control snacking in many hypocaloric diets. These products provide many nutrients to the human diet, but little is known about their mineral elements composition. Here we study the mineral profile of weight loss related products, including the analysis of 22 elements (As, Ba, Be, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, K, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Th, Tl, Sb, U, V, Y and Zn) in 73 commercial products marketed in Spain. In general a portion of these products provide up to 20–30% of the daily dietary reference intake of essential trace minerals like Cr or Mo. On the contrary, some of these foods have large concentrations of toxic minerals like As, Cd or Pb. In fact, the intake of those products with higher concentrations of toxic elements during a weight loss program could pose a risk to human health.

Combined effects of gamma irradiation (0, 3, 6 and 9 kGy) and aging (1 and 14 days) on quality attributes of vacuum-packaged beef from Nellore cattle were evaluated. The meat water holding capacity was affected by irradiation, increasing (p < 0.05) purge and cooking loss regardless of the dose used. Irradiation negatively affected myofibrillar fragmentation, but samples irradiated at 9 kGy had (p < 0.05) higher soluble collagen and lower shear force values. The meat metmyoglobin reducing activity was reduced (p < 0.05) by the irradiation process, inducing the metmyoglobin accumulation with increasing dose applied. Samples irradiated at 9 kGy presented (p < 0.05) higher lipid oxidation and lower oxymyoglobin proportion and color redness and chroma values. It was concluded that irradiation at 9 kGy combined with aging can be used as an effective tool for improving the tenderness of Nellore beef, but resulted in a discoloration of the beef.

The reliability and comparability of gluten analytical results in gluten-free foods is hampered by the lack of reference materials (RM). This is partly caused by the yet incomplete knowledge of the effect of genetic and environmental variability of wheat proteins on immunochemical analyses, which affects the choice of gluten source to be applied for RM production. We investigated the genetic variability and the effect of harvest year on the protein composition of five previously selected wheat cultivars. We also compared the magnitude of these effects on ELISA results to get closer to the question of choosing individual cultivar or a mixture as an RM. Our results proved that the application of a blend for this purpose is advantageous. The candidates were also produced on pilot scale to investigate the feasibility of upscaling. The results of comparison studies showed that the pilot scale blended flour can also be suitable for RM.

The aim of this study was to investigate if the declared benefits associated with superfoods are related to a specific molecular composition. For this purpose, untargeted metabolomics and molecular networking were used to obtain an overview of all features, focusing on compounds with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant or antimicrobial properties.

565 plant-based food samples were analyzed using UHPLC-HRMS and advanced data analysis tools.

The molecular networking of the whole dataset allowed identification of a greater diversity of molecules, in particular, prenol lipids, isoflavonoids and isoquinolines in superfoods, when compared with non-superfood species belonging to the same botanical family. Furthermore, in silico tools were used to expand our chemical knowledge of compounds observed in superfood samples.

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and Hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) are commonly used as brominated flame retardants in large volumes, and accumulate in plants and animals in the environment, and people are exposed to them when consuming food. As many countries are monitoring them in food, it is necessary to develop a method to analyze them simultaneously for cost efficiency. A method was developed and optimized under different conditions using accelerated solvent extraction to extract the lipids from the samples, acid silica column to clean the samples and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry to determine TBBPA and HBCDs. The method was validated in different kinds of food. Uncertainty of measurement was calculated by combining all uncertainties of contributors. Intermediate precision (reproducibility) was the most influential contributor to uncertainty. 5 food categories with 115 samples were analyzed with the method, and mackerels containing high level of fat were highly contaminated by TBBPA and HBCDs.

This study aimed to develop an active film by using biodegradable materials and antioxidant essential oils to improve gas and water vapor permeability during peach preservation. O₂ and CO₂ volume fractions and water status were investigated by using an oxygen meter and conducting low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR), respectively. Results revealed that the film added with angelica essential oil (AEO) had a 49.4% increase in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity and high O₂ and CO₂ transmission rates and water vapor permeability. The film added with AEO showed the best preservation effect, effectively delaying the oxidation of peach, maintained the combined water, and extended the shelf life of peaches to more than 15 days. This study provided a relatively new LF-NMR method for tracking the internal water status of packaged peaches and served as an effective reference for the development of active food packaging.

Thymoquinone is a chief phytochemical constituent of black cumin seed oil (BCSO) and shows strong bioactivity. It has a weak stability against environmental conditions like heat and light. Encapsulation process by Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a popular technique to preserve the bioactivity and increase the stability of functional bioactive compounds. In the current study, BCSO was encapsulated by both plasmolysed (PYC) and nonplasmolysed yeast cell (NPYC) and stability of thymoquinone and bioactive properties of all samples were evaluated. And also, some physicochemical, morphological and conformational characterizations were carried out for the encapsules. The results showed that thymoquinone concentration and its bioactivity were preserved better in PYC during storage compared to BCSO and NPYC. The highest degradation ratio of thymoquinone during storage for the BCSO was 96.78% while the lowest one was for the PYC sample (52.63%).

Analytical method was developed for determining the total residue of ethofumesate (ET) herbicide using GC–MS/MS. The ET residues were analyzed as a sum of ET, 2-keto-ethofumesate (KET), and open-ring-2-keto-ethofumesate (OKET) and its conjugate. The extracted samples were partitioned with hexane and NaOH solution. For ET analysis, the hexane layer was cleaned up by a silica gel cartridge prior to GC–MS/MS analysis. For the analyses of the metabolites, the aqueous layer was heated with HCl to hydrolyze the conjugates, thereafter, heated in acetic anhydride to convert OKET to KET, and cleaned up by a silica gel cartridge prior to GC–MS/MS analysis. The method was validated for ET, KET, and OKET in garlic, onion, and sugar beet at 0.3 and 0.01 mg/kg. The recoveries were 94–113%, with relative standard deviations of <6%. The limits of detection were 0.0005 mg/kg for all analytes. The proposed method is suitable for regulatory analysis.

The effect of different polysaccharides combinations on the stability of maqui extract was studied in order to design functional foods, dietary supplements or natural colorants. Encapsulation by freeze-drying using maltodextrin, gum Arabic and inulin at 10, 20 and 30% was performed and phenolics, anthocyanin, antioxidant capacity and color difference of the microcapsules were determined. The stability of the bioactives after 60 days storage at 25 °C was also evaluated, along with analysis of a_w, adsorption isotherm, and microstructure to characterize the powders. 10% encapsulating polysaccharide produced best results, with maltodextrin leading to highest process efficiency, while the mixture of maltodextrin/inulin in equal proportion led to highest retention of polyphenols (91.1%) and anthocyanin (98.8%) during storage. The inulin microcapsules retained 94.1% of its antioxidant capacity compared to 25.3% for the freeze-dried maqui powder. Concentration level and polysaccharide matrix of encapsulating agent significantly affect retention of bioactives in the microcapsules.

Multivariate stable isotope analysis combined with chemometrics was used to investigate and discriminate rice samples from six rice producing provinces in China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan and Guizhou) and four other Asian rice producing countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, and Pakistan). The stable isotope characteristics were analyzed for rice of different species cultivated with varied farming methods at different altitudes and latitudes/longitudes. The index groups of δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, ^207/206Pb and ^208/207Pb were screened and established for the selected samples with different geographical features by means of principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (DA), which would provide a sound technical solution for rice traceability and serve as a template for further research on the traceability of other agricultural products, especially plant-derived products.

A method based on gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) combined with QuEChERS extraction was developed to detect furfurals, including furfural, 2-acetylfuran, 5-methyl-2-furfural, and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural, in milk-based dairy products. Under the optimized conditions, good linearity was obtained with correlation coefficients (R²) above 0.999, and the recovery values from the spiked samples were 79.0%–115.0% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 13.1%. The limits of detection (LOD_S) were in the range of 0.002–0.02 mg/kg. To investigate the effects of the production process on milk-based dairy products, 55 real samples were analysed. The higher contents of furfurals were observed when higher temperatures were used during heat treatment and fermentation. In addition, the Toxtree and T.E.S.T. software programs were used to predict the risks associated with these four furfurals. Ultimately, safe dairy intake levels were determined.

Element contents in different types of spices and aromatic herbs collected from Italy and Tunisia were evaluated. The aim was to evaluate: the possible differences and/or similarities among the analyzed samples; if it is possible related the samples to their geographical origins; the nutritional quality and the potential health risks. Potassium, Ca, Mg and Ni were low in laurel and rosemary; mint and thyme showed the highest Na and the lowest Se contents; arsenic and Cd levels were found highest in verbena which had also the lowest Hg content; lastly, black pepper had the highest Mn and the lowest Pb contents. Instead discrimination between Italian and Tunisian samples for each spices and aromatic herbs under analysis was achieved by PCA. Essential elements intake through samples was small. Levels of Pb in some samples exceed the maximum allowable level, but any safety risk for consumers is excluded.

Calcium supplements have increasingly been used at pre- and post-harvest stages for improving fruit firmness, but elevated calcium levels in grape cells were shown to reduce total anthocyanin content. In this study, we hypothesized that exogenous calcium influences specific polyphenolic compounds, and performed targeted UPLC-MS analysis in fruits collected from vines cv. “Vinhão” sprayed with 2% (w/v) CaCl₂ throughout the fruiting season, in two consecutive vintages, and in grape cell cultures elicited with calcium. Results showed that anthocyanin content is reduced upon calcium treatment, while stilbenoid synthesis is generally stimulated, in line with UFGT and STS expression patterns. The main metabolites involved in this response were malvidin-3-O-glucoside, E-piceid, E-ε-viniferin and E-resveratrol. The accumulation of phenolic acids, catechin and some quercetin derivatives was also favored by calcium, while other flavonols and flavan-3-ols were affected according to the vintage and berry developmental stage. In cell cultures, the entire flavonoid pathway was repressed.

The adulteration of rice using synthetic aromatic flavorings to fraudulently imitate commercially valuable fragrant rice varieties has attracted extensive attention from regulatory authorities around the world. In order to get convincing evidence of adulteration, appropriate scientific analytical methods need to be developed. In this study, a simple and efficient headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS SPME) technique coupled with gas chromatography mass spectrometry using selected ion monitoring (GC–MS–SIM) for the determination of four food flavoring compounds which are possibly used as adulterants is proposed. The HS SPME operating under optimized conditions increased the selectivity and sensitivity of the analysis by eliminating matrix interferences. The method presented adequate precision and linearity with limits of detection ranging from 0.5 to 10 ng/mL. This HS SPME/GC–MS-SIM method is directly applicable to the analysis of volatiles in rice and has the advantages of minimal pretreatment. It was applied successfully to the analysis of six rice flavoring essences, ten fragrant rice and four artificially scented rice samples.

Core-shell hydrogel beads were successfully produced from soybean hull polysaccharides (SHP). Using electron microscopy, the beads were found to be spherical with smooth surfaces and have tight gel network internal structures. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction were used to investigate the interaction between soy isoflavone and SHP in the gel beads mesh-like structure. Furthermore, the encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity of gel beads for soy isoflavone are 66.90% and 4.67%, respectively, and have the ability of pH-responsive release in vitro. Through the mathematical model of kinetics, we found that the release of soy isoflavone from gel beads showed Fickian diffusion in release media (pH 2.0 and 7.4), but showed non-Fickian diffusion at pH 4.0 and 6.8. This polymer can be extended to prepare more versatile delivery and controlled release system, appealing for food, pharmaceutical, biomedicine and cosmetics applications.

Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (fenugreek) is used as a leafy vegetable and spice in China and North African countries. However, the biochemical components of its aerial parts were rarely explored. In this study, the bioactivities of the various extract fractions from the aerial parts of this edible plant were assessed, the ethyl acetate extract fraction exhibited strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Through bioassay-guided isolation, one new pterocarpan (1), as well as twelve known pterocarpans (2–13) were obtained, nine of them (5–13) were first reported in the fenugreek, four pterocarpans (9, 11–13) had strong antioxidant activity, eleven pterocarpans (1–3, 5–12) possessed obvious anti-inflammatory activity. This study indicates that pterocarpans are main bioactive components of this edible plant. Apart from its nutritional value as food, the aerial parts of this plant can also be further explored as functional foods or antioxidants in food industry.

This study aimed to evaluate the influences of high-intensity ultrasound on the physiochemical properties of kiwifruit juice. Results reported high-intensity ultrasound processing significantly enhanced the color attributes, cloudiness, and sugars of kiwifruit juice. Further, the shear stress, apparent viscosity, storage and loss modulus was increased with the rise of processing time. However, a significant degradation in the nanostructure of water-soluble pectin and suspended particles in ultrasound treated kiwifruit juice was observed. In addition, ultrasound processing resulted in the rupture of cell wall causing the dispersion of the intracellular components into juice while higher damage in the cellular structure was observed by increasing the processing time. These structural changes reveal the physical mechanism of ultrasound in improving the rheological properties, color attributes, cloudiness, and water-soluble pectin of kiwifruit juice. Altogether these findings suggest that high-intensity ultrasound has an enormous potential to improve the physical properties of kiwifruit juice.

Thermal food processing has many beneficial consequences, although it also produces some unintentional undesired effects, such as the formation of potentially mutagenic and carcinogenic substances. Among them, the formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) has been related to the declared carcinogenicity of processed meats. In spite of this importance, HAA formation pathways remain mostly unknown, which avoids the design of targeted procedures to inhibit HAA appearance. The objective of this review is to collect information recently appeared that allow advancing in the understanding of how these compounds are produced. Particularly, the possibility that aminoimidazoazarenes are produced similarly to PhIP is discussed, including their formation by cyclizations and oligomerizations of aldehydes and creatinine under usual cooking conditions. Present data suggest that HAA formation might be related to the pool of carbonyl compounds existing in foods, the food carbonylome, which can be controlled by carbonyl-trapping agents, such as amine and phenolic compounds.

New structured lipids with 1,3-oleic-2-medium chain (OMO) triacylglycerols were synthesized by promoting acyl migration in Lipozyme RM IM catalyzed interesterification between coconut oil (CO) and high oleic rapeseed oil (HORO). Results from an orthogonal design L₂₅(5⁵) showed that the maximal yield of OMO-structured triacylglycerols was 45.65% under the following conditions: the molar ratio of CO to HORO, 50:50; enzyme dosage, 12 wt%; reaction temperature, 60 °C; reaction time, 2 h; water activity, 0.07. Low water activity showed a high rate of acyl migration (10.86% vs 5.07% no water system), which promoted OMO synthesis due to medium-chain fatty acid migration to the sn-2 position. In a low water content (5%) system of the molecular dynamics simulation, water molecules stabilized the whole structure of RM IM through hydrogen bonding, which helped fix lipase-catalyzed active sites, making substrates more easily inserted into active sites, resulting in increased enzyme activity.

An electrochemistry coupled to online quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (EC/Q-TOF/MS) was applied to investigate the oxidative transformation and metabolic pathway of five phenolic acids in Danshen sample. Simulation of the phase I oxidative metabolism was carried out in an electrochemical reactor equipped with a glassy carbon working electrode. The phase II reactivity of the generated oxidative products towards biomolecules (such as glutathione) was investigated by ways of covalent adduct formation experiments. The results obtained by EC/MS were compared with well-known in vitro studies by conducting rat liver microsome incubations. Structures of the electrochemically produced metabolites were identified by accurate mass measurement and previously results in vivo metabolites. It was indicated that the electrochemical oxidation was in good accordance with similar products found in vivo experiments. In conclusion, this work confirmed that EC/Q-TOF/MS was a promising analytical tool in the prediction of metabolic transformations of functional foods.

Recalls of spice containing products due to undeclared peanut have highlighted the importance of analytical methods in these foods. We examined the performance of peanut detection methods in cumin and garlic, focusing on quantitative ELISA. Although suitable for qualitative detection, accurate quantitation proved difficult. Roasting of peanut contaminants influenced ELISA results, with raw peanut over-detected (3.9-fold) and roasted peanut under-detected (3.5-fold). Further investigation demonstrated the importance of protein targets for ELISA. The kit which gave the least variable results was based on detection of 2S albumin proteins. Additionally, we show that these proteins are more efficiently extracted from roasted peanut. We conclude that current methods are largely suitable for the qualitative detection of peanut in cumin and garlic. Quantitation relies on assumptions as to the state of thermal processing of peanut. We suggest that analytical method providers address robust detection by target selection, including identifying targets by MS.

Crude enzymes were extracted from beef, pork and chicken and were employed to hydrolyze 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (PLPC) and oxidized PLPC, i.e. hydroperoxide of PLPC (PLPC-OOH) and hydroxide of PLPC (PLPC-OH). HPLC-ELSD and ESI-MS were used to characterize and determinate hydrolytic products. After hydrolysis at 37 °C for 180 min, 26.8 ~ 27.4%, 21.6 ~ 22.8% and 17.8 ~ 19.0% of substrates were hydrolyzed by crude enzymes from beef, pork and chicken, respectively. Phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) was the major contributor to hydrolysis, which accounted for 47.8 ~ 49.6%, 45.8 ~ 48.7% and 46.6 ~ 46.8% of hydrolysis of PLPC, PLPC-OOH and PLPC-OH, respectively. Crude enzymes demonstrated almost same specificities towards PLPC, PLPC-OOH and PLPC-OH. Under actions of crude enzymes, hydroperoxyoctadecadienoic acids (HpODE) and hydroxyoctadecadienoic acids (HODE) were yielded as hydrolytic products of PLPC-OOH and PLPC-OH, respectively. These finding would be helpful to better understand the fate of hydroperoxides of phospholipids and formation of HODE during meat products manufacturing.

Zein forms viscoelastic networks in water which have shown to be extremely brittle and demonstrate low yield strength. This work investigates an alternative method of preparing zein networks through antisolvent precipitation, involving dissolution in ethanol or glacial acetic acid followed by precipitation by addition of excess water. The rheological and structural properties of the zein networks were analyzed and determined that modifications in functionality were solvent-dependent. Precipitation from ethanol resulted in a network with a highly organized, porous structure of increased ductility. In contrast, precipitation from glacial acetic acid resulted in a highly plasticized, continuous network, but only demonstrated a slightly reduced brittleness compared to control networks. The functionality of each network was retained over 24 h of storage. Overall, antisolvent precipitation was able to improve the functionality of zein networks for the purpose of food structuring, and also presented the additional advantages of being simple, inexpensive, and food grade.

Brassica spp. are excellent sources of bioactive compounds. These vegetables are usually processed in the home, or by catering and food service industries, on the basis of convenience and taste preference. Shelf-life of these seasonal, perishable vegetables can be extended by preservation methods (e.g. freezing and canning), which usually involve blanching. Cooking, blanching, freezing and canning alter the physical and chemical characteristics of Brassica, and only some of the changes are desirable. We have reviewed the results of a large number of studies that assessed the effects of different treatments and storage conditions on various quality parameters in Brassica. These effects are important in relation to nutritional value, health benefits and attractiveness of the vegetables. The findings vary considerably for each bioactive component, depending on the treatments, conditions and matrices. Optimization of processing and storage conditions is, therefore, important to maximize the intake of beneficial compounds contained in Brassica spp.

The effects of individual epi-brassinolide (eBL) and NaCl, as well as their combination on contents of main phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity of Chinese kale sprouts were investigated. Our results showed that the application of 100 nM eBL decreased the contents of individual and total glucosinolates, while treatments of 160 mM NaCl both alone and combined with 100 nM eBL enhanced the glucosinolates accumulation by promoting the expression of genes involved in glucosinolate biosynthesis in Chinese kale sprouts and the combined treatment led to significantly higher content of most glucosinolate profiles. Moreover, it also elevated the contents of ascorbic acid and total carotenoids, whereas did not influence the total phenolics and antioxidant capacity. These findings indicated that the combined treatment of 100 nM eBL plus 160 mM NaCl could provide a new strategy to improve the main health promoting compounds in Chinese kale sprouts.

Chemical modification with octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) helps to control the physicochemical and thermal properties of isolated starches. The main objective, herein, was to partially characterize modified starches from Dominico-Harton plantain and FHIA 21 planted in Colombia. The highest degree of substitution was found in FHIA 21 (0.020) starch with 3% OSA and 4-h reaction at room temperature. The grain morphology was not affected, but small changes on the surface were evident. Both modified starches reported absorption bands in the IR at 1566 and 1738 cm^-1, proper for these types of starch derivatives. The hexagonal and monoclinic structures of starch were altered through chemical modification. In the bending curves, a drastic decrease in the viscosity of the modified starches was observed with respect to the native one. The gelatinization temperatures of the modified starches were similar to those of the isolated starches.

This study reports the effects of seasonal variation on the total polyphenol and flavonoid content and the in vitro antioxidant activity of Secondatia floribunda A. DC. The extracts were prepared from the inner bark and heartwood of samples harvested in the 2015 to 2016. The total phenolic and flavonoid content was determined by specific qualitative tests. The in vitro antioxidant capacity was analyzed using the following tests: 1-1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH^•), 2,2'-azinobis-3-ethylbenzenothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS^•+), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and iron (Fe²⁺) chelating activity. The total polyphenol and total flavonoid content varied over the harvest period. The DPPH and ABTS tests revealed that in the dry season had the most potent in vitro antioxidant activity, although the extracts obtained during the rainy season presented the higher Fe²⁺ chelating and Ferric reducing activities. In conclusion, the phenolic content and in vitro antioxidant activity are correlated, and both are influenced by seasonality.

The shift from artificial to natural ingredients is a rising trend in the food industry. However, natural coloring agents tend to be less stable than their synthetic counterparts when exposed to light, air, changes in pH, and heat. This study compares the photostability of three organic red dyes, Red 40 (allura red AC), betanin and carminic acid, in aqueous and soft drink solutions. The degradation, traced through absorbance spectroscopy, is well fit to first-order kinetics. Two distinct timescales are observed in aqueous solution but only a single, faster decay in the soft drink matrix. Betanin is the least stable dye in both solvent environments and Red 40 exhibits the greatest destabilization in the soft drink solution. Anoxia has different impacts dependent upon both the dye and solvent system. The analysis provides further insight into the degradation mechanisms for these different red dyes and the role of environment on their photostability.

Sea cucumbers attracted increasing interest due to its nutritional functions. Collagen is the most important structural biomacromolecule in sea cucumber body wall, and is highly related to the textual properties and food quality of sea cucumber. In this study, the types of constituent collagens of sea cucumber collagen fibrils were investigated, employing a commercially important species Apostichopus japonicus as the material. Proteomics and bioinformatics analysis revealed that collagen fibrils of A. japonicas are heterotypic. Two clade A and one clade B fibrillar collagens and two FACIT collagens were identified from the fibrils. Besides, the heterogeneity was also revealed in the pepsin-solubilized collagen (PSC) of A. japonicus by using the proteomics strategy. It implied that the previous conclusions on the type of sea cucumber collagen deduced from SDS-PAGE analysis should be rechecked. The results provided novel insight into the composition of sea cucumber collagen fibrils.

This work establishes a hyphenated methodology coupling HPLC with ICP-MS for simultaneous speciation analysis of arsenic, mercury and lead for the first time. Four arsenicals (As(III), DMA, MMA and As(V)), four mercurials (Hg(II), MeHg, EtHg and PhHg) and three lead compounds (Pb(II), TML and TEL) were simultaneously analyzed within only 8 min with acceptable resolution (2.0–8.2 for As, 1.6–6.1 for Hg and 2.7–4.0 for Pb). The detection limits were 0.036–0.20 for As-species, 0.023–0.041 for Hg-species, and 0.0076–0.14 μg L⁻¹ for Pb-species. The developed method was applied for the measurement of five lotus seed samples, indicating the presence of DMA (19.6–28.2 μg kg⁻¹), TML (1.4–2.9 μg kg⁻¹), MeHg (1.2–4.8 μg kg⁻¹) and EtHg (0.8–2.2 μg kg⁻¹). This method provides a promising tool for studying the toxic, metabolic and bioavailable behaviors of arsenic, mercury and lead.

Mulberry leaf is a vegetable used in daily diet. It can bring delicious taste and multiple health benefits. However, the chemicals responsible for these health benefits remain unveiled. In this work, two novel prenylated flavonoids were isolated from mulberry leaf. Their structures were identified and named as morachalcone D and morachalcone E. The protective effects of these two compounds were investigated, against endogenous oxidative damage (oxytosis/ferroptosis) induced by glutamate and erastin in HT22 cells. The results revealed that morachalcone D was much more potent in preventing from glutamate- and erastin-induced cell death than morachalcone E. The neuroprotective effect of morachalcone D was related to the prevention of ROS production, glutathione depletion, and iron accumulation. Morachalcone D upregulated the expression of genes involved in antioxidant defense, including GPx4, CAT, SOD2, Nrf2, HMOX1 and SLC7A11. These findings indicated that morachalcone D was responsible for the health benefits of mulberry leaf, and could be a potent neuroprotective agent for use in dietary supplements and functional foods.

Okara dietary fiber was prepared by liquid fermentation with Monascus anka (M. anka). Infrared spectra results indicated that there were more oligosaccharides because of the hydrogen bond cleavage of the polysaccharides in okara Monascus dietary fiber (OMDF). Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray analyses showed that the structures of OMDF were altered as compared to that of the control. The UV-visible spectrum of the M. anka seed broth (MSB) contained three absorption peaks corresponding to red, orange, and yellow pigments, which were present in equal quantities. The concentration of citrinin in MSB and Monascus okara fermentation broth was 0.980 ppm and 0.940 ppm, respectively. After fermentation, the soluble OMDF content in OMDF was 7.7 g/100 g, which was 1.79 times of that in the control. Further, the water holding capacity, oil holding capacity, and swelling capacity of OMDF increased significantly, while the water retaining capacity decreased slightly.

This study investigated the comparative effects of boiling, roasting, deep-frying methods on the content of nutritional and potentially harmful components in peanuts. After cooking, the contents of total reducing sugar, sucrose, unsaturated fatty acids and almost all individual amino acids were reduced. Free methionine disappeared after heating processing, whereas fructose, starch, cis-palmitoleic acid and saturated fatty acids were increased in processed samples. Micronutrients including flavonoids and phenolic reduced significantly after boiling process but increased after roasting process. Both of frying and roasting promoted the formation of potentially harmful components including HMF, acrylamide and furan. The overall compositional difference between samples were further displayed and identified by a combination application of HCA and PCA, which showed that the roasting and frying process had a significant impact on the nutritional composition of peanuts.

Growing concerns about the safety of using synthetic surfactants to stabilize food emulsions have inspired a trend towards the use of natural ingredients like starch as alternative food stabilizers in what are called Pickering emulsions. The hydrophilicity of commercially available starches, however, necessitates further chemical treatment to increase their hydrophobicity and emulsifying ability. Here we demonstrate an alkaline isolation method to extract amaranth and quinoa starch from flour while retaining a high protein content, which gives these materials an emulsifying ability comparable to octenyl succinylated starches. We highlight the key role played by protein by showing that a serial reduction of the protein content leads to a parallel reduction in emulsifying ability, and that pH affects this ability. Our method of retaining proteins naturally present in amaranth and quinoa not only bolsters the nutritional profile of the food but also takes advantage of the proteins’ native hydrophobicity for improved emulsification.

The effects of solid-state fermentation (SSF) with Aspergillus sojae, Aspergillus ficuum and their co-cultures on proximate composition, anti-nutritional factor, microbiological and functional properties of lupin flour (LF) were investigated. Fibre fractions, in vitro enzyme protein digestion (IVPD), total phenolic content, protein molecular distribution and colour attributes were also evaluated. Samples differed in their proximate composition except ash and fibre contents. The microbial counts of the fermented LFs were generally higher (p<0.05) than that of the unfermented LF. Phytic acid content and IVPD decreased (p<0.05) in the fermented LFs. Also, the fermented LFs showed decreased (p<0.05) water absorption capacity but increased swelling capacity. In addition, fermented LFs demonstrated reduction in colour attributes. Thus, the study indicated that SSF using Aspergillus sojae and Aspergillus ficuum can influence the physical, chemical and functional properties of LF. LF has great potentials in developing new nutritious food products and feed formulations when subjected to SSF.

A previous study revealed that Saccharomyces cerevisiae mcd4Δ, a cell wall mutant with a defect in the synthesis of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor, has a strong macrophage activation ability. In this study, remarkable emulsion formation after cell suspensions of mcd4Δ and anp1Δ (which exhibit an extreme reduction of mannan) were mixed with oil was found. Moreover, the relationship between cell wall mutation and emulsion formation was investigated, suggesting that och1Δ with a defect in the formation of N-linked glycans also had a strong emulsification ability and that high molecular weight materials released from the cells were involved in emulsion formation. Furthermore, two strains (asc1Δ and scp160Δ) with a strong emulsification ability without a large decrease in mannan content were also found from the wide screening of strains that exhibit an emulsifying activity using more than 5,000 gene-deficient strains. These results provide valuable information for the development of a yeast-derived emulsifier.

The food industry is increasingly innovating and applying new processing technologies and ingredients to develop novel food products that meet the consumers’ demand. In this study, the effect of extrusion (at 140 °C and 160 °C) was evaluated in different lentil flours formulations enriched with nutritional yeast, in terms of α-galactosides (raffinose, stachyose, verbascose), inositol phosphates (IPs), trypsin inhibitors and lectins content. The content of α-galactosides and IPs was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) was evaluated using a small-scale quantitative assay. The lectin content was analyzed using a haemagglutination assay and a Competitive Indirect Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Extrusion promoted a significant increase, up to 85% in total α-galactosides content. After extrusion, IPs content was significantly decreased and TIA as well as lectins content had a reduction higher than 90%. Extrusion demonstrated to have a beneficial effect by increasing desirable prebiotic compounds and decreasing non-nutritional factors.

Protein glycation plays a vital role in the progression of various diabetes complications. Therefore, inhibition of protein glycation could be a key strategy to prevent these diabetic abnormalities. Evaluation of phenolic compositions and their antiglycation activity revealed that p-coumaric and chlorogenic acids were major phenolic acids in barnyard millet. These phenolics exhibited multiple antioxidant activities in various mechanisms and protected the oxidative DNA damage and hydroxyl radical-induced protein fragmentation. Millet phenolics were very effective in scavenging >78% reactive carbonyl intermediates in the reaction and protected protein thiol group oxidation. Furthermore, 68.3% inhibition of protein glycation and reduced formation of protein aggregates were also observed with millet phenolics. Besides, fluorescence intensity measurements indicated a significant decrease in advance glycated end products and protection against glycoxidation-induced protein conformational changes at 100 µg/ml phenolics. These results suggest the potential utility of barnyard millet as an ingredient in functional foods for controlling protein glycation associated diabetic complications.

Sea cucumber (Stichopus japonicus) is a high-protein food with the potential to release certain peptides through enzymolysis. This work is to explore the characteristics of peptides released from Stichopus japonicus protein in the process of digestion. Hydrolysates were obtained by gastrointestinal digestion and fractioned to < 3, 3–10, 10–30 and > 30 kDa fractions. Fifty-eight peptides from < 3 kDa fraction were characterized using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Hydrolysates could improve glucose uptake of 3T3-L1 cells and high insulin-induced insulin-resistant Hep G2 cells. Molecular docking showed that the released peptides had similar binding mode with anagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitor. The < 3 kDa fraction in gastro and intestinal digestion showed the greatest DPP-IV inhibitory potency (IC₅₀ 0.51 and 0.52 mg/mL, respectively). The results indicated that sea cucumber could be used as a functional food to release antidiabetic peptides through gastrointestinal digestion.

Starch digestion in cellular matrices is primarily determined by the hindrance of cell walls limiting enzyme diffusion as well as the retention of starch granular structure. However, the effect of hydrothermal treatment on structure and digestion properties of entrapped starches is not fully elucidated. In present study, we reported the variations in structure and enzyme susceptibility of two pulse cells isolated at 60°C followed by heated at 70, 80, 90, 100°C, which are higher than the starch gelatinization temperature. Based on the thermal and crystalline properties, entrapped starches in cells are not fully gelatinized even treated at 100°C. Whilst, the digestion of entrapped starches increases with higher temperature, but still lower than the isolated starch treated at the same temperature. In addition to physical barriers (intact cell wall) and starch structural features (partial ordered crystalline structure), the soluble/insoluble proteinaceous materials in cells also synergy reduce the starch hydrolysis.

The commercialization of declared blends of olive oil and seed oil is something long approved by the European Union. There, the olive oil percentage must be at least 50 % if the producer aims to advertise its presence on the front label, i.e., somewhere other than in the ingredients list. However, the Regulation did not propose any method to verify such proportion. For this purpose, we recommend the use of decisional trees, being the parameters under study those in which the greatest differences between olive and seed oils are shown: triacylglycerols, acyclic saturated hydrocarbons, free sterols, and tocopherols. In this way, to guarantee the presence of olive oil at 50 %: i) palmitodiolein must be above 11-15 %; ii) the ß/γ-tocopherol ratio must be below 2.4; iii) the alkane sum C21-C25 should be higher than 3.5-6 %; and iv) the total sterol content cannot surpass 2400 mg/kg.

Our objective was to investigate the correlation between processing conditions and structural properties of lotus seed starch-lecithin complexes by dynamic high-pressure homogenization and explore the formation mechanism. The complexes formed with 5% lecithin at 90 MPa had the highest complex index among samples, thus protecting the integrity of the particles. The complexes inhibited the degradation of amylopectin and retrogradation of amylose, and displayed different V_6II-, V_6I- and A-type crystalline patterns. Additionally, the double helix structure was enhanced with increasing pressure, and the addition of lecithin contributed to the formation of single-helix amylose-lecithin complexes. These complexes prevented the single helix structure of starch to further form double helix structures, as demonstrated by visual correlation analysis. Moreover, a formation mechanism was established, and lotus seed starch-lecithin complexes with V_6I-type crystalline were formed under appropriate conditions, but a homogenization pressure either too low or too high was not conducive to complex formation.