Characterization of the chemical composition of banana peels from southern Brazil across the seasons using nuclear magnetic resonance and chemometrics

Banana peels are a source of important bioactive compounds, such as phenolics, carotenoids, biogenic amines, among others. For industrial usage of that by-product, a certain homogeneity of its chemical composition is claimed, a trait affected by the effect of (a)bioatic ecological factors. In this sense, this study aimed to investigate the banana peels chemical composition, to get insights on eventual metabolic changes caused by the seasons, in southern Brazil. For this purpose, a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)-based metabolic profiling strategy was adopted, followed by chemometrics analysis, using the specmine package for the R environment. The obtained results show that the different seasons can, in fact, influence the metabolic composition, namely the levels of metabolites extracted from the bananas peels. The analytical approach herein adopted, i.e., NMR-based metabolomics coupled to chemometrics analysis, seems to enable identifying the chemical heterogeneity of banana peels over the harvest seasons, allowing obtaining standardized extracts for further technological purposes of usage.CAPES -Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior(407323/2013-9)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

XII CIBIA Iberoamerican congress of food engineering: challenging food engineering as a driver towards sustainable food processing - Book of abstracts

The XII edition of CIBIA, Iberoamerican Congress of Food Engineering will take place, for the first time, in Portugal next July 1 to 4, having as theme “Challenging Food Engineering as a Driver Towards Sustainable Food Processing“. The host institution is the University of Algarve, Faro, in the Algarve region. The importance of the Food Engineering field was enhanced by the number of Iberoamerican researchers who participated in this XIIth edition of CIBIA. We received 530 abstracts submitted by researchers from the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), and from all the South and Central American Continent: Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, among others. About 350 participants will be present with around 100 accepted abstracts for oral presentations and more than 300 poster presentations. These numbers reveal that Food Engineering is very alive and strong in the Iberoamerican world as many young researchers are pursuing their graduate studies in various disciplines of this field and senior researchers keep facing and studying new challenges such as the main Congress Theme “Challenging Food Engineering as a Driver towards Sustainable Food Processing”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fruit Metabolism and Metabolomics

Over the past ten years, metabolomics strategies have allowed the relative or absolute quantitation of metabolite levels for the study of various biological questions in plant sciences. For fruit studies, in particular, they have participated in the identification of the genes underpinning fruit development and ripening. This book proposes examples of the current use of metabolomics studies of fruit for basic research or practical applications. It includes articles about several tropical and temperate fruit species. The studies concern fruit biochemical phenotyping, fruit metabolism during development and after harvest, including primary and specialized metabolisms, or bioactive compounds involved in fruit growth and environmental responses. The analytical strategies used are based mostly on liquid or gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, but also on nuclear magnetic resonance and near-infrared spectroscopy. The effect of genotype, stages of development, or fruit tissue type on metabolomic profiles and corresponding metabolism regulations are addressed for fruit metabolism studies. The interest in combining other omics with metabolomics is also exemplified

Investigation of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) released as a result of spoilage in whole broccoli, carrots, onions and potatoes with HS-SPME and GC-MS

Vegetable spoilage renders a product undesirable due to changes in sensory characteristics. The aim of this study was to investigate the change in the fingerprint of VOC composition that occur as a result of spoilage in broccoli, carrots, onions and potatoes. SPME and GC-MS techniques were used to identify and determine the relative abundance of VOC associated with both fresh and spoilt vegetables. Although a number of similar compounds were detected in varying quantities in the headspace of fresh and spoilt samples, certain compounds which were detected in the headspace of spoilt vegetables were however absent in fresh samples. Analysis of the headspace of fresh vegetables indicated the presence of a variety of alkanes, alkenes and terpenes. Among VOCs identified in the spoilt samples were dimethyl disulphide and dimethyl sulphide in broccoli; Ethyl propanoate and Butyl acetate in carrots; 1-Propanethioland 2-Hexyl-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone in onions; and 2, 3-Butanediol in potatoes. The overall results of this study indicate the presence of VOCs that can serve as potential biomarkers for early detection of quality deterioration and in turn enhance operational and quality control decisions in the vegetable industry

Natural Additives in Food

In the search for a healthier diet and facing the uncertainties about the consumption of artificial additives, the scientific community has explored in the last years the potential of natural compounds, such as polyphenols, carotenoids, chlorophylls, essential oils, tocopherols, vitamins, polysaccharides, among others, obtained from the most diverse sources, such as plants and fungi, for the replacement of the artificial additives in food, which has made these compounds recognized as “natural additives”. In addition to being considered less harmful to health, and giving a certain functional property to a foodstuff, natural additives can also provide a beneficial synergistic effect in the food matrix. For the consumers, diverse studies have been showed that regular ingestion of bioactive compounds, that can be applied as natural additives, can be helpful for the prevention/treatment of several chronic and aging illnesses, such as cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders. However, there is much to be researched on the viable use of bioactive compounds and to overcome their chemical limitations so that it can actually be used as natural additives in foods. This book addresses, through 18 scientific articles, some natural compounds with potential for use as preservatives, nutritional additives, coloring agents, flavorings, and various agents