Novel methods for the determination of colour and translucency in selected alcoholic beverages

At present, the various beverage industries have a significant challenge to effectively monitor the colour and translucency of their products, whether this is by visual assessments or by physical measurements. The visual assessment of translucent beverages is hampered in that the different industry sectors often have their own words/scales for translucency assessments, with specificity across a narrow range of products making them not easily transferred to other sectors of the beverage industry. Several industrial sensory evaluation methods were compared and correlated in this study. Similarly, there is a lack of accurate instrumental measurements either of the colour or the translucency of translucent beverage products in samples that are both coloured and translucent. A new multiple path-length cell together with a digital imaging system have been designed. The cell was built to deliver a specified analytical path length distribution, the overall light scattering performance of the liquid body would behave to the expected analytical path. This cell was applied at-line to determine the colour and translucency critical control points (CCPs) throughout beer production. In this study, descriptive language and psychophysical models to assess colour and translucency were investigated using twelve so-called pseudo-beers (solutions of colorants and scatterers), six commercial beers and fifteen red wine samples. The colour appearance attributes of these samples were assessed by trained experts, who scaled lightness and hue compositions with less variation than their scaling of colourfulness. From the observers‘ performance, it was indicated that beers presented in glasses of different volumes and geometries had different visual colour appearance and that the perceived colour appearance was affected by different levels of scatterers. For the investigation of translucency, observers demonstrated that they could correlate different words or methodologies used for translucency evaluations. But they performed more consistently on the term ―transparency‖, and thus, scaling ―transparency‖ can reasonably be used as a term by which the translucency of a iii beverage might be judged. The magnitudes of colour/translucency changes between any two of the adjacent samples taken during the production of pilot-brewed beer indicated critical control points (CCPs) on colour/translucency monitoring throughout the brewing process. Five CCPs were established. Here, the novel cell and the digital imaging system were set as a off-line monitoring instrument to make determinations at each of the CCPs. The findings clearly showed that the colour/translucency results of most samples followed similar trends. Commercial final products were also tested with the new system, and the results were consistent with conventional methodology results and human observations. In comparison with conventional instruments and methods used for beer colour/translucency analyses, this novel system was demonstrated to be more sensitive, allowing for the simultaneous monitoring of colour of both in-process streams and final products. Some more improvements of the new system are still needed on translucency correlating with conventional methods, e.g. with EBC turbidity

Leuconostoc spoilage of refrigerated, packaged foods

Leuconostoc spp. are lactic acid bacteria (LAB) implicated in food spoilage, especially on refrigerated, modified atmosphere packaged (MAP) meats. The overall aim of this thesis was to learn more about Leuconostoc spp. as food spoilage organisms with a focus on commercial products where LAB spoilage is considered a problem and the main factor limiting shelf-life. Therefore, we aimed to identify Leuconostoc spp. involved in food spoilage, as well as to characterise the spoilage reactions they caused and their contamination sources during poultry meat processing. In addition, we examined the distribution of strains of Leuconostoc gasicomitatum in different food commodities. Finally, we analysed the genome content of L. gasicomitatum LMG 18811 with a special focus on metabolic pathways related to food spoilage. The findings show that Leuconostoc gelidum and L.gasicomitatum were responsible for the discoloration and off-odours developed in beef steaks. Together with Leuconostoc mesenteroides, these Leuconostoc spp., also cause spoilage of vegetable sausages. In contrast, we showed that Leuconostoc spp. are not important for the shelf-life or quality of non-marinated broiler products although, in marinated broiler fillet products, Leuconostoc spp., L.gasicomitatum in particular, are considered spoilage organisms. Furthermore, the findings of the contamination survey we carried out in a poultry processing plant indicated that spoilage Leuconostoc spp. are derived from the processing environment rather than from the broilers, and that air movement distributes psychrotrophic spoilage LAB, including leuconostocs, and has an important role in meat contamination during poultry processing. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) based genotyping of L. gasicomitatum strains demonstrated that certain genotypes are common in various meat products. In contrast, genotypes associated with meat were not recovered in vegetable-based sources. This suggests that these two food categories either become contaminated with, or favour the growth of different genotypes. Furthermore, the results indicated that the meat processing environment contributes to L. gasicomitatum contamination as certain genotypes were repeatedly identified from products of the same processing plant. Finally, the sequenced and annotated genome of L.gasicomitatum LMG 18811 allowed us to identify the metabolic pathways and reactions resulting in food spoilage.Väitöstutkimus tarkastelee Leuconostoc-suvun maitohappobakteereita, jotka aiheuttavat säilyvyysongelmia ja laatuvirheitä erityisesti pakatuissa, kylmäsäilytetyissä lihatuotteissa. Pilaajabakteerin tunnistaminen on keskeinen osa pilaantumistutkimusta, sillä tietoa tarvitaan pyrittäessä löytämään keinoja säilyvyysongelmien ratkaisemiseksi ja ennaltaehkäisyyn.Tässä tutkimuksessa Leuconostoc gelidum-, Leuconstoc gasicomitatum- ja Leuconostoc mesenteroides-lajien bakteerit osoittautuivat naudanlihan ja kasvismakkaroiden säilyvyysongelmien aiheuttajiksi. Aikaisemmat tutkimukset ovat osoittaneet, että leukonostokit, erityisesti L. gasicomitatum voivat aiheuttaa marinoitujen broilertuotteiden nopean pilaantumisen. Tämän tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella leukonostokit eivät kuitenkaan liity marinoimattomien broilertuotteiden pilaantumiseen. Havainto vahvistaa käsitystä siitä, että pilaantumistutkimuksissa pilaajien tuotekohtainen tunnistaminen on usein välttämätöntä. Leukonostokkien aiheuttamat pilaantumismuutokset kehittyvät bakteerisolujen tuottamien aineenvaihduntatuotteiden ym. yhdisteiden kertyessä elintarvikkeeseen tai niiden reagoidessa elintarvikkeen kanssa. Tässä tutkimuksessa leukonostokkien osoitettiin aiheuttavan mm. voimaisia ja etikkamaisia virhehajuja, värivirheitä, sekä liman ja kaasun kertymistä pakkauksiin. Näiden laatuvirheiden aineenvaihdunnallisiin taustoihin saatiin lisävahvistusta ja -valaistusta viidennen osatyön myötä, jossa kuvattiin marinoitujen broilertuotteiden pilaajaksi osoittautuneen L.gasicomitatum LMG 18811-kannan perimä (genomi). Genomin kuvaus on merkittävä ja välttämätön avaus genomiikkaan perustuvien tutkimusmenetelmien soveltamiselle tulevaisuuden pilaantumistutkimuksissa. Väitöstutkimuksen yhtenä osatavoitteena oli selventää, miten leukonostokit päätyvät broilertuotteisiin. Tulokset osoittavat, että broilereiden merkitys pilaajaleukonostokkien lähteenä on vähäinen. Sen sijaan leukonostokkeja löydettiin tuotantoympäristöstä otetuista ilmanäytteistä. Tulokset viittaisivat siihen, että leukonostokit siirtyvät lihaan käsittelyvaiheiden myötä. Lisäksi tulokset vahvistavat aiempia havaintoja siitä, että ilmavirtauksilla on keskeinen merkitys leukonostokkien levittäjänä tuotantotiloissa, ja korostavat, että tuotantohygienia ja prosessisuunnittelu ovat keskeisiä keinoja hallita leukonostokkeja elintarviketeollisuudessa. Tuotantoympäristön merkitys leukonostokkien lähteenä korostui myös neljännen osatyön tulosten perusteella tehdyistä havainnoista. Vuosien 1997-2008 välisenä aikana elintarvikkeista eristettyjen L. gasicomitatum-kantojen DNA-sormenjälkiin perustuva vertailu osoitti, että tietyt L.gasicomitatum-tyypit esiintyivät toistuvasti lihatuotteissa, jotka oli valmistettu samassa tuotantolaitoksessa. Tiettyjen L. gasicomitatum-tyyppien toistuva esiintyminen voi selittyä sillä, että ne päätyvät ympäristöstä herkästi tuotantotiloihin ja sitä kautta lihatuotteisiin, tai että ne kykenevät asettumaan elintarviketuotantotilohin. Lisäksi tämän aineiston pohjalta vaikuttaa siltä, että lihan pilaantumiseen liittyvät L.gasicomitatum-tyypit poikkeavat kasvistuotteista eristetyistä tyypeistä. Havaintoa selittävät bakteerikantojen erot niiden kyvyssä sopeutua erilaisiin kasvuympäristöihi

The BG News September 1, 2000

The BGSU campus student newspaper September 1, 2000. Volume 86 - Issue 6https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/7671/thumbnail.jp

DIGITAL WINE: HOW PLATFORMS AND ALGORITHMS WILL RESHAPE THE WINE INDUSTRY

La tesi si propone di analizzare come la digitalizzazione e gli approcci basati sui dati, in particolare quelli che sfruttano l'intelligenza artificiale, stiano impattando il settore vitivinicolo e facendo emergere modelli nuovi di business. Quest'ultimo aspetto sarà approfondito tramite due casi studio di piattaforme digitali che, attraverso approcci diversi, stanno contribuendo a generare un ecosistema digitale virtuoso, con potenziali benefici per tutta la catena del valore a livello di settore.The thesis aims to analyze how digitalization and data-driven approaches, in particular those that leverage artificial intelligence, are impacting the wine industry and generating new business models. The latter aspect will be explored through two case studies of digital platforms which, through different approaches, are helping to generate a virtuous digital ecosystem, with potential benefits for the entire value chain at the industry level

Sustainable Production in Food and Agriculture Engineering

This book is a collection of original research and review papers that report on the state of the art and recent advancements in food and agriculture engineering, such as sustainable production and food technology. Encompassed within are applications in food and agriculture engineering, biosystem engineering, plant and animal production engineering, food and agricultural processing engineering, storing industry, economics and production management and agricultural farms management, agricultural machines and devices, and IT for agricultural engineering and ergonomics in agriculture

Analysis of Chemical Contaminants in Food

How many times have we thought with concern about the possible contamination of food? Pollution, agricultural treatments, technological treatments, and packaging are the best-known human sources of toxic substances as food contaminants. The present book contains 11 original research papers representing various approaches of identifying and measuring toxic residues in food materials. The analytical determination of food contaminants is an indispensable tool in characterizing the adverse effects and unexpected toxicity related to food intake. No risk assessment would be possible without data from the analysis of food contaminants. This Special Issue is an interesting overview of recent methods and is highly representative of a broad worldwide outline, collecting authors from ten different countries and four continents. Very different toxics are described, from volatile organic compounds to heavy metals and from highly polar chemicals to classical organic contaminants. A wide range of analytical techniques are portrayed, including sample preparation and clean-up methodologies, classical chromatographic and hyphenated spectroscopies, and the latest high-resolution mass spectrometry applications. The presented works consider a varied selection of foods: the studied matrices are meat, fishery products, fruits, and miscellaneous beverages