Study of different technological strategies for sugar reduction in muffin addressed for children

Abstract To exceed in sugar consumption is one of the main causes of overweight and obesity, especially for children and adolescent. However, sugar reduction, especially in baked goods, is challenging due to its effect not only on sensorial properties but also for other quality parameters. Multiple technological strategies to obtain muffins at low sugar content addressed for children were studied. Specifically, the inhomogeneous spatial distribution of sucrose (1, 3 and 5 layers of food formula at different sugar content), the taste enhancement by vanillin addition (0, 1 and 2%) and the use of different particle size of sugar (200, 400 and 600 μm) were investigated through a Box-Behnken design. Physical attributes were negatively affected by spatial distribution due to the substantial role of sucrose in the expansion of muffins. Indeed, maximum height of homogeneous muffins was of 37.8 ± 3.9 mm, while in inhomogeneous samples reached values of ≈ 30 mm. The low expansion of inhomogeneous muffins was also attested by porosity fraction which notably decreased from 68.2% in 1-layer muffin to 58.4% and 65.6% in 3-layers and 5-layers muffins, respectively. The perception of sweetness was improved for the inhomogeneous muffins and with a mass fraction of added vanillin at 1% confirming its great potential as taste enhancer, especially when using particle size of sugar less than 400 μm. Based on sensorial and physical data, stratified muffins with 3 layers, a mass fraction of added vanillin at 1% and sugar particle size in the range between 200 and 600 μm, showed excellent results. The proposed strategy could be used to design and develop innovative muffins designed for children contributing in the reduction of sugar intake in the daily diet

How Much Caffeine in Coffee Cup? Effects of Processing Operations, Extraction Methods and Variables

About 80–90% of the adults are regular consumers of coffee brews. Its consumption has positive effect on energy expenditure, power of muscle, while over consumption has negative effects widely debated. Across geographical areas, coffee brews may notably change when preparing Espresso, American, French, Turkish, etc. This chapter reviewed the phases able to affect the amount of caffeine in cup. Three most important areas will be addressed: (1) coffee varieties and environment; (2) coffee processing operations; (3) brewing methods extraction variables. What arises from the state of art is that, although there is a significant agreement on the effect of each critical variable on caffeine extraction, there is also a great difficulty to precisely know how much caffeine is in a coffee cup, although this is the most important information for the consumers. The number of affecting variables is very high, and some of them are inversely related with caffeine content (brewing time and brew volume), while others exhibit a direct relationship (grinding level, dose, and tamping). Finally, some variables under the control of barista rarely are accurately reproduced during brewing. For instance, it was found that the caffeine content in a Starbuck’s coffee cup during different days varied significantly

Ripening Stage Effects on Mechanical and Functional Properties of Pastry Filled with Sweet Cherries (Prunus avium, ‘Ferrovia’ Cultivar)

Sweet cherry is a precious fruit for the wealth of minerals, vitamins and other important protecting, detoxifying and purifying principles. These features make it interesting in terms of nutritional and health point of view. Many studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects on prevention of cardiovascular and articular diseases, due to anti-inflammatory and analgesic action of sweet cherry. However, because of its seasonality, it needs technological treatments to be preserved (jam, puree or semi-finished products for pastry), that could compromise its nutritional quality. The aim of this work was to study the effects of ripening stage and technological tratments on mechanical and functional properties of pastries filled with sweet cherries during storage at room temperature. Results showed that the different ripeness of cherries influenced the mechanical properties of samples: pastries filled with overripe cherries resulted more hard (97 vs. 79 N), less cohesive (0.19 vs. 0.25) and springy (6.4 vs. 8.5 mm) than medium harvest cherries. The antioxidant capacity of medium harvest sweet cherries did not change after both technological treatments and storage (0.93 vs. 0.89 TEAC micromol/g dry basis). These results highlight the importance of ripening stage of processed fruit used as ingredient in complex food in order to obtain a product with good functional and quality properties

Could 3D food printing help to improve the food supply chain resilience against disruptions such as caused by pandemic crises

SummaryThe ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic is having a tremendous effect on the current food system. The situation urges us to face many issues never experienced before, aimed at mitigating a multitude of sanitary and social risks. The current pandemic has affected the food system in many ways: significant changes in dietary habits and in the health status of people; the food chain is broken, which has an effect on food security (including making it difficult to find or to buy fresh food at affordable prices); unemployment or underemployment is rising due to the damages of the food sector; there is a lack of food‐socialising events which has an effect on people's mental status; and there are concerns about food safety. To mitigate all these issues, the implementation of innovative technologies urges. We have mapped the scientific studies and online information on 3D food printing (3DFP) about the effects of 3DFP on the food system and people's health when adopted in food industry, restaurants, hospitals, schools, offices, homes, etc. Finally, this information has been examined in light to the future challenges of the food chain also considering the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic, demonstrating its potential benefits to mitigate this and future pandemics

Postfordismo e trasformazione urbana.Casi di recupero dei vuoti industriali e indicazioni per le politiche nel territorio torinese

Il volume sulle aree dismesse e la trasformazione urbana promosso dalla Direzione Competitività della Regione Piemonte e dall'ente strumentale di ricerca economica e sociale, IRES Piemonte, racchiude contributi su esperienze di recupero dei vuoti urbani industriali e casi rilevanti della trasformazione urbana che hanno interessato Torino e la sua area metropolitana.- Prefazione #7- Introduzione #9- 1. Le ristrutturazioni industriali e il territorio: crisi, declino,metamorfosi? #33- 2. Scoprire i vuoti industriali: analisi e riflessioni a partire da censimenti e mappature di aree industriali dismesse a Torino #51- 3. Le aree dismesse nella riqualificazione e nella rigenerazione urbana a Torino (1990-2015) #113- 4. La trasformazione urbana tra grandi interventi e architetture “ordinarie”. #147- 5. Due esperienze di rigenerazione urbana sul territorio torinese:il Comitato Parco Dora sulla Spina 3 e il Comitato Urban in Barriera di Milano, a Torino #169- 6. Da cittadella industriale a Spina 3: una riconversione incompiuta #193- 7. Ex Diatto - Ex Westinghouse, due casi emblematici per le politiche di rivitalizzazione delle aree industriali torinesi #211- 8. Mirafiori. Dalla componentistica allo yogurt: storia di un progetto di re-industrializzazione #229- 9. Area OSI OVEST-NORD: Toolbox Coworking! #247- 10. Abilitare il territorio metropolitano alla rigenerazione e ad un nuovo sviluppo. Il caso di None, dall'industria subita all'industria inseguita #275- 11. Le ex-Acciaierie Mandelli di Collegno: la storia di una fabbrica,l'attualità del dibattito urbanistico. #301- 12. I programmi territoriali quale motore di rigenerazione urbana e di politiche di contenimento del consumo di suolo nel comune di Settimo Torinese #323- 13. La Regione Piemonte e la sfida del contenimento del consumo di suolo e del riutilizzo delle aree dismesse #353- 14. Torino, la nascita della città postindustriale: quale bilancio? #365- 15. Valutare i rischi della riqualificazione urbanistica e ambientale delle aree industriali dismesse #381- 16. Le aree industriali dismesse e il loro impatto sulla salute: il ruolo dei cittadini e delle amministrazioni locali nell'identificazione dei problemi e delle possibili soluzioni. #405- 17. I giovani e la città che cambia. Nuovi passi e nuovi sguardi sulle tracce di un passato industriale #427- Elenco degli autori e delle autrici #44

Could the 3D Printing Technology be a Useful strategy to Obtain Customized Nutrition?

Within the concept of personalized nutrition we want to introduce the terms of “customized food formula” which refers to the preparation (at home) or the production (at industrial level) of new food formulations having nutrients and functional compounds necessary to prevent diseases or to reduce the risk for each subject (or subjects category) who exhibit a susceptibility to diseases. Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a group of technologies of growing interest able to produce, slice by slice, materials with any desired shape, dimension, and structure properties. The application of 3D printing in food science, as called “3D food printing,” is a pioneering technology that could allow to build personalized foods by depositing nutrients and functional compounds or soft- materials obtained by their mixture. Also by 3D food printing it is expected to obtain personalized food formula having desired shape, dimension, and microstructure. This would be useful for people having swallowing problems. In this paper we analyzed the first examples of 3D food printing available in literature as well as we reported our results focused on the production of 3D printed wheat-based snacks enriched with insect powder (Tenebrio molitor) with the aim to improve the quality and the content of proteins

On the inverse problem of the reconstruction of food microstructure from limited statistical information. A study on bread.

The possibility to reconstruct food microstructure by limited morphological information has fundamental importance for theoretical and practical applications. We implemented the simulated annealing method proposed by Yeong and Torquato (1998) for reconstructing bread structure through the information contained into the lineal-path distribution function, L(r), and two-point correlation function, S2(r). The method enabled the evolution of two-phase random image toward bread structure. When using the information of lineal-path distribution function, the generated images well captured the main morphological features of bread, although several deviations still existed. This was in accordance with the significant differences between the original and reconstructed images as measured by two-point correlation function. By hybrid reconstruction, based on both correlation functions, a better reconstruction in terms of both number and size of pores was obtained. In the future the use of more several statistical correlation functions could enable further improvement in reconstruction of bread microstructure