Cheese quality assessment by use of near-infrared spectroscopy

Dairy products are worldwide spread and have great commercial importance. Rapid and reliable analysis of cheese would be highly desirable both for the manufacturers and consumers. The results of experiments, related to the application of near-infrared spectroscopy for cheese quality estimation will be presented. Several kinds of Bulgarian white brine cheese - natural from cow milk, imitation products with vegetable oil, and cheese with different water content were investigated. Fatty acids composition of samples was determined by using gas chromatography and moisture content by the oven-dry method. Spectra of all tested samples were obtained with a scanning NIRQuest 512 (Ocean Optics, Inc.) instrument in the range of 900-1700 nm using a reflection fiber-optics probe. PLS models were developed for quantitative determination and SIMCA for classification. The misclassification rate of the SIMCA model for discrimination of natural cheese and imitation products with vegetable oil was 2.9%. Quantitative determination of water content based on NIR spectra showed high accuracy, Models for classification of cheese samples into 3 groups according to water content achieved 5.64% misclassification rate for the independent test set. Results showed the potential of near-infrared spectroscopy as a non-destructive and rapid screening tool for assessing cheese quality and detecting adulteration

Effects of Aronia melanocarpa fruit juice on oxidative stress, energy homeostasis, and liver function in overweight and healthy-weight individuals

Introduction: Overweight and obesity are disorders of energy metabolism, associated with oxidative stress and chronic low-grade inflammation. Aronia melanocarpa fruits are rich in polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant properties. The fruit juice exhibits lipid-lowering, antihyperglycemic, and hepatoprotective activities in experimental settings.Aim: The study aimed to examine the effects of Aronia melanocarpa fruit juice on oxidative stress, energy homeostasis, and liver function in overweight and healthy-weight volunteers.Materials and Methods: The study included 11 overweight and 11 healthy-weight individuals. The participants consumed 50 mL of 100% Aronia melanocarpa fruit juice 3 times daily for 3 months. Blood samples were obtained at the baseline and the end of the study. Oxidative stress was evaluated by the serum activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), and the concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Energy metabolism and liver function were assessed by standard biochemical tests. C-reactive protein was measured as a non-specific inflammatory marker.Results: The fruit juice increased the activity of SOD and reduced the serum level of TBARS in the overweight group. The CAT activity was insignificantly increased in both groups. Aronia decreased the level of gamma-glutamyl transferase and reduced slightly the C-reactive protein, fasting blood glucose, and glycated hemoglobin levels in the overweight group. The liver function tests and the lipid profile were not affected.Conclusion: Aronia melanocarpa fruit juice improved the parameters of oxidative status. The present pilot study confirmed the beneficial effects of Aronia fruits on human metabolic health

Innowacyjne metody inżynieryjne w ocenie jakości i bezpieczeństwa żywności

The improvement of quality of life and human activity has many directions. One of them is providing high-quality and safe food. Advancements in sensor technologies, data mining and processing algorithms have provided technical capabilities for development of innovative engineering methods that guarantee certainty regarding the quality control of food and public health. The potential of Near Infrared Spectral Analysis and Aquaphotomics as non-destructive and rapid methods for monitoring food quality through observation of water absorbance bands is presented.Wzrost poziomu aktywności i jakości życia człowieka zależy od wielu czynników. Jednym z nich jest bezpieczeństwo i wysoka jakość dostarczanej żywności. Postęp, jaki dokonał się w obszarze technologii, technik pomiarowych i narzędzi przetwarzania danych, umożliwił rozwój innowacyjnych metod inżynieryjnych dających gwarancję wysokiej skuteczności kontroli jakości żywności i zdrowia publicznego. W artykule przedstawiono analizę spektralną bliskiej podczerwieni i akwapotomikę jako nieinwazyjne i szybkie metody oceny jakości żywności przez obserwację pasm absorpcji wody

Cheese quality assessment by use of near-infrared spectroscopy

Dairy products are worldwide spread and have great commercial importance. Rapid and reliable analysis of cheese would be highly desirable both for the manufacturers and consumers. The results of experiments, related to the application of near-infrared spectroscopy for cheese quality estimation will be presented. Several kinds of Bulgarian white brine cheese - natural from cow milk, imitation products with vegetable oil, and cheese with different water content were investigated. Fatty acids composition of samples was determined by using gas chromatography and moisture content by the oven-dry method. Spectra of all tested samples were obtained with a scanning NIRQuest 512 (Ocean Optics, Inc.) instrument in the range of 900-1700 nm using a reflection fiber-optics probe. PLS models were developed for quantitative determination and SIMCA for classification. The misclassification rate of the SIMCA model for discrimination of natural cheese and imitation products with vegetable oil was 2.9%. Quantitative determination of water content based on NIR spectra showed high accuracy, Models for classification of cheese samples into 3 groups according to water content achieved 5.64% misclassification rate for the independent test set. Results showed the potential of near-infrared spectroscopy as a non-destructive and rapid screening tool for assessing cheese quality and detecting adulteration

Blood Plasma Thermograms Dataset Analysisby Means of InterCriteria and Correlation Analyses for the Case of Colorectal Cancer

The approaches of InterCriteria Analysis and Correlation Analysis are applied to a dataset of calorimetric and statistical parameters obtained from blood plasma proteome thermograms of colorectal cancer patients. The analysis was performed for four individual predefined subsets of calorimetric profiles. Specific interrelations between the studied criteria were identified that were found to differ among the different calorimetric subsets. For three of the subsets the enthalpy of the thermal profiles was in strong consonance with the excess heat capacity of the immunoglobulins assigned thermal transition. For the calorimetric subsets that differed most from the control healthy set a strong interrelation between the excess heat capacities of the main plasma proteins (albumin and immunoglobulins) was additionally evident. Our results demonstrate that these mathematical approaches can complement the analysis of calorimetric datasets generated for a variety of diseases

Detection of Fungal Diseases in Lettuce by VIR-NIR Spectroscopy in Aquaponics

One of the main challenges facing the development of aquaponics is disease control, due on one hand to the fact that plants cannot be treated with chemicals because they can lead to mortality in cultured fish. The aim of this study was to apply the visible–near-infrared spectroscopy and vegetation index approach to test aquaponically cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) infected with different fungal pathogens (Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, and Alternaria alternata). The lettuces on the third leaf formation were placed in tanks (with dimensions 1 m/0.50 m/0.35 m) filled up with water from the aquaponics system every second day. In this study, we included reference fungal strains Aspergillus niger NBIMCC 3252, Fusarium oxysporum NBIMCC 125, and Alternaria alternata NBIMCC 109. Diffuse reflectance spectra of the leaves of lettuce were measured directly on the plants using a USB4000 spectrometer in the 450–1100 nm wavelength range. In near-infrared spectral range, the reflectance values of infected leaves are lower than those of the control, which indicates that some changes in cell structures occurred as a result of the fungal infection. All three investigated pathogens had a statistically significant effect on leaf water content and water band index. Vegetative indices such as Chlorophyll Absorption in Reflectance Index (CARI), Modified chlorophyll absorption in reflectance index (MCARI), Plant Senescence Reflectance Index (PSRI), Red Edge Index (REI2), Red Edge Index (REI3), and Water band index (WBI) were found to be effective in distinguishing infected plants from healthy ones, with WBI demonstrating the greatest reliability

Across countries implementation of handheld near-infrared spectrometer for the on-line prediction of beef marbling in slaughterhouse

Only few studies have used Near-Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to assess meat quality traits directly in the chiller. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the ability of a handheld NIR spectrometer to predict marbling scores on intact meat muscles in the chiller. A total of 829 animals from 2 slaughterhouses in France and Italy were involved. Marbling was assessed according to the 3G (Global Grading Guaranteed) protocol using 2 different scores. NIR measurements were collected by performing 5 scans at different points of the Longissimus thoracis. An average MSA marbling score of 330-340 was obtained in the two countries. The prediction models provided a R2 in external validation between 0.46 and 0.59 and a standard error of prediction between 83.1 and 105.5. Results did provide a moderate prediction of the marbling scores but can be useful in the European industry context to predict classes of MSA marbling