DEVELOPMENT OF A SCHEME TO EVALUATE CONSUMER APPLE VARIETY PREFERENCES

Consumer/Household Economics,

Assessing phenotypic, biochemical, and molecular diversity in coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) germplasm

Our goals for this research were to elucidate phenotypic and biochemical diversity in coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) populations maintained at the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station in Ames, IA, and examine relationships between amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and patterns of phenotypic and biochemical diversity. Phenotypic and biochemical traits were evaluated, and analyses of variance and mean comparisons were performed on the resulting data sets. Euclidean distances from phenotypic (PD) and biochemical (BD) data were estimated, and modified Rogers’ distances (RD) were estimated for 80 polymorphic AFLP markers. These data were subjected to cluster analyses (CA) and principal components analyses (PCA), to reveal patterns among populations, and to analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) for grouping patterns from PD and BD by using the 80 polymorphic AFLP markers. Resulting phenotypic, biochemical, and molecular distance matrices were also compared by applying Mantel tests. Our results describe significant differences among populations for all the phenotypic traits, and dendrograms obtained from PD and BD revealed complex phenetic patterns, as did groups from PCA. The primary seed essential oils and nearly all fatty-acid components were identified and their abundance measured; the primary chemical constituents of corresponding PCA groups are described herein. Molecular evidence supported phenotypic and biochemical subgroups. However, variation attributed among subgroups and groups was very low (∼4–6%), while variation among populations within groups was intermediate (∼24–26%), and that within populations was large (∼69–70%), reflecting weak differentiation among subgroups and groups, which was confirmed by values for fixation indices. Phenotypic subgroups described in this study differed somewhat from previous infraspecific classifications. Weak correlations were found between the phenotypic and biochemical matrices and between the biochemical and AFLP matrices. No correlation was found between the phenotypic and AFLP matrices. These results may be related to coriander’s phenotypic plasticity, its wide range in lifecycle duration, its predominantly allogamous reproductive biology, a human-selection process focused on special traits that may be controlled by few genes, and the widespread trade of coriander seeds as a spice, which may result in dynamic, poorly differentiated molecular variation, even when phenotypic and biochemical differentiation is easily documented

Incorporation of bifidobacteria into cheeses: Challenges and rewards

As the market for functional foods (i.e. foods that contain health-promoting components beyond traditional nutrients) continues to expand, research in the development of food products containing bifidobacteria and other probiotic bacteria will also continue to grow. Probiotic bacteria and bifidobacteria play an important role in gastro-intestinal therapy, but also provide many additional health-promoting benefits. Bifidobacteria require an anaerobic environment and neutral pH to survive and maintain levels greater than 106cfug-1 that is adjudged as the requirement to provide therapeutic benefits. Thus, not all foods provide the optimal environment for the growth of bifidobacteria. Cheese, however, does provide an environment that would be conducive to the long-term survival of bifidobacteria. Effective incorporation of bifidobacteria into cheeses requires that the bifidobacteria maintain their viability throughout processing, without adversely altering sensory characteristics. This review details technological advances shown to be effective in the incorporation of bifidobacteria into cheeses and techniques for the accurate enumeration of these bacteria.Fil: Boylston, Terri D.. University of Iowa; Estados UnidosFil: Vinderola, Celso Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Ghodussi, Hamid B.. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. School of Agriculture. Department of Food Science and Technology; IránFil: Reinheimer, Jorge Alberto. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Beef Handling Practices Among Consumers in the U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) imports more than 95% of its food. Transportation limitations throughout the territory’s supply chain can make temperature control of protein foods challenging for consumers. This study aimed to characterize the beef handling practices used by consumers in USVI to determine any educational needs. Printed and online surveys (n = 620 total) were disseminated in USVI through extension agents and local media sources. Three hundred and thirty-four consumers completed a 30-question food handling questionnaire on consumption patterns and food handling from purchasing to their kitchen. Frequencies and Pearson chi-square tests of independence were performed. Beef ranked second among the different meat types consumed, 92% of consumers bought beef from grocery stores, and 55% removed beef from shelves immediately after entering the store. When shopping, 59.1% of respondents always checked the use-by/freeze-by dates of beef, 46.3% always separated beef from other foods, but only 27.5% always used insulated bags. Eighty-three percent of consumers returned home within 1 h of shopping, 92% took less than 30 min to store groceries in either a freezer or refrigerator (98%) and during power outages, 45.1% maintained cold temperatures of beef. Seventy-two percent of consumers washed their hands for more than 10 s, but 33% of those from households with a vulnerable person did not use soap to wash their hands and dried them with reusable towels. When cooking, 44.6% of consumers thawed beef within the temperature danger zone, 80.1% did not check the temperature of beef for doneness, and 34 respondents cooked hamburgers below 160°F. Future consumer food safety education initiatives in the USVI should address hand hygiene among food preparers in homes with vulnerable persons, temperature control practices by promoting the use of insulated bags, safe meat thawing techniques, and the use of thermometers during cooking.This article is published as Nabwiire, Lillian, Angela M. Shaw, Gail R. Nonnecke, Joey Talbert, Christina Chanes, Terri Boylston, Rodrigo Tarte, and Kenneth Prusa. "Beef Handling Practices Among Consumers in the US Virgin Islands." Journal of Food Protection 86, no. 9 (2023): 100141. doi:10.1016/j.jfp.2023.100141. © 2023 The Author(s). Posted with permission.This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Assessing phenotypic, biochemical, and molecular diversity in coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) germplasm

Our goals for this research were to elucidate phenotypic and biochemical diversity in coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) populations maintained at the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station in Ames, IA, and examine relationships between amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and patterns of phenotypic and biochemical diversity. Phenotypic and biochemical traits were evaluated, and analyses of variance and mean comparisons were performed on the resulting data sets. Euclidean distances from phenotypic (PD) and biochemical (BD) data were estimated, and modified Rogers’ distances (RD) were estimated for 80 polymorphic AFLP markers. These data were subjected to cluster analyses (CA) and principal components analyses (PCA), to reveal patterns among populations, and to analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) for grouping patterns from PD and BD by using the 80 polymorphic AFLP markers. Resulting phenotypic, biochemical, and molecular distance matrices were also compared by applying Mantel tests. Our results describe significant differences among populations for all the phenotypic traits, and dendrograms obtained from PD and BD revealed complex phenetic patterns, as did groups from PCA. The primary seed essential oils and nearly all fatty-acid components were identified and their abundance measured; the primary chemical constituents of corresponding PCA groups are described herein. Molecular evidence supported phenotypic and biochemical subgroups. However, variation attributed among subgroups and groups was very low (∼4–6%), while variation among populations within groups was intermediate (∼24–26%), and that within populations was large (∼69–70%), reflecting weak differentiation among subgroups and groups, which was confirmed by values for fixation indices. Phenotypic subgroups described in this study differed somewhat from previous infraspecific classifications. Weak correlations were found between the phenotypic and biochemical matrices and between the biochemical and AFLP matrices. No correlation was found between the phenotypic and AFLP matrices. These results may be related to coriander’s phenotypic plasticity, its wide range in lifecycle duration, its predominantly allogamous reproductive biology, a human-selection process focused on special traits that may be controlled by few genes, and the widespread trade of coriander seeds as a spice, which may result in dynamic, poorly differentiated molecular variation, even when phenotypic and biochemical differentiation is easily documented.This article is from Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 55, no. 2 (2008): 247–275, doi:10.1007/s10722-007-9232-7.</p

Inactivation of Salmonella enterica and shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli on desiccated shredded coconut by high voltage atmospheric cold plasma

The main objective of the present study was to determine the efficacy of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) high voltage atmospheric cold plasma (HVACP) at 70 kV for inactivating Salmonella enterica and shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) on desiccated shredded coconut. Additional objectives were to evaluate sub-lethal injury in pathogen survivors, and selected quality characteristics of the coconut as affected by HVACP. Shredded coconut inoculated with ∼7.74 log10 CFU/g S. enterica or STEC, was exposed to HVACP (70 kV) for 3–15 min (S. enterica) and up to 5 min (E. coli). Non-HVACP-treated, inoculated coconut served as control. Samples were held at 23 ± 1°C for 24 h after HVACP treatment, and analyzed for survivors via the plate count method using thin agar layer (TAL) media and selective (SEL) agar. For each pathogen, differences in numbers of survivors on TAL medium and selective agar were used to evaluate sub-lethal injury. Color and texture of the coconut were determined using a ColorFlex EZ Spectrophotometer and a TA. XT Plus C Texture Analyzer, respectively. HVACP treatments significantly decreased the initial numbers of viable S. enterica and STEC (p © 2023 Durand, Mendonca, Fortes-Da-Silva, Brehm-Stecher, Boylston, Thomas-Popo, Wan and White. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.This work was supported by the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station Project No. IOW04202, sponsored by the Hatch Act and State of Iowa funds