Mobil and total forms of some transitional metal cations in food chain of black currants cultivation and processing

Romania has large natural possibilities through Western Plain, diligence and skill of residents in cultivation and processing of specific and quality horticultural products. In the world there are few areas where the climate, soil and diversity of spontaneous and cultivated flora can provide quality natural food products, with high nutritional value. The experimental results obtained for the heavy metal concentrations in the black currants cultivated on soils close to the C.E.T. Timisoara ash storage reveal higher concentrations for these elements. Higher concentrations for the toxic heavy metals (Cd, Pb) and for the potential toxic heavy metals (Zn, Cu) were identified in some vegetables, especially for leaf vegetables and for the root vegetables. Although some heavy metals were identified in higher concentrations, close to the toxic limits or higher, the mean values for these concentrations in the vegetables were in the range of normal limits. This fact demonstrate that the pollution of this areal is incipient and forward cannot be affirm that the heavy metal pollution process is evident, but this phenomenon could be amplified in the case of a prolonged anthropic impact, and without the specific agro-pedo-ameliorative measures. The classification of the non-polluted and polluted regions is achieved by multivariate analysis (PCA-principal component analysis) of the data using especially the Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu concentration values for the first and second principal components, and Zn and Fe concentration values for the third principal component

Chemical and nutritional aspects of some fresh smoothie types

Vegetable and fruits are foods that can be consumed either fresh or processed into juices, smoothies, syrups, jams, fruit compotes, etc. Fruit and vegetables play the important role in the people diet. Worldwide, the consumption of fresh food (fruits, vegetables, and herbs) is steadily in increasing tendency. The good looks, nice colour or taste and aromas, but especially their nutritional value, the rich content in sugars, vitamins and minerals necessary in the diet of the human body are considered to be important. The lower incidence of degenerative diseases is associated with the diet rich in fruits and vegetables. The purpose of our study was revealing certain physico-chemical and nutritional properties of some fresh foods and the juices or smoothies that we can obtain from them. These aspects highlight their dietary and healing properties

Protocol developing for identification of vegetal matrices used in ammodytes ammodytes freeze-dried venom adulteration

Presence of corn flour adulteration was detected by extracting the DNA from 25mg of freeze dried venom and using it as template in PCR amplification with zein specific primers known to be highly specific for corn species. The obtained amplicon was purified from agarose gel and sequenced in order to further confirm the presence of corn specific DNA sequences. The sequence thus obtained was uploaded in a DNA Data Base, and aligned with the reference zein sequence. The 99% of similarity between the two sequences enables us to confirm the corn flour adulteration in the analyzed venom sample

Mycoflora and Ochratoxin A Control in Wheat Grain Using Natural Extracts Obtained from Wine Industry By-Products

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of some natural extracts obtained from grape pomace (GPE) and grape seeds (GSE) as compared to a synthetic food, antioxidant-butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), in order to control fungal population and ochratoxin A (OTA) production in naturally contaminated wheat. The results showed that the addition of these extracts was efficient with OTA content decreasing. On treatment with these extracts the loss of OTA content after 14 days was in the range 7.8–28.3% relative to the control sample, but increased up to 26.48–37% after 28 days. The highest loss in OTA content was recorded for treatment with GPE at the 500 ppm level. Regarding the fungal development, the obtained results show that the total fungal populations were significantly reduced by using natural extracts. The most efficient extract was GPE. Both BHT and GPE inhibit the growth of Penicillium verrrucosum, for all doses, but less with Aspergillus genera. GPE affects the growth of other types of moulds such as Rhizopus microsporus, Fusarium graminearum, Alternaria infectoria and Cladosporium herbarum. Our data suggested that GPE and GSE are able to provide fungicidal and fungistatic protection and to control the OTA accumulation in wheat, at least in a similar manner to BHT

Tracking antioxidant properties and color changes in low-sugar bilberry jam as effect of processing, storage and pectin concentration

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recently, an increased interest in the identification of valuable possibilities for preserving the antioxidant properties of products obtained by thermal processing of fruits rich in bioactive compounds can be noticed. In this regard, an extensive analysis is necessary in terms of thermal processed products behavior in relation to various factors. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect which processing and storage at 20°C has on the antioxidant properties and color quality of low-sugar bilberry jam with different low-methoxyl pectin (LMP) concentrations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For all measured parameters, it should be noted that thermal processing induced significant alterations reported to the values registered for fresh fruit. Most important losses due to thermal processing were recorded for total monomeric anthocyanins (TMA) (81-84%), followed by L-ascorbic acid (L-AsAc) content (53-58%), total phenolics (TP) content (42-51%) and FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) values (36-47%). Moreover, depreciation of the investigated compounds occurred during storage at 20°C. Jam storage for 7 months resulted in severe losses in TMA content in the range 58-72% from the value recorded one day after processing. This coincided with marked increases in polymeric color percent of these products after 7 months of storage. Also, bilberry jam storage for 7 months resulted in a decrease in L-AsAc content of 40-53% from the value recorded one day after processing, 41-57% in TP content and 33-46% from the value recorded one day after processing for FRAP values. By decreasing of LMP concentration in the jam recipe from 1 to 0.3% there has been an increase in losses of investigated compounds.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall, the results indicated that bilberry jams can also represent a good source of antioxidant compounds, although compared to the fruit, important losses seem to occur. Practical application of this work is that this kind of information will be very useful in optimizing the jam processing technology and storage conditions, in order to improve the quality of these products.</p