An Ascorbate Bluetooth© Analyzer for Quality Control of Fresh-Cut Parsley Supply Chain

This work provides companies in the fresh-cut produce sector with an Ascorbate Bluetooth© Analyzer (ABA), a screen-printed sensor-based device for ascorbic acid (AA) detection, for quality control all along the supply chain. The amperometric detection of AA on fresh and fresh-cut parsley, under correct and incorrect storage temperature, allowed us to investigate the kinetics of AA decay in response to oxidative stress. The role of ascorbate oxidase (AOx) and ascorbate peroxidase (APx) was studied. ABA was used in situ by unskilled personnel. Treatments influenced AA decay kinetics, which were linear in fresh parsley, and non-linear in fresh-cut. Two hours at 28◦C immediately after chopping, the resilience of the fresh-cut parsley was reduced, even though the cold chain was restored. Two hours at −2◦C caused a rapid loss of AA until its complete decay after 72 h. Significant differences between treatments were observed in both the expression and activity of AOx and APx. ABA registered sudden changes of parsley AA following unpredicted variations of temperature during processing or transport. It was useful to remedy the effects of unexpected flaws in the cold chain, which can be proposed for quality preservation of different fresh-cut produce

Antioxidant and Anticancer Activity of Pericarp Water Extracts of Mediterranean Ancient Chestnut Accessions

The residue of chestnut processing generates a large amount of waste material, a resource not adequately exploited. The antioxidant and antitumoral properties of cold and hot water extracts from discarded pericarp of four chestnut Sardinian accessions and one marron variety were studied. The antioxidant capacity of the extracts was determined by spectrophotometric and electrochemical tests. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-pic-rylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) results were highly correlated with each other; likewise, a good correlation was found between Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) values, both based on the direct transfer of electrons. The antiproliferative effect on normal cells (fibroblasts), and on colon (RKO and SW48) and breast (MCF7) cancer cells was evaluated. Additionally, this paper marks the first application of chestnut extracts to investigate their effects on melanoma (B16F10) cells. The MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) test demonstrated that temperature and different extraction times significantly influenced the growth of cells, both normal and tumor. The fibroblast growth was significantly inhibited by moderate doses of cold extracts, while the GI50 values calculated for hot extracts were high, regardless of the accession or cultivar. An even more marked inhibitory action of the cold extracts was observed both on the growth of RKO and SW48 cells and on B16F10 melanoma cells. Otherwise, an extract concentration, both cold and hot, of no less than 243 µg mL−1 is required to achieve a 50% inhibition of MCF7 cell growth