Emerging Technologies in the Area of Food Sciences

In the modern era, world has experienced tremendous boost in the field of food science and technology, realising its impact on the economic growth and people’s standard of living. India is using its newer technology for food processing in the field of science and technology. We are among the world’s top nations in the number of scientific publications and patents in food technology. The government has made considerable investment and is encouraging public-private partnership to achieve self-reliance in different agricultural sectors. It has a strong presence in the field of biotechnology, particularly related to agriculture technology, including pre- and post-harvest management, processing technology etc.

Towards Protecting Critical National Assets and Preparedness for Response to Hazardous Chemical, Biological and Radiological Attacks

Hazardous chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) materials are catching attention of unscrupulous actors for creating terror and havoc. Threat perception for use of such materials by terrorists and non-state actors for malicious purposes, is not imaginative but real and imminent in today’s context. World has witnessed a number of such incidences in the recent years, e.g., Mustard gas attack against Kurdish forces in Iraq; ricin laced letters sent to US President and others senators; use of Nerve gas agents in Syria; capturing of Uranium from University of al- Mousal, Iraq by IS, etc. National assets like critical buildings where main legislative, historical building, Hospitals are some of the likely targets for CBR attacks attract quick coverage by media. Authorities related with managing and safeguarding mechanisms of the facilities to prevent such events happening also to enhance their capabilities as well as effective response. Essential CBR security should include measures to rapidly detect and effectively deter the CBR incidences their deleterious consequences. In this review, protection of the critical facilities from CBR attacks and capacity in terms of infrastructure, specialised training and mutual aid have been discussed

Advances in the Value Addition to Foods-recent Trends

Value addition to foods may be done by several ways. It could be done by the use of preservative, food ingredients capable of eliciting functionalities and by fortification using micronutrients. There are novel and emerging food processing technologies that are possible to preserve the ingredients in the food intact. The shelf life enhancement of the processed food can be done by adapting newer packaging technologies. Food processing industries in many of the countries across the world generates huge quantity of by-products that can be put into use by value addition. These by-products have less use and create considerable environmental pollution. The by-products of the fruits, vegetables, etc. may be used for value addition adapting commercially viable approaches. Fermented foods are value added foods that could be developed using novel starters. It is also important to note the regulatory aspects of foods whenever the foods are preserved b y value additio

Poly (γ-) Glutamic Acid : A Promising Biopolymer

Poly (γ-) glutamic acid is a polymer of L or D - Glutamic acid units produced by          microorganisms as a defense mechanism as an act of stress tolerance. Production of γ-PGA by microbial source has been gaining attention due to its low cost of production and varied application with high compatibility and high biodegradability. Its application ranges from food industry to waste water treatment. γ-PGA is a major constituent of Japanese food - natto. PGA has vast applications in food, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, water treatment and other fields. The high research interest that currently is developing for γ-PGA is due to its potential as a biomedical material with a high biocompatibility and a fair biodegradability. In fact, γ-PGA is extensively used as a food additive and it is known to be hydrolytically degradable by water with or without intervening of proteases. An incessant number of publications dealing with the use of γ-PGA as drug delivery system are appearing in these last few years and several processes have been developed at large scale which are able to afford great amounts of this compound for industrial uses

Vertical Transmission of Chikungunya virus in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes from Northern India

Chikungunya virus is now recognised as a resurging arbovirus of global public health significance, with their circulation in both new and old world. It is horizontally transmitted among vertebrates by Aedes mosquitoes. So far, the existence of vertical transmission of Chikungunya virus in Aedes vector is riddled with conflicting reports. In this study, presence of Chikungunya virus was detected in adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that emerged from field-collected larvae from Gwalior, northern India during 2010. This was further confirmed through nucleotide sequencing that revealed the presence of novel east central south African (ECSA) genotype of Chikungunya virus. This provides molecular evidence for vertical transmission of Chikungunya virus in mosquitoes in nature, which may have important consequences for viral survival during inter-epidemic period and adverse climatic conditions

Non-destructive Quality Monitoring of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Quality determines the shelf life as well as selling price of fresh fruit or vegetable and therefore, quality monitoring and testing of fresh commodities have paramount importance in their postharvest handling and supply chain management. Most of the methods used to assess fruits and vegetables quality are destructive in nature. Now-a-days, various mechanical, optical, electromagnetic, and dynamic non-destructive methods are gaining importance due to ease in operations, faster turn over and reliability. Some of the non-destructive techniques (NDT) are currently being used in laboratories, research institutions and food packaging and processing industries, whereas, some methods are still at developmental stage. Various NDT with respect to their principle and applications such as impact test, electronic nose, time-resolved reflectance spectrometry (TSR), near infrared spectroscopy (NIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-Ray, ultra sonic, acoustic impulse response method, electrical conductivity methods etc., are discussed in this review

Rapid production of therapeutic proteins using plant system

Plant molecular farming is simply defined as the production of proteins therapeutics (PT) in plants, which involves transient gene expression in plants and purification of expressed protein to a great scale for diagnosis, treatment and other applications.  This is therapid,economical, safe and reproducible approach for the production of PTas compared to bacterial and mammalian systems. Protein yield and post-translational modifications are the major roadblocks that can be overcome byhigh expression strategies includes over expression constructs, suitable plant host systems and glycoengineering of proteins. The inherent ability of ideally producing safe, functional protein is the most striking phenomenon recognized by the pharmaceutical industries and developed many therapeutic products within few weeks to meet escalating demands during pandemic/epidemic outbreaks recentl

Moisture Sorption Characteristics of Ready-to-eat Chicken Wheat Crisps Prepared Using Resistant Starch and Chicken Powder with Wheat Flour

Fibre and protein enriched chicken wheat crisps were evaluated for their adsorption behaviour at a temperature range of 5 °C - 40 °C and a water activity range of 0.1-0.9. Sigmoid type II isotherm was obtained for the product and the sorption data was fitted to 3 models namely BET, GAB, and Peleg model. Each model was statistically evaluated by means of root mean square (%) and coefficient of determination (R2). Peleg and GAB gave the best fits for the moisture sorption data evaluated on the basis of regression analyses and goodness of fit. Surface area of adsorption was evaluated using parameter values obtained from the BET model and the surface area decreased with increase in temperature. Equilibrium moisture content at a particular water activity and isosteric heat of sorption were seen to decrease with increasing temperature. We conclude that the chicken wheat crisps can be stored at 25 °C for a better shelf life