Editorial: Sustainable solutions in food technology, volume II

This is the second edition of the Research Topic—Sustainable Solutions in Food Technology and it consists of four articles that provide recent advances and insights on new technologies and food sources that ensure food quality and safety while also having a positive environmental impact. The article of Moreira et al. presents pequi (Caryocar brasiliense) waste extract as a synergistic agent in the microbial and physicochemical preservation of low-sodium raw goat cheese. To investigate the effect of pequi waste extract (PWE), combined with UV-C radiation (CEU) and vacuum packaging (CEV) a Principal Component Analysis was applied. The results showed that CEV samples presented lower loadings for Enterobacteriaceae and Staphylococcus subsp. compared with other treatments. A count reduction up to 3-fold (p < 0.05) was observed compared to when vacuum treatment was used alone. On the other hand, CEU presented an increase of up to 1.2-fold in staphylococcal count compared to the treatment only with UV-C. A 8.5% protein loss was shown when PWE was added to UV-C-treated cheeses. During storage, PWE, particularly in CEV, delayed post-acidification. CEV was more stable for color and texture, up to 4.5 and 1.6-fold, respectively, compared with the vacuum treatment. The obtained results indicate that PWE, when combined with the vacuum, may be a new and promising synergistic agent in the microbial and physicochemical preservation of low-sodium raw milk cheese.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

New development of β-chitosan from jumbo squid pens (Dosidicus gigas) and its structural, physicochemical, and biological properties

β-chitin/chitosan extracted from newly utilized jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) pens were investigated in respect to their physicochemical properties, polymeric structures, deacetylation and depolymerization characteristics, and antioxidant and antibacterial activities. These functional properties were further compared with α-chitin/chitosan prepared from shrimp shells. Due to the low mineral content (< 1%) and negligible pigment in squid pens, demineralization and depigmentation steps could be omitted when extracting β-chitin. Molecular weight (Mw) and moisture content of deproteinized β-chitin were significantly higher than those of α-chitin. Crystallographic structure of β-chitin was distinguished from that of α-chitin, in which β-chitin had less inter-molecular hydrogen bond than α-chitin along with lower crystallinity (CI). β-chitin could convert into α-form as the result of alkali treatment, and the resulted α-chitin exerted significantly higher moisture absorption ability than the native α-chitin, thus retaining higher susceptibility of native β-chitin by means of the polymorphic destruction. The Kurita method using NaOH was an effective deacetylation treatment to obtain β-chitosan with high Mw and a wide range of DDA, and cellulase was more susceptible than lysozyme to degrade β-chitosan for obtaining low Mw of product. To obtain similar DDA of α- and β-chitosan, lower concentrations of NaOH and shorter reaction times were required for β-chitin than that for α-chitin. In addition, β-chitosan was more susceptible to cellulase hydrolysis than α-chitosan. High Mw (280-300 kDa) of β-chitosan exerted extremely lower half maximal effective concentrations (EC₅₀) than α-chitosan, i.e., higher antioxidant activity based on DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing ability. The 75% DDA/31 kDa β-chitosan exerted higher inhibition against E. coli (lower MIC) than that of 75% DDA/31 kDa α-chitosan, whereas opposite result was observed in 90% DDA/74-76 kDa α- and β-chitosan. This difference could be due to the impact of the different structural properties between α- and β-chitosan on chitosan conformations in the solution, altering the surface phenomenon of protonated chitosan with negatively charged bacterial cells in the suspension. Therefore, jumbo squid pens can be commercially employed to extract functional β-chitin/chitosan with desirable structural, physicochemical, and biological activities

Editorial: Sustainable Solutions in Food Technology

The sustainability of the food system is one of the key goals for a sustainable society.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio