The effect of packaging on the sales of fresh milk in Cyprus

The fresh milk sold in Cyprus comes from organized cattle farms, is collected, is transported to the processing plants in refrigerated stainless steel tanks and owing to the small distances, the milk is transported to the processing plants in maximum 2-3 hours. The processing plants in Cyprus are all HACCP certified and use similar pasteurizing methods. The above mean that the fresh milk sold by the four processors is of the same quality and due to regulations of the Ministry and of Commerce and Industry, the milk is sold at the same prices. The fresh milk companies can only increase their market share by adding some innovation in their product offering. The innovation which is used relates to the packaging of fresh milk which was made possible after the companies stopped selling fresh milk in glass bottles and adopted plastic bottles and the paper tetra-pack package. From the literature reviewed carried out in the context of this project, revealed how fresh milk marketers can use the packaging to gain competitive advantage. Some of the successful packaging ideas involved such parameters as size, shape, colours, wordings and other features. In order to discover what features to include in the design of the fresh milk packaging, qualitative and quantitative research was undertaken. Three specially selected focus groups discussed possible ways and arrived to definite suggestions which are given in chapters 4 and 5 of this project report. The quantitative research carried out amongst 800 fresh milk users was a telephone survey which had the objective to find out in what ways the packaging affects the sales of fresh milk and what design changes must be made which are originated from the consumers and not from the professional designers. Owing to the large size of the representative sample who took part in the telephone survey, the conclusions reached have a very high degree of validity

Phytochemical analysis and antioxidant activity of Lycium barbarum (Goji) cultivated in Greece

Context: The fruit of Lycium barbarum L. (Solanaceae), known as goji berry, has been exploited for a long time in traditional Chinese medicine. In recent decades, it has received much attention as one of the trendiest functional foods with a wide array of pharmacological activities in Western diets. Objective: In this study the phenolic profile and potential antioxidant capacity of Lycium barbarum cultivated in Crete (Greece) were investigated. Materials and methods: The berries were defatted with hexane and then extracted with dichloromethane and methanol using a Soxhlet apparatus. Furthermore, the methanol extract was fractionated with ethyl acetate and butanol. All fractions/extracts were tested for their antioxidant activity (DPPH, FRAP, chemiluminescence). Folin–Ciocalteu and LC-DAD-MS analyses were utilized for the identification of the phenolic compounds. Results: The total phenolic content ranged from 14.13 ± 0.40 (water fraction) to 109.72 ± 4.09 (ethyl acetate fraction) mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry extract. Ethyl acetate extract exhibited the highest scavenging activities determined as EC50 (4.73 ± 0.20 mg/mL) and IC50 (0.47 ± 0.001 mg/mL) using DPPH and chemiluminescence assays. Seventeen phenolic compounds, including cinnamoylquinic acids and derivatives, hydrocinnamic acids and flavonoid derivatives, were tentatively identified. To the best of our knowledge, quercetin 3-O-hexose coumaric ester and quercetin 3-O-hexose-O-hexose-O-rhamnose are reported for the first time in goji berry fruits. Discussion and conclusion: The results of this study suggest that consumption of goji berry fruits could serve as a potential source of natural antioxidant compounds and that goji berry phenolic extracts could be exploited for nutritional pharmaceutical purposes

Phytochemical analysis with the antioxidant and aldose reductase inhibitory capacities of <i>Tephrosia humilis</i> aerial parts’ extracts

<p>The aerial parts of <i>Tephrosia humilis</i> were tested about their antioxidant potential, their ability to inhibit the aldose/aldehyde reductase enzymes and their phenolic content. The plant material was exhaustively extracted with petroleum ether, dichloromethane and methanol, consecutively. The concentrated methanol extract was re-extracted, successively, with diethyl ether, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. All extracts showed significant antioxidant capacity, but the most effective was the ethyl acetate extract. As about the aldose reductase inhibition, all fractions, except the aqueous, were strong inhibitors of the enzyme, with the n-butanolic and ethyl acetate fractions to inhibit the enzyme above 75%. These findings provide support to the ethnopharmacological usage of the plant as antioxidant and validate its potential to act against the long-term diabetic complications. The phytochemical analysis showed the presence of 1,4-dihydroxy-3,4-(epoxyethano)-5-cyclohexene(<b>1</b>), cleroindicin E(<b>2</b>), lupeol(<b>3</b>), methyl p-coumarate(<b>4</b>), methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate(<b>5</b>), prunin(<b>6</b>), 5,7,2ʹ,5ʹ-tetrahydroxyflavanone 7-rutinoside(<b>7</b>), protocatechuic acid(<b>8</b>), luteolin 7-glucoside(<b>9</b>), apigenin(<b>10</b>), naringin(<b>11</b>), rhoifolin(<b>12</b>) and luteolin 7-glucuronate(<b>13</b>).</p