La gestione del rischio allergologico nella legislazione comunitaria in materia di etichettatura alimentare

FAO and WHO pay particularly attention to food allergies. For this purpose, they designated the Codex Alimentarius Commission to list ingredients that trigger the most frequent and severe allergic reactions, and they must be labeled on food. In Europe, the main food allergens are more numerous than those considered by Codex Alimentarius and so, the EU increased the list of allergens that must be labeled. We described the presence of allergens in some Italian fermented beverages without an adequate labeling, and we described the possible reasons for the non-compliance to the regulations in this matter: the translation of the complex legal phraseology into the different languages of the EU, in conjunction with the lack of specific technological expertise of translators, produced a text that could be misunderstood. For this reason, it seems important to provide in Italian an excursus on the succession of regulations regarding the food allergenic risk, underlining the possible reasons of the misinterpretation of the actual one

A Method for the Preparative Separation of Beer Proteins and Glycocompounds

The overall evaluation of foodstuffs and the "numerical" description of food qualities play an important role in scientific food research. Concentration and characteristics of beer proteins and glycocompounds can strongly influence the "quality" of the product. The quanti-qualitative studies of these molecules are therefore of crucial importance, but at the same time represent a difficult task as a consequence of all of the interfering substances present in the beverage. Recently, we have described a straightforward two-step method for almost pure protein and glycoprotein fractionated recovery from wine. The method represents an upgrade of the previously described KDS-precipitation (i.e., complexation of proteins with dodecyl sulphate, added as sodium salts, and subsequent insolubilization of the protein-detergent complexes by addition of potassium ions added as KCl). Here we present the application of the protocol to different beer samples. The protocol involves the successive precipitation by acetone of glycocompounds from the KDS supernatant. In this way, a fractionated preparation of proteins and glycocompounds from a few millilitres of beverage could be obtained and these molecules could be quantified. The obtained proteins and glycoproteins are almost free from interfering molecules and are directly utilizable for electrophoretic assays

Evaluation of fining efficiency of corn zeins in red wine: a preliminary study

The use of corn zeins, extracted from commercial maize flour under both reducing conditions, in fining a red wine was investigated and compared with two commercial animal gelatins (G1, non-hydrolyzed and G3, hydrolyzed). RZ, but not NRZ, showed a good fining actionin terms of decreasing turbidity and removing phenolic compounds such as anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, indicating that protein reductionis needed for fining ability. The results indicate that zeins, if extracted from corn under reducing conditions, could be a good substitute for animal proteins in red wine fining

Wine hazing: A predictive assay based on protein and glycoprotein independent recovery and quantification

A two-step method to recover separately wine proteins and glycoproteins, useful to quantify and to analyse them by electrophoresis, has been presented. Five different unclarified wines from North of Italy were utilised. The results indicate that in our samples protein and glycoprotein concentrations are different while their electrophoretic patterns are almost superimposable. Finally, relations between protein and glycoprotein concentrations and haze tendency of the different wines were investigated. The resultsconfirm the existence of a straight correlation between haze tendency and both protein concentration and protein/glycoprotein ratio

Ossigeno e condizionamento del redox nella elaborazione ed affinamento dei vini

Ossigeno e condizionamento del redox nella elaborazione ed affinamento dei vin

Effect of cryoextraction on phenols fractions of musts derived from white grape varieties

Effect of cryoextraction on phenols fractions of musts derived from white grape varietie

Repair of mucosa stomal prolapse with circular stapler. Technical note.

Mucosal stomal prolapse is a frequent complication of end colostomies. We describe here an original mucosal colostomy prolapse repair technique using a circular stapling device. This technique stems from the recent introduction of stapled muco-haemorrhoidectomy and was employed on a 68-year-old male patient who had undergone a Miles abdominoperineal excision 17 years earlier. On clinical inspection the patient presented a 5-cm. mucosal stomal prolapse on straining. The surgical procedure was performed under i.v. sedation with midazolam and propofol. After draping the abdomen, the stomal mucosa was gently everted with the aid of three Allis forceps, and a 1.0 prolene purse string suture was created 4-6 cm. cephalad to the cutaneous rim of the stoma. The head of a 33-mm circular stapler was introduced and the purse string suture was tied. The mechanical stapler was prepared and fired, thus obtaining a resection anastomosis of the prolapsed stomal mucosa. No bleeding occurred. A 24-F bladder catheter was placed cephalad to the stapled line and removed on postoperative day one. The patient was discharged from hospital the day after surgery. During a 16-month follow-up neither complications nor relapses have so far been observed. Our technique appears to be simple and safe. We believe it is indicated only for mucosal stomal prolapses, while full-thickness stomal prolapses should be managed by conventional techniques. A larger cohort of patients is needed to confirm our preliminary result

Laparoscopic approach to inguinal hernia pathology.

Laparoscopic hernia repair has already become as accepted a technique as the conventional ones and is routinely used in those centres where this kind of surgery is normally performed. The two most commonly used laparoscopic techniques (transabdominal and total extraperitoneal) have been shown to produce good results in terms of post-operative course and recurrence rates, but still present the disadvantages of high cost and the need for general anaesthesia. We report here a retrospective analysis of our early experience with laparoscopic treatment of inguino-crural hernias. The positive results achieved (no cases of conversion to an open technique; no recurrences to date; 4.7% major morbidity) allow us to consider this approach a valid alternative to the traditional ones in selected, well-informed patients