Effect of Respiratory Growth on the Metabolite Production and Stress Robustness of Lactobacillus casei N87 Cultivated in Cheese Whey Permeate Medium

Cheese whey permeate (WP) is a low-cost feedstock used for the production of biomass and metabolites from several lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains. In this study, Lactobacillus casei N87 was cultivated in an optimized WP medium (WPM) to evaluate the effect of anaerobic and respiratory conditions on the growth performances (kinetics, biomass yield), consumption of sugars (lactose, galactose, glucose) and citrate, metabolite production [organic acids, volatile organic compounds (VOCs)] and stress survival (oxidative, heat, freezing, freeze-drying). The transcription of genes involved in the main pathways for pyruvate conversion was quantified through Real Time-PCR to elucidate the metabolic shifts due to respiratory state. Cultivation in WPM induced a diauxic growth in both anaerobic and respiratory conditions, and L. casei N87 effectively consumed the lactose and galactose present in WPM. Genomic information suggested that membrane PTS system and tagatose-6-P pathway mediated the metabolism of lactose and galactose in L. casei N87. Respiration did not affect specific growth rate and biomass production, but significantly altered the pyruvate conversion pathways, reducing lactate accumulation and promoting the formation of acetate, acetoin and diacetyl to ensure the redox balance. Ethanol was not produced under either cultivation. Pyruvate oxidase (pox), acetate kinase (ack), alpha-acetolactate decarboxylase (ald), acetolactate synthase (als) and oxaloacetate decarboxylase (oad) genes were up-regulated under respiration, while L-lactate dehydrogenase (ldh), pyruvate formate lyase (pfl), pyruvate carboxylase (pyc), and phosphate acetyltransferase (pta) were down regulated by oxygen. Transcription analysis was consistent with metabolite production, confirming that POX-ACK and ALS-ALD were the alternative pathways activated under aerobic cultivation. Respiratory growth affected the production of volatile compounds useful for the development of aroma profile in several fermented foods, and promoted the survival of L. casei N87 to oxidative stresses and long-term storage. This study confirmed that the respiration-based technology coupled with cultivation on low-cost medium may be effectively exploited to produce competitive and functional starter and/or adjunct cultures. Our results, additionally, provided further information on the activation and regulation of metabolic pathways in homofermentative LAB grown under respiratory promoting conditions

The IT4NUEVOO Project

Ogni produttore di olio extravergine di oliva (EVOO) è consapevole che la qualità dell’olio prodotto ha un ruolo chiave nella strategia per incoraggiare nuove occasioni di consumo e affrontare le sfide di un mercato globale. Tuttavia, allo stato attuale, in tutti i Paesi produttori è sensibilmente più alta la quantità di olio vergine di oliva (VOO) di scarsa qualità piuttosto che di EVOO. La dimensione aziendale degli oleifici rende molto difficile l'investimento nella ricerca per sviluppare tecnologie, protocolli di estrazione o nuovi prodotti. Dall'altra parte, il consumatore richiede un prodotto di alta qualità con elevate caratteristiche salutistiche e possibilmente nutraceutiche. Per questo motivo diversi studi e progetti sono stati realizzati per sviluppare e verificare come la singola operazione e/o tecnologia di processo influenzano l’estrazione e la qualità dell'olio di oliva. Tuttavia, tutti i risultati sono influenzati da un'elevata variabilità, come molti Autori riportano, a causa di molteplici fattori esterni. Pertanto, il legame intercorrente fra le singole operazioni tecnologiche con la qualità e le proprietà salutari risultano, fino ad ora, non ben definiti a causa di fattori incontrollati. Il progetto IT4NUEVOO ha avuto come obiettivo l'ottimizzazione del processo di estrazione al fine di migliorare la resa di estrazione e delle sostanze antiossidanti presenti nelle olive. La ricerca industriale e lo sviluppo sperimentale del progetto sono stati finalizzati allo sviluppo di un nuovo prodotto alimentare denominato NUEVOO ed alla messa a punto di un protocollo di produzione che integri il ciclo produttivo con nuove macchine per migliorare l’estrazione dei composti polifenolici.Every producer of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is aware that the quality of the oil produced plays a key role in the strategy aiming to encourage new consumption opportunities and to face the challenges of a global market. However, at present, in all producing countries the amount of poor-quality virgin olive oil (VOO) is significantly higher than EVOO. The company size of the oil mills makes it very difficult to invest in research to develop technologies, extraction protocols or new products. On the other hand, the consumer requires a high-quality product with high health and possibly nutraceutical characteristics. For this reason, several studies and projects have been carried out to develop and verify how the single operation and/or process technology affects the extraction and quality of olive oil. However, all results are influenced by a high variability, as many authors report, due to several external factors. Therefore, the link between the individual technological operations with the quality and health properties is, until now, not well defined due to uncontrolled factors. The IT4NUEVOO project aimed to optimise the extraction process in order to improve the extraction yield and the antioxidant substances present in the oil. The industrial and experimental research of the project were aimed to the development of a new food product called NUEVOO and of a new production protocol integrating the production cycle with new machines in order to improve the polyphenolic compounds extraction

A Low-Temperature and Low-Pressure Distillation Plant for Dairy Wastewater

The paper investigates an alternative treatment plant for the typical wastewater effluent of a cheese-making industry, mainly composed of acid or sweet whey mixed with washing water. Two variable parameters have been considered during the tests: four treatment temperatures (39, 46, 53 and 60 °C) and three solid content values (30%, 50% and 70%) of the concentrated product. The minimum and maximum values of the removal efficiency (pollutant amount into concentrate related to raw whey) range from 94.6% to 97.7% for conductivity, from 98.3% to 99.5% for BOD5, from 98.7% to 99.6% for COD and from 98.2% to 99.3% for Total Nitrogen. The plant capacity ranges from about 2 L/h (at 39 °C) to 6 L/h (at 60 °C) of processed whey. On the basis of the experimental findings, the proposed purification technology has demonstrated its suitability both to purify the effluent wastewater and to recover high-quality products (e.g., whey protein concentrate, lactose), thanks to its low thermal damage on the treated product and to its relatively low energy consumption from 0.4 kWh/L (at 60 °C) to 1.0 kWh/L (at 39 °C) of processed whey, with a Coefficient of Performance from approximately 0.6 up to 1.5

Postharvest Technologies of Fresh Citrus Fruit: Advances and Recent Developments for the Loss Reduction during Handling and Storage

Citrus spp. are spread mainly in the Mediterranean basin and represent the largest fruit source for human consumption. Postharvest losses, mainly due to diseases and metabolic disorders of fruits, can cause severe wastage, reaching 30 to 50% of the total production. Preserving quality and extending shelf life are essential objectives for postharvest technological innovation, determined by the proper handling, treatment, storage and transport of harvested produce. Moreover, the application of novel sustainable strategies is critical for the reduction of synthetic fungicide residues on fruit surfaces and the impact on the environment caused by waste disposal of fungicides. In this article, the current knowledge about the safest and more sustainable strategies, as well as advanced postharvest handling and storage technologies, will be critically reviewed

Health tourism: an opportunity for sustainable development

In February 2017, the “Programma Mattone Internazionale Salute” (ProMis), that is the Italian Program for Internationalization of Regional Health Systems of the Ministry of Health (MoH), presented the first version of its Position Paper on Health Tourism, which embeds a first shared approach to the recommendations expressed by the European Committee of Regions (CoR) on "AgeFriendly" tourism. The CoR stresses the importance of local and regional authorities in the coordination of multi-sectoral policies such as healthcare, social assistance, transport, urban planning and rural development in relation to the promotion of mobility, security, accessibility of services, including health care and social services. "Age-friendly" tourism is an example of an innovative tourist offer that strives to meet the health needs of the entire "traveling" population, with an integrated and cross-sector approach that involves various organizations operating in sectors such as healthcare, accessibility and transport. The aim of the workshop was to explore the interest of the stakeholders to participate in a systemic action in the field of "health" tourism, and to identify priority implementation areas that offer opportunities to take advantage of validated, innovative experiences that strengthen the accessibility to health and social services in regional, national and international contexts. This effort provides the opportunity to take advantage of aligning the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) to the development of tourism, coherently with the needs and resources of local and regional health authorities

A comparison among innovative plants for high quality extra-virgin olive oil production

The cleaning operation of extra-virgin olive oil, subsequent to its extraction, is generally performed by means of a vertical disc stack centrifuge separator causing qualitative damage due to increased oxidative alterations. However, previous works have demonstrated the great opportunity that settling represents in order to improve the EVOO quality performing the separation operation with minimal qualitative damage

An Innovative Smart Device to Control Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) of Fruit and Vegetables

This paper describes an innovative smart device (BLOW®) for controlling gaseous exchanges between the inside and outside atmosphere of a sealed container during storage of solid or liquid food produce. The smart device has been tested in preliminary trials carried out on rocket leaves (Eruca sativa), under two modified atmospheres (MAP) (5% O2 and 5% CO2 for MAP A and 5% O2 and 10% CO2 for MAP B) and stored at low temperature (4°C +/- 1°C), in order to evaluate the shelf-life. Results show that not significant differences were found among treatments for both mass loss and colour (except L for MAP B treatment using BLOW®). After 12 days of cold storage vitamin C content resulted higher and significantly different in all the treatments with respect to control, resulting also in a better "appearance" and "odour" score (on a scale from 1 to 5) for MAP treatments. The tested smart device shows interesting capabilities to improve the quality of fruit and vegetables. The use the smart device, even without MAP, allowed to obtain an effective shelf-life increase of the packed rocket leaves stored at 4°C

Evolution of microbial counts and chemical and physico-chemical parameters in high-moisture Mozzarella cheese during refrigerated storage

The microbiological quality, pH, colour, proteolysis and head space composition (using an electronic nose) of several commercial brands of high-moisture Mozzarella cheese produced in Italy were evaluated at the beginning and at the end (5 days) of refrigerated storage in order to evaluate the effect of the acidification system (direct acid addition or use of starter cultures) and storage on the quality of the cheese. A high variability was found for most parameters. At the end of storage all parameters were affected by the mode of acidification and cheese produced by direct acid addition had a significantly lower microbiological quality; counts of psychrotrophs exceeded 107 cfu/g for most samples and microbial counts showed a significant correlation with the residual shelf life. Multivariate analysis confirmed that samples at the beginning and at the end of storage were clearly separated but no grouping based on the mode of acidification was found. The electronic nose was only partially successful (80% correct classification) in classifying the cheeses on the basis of storage time or of microbial counts. This is likely to be due to the variety of brands used in the analysis and to differences in the starter systems or acidification mode used

Characterization of an innovative device controlling gaseous exchange in packages for food products

The work describes both the characterization carried out and the experimental results from an innovative device allowing the gas exchange across a sealed package. The device is especially suitable for fresh fruit and vegetable preservation during cold storage, as it allows for the management of the headspace atmosphere inside sealed packages containing food products presenting metabolic activity. Characterization results confirm the device's suitability for managing the bidirectional gas flow. For each tested device, the hydro-dynamical parameter and the diffusion parameter have been measured to define its steady-state behaviour. The steady-state gas concentrations reached in the package show the aptness of the devices for use with specific products; these equilibrium gas concentrations depend on the device type and on the mass of product contained in the package.The results of simulated storage demonstrate that some products (pomegranate arils and table grapes) require preconditioning of the package free volume to reach the optimal gas concentrations in a short time. Other products (black truffle) with very high metabolic activity could reach the optimal condition without package preconditioning depending on the free volume