Novel dry state co-milling encapsulation of olive leaf extract

Micro-encapsulation or nano-encapsulation is nowadays representing an interesting strategy to enhance the functionality of bioactives and other biomolecules, serving several purposes such as solubility enhancement, increased gastrointestinal absorption or targeted delivery of bioactive compounds (Li et al., 2015). High energy ball milling is used in the pharmaceutical industry to produce fine dispersions or “molecular alloys” of the active ingredient in a carrier/matrix to enhance solubility and bioavailability (Bandarkar and Vavia, 2011), to produce similar solid dispersion obtained with freeze-dying or spray drying (Willart et al., 2006). Modified starch by ball milling has been applied to encapsulate β-carotene (Roa et al., 2016), but no co-milling in the dry state to encapsulate food bioactives has been implemented yet. Olive leaves phenolic compounds have been widely studied for their health promoting properties (Martín-Peláez et al., 2013) In this work, olive leaf extract (OLE) was co-milled with maltodextrin/maltodextrin-trehalose as carrier, at different ratios and milling treatment time, using a planetary ball-mill. A milling time of 60 min resulted in maximized encapsulation efficiency (95-97%). When a higher ratio of OLE to matrix was applied, encapsulation efficiency was slightly lower compared to lower ratio up to 60 min treatment, but was maximized upon longer treatment. Microstructural analysis of the highly encapsulated OLE dispersions (60-180min) using CLSM microscopy showed fine and homogeneously distributed dispersion of OLE in the internal surface of the maltodextrin/maltodextrin-trehalose matrix. Also in these samples, OLE seemed to be protected from environmental moisture/solvent compared to low encapsulated samples (0-30min) as observed during microscopy analysis. Colour analysis of powder dispersions highlights that co-milling resulted in lighter yellowish homogeneous powders as compared to non-milled, thereby masking the brownish-yellowish colour of OLE. Further experiments are needed to confirm the encapsulation and stabilization of OLE by co-milling with a carrier in order to produce stable ingredients with nutritional and health promoting potential. References BANDARKAR, F. S. & VAVIA, P. R. 2011. An optimized commercially feasible milling technique for molecular encapsulation of meloxicam in beta-cyclodextrin. Drug Dev Ind Pharm, 37, 1318-28. MARTÍN-PELÁEZ, S., COVAS, M. I., FITÓ, M., KUŠAR, A. & PRAVST, I. 2013. Health effects of olive oil polyphenols: Recent advances and possibilities for the use of health claims. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 57, 760-771. ROA, D. F., BUERA, M. P., TOLABA, M. P. & SANTAGAPITA, P. R. 2016. Encapsulation and Stabilization of β-Carotene in Amaranth Matrices Obtained by Dry and Wet Assisted Ball Milling. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 10, 512-521. WILLART, J. F., DESCAMPS, N., CARON, V., CAPET, F., DANÈDE, F. & DESCAMPS, M. 2006. Formation of lactose-mannitol molecular alloys by solid state vitrification. Solid State Communications, 138, 194-199

Qualità degli alimenti: attributi e indici (Module 2.1)

In questo capitolo saranno introdotti i principali concetti della qualità alimentare e gli attributi che contribuiscono nel definirla. - Qualità degli alimenti: definizione generale - Proprietà della qualità - Fattori che influiscono sulla qualità degli alimenti - Standard qualitativi degli aliment

Food Science and Technology Students Self-Evaluate Soft and Technical Skills

Food Scientists and Technologists (FS&T) need diverse skills in the globalized food and drink sector:Food-specific or scientific / technical skills and generic or intuitive soft skills. This study determined how satisfied FS&T students were with overall improvement, and in key technical and soft skills, based on their university work; and if satisfaction was linked to geography, degree in progress, anticipated degree, anticipated work place or anticipated job responsibility. An on-line survey was completed by 267 students in over 20 countries using a 5-point Likert scale to evaluate satisfaction. Responses were analyzed by the Friedman or Kruskal Wallis tests for more than two groups, otherwise by the Wilcoxon Signed Rank or Mann-Whitney tests. There were no differences in Overall Satisfaction with technical and soft skills training. Among soft skills, training in Working with Others and Being Responsible were more often rated “Excellent” and students were more satisfied with their training than with Solving Problems, Communication and Positive Attitude. Students anticipating a job with high responsibility were more satisfied with overall soft skill training and with 3 of the 5 specific soft skills. Among technical skills, students were more satisfied with improvement in basic sciences (Microbiology, Chemistry, Processing, Safety), and those in Northern Europe were more satisfied with overall technical training. These data show variations in perception and/or efficacy of technical and soft skill training in Food Science programmes and underline the need for separate attention to the incorporation of soft skill training into the design of FS&T course

Identifying most important skills for PhD students in Food Science and Technology: a comparison between industry and academic stakeholders

Nowadays, there is an increasing need of new skills for PhD students to face the future labour market prospects. PhD graduates must have qualities attractive not only in academia but also outside, in both manufacture and service-oriented enterprises, in small innovative companies, and in the civil services and public administration, among others. To know what the needs of these future employees are, is of great importance to be able to improve their personal and academic formation. The aim of this work was, in the framework of the EC-funded ISEKI Food 4 network, to evaluate the most desirable specific and soft skills that PhD students should acquire by the end of their doctoral studies. To this aim, several surveys were conducted and sent to the different stakeholders (academia and food industry partners) in order to collect the information needed. Results showed that competences related to research skills and techniques, research management, personal effectiveness and communication skills were considered to be the most valuable skills to be acquired by our PhD students to meet the future needs of the labour market. The importance of these skills was appreciated differently, depending on the stakeholder. To sum up, some recommendations to integrate such valuable skills into the curricula of the PhD student are given

Radical scavenging activity of olive oil phenolic antioxidants in oil or water phase during the oxidation of O/W emulsions: An oxidomics approach

Omics approaches are recently being applied also in food lipid oxidation, to increase knowledge of oxidation and antioxidation mechanisms. The so-called oxidomics throws a wider spot of light on the complex patterns of reactions taking place in food lipids, especially in dispersed systems. This research aimed to investigate the radical scavenging activity of olive oil phenolic antioxidants (OPAs) in O/W emulsions, as affected by the phase in which they were added. This allowed one to assess whether different behaviors could be expected from antioxidants originally present in phenolic-rich olive oils compared to natural antioxidants added in the water phase during emulsion production. Hydroperoxide decomposition kinetics and the analysis of volatile pattern provided an outline of antioxidation mechanisms. Though being effective in slowing down oxidation when added both in the oil and water phase, OPAs interfered in different ways with oxidation pathways, based on the phase in which they were added. OPAs added to the water phase were more effective in slowing down hydroperoxide decomposition due to the hydrophilic radical initiator. On the other hand, OPAs present in the oil were more effective in preventing radical propagation, with relevant consequences on the volatile pattern

Meat quality of Italian Simmental young bulls as affected by the genes frequency of Montbéliarde origin

The aim of the research was the evaluation of carcass and meat quality traits of Italian Simmental young bulls, and their relationship with the degree of inclusion of genes of Montbéliarde origin

Whole genome integrity and enhanced developmental potential in ram freeze-dried spermatozoa at mild sub-zero temperature

Freeze-dried spermatozoa typically shows a reduction in fertility primarily due to the DNA damage resulting from the sublimation process. In order to minimize the physical/mechanical damage resulting from lyophilization, here we focused on the freezing phase, comparing two cooling protocols: (i) rapid-freezing, where ram sperm sample is directly plunged into liquid nitrogen (LN-group), as currently done; (ii) slow-freezing, where the sample is progressively cooled to − 50 °C (SF-group). The spermatozoa dried in both conditions were analysed to assess residual water content by Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and DNA integrity using Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay (SCSA). TGA revealed more than 90% of water subtraction in both groups. A minor DNA damage, Double-Strand Break (DSB) in particular, characterized by a lower degree of abnormal chromatin structure (Alpha-T), was detected in the SF-group, comparing to the LN-one. In accordance with the structural and DNA integrity data, spermatozoa from SF-group had the best embryonic development rates, comparing to LN-group: cleaved embryos [42/100 (42%) versus 19/75 (25.3%), P < 0.05, SL and LN respectively] and blastocyst formation [7/100 (7%) versus 2/75 (2.7%), P < 0.05, SF and LN respectively]. This data represents a significant technological advancement for the development of lyophilization as a valuable and cheaper alternative to deep-freezing in LN for ram semen

In vitro starch digestibility and fate of crocins in pasta enriched with saffron extract

[EN] This work aims to study the effect of the addition of saffron extract on fresh pasta in-vitro digestibility. Fresh pasta was formulated with different concentrations of saffron extracts (0.2 and 0.4 %w/w), cooked at two different times (1.5 and 3¿min), and in vitro digested (oral, gastric and intestinal stages). Oil was added to pasta before digestion to evaluate the presence of lipids on starch and crocin bioaccessibility. Saffron enrichment and oil addition slowed down the digestion of starch, thus, decreasing the glycemic index of pasta. Concentration of saffron and oil addition contributed to crocin release in the digestion fluids, with the opposite effect of cooking time. Isomerization from trans to cis was enhanced by both, cooking and oil addition. Bioaccessibility of total crocins varied from 2.9¿±¿1.1, to 97¿±¿3%. Finally, the trans:cis isomers distribution was only close to 50:50 in enriched-pasta cooked during 3¿min or with oil addition.Authors are thankful the Province of Bolzano for financial support (Landesregierung mittels Beschluss Nr. 1472, 07.10.2013) and also the Research Institute for Food Research and Development at the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), for laboratory facilities.Armellini, R.; Peinado, I.; Asensio-Grau, A.; Pittia, P.; Scampicchio, M.; Heredia Gutiérrez, AB.; Andrés Grau, AM. (2019). In vitro starch digestibility and fate of crocins in pasta enriched with saffron extract. Food Chemistry. 283:155-163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.01.041S15516328