Effect of Processing on Flavour Precursors, Pyrazines and Flavour Quality of Malaysian Cocoa Beans

Studies were conducted to determine the effect of processing (fermentation, drying and roasting) on flavour precursors and pyrazines concentration of cocoa beans and its flavour quality evaluation. Fermentation was carried out in a rotary drum reactor by subjecting the mixed hybrid of cocoa beans to 6-day fermentation. During fermentation, effect of mass and turning time on the concentrations of these compounds were determined. Drying of cocoa beans was carried out in a hot air oven at an airflow of O.7m2/sec. Similarly, during drying, effect of bean depth and temperature were determined. Thirteen treatments of fermentation and drying were carried out according to a central composite rotatable design configuration for two factors. The effect of roasting on the concentrations of flavour precursors and pyrazines was compared with air-blown and sun-dried of drum and pod-storage fermentation and a tested representative Ghanaian sample. The resultant beans were made into cocoa liquor for flavour quality evaluation. Fermentation significantly decreased the concentration of acidic free amino acids in cocoa beans by 15%, whereas total, hydrophobic and other amino acids increased significantly by 148, 280 and 127%, respectively; peptide-N and total reducing sugars increased by 55 and 208%, respectively. The study found six types of pyrazines, with trimethyl- and tetramethylpyrazine being the major compounds. During cocoa fermentation, an increase in cocoa mass and turning time significantly increased the concentrations of flavour precursors and pyrazines. Results from the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) plots of hydrophobic free amino acids, peptide-N and total reducing sugars recommended mass and turning time for optimum condition of cocoa fermentation were at 60 kg and 5 min turning per day after 48 hr of fermentation. During drying, an increase in bean depth and temperature significantly decreased the concentrations of flavour precursors, but significantly increased the pyrazines concentration. In addition, total, acidic, hydrophobic and other amino acids decreased by 43, 41, 36 and 49%, respectively; peptide-N and total reducing sugars decreased by 56 and 71%, respectively; and trimethyl- and tetramethylpyrazine increased by 167 and 609%, respectively. Bean depth of 8.3 cm and temperature of 40°C were chosen as the optimum conditions for drying treatment. Under this condition, the concentrations of hydrophobic free amino acids,peptide-N and total reducing sugars were highly significant, whereas those of trimethyl-, tetramethyl- and total pyrazines were significantly low. Roasting the samples at 150°C for 30 min significantly decreased the concentrations of acidic, hydrophobic, total and other free amino acids, peptide-N and total reducing sugars but significantly increased the pyrazines concentration. There were no significant differences in the decrease of the concentration of hydrophobic free amino acids, peptide-N and total reducing sugars in the air-blown samples of different fermentation methods (drum and pod-storage); and in those of different drying treatments (air-blown and sun-dried). Air-blown drum fermentation samples had lower concentrations of 2,5-dimethyl-, trimethyl-, tetramethylpyrazine and total pyrazines than those of pod-stored (air-blown and sun-dried) and drum (sun-dried) samples

Centella asiatica in food and beverage applications and its potential antioxidant and neuroprotective effect

Centella asiatica L. is traditionally used as a medicinal herbs and alternative medicine in treating numerous kinds of diseases. The use of Centella in food and beverages has increased over the years. Its potential antioxidant and neuroprotective activity has been widely claimed in many reports and basically is very much related to its properties and mechanism of action of the plant's bioactive constituents namely the asiaticoside, asiatic acid, madecassoside and madecassic acid. As such, this review will cover the biological activity of the plant's active constituents in relation to its food and beverage applications. The plant cultivation and biotechnological approaches to improve the production of desired bioactive constituents by cultured cells will also be reviewed. In addition, the range of chemical compositions found in Centella and safety aspects are also included

Uptake of Cadmium and Zinc from synthetic effluent by water hyacinth (Eichhornia Crassipes)

In this study was conducted on aquatic plant; water hyacinth (Eichchornia crassipes) which has been successfully utilized for the removal of cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) from aqueous solutions. The overall metal uptake by the plant was dependent upon the concentration of the metal and the duration of exposure. In general, the metal content in plants increased with the increase in metal concentrations in solution and the metal accumulation in roots was always significantly higher than that in shoots for both metals in water hyacinth. Water hyacinth treated with 4 mg/L of cadmium accumulated the highest concentration metal in shoots (148 μg/g) and roots (2006 μg/g) and water hyacinth treated with solution containing 40 mg/L zinc accumulated the highest zinc concentration in shoots (1899 μg/g) and roots (9646 μg/g)

A review of cosmetic and personal care products: halal perspective and detection of ingredient

The term halal refers to what ispermitted by Islamic law. It is a basic need for Muslims and encompasses all materials used in everyday life including cosmetics.Muslims want to be assured that the ingredients,handling, processing, distribution, transportation and types of cosmetic used are halal compliant. The halalaspects of cosmetic and personal care products cover ingredients, all the processes involved in production right up to delivery to consumers, safety and product efficacy evaluations. In order to verify halal compliance of cosmetic products, a method of detecting halal and non-halal ingredients is very important and critically needed. Halal cosmetic standards, halal certification and the halal logo can be used as benchmarks for halal compliance. In view of the importance of cosmetic and personal care products from the halal perspective, this review will cover the halal principles, halal cosmetic and personal care products, ingredients, standard and certification as well as safety. The development of the process of detecting non-halal ingredients and authenticating halal ingredients for potential cosmetic applications in recent years are included in this paper

Potential effect of using ultrasonic irradiation to reduce concentration of COD in Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

Many researchers have attempted in the past to look at the possibility of using ultrasonic irradiation or sonication in degrading organic compounds in aqueous wastewater. Ultrasonic irradiation was found to be a safe, clean and effective method for deterioration of specific organic compounds. Ultrasonic irradiation can be used as a stand-alone process, or can be integrated with other treatment methods. However, very limited study focuses on the application of ultrasonic irradiation for treating industrial wastewater; therefore, it is considered as a new research. When water is exposed to ultrasonic irradiation,+H and -OH radicals are produced; the latter is a strong oxidizing agent which can degrade organic pollutants. This study uses raw Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) as a test media to investigate the effectiveness of ultrasonic irradiation in reducing organic compounds based on the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) concentration at selected operating conditions, namely power density of ultrasonic probe and addition of catalysts. Results showed percentage reduction of COD was highest at power density 29W/L than power density 55W/L. Power density 29W/L of ultrasonic probe chose to combine with catalysts. Application of ultrasonic irradiation with presence of the catalysts CuSO4 and FeSO4, increased the percentage of COD reduction, but FeSO4 gave a better result. The highest percentage reduction of COD of raw POME is around 30% after ultrasonic irradiation process combined with the catalyst FeSO4

Dynamic behaviour of Cd2+ adsorption in equilibrium batch studies by CaCO3 --rich Corbicula fluminea shell

This work presents the structural and adsorption properties of the CaCO3 −-rich Corbicula fluminea shell as a natural and economic adsorbent to remove Cd ions from aqueous solutions under batch studies. Experiments were conducted with different contact times, various initial concentrations, initial solution pH and serial biosorbent dosage to examine the dynamic characterization of the adsorption and its influence on Cd uptake capacity. The characterization of the C. fluminea shell using SEM/EDX revealed that the adsorbent surface is mostly impregnated by small particles of potentially calcium salts. The dominant Cd adsorption mechanism is strongly pH and concentration dependent. A maximum Cd removal efficiency of 96.20 % was obtained at pH 7 while the optimum adsorbent dosage was observed as 5 g/L. The Langmuir isotherm was discovered to be more suitable to represent the experimental equilibrium isotherm results with higher correlation coefficients (R 2 > 0.98) than Freundlich (R 2 < 0.97). The correlation coefficient values (p < 0.01) indicated the superiority of the Langmuir isotherm over the Freundlich isotherm

Characteristics of durian shell as support media in biofilter.

Malaysia is an agriculture-based country that produces a lot of agricultural by-products every year. There are potential agriculture by-products yet to be investigated, which can be used as biofilter carriers. This study investigates the physical and chemical characteristics of Durian Shell (DS), an agricultural waste, in assessing its potential to be used as a biofilter media for removing toxic vapors. Ultimate analysis was performed using an elemental analyzer. The presence of functional groups in samples was determined by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The powdered DS was mixed with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) in 23:1 ratio (w/w) dry basis for pH adjustment to be within pH 7-8. The sample was then prepared into a pellet (30 mmØ) by hydraulic hand pressure (5 psi). The specific surface area and average pore size were measured based on Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) method and surface morphology was determined by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analyzer. The results showed that DS has a potential alternative to other carriers, especially peat in term of characteristics, which is not available at a low price or in large quantities in Malaysia

Mass spectrometry approach for identification of porcine and bovine gelatin biomarkers in gelatin food ingredient

Gelatin is a common food additive that is obtained by hydrolysis of collagen primarily from bovine and porcine skin and bones. The similarity between bovine and porcine gelatin makes it difficult to trace their animal origin. In this work, a combination of quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF MS) coupled with chemometric based statistical analysis is used to profile and distinguish the unique chemical fingerprint origin from porcine and bovine gelatin in a few commercial gelatin ingredients. Using standard gelatins made from porcine and bovine origin, the gelatine were reduced and alklylated before subjected to trypsin digestion. The digested gelatin was dried and reconstituted into small volume before injecting into a Q-TOF LC/MS system. Each sample was analyzed in multiple replicates to eliminate technical errors. Data analysis was carried out using a chemometric software, Mass Profiler Professional. Spectrum Mill was used as a protein database search engine for the identification of protein/peptide markers. This workflow was then tested by using commercially available gelatins. Data analysis were done by using molecular features/peaks finding based on grouping together corresponding ions including isotope, adduct and charge state. After molecular feature extraction on all of the samples, a chemometric software was used for statistical analysis of the differential features of each of the gelatin samples. The porcine and bovine gelatin samples can be distinguished from the statistical difference according to PCA and ANOVA analysis. The unique peptides found in the bovine and porcine gelatin were matched against the porcine and bovine peptide database to identify their amino acid sequences. This study described a workflow for profiling and identification of porcine and bovine gelatin markers using Q-TOF LC/MS and statistical analysis which could be used as a method for detection and authentication of gelatin animal origin