Intakes of culinary herbs and spices from a food frequency questionnaire evaluated against 28-days estimated records

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Worldwide, herbs and spices are much used food flavourings. However, little data exist regarding actual dietary intake of culinary herbs and spices. We developed a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for the assessment of habitual diet the preceding year, with focus on phytochemical rich food, including herbs and spices. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the intakes of herbs and spices from the FFQ with estimates of intake from another dietary assessment method. Thus we compared the intake estimates from the FFQ with 28 days of estimated records of herb and spice consumption as a reference method.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The evaluation study was conducted among 146 free living adults, who filled in the FFQ and 2-4 weeks later carried out 28 days recording of herb and spice consumption. The FFQ included a section with questions about 27 individual culinary herbs and spices, while the records were open ended records for recording of herbs and spice consumption exclusively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our study showed that the FFQ obtained slightly higher estimates of total intake of herbs and spices than the total intake assessed by the Herbs and Spice Records (HSR). The correlation between the two assessment methods with regard to total intake was good (r = 0.5), and the cross-classification suggests that the FFQ may be used to classify subjects according to total herb and spice intake. For the 8 most frequently consumed individual herbs and spices, the FFQ obtained good estimates of median frequency of intake for 2 herbs/spices, while good estimates of portion sizes were obtained for 4 out of 8 herbs/spices.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggested that the FFQ was able to give good estimates of frequency of intake and portion sizes on group level for several of the most frequently used herbs and spices. The FFQ was only able to fairly rank subjects according to frequency of intake of the 8 most frequently consumed herbs and spices. Other studies are warranted to further explore the intakes of culinary spices and herbs.</p

Antimicrobial Properties of Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol/Epsilon-Polylysine Films and Their Application in Surimi Preservation

[EN] Polymer films based on ethylene vinyl copolymers (EVOH) containing a 29 % (EVOH 29) and a 44 % molar percentage of ethylene (EVOH 44), and incorporating epsilon-polylysine (EPL) at 0 %, 1 %, 5 % and 10 % were successfully made by casting. The optical properties and the amount of EPL released from the films to phosphate buffer at pH 7.5 were evaluated, films showing great transparency and those of EVOH 29 copolymer releasing a greater amount of EPL. The antimicrobial properties of the resulting films were tested in vitro against different foodborne microorganisms and in vivo in surimi sticks. With regard to the antimicrobial capacity tested in vitro in liquid medium at 37 A degrees C and 4 A degrees C against Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli over a period of 72 h, films showed a considerable growth inhibitory effect against both pathogens, more notably against L. monocytogenes, and being EVOH 29 more effective than EVOH 44 films. At 37 A degrees C, total growth inhibition was observed for EVOH 29 films incorporating 10 % EPL against both microorganisms whereas the copolymer EVOH 44 did show total inhibition against L. monocytogenes and the growth of E. coli was reduced by 6.64 log units. At 4 A degrees C, no film was able to inhibit completely bacterial growth. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs showed corrugated cell surfaces with blisters and bubbles, and collapse of the cells appearing shorter and more compact after treatment with EPL. Finally, the films were successfully used to increase the shelf life of surimi sticks. The results show the films developed have a great potential for active food packaging applications.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, projects AGL2012-39920-C03-01, and fellowship funding for V. M.-G.Muriel-Galet, V.; Lopez-Carballo, G.; Gavara Clemente, R.; Hernández-Muñoz, P. (2014). 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The effect of weave pattern on the mode I interlaminar fracture energy of E-glass/vinyl ester composites

In this work, the effect of weave structure on the mode-I interlaminar fracture energy (GIc) of glass/toughened vinyl ester laminates has been investigated. The matrix material used was commercially available rubber-modified vinyl ester resin, DERAKANE 8084. The glass fibres used were E-glass plain weave, twill weave, quadran 4-harness satin weave, and 8-harness satin weave with weave index of 2, 3, 4 and 8 respectively. The specimens were prepared by a vacuum bagging technique. The mode-I delamination tests have been done at a constant displacement rate of 2 mm/min in an Instron testing machine, using specimens machined in accordance with ASTM D5528-94a. By using a HITACHI S-4500 scanning electron microscope, microscopic details of crack growth in the interply region were examined after fracture testing. The twill-weave laminate with weave index ng=3 yielded the highest value of fracture energy for critical crack propagation (GIc). Whilst the 8-harness satin-weave laminate gave the highest value of initial fracture energy (GIi). Partial debonding of transversely oriented yarns results in the delamination resistance for twill-weave, quadran 4-harness satin-weave, and 8-harness satin-weave laminates. Fracture of debonded fibres ascribed to as 'fibre bridging' was observed in the twill-weave, quadran 4-harness satin-weave and 8-harnes satin-weave laminates. No indications of fibre bridging were observed in the plain-weave laminate