EDITORIAL: Functional Food Products & Ingredients For Gut Health

GUEST EDITOR'S COMMENTAR

Gliadin Degradation Ability of Artisanal Lactic Acid Bacteria, The Potential Probiotics from Dairy Products

Selected Lactobacillus spp. with high protease and acid producing capacity was explored for effective gliadin degradation in wheat sourdough environment. The total titratable acidity (TTA), pH and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts were evaluated. At the end of fermentation, the acidity and pH of the sourdough samples reached to 13.49-17.34 and 3.84-3.52 range, respectively. LAB population was enumerated as 107-109 colony forming unit (CFU)/g dough. Gliadin profiles were examined qualitatively using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) techniques. Especially RP-HPLC could be considered as a sensitive technique and is useful to determine the biochemical changes in gliadin fragmentation throughout sourdough fermentation process. LAB inoculated sourdoughs and chemically acidified sourdoughs generally represent similar gliadin degradation patterns. Although the total removal of gliadin toxicity could not be achieved in all dough formulations, it may be beneficial to use LAB to improve the dough and bread quality through the exploration of its bioconversion by-products

Cocoa pudding fortified with microencapsulated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum DSM 1954

Probiotic pudding can be served as a functional food with high probiotic viability during production and storage. The aim of this study was to investigate the microencapsulation of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum DSM 1954 with a gum arabic-whey protein concentrate complex using a water-in-oil emulsion technique and to evaluate the stability of microencapsulated and non-microencapsulated L. plantarum in the cocoa pudding and to determine the main quality parameters and sensory characteristics of pudding during storage at 4 °C for 21 d. The efficacy of microencapsulation on the viability over 21 d was determined and an encapsulation efficiency of 86.66% was achieved. Whole milk, cocoa, corn starch, and gum arabic, as well as microencapsulated and non-microencapsulated L. plantarum were used to produce probiotic-fortified cocoa pudding. L. plantarum was added to pudding for 21 d to test their viability and stability. pH values and sensory analysis of pudding were conducted. Microencapsulated and non-microencapsulated L. plantarum cell counts were approximately 9 log CFU/g in pudding samples at the end of 21 d. With storage time, the pH of pudding containing non-microencapsulated bacteria decreased more than that of pudding containing microencapsulated bacteria. The addition of bacteria to the pudding did not have a significant effect on the taste, odor, and texture. Since both microencapsulated and non-microencapsulated bacteria maintain significant viability in pudding during storage, pudding can be considered a potential carrier of probiotics

Microencapsulation of L. acidophilus NRRL B-4495 in whey Protein-Pullulan Microparticles: Influence of Pullulan Concentration and Outlet Temperature

Spray drying technique is one of the oldest methods adapted to many industrial areas to protect bioactive components. In this study, pH and heat tolerance of encapsulated probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus NRRL B-4495 cells were investigated. Additionally, influence of process conditions including outlet temperature and pullulan concentration on spray drying process was observed. Scanning electron microscopy images showed that incorporation of pullulan higher than 2.0 % in wall matrix created huge amount of fibrous particles. Spherical microcapsules having smooth surface were formed with 2.0 % pullulan (WPI-pullulan4.5:1)formulation leading to an improvement of barrier properties of microcapsules. Moreover, incorporation of pullulan improved the survival rate to 94.21 % after spray drying. Results suggested that decreasing outlet temperature exhibited much higher cell survivals up to 92.68 %. However, between outlet temperatures, significant differences (p≤0.05) in moisture content and recovery of final product indicated that more effective encapsulation of L. acidophilus NRRL B-4495 cells was achieved at 50 °C. During spray drying, due to dehydration and high heat, cytoplasmic membrane of bacterial cells undergo damage and therefore, microencapsulation in WPI-pullulan blend by spray drying provided the highest survival against heat stress at 45 ºC. Moreover results showed that encapsulated cells survived at minimum desired level (7 log CFU/g) at pH 2.0 in contrast to free cells

Impact of Raw, Roasted and Dehulled Chickpea Flours on Technological and Nutritional Characteristics of Gluten-Free Bread

The main objective of this study was to develop a healthy rice-based gluten-free bread by using raw, roasted, or dehulled chickpea flours. All breads containing chickpea flours showed a darker crust and were characterized by an alveolar (porosity 41.5–51.4%) and soft crumb (hardness 5.5-14.1 N). Roasted chickpea flour bread exhibited the highest specific volume, the softest crumb, and the slowest staling rate. Enriching rice-based breads with the chickpea flours resulted in increased protein (from 9.72 to 12.03–13.21 g/100 g dm), ash (from 2.01 to 2.45–2.78 g/100 g dm), fat (from 1.61 to 4.58–5.86 g/100 g), and total phenolic contents (from 49.36 up to 80.52 mg GAE/100 g dm), and in reduced (~10–14% and 13.7–17%, respectively) available starch levels and rapidly digestible starch compared to rice bread. Breads with roasted chickpea flour also showed the highest in vitro protein digestibility. The results of this study indicated that the enrichment of rice-based gluten-free breads with chickpea flours improved the technological and nutritional quality of the breads differently according to the processed chickpea flour used, also allowing recovery of a waste product

Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance of Foodborne Staphylococcus aureus

In this study, 154 Staphylococcus aureus isolates were detected from 1070 food samples (14.4%) collected from seven cities in Turkey. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing against 21 antibiotics was performed by agar disk diffusion method, and those isolates resistant to any antibiotic were further analyzed to determine minimum inhibitory concentration by E-test and polymerase chain reaction analysis of vanA and mecA genes. According to disk diffusion test results, a total of 139 strains were resistant to at least one tested antibiotic, with 39 (25.3%) strains being multidrug resistant (MDR) and the other 15 strains being susceptible to all antibiotics. Penicillin G, linezolid, erythromycin, and tetracycline took up 71.4%, 23.4%, 18.2%, and 15.6% of the tested strains, respectively. In addition, all of the strains were susceptible to vancomycin, oxacillin, cefoxitin, and imipenem. Only one strain (S158B) was resistant to both teicoplanin and cefazolin. On the other hand, the presence of vanA and mecA genes was not detected in the strains. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis was used to identify genetic-relatedness of the MDR strains. It is noteworthy that some strains from different sources showed 100% homology; however, some of MDR strains were found unrelated with 60% or less homology. The high diversity observed in pulsed-field gel electrophoresis results indicated the possible contamination of S. aureus from different sources and routes.The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Turkey) (Project number:107T266