Modelling the Effects of Natural Antimicrobials as Food Preservatives

A predictive food microbiological model is a mathematical representation of mechanisms that describes the growth, survival, inactivation or biochemical process of an organism and are used in the food industry to predict food pathogen growth and to help in the evaluation of food safety. Furthermore, it reduces the number of expensive and time-consuming experiments; however, adequate statistical analysis is a crucial step during all phases of model development and validation. Therefore, the present chapter is focused on the basic concept of mathematical modelling which can be applied to estimate the effects of natural antimicrobials as food preservatives. Initial section discusses about the importance of modelling in food preservation, brief introduction to types of modelling, model development and validation and the final section includesreviewof recent research in natural antimicrobials modelling

Emerging technologies for the production of nanocellulose from lignocellulosic biomass

Nanocellulose is a unique and promising natural nanomaterial and has gained significant attention due to its applications in several important areas. Thus, researchers are continuously looking for the most efficient, sustainable, economically viable, and environmentally friendly production technologies to fulfil its growing demand. Conventional production technologies, which include various physical, chemical, and physicochemical methods, are currently inadequate for this purpose and have several limitations such as long processing time, high energy consumption, low recovery of nanocellulose, and many others. To overcome these shortcomings, scientists have investigated the prospect of utilizing emerging processing technologies such as microwave irradiation, deep eutectic solvent, enzymatic processing, cold plasma, electron beam irradiation, and pulsed electric field in nanocellulose preparation. In general, studies have shown that the application of emerging technologies enhances the extraction yield and properties of nanocellulose. This article presents a review of the most recent works reported on the application of emerging technologies in nanocellulose production

Salmonella, Food Safety and Food Handling Practices

: Salmonellosis is the second most reported gastrointestinal disorder in the EU resulting from the consumption of Salmonella-contaminated foods. Symptoms include gastroenteritis, abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhoea, fever, myalgia, headache, nausea and vomiting. In 2018, Salmonella accounted for more than half of the numbers of foodborne outbreak illnesses reported in the EU. Salmonella contamination is mostly associated with produce such as poultry, cattle and their feeds but other products such as dried foods, infant formula, fruit and vegetable products and pets have become important. Efforts aimed at controlling Salmonella are being made. For example, legislation and measures put in place reduced the number of hospitalizations between 2014 and 2015. However, the number of hospitalizations started to increase in 2016. This calls for more stringent controls at the level of government and the private sector. Food handlers of “meat processing” and “Ready to Eat” foods play a crucial role in the spread of Salmonella. This review presents an updated overview of the global epidemiology, the relevance of official control, the disease associated with food handlers and the importance of food safety concerning salmonellosis

Seaweeds polysaccharides in active food packaging: A review of recent progress

Background Due to its short lifetime, food packaging leads to a rapid accumulation of plastic in our surroundings and thereby also has a huge impact on environmental pollution. To reduce these effects and create a more sustainable approach towards food packaging, biodegradable and biobased polymers have been developed and are emerging on the market. Scope and approach This review provides the current state of research regarding active packaging and the incorporation of seaweed into food packaging. Further, it summarises the resulting consequences of the seaweed incorporation on mechanical, physical, thermal, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and chemical properties, as well as the release of active compounds to show the advantages of the polysaccharides as well as possible shortcomings in current research. Key findings and conclusions To improve these polymers regarding their mechanical, thermal, and antimicrobial properties etc. a variety of polysaccharides such as seaweeds can be used. They not only lead to an increase in hydrophilicity and improved mechanical properties such as tensile strength and elongation at break but also create the possibility of using it as active packaging. This can be achieved due to the naturally occurring antioxidant properties in seaweed, which can minimize lipid oxidation and thereby increase the shelf life and nutritional value of food as well as reduce free radicals which might have a carcinogenic, mutagenic, or cytotoxic effect. Some seaweeds such as H. elongate have also proven to inhibit the growth of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, meaning that they could possibly be used as antimicrobial packaging

Ferulic Acid Incorporated Active Films Based on Poly(lactide) /Poly(butylene Adipate-co-Terephthalate) Blend for Food Packaging

Active natural antibacterial blend of poly(lactide) - poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA-PBAT) incorporated with ferulic acid was formed by solvent casting method. The influences of FA on the structural, colour, optical, thermostability and antibacterial efficiency of PLA-PBAT blend films were studied. On the incorporation of the FA, the thickness of the film was increased by 1.5–10 %. The tensile strength (TS) of the FA incorporated blend film increased to a value of 10.78 MPa at 10 wt% as compared to the control film which has 5.42 MPa. The temperature of degradation of the film increases as the FA content increases in the film. Antibacterial activity has been observed to increase due to the inclusion of the phenolic compound in the composite film against Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli. The composite film has a potential application as an active food packaging due to its antibacterial and UV-light barrier properties

Advances in emerging technologies for the decontamination of the food contact surfaces

Foodborne pathogens could be transferred to food from food contact surfaces contaminated by poor hygiene or biofilm formation. The food processing industry has various conditions favouring microbes\u27 adherence, such as moisture, nutrients, and the microbial inoculums obtained from the raw material. The function of the ideal antimicrobial surface is preventing initial attachment of the microbes, killing the microbes or/and removing the dead bacteria. This review article provides detail about the challenges food industries are facing with respect to food contact materials. It also summarises the merits and demerits of several sanitizing methods developed for industrial use. Furthermore, it reviews the new and emerging techniques that enhance the efficiency of reducing microbial contamination. Techniques such as surface functionalisation, high-intensity ultrasound, cold plasma technologies etc. which have high potential to be used for the decontamination of food contact surfaces are discussed. The emerging designs of antibacterial surfaces provide the opportunity to reduce or eradicate the adhesion of microorganisms. The most important purpose of these surfaces is to prevent the attachment of bacteria and to kill the bacteria that come in contact. These emerging technologies have a high potential for developing safe and inert food contact materials for the food industry

A review on nanomaterials and nanohybrids based bio-nanocomposites for food packaging

With an increasing demand for a novel, eco-friendly, high-performance packaging material “bio-nanocomposites” has attracted great attention in recent years. The review article aims at to evaluating recent innovation in bio-nanocomposites for food packaging applications. The current trends and research over the last three years of the various bio-nanocomposites including inorganic, organic nanomaterials, and nanohybrids, which are suitable as food packaging materials due to their advanced properties such as high mechanical, thermal, barrier, antimicrobial, and antioxidant are described in detail. In addition, the legislation, migration studies, and SWOT analysis on bio-nanocomposite film have been discussed. It has been observed that the multifunctional properties of the bio-nanocomposite materials, has the potential to improve the quality and safety of the food together with no /or fewer negative impact on the environment. However, more studies need to be performed on bionanocomposite materials to determine the migration levels and formulate relevant legislation

Optimisation of organosolv pretreatment for the extraction of polyphenols from spent coffee waste and subsequent recovery of fermentable sugars

In the present study, organosolv pretreatment strategy was modified for the comprehensive utilisation of spent coffee waste (SCW) for polyphenol extraction and reducing sugar production. A response surface design involving four factors viz. ethanol concentration, temperature, time and H2SO4 concentration was created for optimisation of polyphenol extraction from SCW. 11.2 mg GAE of polyphenol content/g of SCW was obtained using ethanol (68% v/v) at 51 °C for 45 min in the presence of 1.5% H2SO4 as catalyst. Furthermore, 13.78 of QE of Total Flavonoid Content/g of SCW was obtained following this process which was 7.6-fold higher than control (1.81 QE/g of SCW). Lignin removal of 24.4% was achieved following modified organosolv protocol. Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated SCW yielded 29.05 mg/g of total reducing sugar, which was 1.27-fold higher than control (22.8 mg/g). XRD, FTIR, and DSC profiles of the pretreated substrates were analysed for various changes incurred in pretreated SCW

Fruits and Vegetables in the Management of Underlying Conditions for COVID-19 High-Risk Groups

: SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus, which is the cause of the current pandemic with 107,411,561 infections and 2,351,195 death worldwide so far. There are multiple symptoms that are linked with the infection of COVID-19 such as coughing, shortness of breath, congestion together with fatigue, fever, loss of taste or smell, headaches, diarrhea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. The lack of or early stage of development of a cure for COVID-19 illness, there is need for insuring the best possible position of health to be able to fight the virus naturally through a robust immune system to limit severe complication. In this article, we have discussed the role of fruits and vegetables consumption to boost the immune system and major emphasis has been given to high risk group. We have taken into consideration a number of underlying conditions such as people with cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, hemoglobin disorder such as sickle cell disease, weakened immune system due to organ transplant. Furthermore, factors to improve the immune system, risks associated with quarantine and lifestyle and food handling during COVID-19 has been discussed