Nutritional and sensory evaluation of ready-to-eat salads during shelf life

The evolution of the antioxidant and sensory properties of six commercially available ready-to-eat salads, rocket, iceberg lettuce, baby lettuce, lamb’s lettuce, curly endive and radicchio, was studied throughout the shelf life. Both the storage under modified atmosphere and in unsealed pouch in a domestic refrigerator were considered and compared. Ascorbic acid, total phenolics content and antioxidant capacity were chosen as the most representative nutritional parameters for this purpose. The data obtained were analyzed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Radicchio, lamb’s lettuce and rocket showed an initial higher content of the quality parameters studied and demonstrated a better resistance to air exposure than the other salads, being ascorbic acid the most affected parameter. Modified atmosphere packaging demonstrated to be a very useful and reliable technology to extend nutritional and sensory properties during the shelf life period for all the vegetables studied

Industrial symbiosis: anaerobic digestion of waste products as mitigation strategy

La simbiosi industriale è una strategia aziendale con la quale è possibile aumentare la sostenibilità dei processi produttivi. La partnership tra un’azienda vinicola e una società energetica ha consentito un’innovazione di processo che consente il riutilizzo dei rifiuti alimentari dalla produzione del vino. L’azienda vinicola produce 5.200.000 tonnellate di uva. Con un biodigestore è possibile reinserire nel ciclo produttivo circa 220.000 tonnellate di rifiuti alimentari, composti da: rifiuti vegetali, trucioli di legno e rifiuti da potatura. Il riutilizzo degli scarti di produzione genera 105.000 MWh di calore e 81.000 MWh di energia elettrica, con un risparmio di 35.000 tonnellate di CO2 . I risultati ottenuti possono essere ottenuti dalle aziende alimentari che richiedono un elevato fabbisogno energetico e che producono notevoli quantità di rifiuti organici.Industrial symbiosis is a business strategy through which it is possible increase the sustainability of production processes. The partnership between a winery and an energy company has enabled the implementation of a production innovation that allows the upgrading by food waste from wine production. The winery produces 5,200,000 tons of grapes. Through the creation of a biodigester it is possible to re-enter in the production cycle about 220,000 tons of food waste, consisting of: vegetable waste, wood chips and waste from pruning. The reuse of production waste can generate 105,000 MWh of heat and 81,000 MWh of electrical energy, allowing savings of 35,000 tons of CO2 . The results obtained could be reached by food manufacturers that require a high energy needs and that produce significant amounts of organic waste

Effect of Steaming and Boiling on the Antioxidant Properties and Biogenic Amines Content in Green Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Varieties of Different Colours

Effects of boiling and steaming cooking methods were studied on total polyphenols, antioxidant capacity, and biogenic amines of three green bean varieties, purple, yellow, and green.The vegetables gave good values both for antioxidant capacity and for phenolics content, with the purple variety being the richest in healthful components. Both the heat treatments affected the antioxidant properties of these vegetables, with boiling that reduced the initial antioxidant capacity till 30%in the yellowvariety, having the same trend for total polyphenols, with the major decrement of 43% in the green variety. On the contrary, biogenic amines significantly increased only after boiling in green and yellow variety, while purple variety did not show any changes in biogenic amines after cooking. The steaming method showed being better cooking approach in order to preserve the antioxidant properties of green beans varieties and to maintain the biogenic amines content at the lowest level

L’eco-efficienza dei contenitori di vetro sottile

La valutazione economica della produzione sostenibile dei contenitori di vetro dimostra che l’assottigliamento dei contenitori e il loro riciclo comporta vantaggi ambientali immediatamente quantificabili.Economic assessment of the sustainable production of glass containers shows that making the containers thinner and recycling them carries immediately quantifiable environmental advantages

Biogenic amines in alcohol-free beverages

Biogenic amines are ubiquitous bioactive compounds that are synthesized by living organisms and perform essential functions for their metabolism. In the human diet, their excessive intake can cause food poisoning. In food, especially in alcohol-free beverages, biogenic amines can be synthesized by enzymes, naturally present in raw materials, or by microorganisms, which may be naturally present in the matrix or be added during beverage transformation processes. For this reason, in alcohol-free beverages, biogenic amine amount can be considered, above a certain level, as undesired microorganism activity. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the biogenic amine profile of non-alcoholic beverages in order to monitor food quality and safety. Moreover, biogenic amines can be taken into account by industries in order to monitor production processes and products. This review article provides an overview on the biogenic amine profile of alcohol-free beverages (plant milk, nervine drinks, soft drinks, and fruit juices). Furthermore, the clinical and toxicological effects, the biogenic amines legislation, and biogenic amine synthesis have been evaluated in non-alcoholic beverages

Fast determination of biogenic amines in beverages by a core-shell particle column

A fast and reliable HPLC method for the determination of 11 biogenic amines in beverages has been performed. After pre-column derivatization with dansyl-chloride a Kinetex C18 core–shell particle column (100 mm × 4.6 mm, 2.6 μm particle size) has been employed and the biogenic amines were identified and quantified in a total run time of 13 min with ultraviolet (UV) or fluorescence detection (FLD). Chromatographic conditions such as column temperature (kept at 50 °C), gradient elution and flow rate have been optimized and the method has been tested on red wine and fruit nectar. The proposed method is enhanced in terms of reduced analysis time and eluent consumption with respect of classical HPLC method as to be comparable to UHPLC methods. Green and cost-effective, this method can be used as a quality-control tool for routine quantitative analysis of biogenic amines in beverages for the average laboratory

Chemometric evaluation of biogenic amines in commercial fruit juices

The profile and level of 11 biogenic amines were evaluated in commercial fruit juices (apple, grapefruit, orange and pineapple) and fruit nectars (apricot, peach and pear) by HPLC/FD after dansyl chloride derivatization. The biogenic amine most present in nectars is cadaverine, followed by putrescine, spermidine and spermine. Fruit juices showed a wider variability in biogenic amines profile and level, with the highest total content in orange juices. The application of chemometric tools as hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis on the biogenic amine profiles of the juice samples succeeded in grouping juices on the basis of the fruit of origin. A Mathematical model with high predictive ability for fruit juices classification was obtained by linear discriminant analysis: orange (100 %), pineapple (100 %), grapefruit (80 %) and apple (70 %). This study represents the first description of biogenic amines content in these beverages. These compounds are well-known important quality parameters and demonstrated to have also a characteristic profile depending on the fruit of origin

Assessing the life cycle performance in the metallurgical sector. A case study in Italy

This study compared two types of sheets: one made of steel and one made of aluminum, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC), and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). The LCA results show that the aluminum sheet had a greater environmental impact than the steel one in 11 out of 18 impact categories, such as a 5% higher Global Warming Potential, 3% higher Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, and 72% higher Ionizing Radiation. The main contributing factors were energy-intensive processes and bauxite processing associated with aluminum production. The LCC results also supported the findings of the LCA, demonstrating that the raw material, electricity, and labor costs for aluminum sheets were higher compared to steel ones, with the aluminum sheets costing €163 and the steel ones costing €19. However, the S-LCA results presented a contrasting perspective. They indicated that steel sheets exhibited poorer social performance compared to aluminum ones, particularly regarding child labor and discrimination, primarily due to the harsh working conditions in Ghana, the primary source of iron used in steel production. Overall, this study highlights the environmental superiority of steel screens over aluminum ones but also underscores the social challenges associated with steel production

Sustainability of technological innovation investiments. Photovoltaic panels case study

as photovoltaic panels. In the case study analysed are shown the benefits obtained from the investments of the central Italy after installing photovoltaic systems. The total expenditure for the electricity purchase is € 52.326, while the total benefit of the investment is € 18.789, equal in percentage to a 53% energy saving over a period of 20 years. The company expeniture in the absence of a photovoltaic system is equal to € 109.03, while in the presence of a plant, considering also all costs incurred for € 93.090, with a percentage of profit on the investment made equal to almost 15% in 20 years

Industrial symbiosis: a sustainable approach for territorial development through the reuse of biomass

The worldwide demand of raw materials is facing an exponential increase since the economic boom registered in the second post-war scenario. The energy and the manufacturing industries are strictly dependent on the employment of non-renewable resources in the transformation and production processes, by contributing to the improvement of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere and to the loss of natural capital. With the aim of increasing the environmental preservation in terms of biodiversity and raw materials access, this study contributes to examine the benefits of the circular economy approach for the promotion of industrial symbiosis practices, based on the horizontal collaboration and cooperation. According to this approach, the waste of one company can become secondary raw materials for other companies operating in the same or even in different sectors, by implementing territorial integration and networks in the industrial system