Afterword

This special issue of Food Technology and Biotechnology contains selected papers presented at the 11th Central European Congress on Food and Nutrition (CEFood 2022) entitled ’Food, technology and nutrition for healthy people in a healthy environment’, which was held from 27 to 30 September 2022 in Čatež ob Savi (Slovenia). Since 2002, CEFood congresses have been held biannually in different CEI countries, the 11th was held in Slovenia again after 20 years. The scientific and professional framework of the 1st CEFood congress in 2002 already provided a solid basis and guarantee for the CEFood congresses. In 2006, the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) expressed a clear wish to join this network, due to the good and efficient organisation based on the commitment of the main organisers of CEFood congresses and their teams. Above all, respect and gratitude towards all previous organisers are passed on from congress to congress by each previous main organiser becoming a member of the next programme and organising committee, as proposed at the very beginning. Throughout the centuries, Central Europe has always been a very influential melting pot of ideas for transnational and regional cooperation. At the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, there was a great spirit of cooperation in Central Europe, as first evidenced by the Alps-Adriatic Working Community and later by the Danube Initiatives – these two initiatives had a wide variety of cross-border motives for cooperation, not only political alliances. Obviously, various platforms had asserted a necessity for cooperation. However, the Central European initiative (CEI), established in Budapest in 1989, remains the one that provides a good framework for scientific research and educational cooperation in the area of food. The expansion of the European Union to Central Europe later stimulated a new visionary cooperation, not only in the North–South orientation, but also in the West–East orientation. This was the milestone for the establishment of the Central European Congress on Food and Nutrition (CEFood congress) in 2002 in Ljubljana. CEFood 2022 offered an excellent scientific programme with the best speakers from the Central European initiative countries. In addition, the congress offered other experiences that highlighted Slovenian cuisine and its gastronomic heritage. Therefore, the participants were able to identify and appreciate the latest advances along the food supply chain, including research and education with open discussions on current issues in this field. Environmental concerns were considered, guidance to the ongoing projects in food science, technology and nutrition was offered, and hands-on professionals, scholars, researchers and policy makers were involved. The outcome of the intensive work of the organisers are two publications: CEFood Congress Book with 336 pages and Food, nutrition and environment: Positions in Central European space with 176 pages. In 100 hours of scientific programme, participants enjoyed 8 plenary lectures, 11 keynote lectures and 34 oral presentations in 11 sessions, 5 flash presentations, 144 posters and 13 project presentations at the Central European Project Day, 11 contributions at the Central European Inspiration Food Day. The event was attended by 249 participants from 27 countries, including 233 from the CEI countries. The support by 12 sponsors provided 17 grants for students from economically disadvantaged countries. The scientific programme of the pre-congress event, the Central European Food Project Day, focused on the presentation of food-related R&D projects in the fields of food security, food technology and nutrition, and food safety. The main programme sessions covered the following topics: Food, nature and health; From technology to food; Before and after the harvest; Plants ‐ a staple food or an alternative?; Potentials and limitations of bioactive compounds; New food products, technologies and techniques; Can we improve food properties and prevent food fraud at the same time?; Food related health hazards and risks; Nutrition: is the point in the food or in the gut?; Biotechnology: evolution or revolution?; Food microbes: friends or foes?; Consumer’s food choices and risk management; and Food analytics. All scientific sessions were dedicated to Slovenian food professionals or scientists who have contributed in the past to the development and breakthroughs in the areas of science. The latest achievements in science and good practices were also shared in the World Cafe on food supplements, at the round table ’Edible insects ‐ food of the future?’ and in three workshops: ’Challenges for beer and wine in today’s food world’, ’Food and its safety in a fast changing world’ and ’Modern food: local vs. global, traditional vs. innovative in the “healthy” perspective’. In addition, the Central European Inspiration Food Day (CE-I-FooDay) offered younger professionals from each CEI country the opportunity to write a position paper, which was published in a special publication, and presented orally at CE-I-FooDay as an event after the CEFood 2022 Congress. Considering the current world and food situation, the CEFood congress provided an important contribution to new concepts and views of individual scientists/specialists/teachers in the field of food, technology and nutrition as a scientific advocate for healthy people in a healthy environment, in the future society from a food perspective. Concerning this special issue, a very rigorous selection from among sixteen submitted papers has resulted in the content in front of you - it brings a comprehensive review paper, two original scientific papers and a preliminary communication. The review article focuses on the application of minimal processing technologies for the production and preservation of tailor-made foods – with a range of approaches, including traditional and emerging technologies, and novel ingredients such as biomolecules from diverse sources, including microorganisms. Combined approaches based on the principles of hurdle technology produce effective synergistic effects that improve food safety and shelf-life extension of tailor-made foods while preserving their functional properties. The included scientific papers all target new products with improved functional characteristics – from the bakery raw materials, such as whole wheat flour with improved digestibility and antioxidant properties due to the effect of ultrasound and hydrothermal treatment, to the final goods with new functional ingredients, such as muffins with chia and lyophilised peach powder, and almond-based dairy-free milk alternative formulation fortified with plant extracts – all with the optimised quality attributes to meet the expectations of the contemporary consumer. We, the Guest Editors of this special issue, would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Professor Vladimir Mrša, for providing the valuable space in the journal to accommodate the selected contributions, to Zrinka Pongrac Habdija and Iva Grabarić Andonovski and the production team of FTB for their great support in completing this special issue. Our thanks also go to the reviewers for their insightful comments and for improving the quality of the contributions included in this issue. We would also like to thank all the authors of this special issue for their cooperation in its publication

Supplementary data for the article: Ristivojević, P.; Dimkić, I.; Trifković, J.; Berić, T.; Vovk, I.; Milojkovič-Opsenica, D.; Stanković, S. Antimicrobial Activity of Serbian Propolis Evaluated by Means of MIC, HPTLC, Bioautography and Chemometrics. PLoS ONE 2016, 11 (6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157097

Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157097]Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2261

Supplementary data for article: Mosić, M.; Trifković, J.; Vovk, I.; Gašić, U.; Tešić, Ž.; Šikoparija, B.; Milojković-Opsenica, D. Phenolic Composition Influences the Health-Promoting Potential of Bee-Pollen. Biomolecules 2019, 9 (12). https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9120783

Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9120783]Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3774

Supplementary data for article: Mosić, M.; Trifković, J.; Vovk, I.; Gašić, U.; Tešić, Ž.; Šikoparija, B.; Milojković-Opsenica, D. Phenolic Composition Influences the Health-Promoting Potential of Bee-Pollen. Biomolecules 2019, 9 (12). https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9120783

Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9120783]Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3774

Phenolic Composition Influences the Health-Promoting Potential of Bee-Pollen

Supplementary material: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3775

Evidence for a cyanine link between propargylamine drugs and monoamine oxidase clarifies the inactivation mechanism

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P1-0005 and P1-0012). We thank COST CA15135 for facilitating collaboration on multi-target compounds and providing support for publication. Part of this work was also supported by the bilateral cooperation between the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and by COST Action CM1103 which facilitated short research visits in Ljubljana and St Andrews, respectively.Successful propargylamine drugs such as deprenyl inactivate monoamine oxidase (MAO), a target in multi-faceted approaches to prevent neurodegeneration in the aging population, but the chemical structure and mechanism of the irreversible inhibition are still debated. We characterized the covalent cyanine structure linking the multi-target propargylamine inhibitor ASS234 and the flavin adenine dinucleotide in MAO-A using a combination of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography, spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and computational methods. The partial double bond character of the cyanine chain gives rise to 4 interconverting geometric isomers of the adduct which were chromatographically separated at low temperatures. The configuration of the cyanine linker governs adduct stability with segments of much higher flexibility and rigidity than previously hypothesized. The findings indicate the importance of intramolecular electrostatic interactions in the MAO binding site and provide key information relevant to incorporation of the propargyl moiety into novel multi-target drugs. Based on the structure, we propose a mechanism of MAO inactivation applicable to all propargylamine inhibitors.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Određivanje alfa lipoinske kiseline u dijetetskim suplementima i doziranim oblicima

Alfa lipoinska (tioktinska) kiselina se koristi u lečenju dijabetesne polineuropatije. Zbog svojih antioksidativnih svojstava, prisutna je u brojnim dijetetskim suplementima sama, kao i u kombinaciji sa aminokiselinama, L-karnitinom i drugim jedinjenjima. Dostupni podaci za kvantitativno određivanje alfa lipoinske kiseline su malobrojni. Usled toga, cilja našeg rada bio je da se razvije i validira TLC metoda za određivanje alfa lipoinske kiseline posle derivatizacije sa paladijum (II) hloridom. Za razdvajanje alfa lipoinske kiseline i njenog redukovanog oblika korišćene su RPTLC ploče veličine 20×10 cm, uz mobilnu fazu propanol-2 : methanol : aceton : voda : sirćetna kiselina u odnosu 6:4:2:8:0,2 v/v/v/v/v. Nakon razvijanja, hromatografske ploče su potapane u rastvor paladijum (II) hlorida, a žute zone formiranog kompleksa su merene na 375 nm. Retenciona vremena alfa lipoinske kiseline i njene redukovane forme su 45 i 32 nm. Zavisnost površine signala i količine nanete supstance ispitana je korišćenjem linearne regresione jednačine za opseg koncentracija 1 – 3 μg i polinomalne regresione jednačine drugog stepena za koncentracioni opseg 0,5 – 5 μg. Za datu metodu dobijene vrednosti koeficijenta korelacije (r=0,999), limit kvantifikacije (0,3 μg), rikaveri (98,5 – 105,2%) i preciznost (0,9 – 2,9%) su zadovoljavajući. Validirana hromatografska metoda je primenjena za određivanje alfa lipoinske kiseline u doziranim oblicima i dijetetskim suplementima. Nađeni sadržaj lipoinske kiseline (98,5 – 102,0%) u doziranim oblicima je u propisanim granicama, dok je u dijetetskim suplementima varirao u rasponu od 50 – 185%.Alpha lipoic (thioctic) acid is a drug used for the treatment of diabetic polyneuropathy. Due to its antioxidant properties alpha lipoic acid nowadays widely used in dietary supplement preparation alone and in combination with amino acids, L-carnitine and other compounds. There are not so many data available on the quantitative determination of alpha lipoic acid in dietary supplements. Therefore, the aim of these investigations was to develop and validated TLC method for determination of alpha lipoic acid after derivatization by Palladium (II) chloride reagent. The separation of alpha lipoic acid was performed on RPTLC plates (20 × 10 cm) using propanol-2 : methanol : acetone : water : acetic acid (6:4:2:8:0.2 v/v/v/v/v) as mobile phase. The plates were immersed in solutions of Palladium (II) chloride reagents and yellow spots were scanned at 375 nm. The retention times of alpha lipoic acid and its reduced form were 45 and 32 mm, respectively. Relationship of the peak areas and the amount of the substance applied was evaluated using the linear (1 -3 μg/spot) and second degree polynomial regression function (0.5 – 5 μg/spot). For the proposed procedure coefficient of correlation (r=0.999), limit of quantification (0.3 μg/spot), recovery (98.5 – 105.2 %) and precision (0.9 – 2.9%) were found to be satisfactory. The developed method was applied for determination of alpha lipoic acid in drugs dosage formulations and in dietary supplement preparation. The content of lipoic acid were found to be 98.5 – 102.0% in drug dosage formulations and 50 – 185.0% in some of dietary supplement preparations.Drugi kongres o dijetetskim suplementima sa međunarodnim učešćem, 10-12. decembar 2009., Beograd, Srbij

Supplementary data for the article: Ristivojević, P.; Dimkić, I.; Trifković, J.; Berić, T.; Vovk, I.; Milojkovič-Opsenica, D.; Stanković, S. Antimicrobial Activity of Serbian Propolis Evaluated by Means of MIC, HPTLC, Bioautography and Chemometrics. PLoS ONE 2016, 11 (6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157097

Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157097]Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2261