Edible films made of Corn Zein protein and cellulose derivatives

A composite edible film made of corn zein protein (Z) and cellulose derivatives (C) was successfully fabricated. Edible films are coatings used to wrap food products to protect them against microbial deterioration, loss of moisture, and to extend the shelf life of the product. These edible films are consumed together with the product . The mechanical properties, water vapor permeability, application on fruits, and shelf life of the composite film were studied. Zein demonstrated excellent packing characteristics; due to its high no polar contents and hydrophobic nature, zein film served as a moisture barrier. Hydroproxy methylcellulose (HPM) is tasteless, odorless and transparent, and resistant to lipid passage. The results showed that as zein increases in the composite, the methylcellulose decreases, as the flexibility of the film increases. Glycerol was added as a plasticizer to induce flexibility as films were brittle. The (8:2 z/c) film indicated potential barrier properties against the mold growth than the 10:2 Z/C and 6:6 Z/C films. The composite Z/C film shows a promise as a potential packaging material that can be used in food industry

Characterization of Food Structures and Functionalities

Some functional properties such as texture and nutrition are the most important attributes used by consumers to assess food qualities, which have been used for in nearly all kinds of food products, from beverage, yoghurt, and ice cream to bread and noodles. Nowadays, there is a desire tomake foods healthier and at the same time not diminish sensory quality. This requires an understanding of key elements of food structure associated with texture and nutritional perception. In terms of taste perception, texture is perceived during oral processing of food

Time of harvest affects United States-grown Aronia mitschurinii berry polyphenols, ◦Brix, and acidity

The goal of this study was to determine how the date of harvest impacts the quality characteristics of Aronia mitschurinii (A. K. Skvortsov and Maitul.) ‘Viking’ and ‘Galicjanka’ berries. Aronia berries were collected from farms in the Midwestern and Northeastern United States over seven weeks of harvest during 2018, 2019 and 2020. The berries were analyzed for total phenol, anthocyanins, proanthocyanins, sugar, and acid. Aronia berry composition modestly deviated between each year of the study. Berries harvested in 2018 had the highest total phenols and proanthocyanidins, both increasing in content from weeks 1–5 from 15.90 ± 3.15–19.65 mg gallic acid equivalents/g fw, a 24% increase, and 2.22 ± 0.40–2.94 mg (+)-catechin equivalents/g fw, a 32% increase, respectively. Berries harvested in 2019 had the lowest total phenol and proanthocyanidin levels and had increasing anthocyanins until week 4. In 2020, aronia berry proanthocyanidins differed from those in 2018 by having 38% lower levels after the 4th week. Across years, berries had increasing ◦Brix, ◦Brix: acid, and pH throughout the seven weeks of harvest. Additionally, all years had slight, but statistically insignificant decreases in acidity over the harvest period. Moreover, analysis from berries collected in 2019 suggests no significant difference in quality factors between Viking and Galicjanka aronia cultivars. In conclusion, aronia berry total phenols, proanthocyanidins, pH, and berry size can be significantly affected by the growing year and time of harvest. Acidity was impacted more by growing year than harvest week. In contrast, anthocyanins and ◦Brix were consistent between years, but influenced considerably by the week of harvest

Edible films made of Corn Zein protein and cellulose derivatives

A composite edible film made of corn zein protein (Z) and cellulose derivatives (C) was successfully fabricated. Edible films are coatings used to wrap food products to protect them against microbial deterioration, loss of moisture, and to extend the shelf life of the product. These edible films are consumed together with the product . The mechanical properties, water vapor permeability, application on fruits, and shelf life of the composite film were studied. Zein demonstrated excellent packing characteristics; due to its high no polar contents and hydrophobic nature, zein film served as a moisture barrier. Hydroproxy methylcellulose (HPM) is tasteless, odorless and transparent, and resistant to lipid passage. The results showed that as zein increases in the composite, the methylcellulose decreases, as the flexibility of the film increases. Glycerol was added as a plasticizer to induce flexibility as films were brittle. The (8:2 z/c) film indicated potential barrier properties against the mold growth than the 10:2 Z/C and 6:6 Z/C films. The composite Z/C film shows a promise as a potential packaging material that can be used in food industry

Characterization of Food Structures and Functionalities

Some functional properties such as texture and nutrition are the most important attributes used by consumers to assess food qualities, which have been used for in nearly all kinds of food products, from beverage, yoghurt, and ice cream to bread and noodles. Nowadays, there is a desire tomake foods healthier and at the same time not diminish sensory quality. This requires an understanding of key elements of food structure associated with texture and nutritional perception. In terms of taste perception, texture is perceived during oral processing of food

Phytochemical characterization of ultrasound-processed sorghum sprouts for the use in functional foods

In the recent years, application of ultrasound has been taken into considera- tion to enhance the nutritive value of processed food products, either by retaining or modulating their phytochemical components. Profile of phyto- chemicals in sorghum seeds was amended by optimizing ultrasound appli- cation for their use as sprouts. In this study, overall impact on various phytochemical constituents (alkaloids, phytates, saponins, and sterols), radi- cal scavenging activity (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay, ferric reducing antioxidant power assay, and oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay assay), phenolic profile (total phenolics content, total flavonoids content, ferulic acid, gallic acid, catechin, quercetin, and tannin) along with in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD %) influenced through germination was evaluated in ultrasonically processed sorghum sprouts. Among different treatment levels, sonication at 40% amplitude for 5 min showed the significant out- comes. After germination, the ultrasound-treated sorghum sprouts showed superior profile of phytochemicals that can serve as valuable raw material for producing high-protein functional/weaning foods with low cost

The application of machine-learning and Raman spectroscopy for the rapid detection of edible oils type and adulteration

Raman spectroscopy is an emerging technique for the rapid detection of oil qualities. But the spectral analysis is time-consuming and low-throughput, which has limited the broad adoption. To address this issue, nine supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms were integrated into a Raman spectroscopy protocol for achieving the rapid analysis. Raman spectra were obtained for ten commercial edible oils from a variety of brands and the resulting spectral dataset was analyzed with supervised ML algorithms and compared against a principal component analysis (PCA) model. A ML-derived model obtained an accuracy of 96.7% in detecting oil type and an adulteration prediction of 0.984 (R2). Several ML algorithms also were superior than PCA in classifying edible oils based on fatty acid compositions by gas chromatography, with a faster readout and 100% accuracy. This study provided an exemplar for combining conventional Raman spectroscopy or gas chromatography with ML for the rapid food analysis

Profile of Polyphenol Compounds of Five Muscadine Grapes Cultivated in the United States and in Newly Adapted Locations in China

Polyphenol compositions and concentrations in skins and seeds of five muscadine grapes (cv. “Noble”, “Alachua”, “Carlos”, “Fry”, and “Granny Val”) cultivated in the United States (Tallahassee-Florida, TA-FL) and South China (Nanning-Guangxi, NN-GX and Pu’er-Yunnan, PE-YN) were investigated, using ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC Triple TOF MS/MS). Fourteen ellagitannins were newly identified in these muscadine grapes. The grapes grown in NN-GX accumulated higher levels of ellagic acid, methyl brevifolin carboxylate, and ellagic acid glucoside in skins, and penta-O-galloyl-glucose in seeds. In PE-YN, more flavonols were detected in skins, and higher contents of flavan-3-ols, ellagic acid, and methyl gallate were identified in seeds. Abundant seed gallic acid and flavonols were found among the grapes grown in TA-FL. Based on principal component analysis (PCA) of 54 evaluation parameters, various cultivars grown in different locations could be grouped together and vice versa for the same cultivar cultivated in different regions. This is the result of the interaction between genotype and environmental conditions, which apparently influences the polyphenol synthesis and accumulation