Journal of Food Biosciences and Technology
Volume:9 Issue: 2, Summer-Autumn 2019

In the present article, six clones of Nigerian Tea (Camellia sinensis) were selected for comparative study. Proximate, phytochemical and functional characterization of the whole Tea seed flour (TSF) was examined. The characteristics of the expressed oil from the seed of the different clones were also carried out. Results shows that oil content ranged between 22.9% (C318) to 28.9% (C228); saponification value are in the range of 182.5 -189.2mgKOH/g. DPPH values of the resulting oils were indication of their antioxidant properties with  C318 (39.17%) been the highest. The proximate analysis of TSF from the various clones revealed the presence of ash, crude fibre, protein, moisture which was within recommended limit for edible seed flour. The energy value of TSF from the entire clones were remarkable with C68 (2108.3KJ/100g) having the highest. Mineral analysis also showed that TSF contained predominantly Mg, K, and Zn. C236 gave 163.1mg/100g of Mg while C228 gave 23.6 mg/100g of K and 4.1mg/100g of Zn. The result also showed the presence of phytochemicals (Terpenoids, alkaloids, flavanoids etc) in the seed flour across the selected clones. The water absorption capacity of C228 (83.6%) and oil absorption capacity of C318 (96.6%) were remarkable. There is an indication that TSF from the clones stand better chance for potential industrial applications.

This study is concerned with the detection of adulterated ghee with various levels of palm oil and beef tallow with the application of particular chemical characteristics of ghee, palm oil and beef tallow namely sterol, and fatty acids profiles by response surface methodology (RSM). Among the parameters investigated, If the fatty acid profile is modeled under the optimized conditions, the detection level for adulteration with palm oil was higher than 8.7% and with beef tallow was 12.84% for ghee samples from different regions. Moreover, if all of the sterols in the adulterated ghee sample with palm oil are assessed and detected, the adulteration detection level for all the three regions will be the minimum added palm oil (>1%). Moreover, Regarding the Raman spectroscopy data showed that the adulteration detection level was between 5.8–16.9%. Therefore, the regression models were a good method for measuring the market acceptance of ghee containing palm oil and beef tallow.

Salicornia is a valuable halophyte annual plant in the most species. This salinity tolerance plant that grows in salt water marshes are found all over the world. Since salinity is a major stress factor, Salicornia is a priceless edible vegetable, considered to be a favourable resource for cultivation in arid and semiarid coastal zones. However, the important thing is that its properties should be well known especially as a leafy vegetable. On the other hand, Salicornia bigelovii is a perishable vegetable, with short storage life under ambient conditions. Thus, knowing its characteristics can be a great help to preserve it longer. Accordingly, the physicochemical properties, chemical composition and respiration rate of Salicornia biglovii grown in Aq-Qalla Salinity Research Station, Golestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Iran were investigated in this paper. The results showed that the moisture content, total soluble solidscontent, pH, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content, salinity content, respiration rate, maximum force, displacement, and color indices (L*, a*, b*) of S. bigelovii are 89.67%, 15.83%, 6.11, 0.05%, 0.03%, 56ds/m, 26.80 mgCO2/kg.hr, 1.4 N, 1.47 mm, and 23.69, -6.77, 15.73, respectively. With respect to S.bigelovii plant as a leafy green vegetable, this plant is considered as a high respiration vegetable group.

Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and genetic algorithm–artificial neural network (GA-ANN) were investigated for predicting methyl salicylate (MeSA) effects on chilling injuries and quality changes of pomegranate fruits during storage. Fruits were treated with MeSA at three concentrations(0, 0.01 and 0.1 mM) and stored under chilling temperature for 84 days. ANFIS and GA-ANN models were used to predict the effect of MeSA application and storage time (0, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70 and 84 days) on chilling injuries, quality parameters and physiological changes of pomegranate during storage. The GA-ANN and ANFIS were fed with 2 inputs of MeSA and time. The developed GA–ANN, which included 20 hidden neurons, could predict physiological changes and quality parameters of pomegranate fruit (weight loss, pH, titratable acidity, chilling injury index, ion leakage, ethylene, respiration, polyphenols, anthocyanins, total antioxidant activity) with average correlation coefficient of 0.89. The overall agreement between ANFIS predictions and experimental data was also significant (r=0.87).In addition, sensitivity analysis results showed that storage time was the most sensitive factor for prediction of MeSA effects on pomegranate fruit quality attributes during postharvest storage.

Considering the importance of bleaching earth with activated carbon in reduction of impurities in vegetable oils, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of bleaching process on physicochemical properties of the bleached soybean oil. The bleaching process was carried out with bleaching earth (1 % w/w) containing different concentrations of activated carbon (0.1 % up to 0.5 % w/w). The results indicated that bleaching process did not affect the structure of the oil while the percentage of free fatty acids (FFA) of the oil samples after bleaching was increased as compared to the blank. During bleaching, peroxide values of the samples and color were decreased. Since the vegetable oils have been shown to be the major sources in the diet therefore the refining particularly the bleaching process plays a decisive role in the production of high quality oil. Therefore this step is one of the critical control points (CCP) in ensuring the quality of the final product.

Molasses is a significant by-product of sugar beet or sugar cane refining industry. In this work, the effects of storage temperature and packaging on the contents of free amino acids (AAs) in sugar beet and sugar cane molasses after freeze drying were inquired. The effect of different variables such as, temperature (4 and 25˚C) and light (Metallized polypropylene container and Normal polypropylene container) were evaluated to determine the optimum condition for storage of AAs molasses. The results showed that metallized polypropylene container was the suitable light container to maintain AAs from sugar beet and sugar cane molasses since AAs might be denatured by the light. Furthermore, low temperature had better influences on AAs during storage since high temperature might destroy AAs therefore AAs might be stabilized for a long time at low temperature. The finding in this study might be employed for other industries such as medical and pharmaceutics industries to store the valuable AAs.

In the present study, salep and chitosan hydrocolloid were used as stabilizers and fat replacer in low-fat mayonnaise and rheological and physicochemical characteristics were evaluated. Fat has been substituted with 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% chitosan and 6.4, 0.0, 0.7, 1.0 and 1.3% salep. High-fat mayonnaise sample or control with 67% fat and without salep and chitosan(FF),  mayonnaise with 67% fat and 0.4% salep and 0.2% chitosan(F1), mayonnaise with 48% fat and 0.6% salep(F2), mayonnaise with 30% fat and 1.3% salep(F3), mayonnaise with 30% fat and 1% salep and 0.1% chitosan(F4), mayonnaise with 30% fat and 0.7% salep and 0.2% chitosan(F5) and mayonnaise with 30% fat and 0.6% salep and 0.3% chitosan(F6) were used as treatments of  the present study. The results showed that salep and chitosan hydrocolloids could increase the viscosity of low-fat mayonnaise samples by absorbing water as well as substitution role for fat to increase the stability of low-fat mayonnaise. Among the produced samples, F1 and F2 had the most similarity to the control sample. All the samples (both control ad low-fat samples) did not have significant microbial load and the pH and acidity were at the allowed level. Creamy and phase separation phenomenon was not observed among the samples. Based on the results, it can be concluded that salep and chitosan hydrocolloids are proper substitutes for common high-fat mayonnaises and can be employed in the formula of low-fat mayonnaise without changing the qualitative features of the product significantly.

Today nanopackaging has been applied in order to increase the quality and safety of foods. In this study the possibility of using silver nanocomposite as food packaging is investigated. Silver nanoparticles were prepared by chemical reduction and to approve the presence of silver nanoparticles, UV-VS spectroscopy was used. The mentioned test showed the formation of silver nanoparticles by exhibiting the typical surface Plasmon absorption at a wavelength of 380 nm as observed. Coating on LDPE was carried out after the formation of nanoparticles. The nanostructure and particle size of silver nanoparticles were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The average of particle size was 48 nm. In addition, the distribution of silver nanoparticles and their crystalline structure are characterised by SAXS and XRD respectively. The X-ray diffraction pattern showed five intense peaks (38.2°, 44.3°, 64.5°, 78.1° and 81.8°) in the whole spectrum of 2θ values ranging from 10° to 90°. The antibacterial activity of the prepared nanocomposite film was evaluated. The results showed favourable antibacterial efficiency against Escheria Coli (ATCC 8739) and staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538).

Drying is one of the widely used methods of food preservation and it is a sensitive food processing operation due to undesirable changes in the quality of dried product. In this study the effect of osmotic dyhedration and ultrasound pretreatment prior to convective drying on quality properties of apple slices was investigated. Apple slices were pretreated by osmotic dehydration in two concentration levels of sucrose solution (30, 60ºBrix) at 25 ºC for 15 and 30 minutes and were subjected to ultrasound pretreatment modulates osmotic dehydration by ultrasonic waves in a water bath at the frequency of 60 kHz in osmotic sucrose solution (30, 60ºBrix) at 25 ºC for 15 and 30 minutes. The quality of dehydrated apple was analyzed by rehydration ratio, shrinkage and color changes. The results showed that the application of ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration led to a decrease in rehydration ratio as compared to the control samples and observed more decrease in the samples of ultrasound-assisted osmotic than osmotic samples. Most of shrinkage belonged to the control samples and the least shrinkage was related to the samples of ultrasound-assisted osmotic. Control samples had darker color whereas the treated samples had higher lightness (L*) and lower redness (a*), yellowness (b*) and colour intensity () were represented. Based on the findings it can be concluded that the ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration led to improves in the color and shrinkage and obtained a decrease in rehydration ratio in the dried samples.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the application of natural preservatives as an alternative to chemical preservatives in the production of Doogh. In order to carry out the work, different concentrations (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 3%) of Eucalyptus essential oil were employed to study the growth of Kluyveromyces marxianus in Doogh at 4 °C and 15°C within 9 days. The essential oil of the plant was prepared by the hydro-distillation method and the chemical analysis was carried out by the application of Gas Chromatography -Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS). Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for Eucalyptus oil was determined through an agar diffusion method. The inhibitory effect and sensory characteristics of the oil were measured during 9 days of storage at 4 and 25°C. Chemical analysis of the oil indicated the presence of 15 compounds where Eucalyptol was the major constituent (78.68%) followed by γ - Terpinene (7.02%), α- Pinene (4.16%) and α- Terpinene (1.69%). The results showed that the number of K. marxianus in Doogh during storage time depended on the concentration of the used essential oil in the samples and storage temperature. It therefore might be concluded that the application of Eucalyptus essential oil to samples stored at 4°C and 25°C as a natural preservative might improve the desirable microbial, chemical and sensory properties of Doogh.