فصلنامه پژوهش های صنایع غذایی
سال سی و سوم شماره 2 (تابستان 1402)

Yoghurt is an excellent source of high-quality protein, vitamins, and bioavailable minerals that are well tolerated by humans (Mckinley, 2005). A good quality yoghurt is usually made with whole milk, while a diet rich in animal fat is believed to be associated with health outcomes (Lees, 2020). According to previous prospective studies, replacing dairy fat with plant sources of fat may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (Chen et al. 2016). Therefore, as an alternative, special attention has been paid to the use of fat replacers to meet consumer demand in terms of nutritional value and high quality products. Inulin, a plant source prebiotic, is used as a fat substitute in dairy products that can maintain sensory properties (Guven et al. 2005). On the other hand, the addition of pulp and fruit juice may be useful in enhancing the lost flavor and color in dairy products (Wallace and Giusti, 2008). Fruit-flavored yoghurts had notably higher nutrient contents than plain yoghurt (Sanchez-Segarra et al., 2000). Pomegranate juice is a rich source of various plant chemicals with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can be added to yoghurt to increase its flavor and nutritional properties (Vučić et al. 2012). Trigueros et al. (2014) examined the antioxidant and polyphenolic activity of pomegranate yoghurt, and stated that phenolic contents of pomegranate not only had a positive effect on yoghurt color, but also reacted with the protein and enhanced the antioxidant activity of the yoghurt during storage. Similarly, there are different body of works in the literature on adding of pomegranate juice, peel and extracts to the dairy products (Arjmand 2011, Ali 2016 and Ibrahim et al. 2020), but virtually no published work has been found on producing low-fat yoghurt containing both fat replacer and pomegranate juice. Therefore, considering the need to produce healthy dairy products, this study was designed to investigate the effect of different amount of pomegranate juice on physicochemical, textural and sensory characteristics of low-fat yoghurt with 2% inulin

In this research, two control samples with whole milk (3% fat) and low-fat milk (1.5% fat) with 2% inulin were prepared separately. Then, three other yoghurt samples were produced with low-fat milk and 2% inulin by adding pomegranate juice at different concentrations of 5, 10 and 15% (v/v) in 3 replications. To achieve acceptable solid content and for improving gel firmness and consistency of the samples, the raw milk was concentrated with adding 2% of skim milk powder. All mixtures were pasteurized at 90°C for 5 min, cooled to 43±0.1°C, inoculated with 3% (w/v) of starter culture and distributed into plastic containers (100 ml), and incubated at 42±0.1°C until the pH reached to 4.6. Then the samples were refrigerated in 4±0.1°C for 22 days. The physicochemical, textural (hardness, springiness, cohesiveness and adhesiveness) and sensory properties of the treatments were evaluated on days 1, 8, 15 and 22.

Based on data analysis, by adding pomegranate juice, pH, viscosity and water holding capacity of samples decreased (p<0.05), and the acidity and synersis of the samples increased (p<0.05). As, the yoghurt sample containing 5% pomegranate juice had the lowest synersis and the highest water-holding capacity among yoghurts containing pomegranate juice. Increasing the percentage of pomegranate juice linearly raised the antioxidant properties (p<0.05); the highest antioxidant capacity belonged to the yoghurt sample with 15% pomegranate juice. The amount of protein in the samples did not change significantly, but with the increase in the amount of pomegranate juice, the amount of fat and dry matter decreased (p<0.05). Regarding the texture analysis, the addition of pomegranate juice percentage significantly reduced hardness, adhesiveness and cohesiveness values of the samples. (p<0.05). In terms of sensory evaluation, odor and flavor as well as overall acceptability were improved by increasing the pomegranate juice ratio (p<0.05). In this context, the texture and consistency did not improve well with the increase in the percentage of the juice. Increasing the storage time caused decrease in the pH, viscosity and water holding capacity of the yoghurt samples and increased the acidity and synersis value compared to the control samples (p<0.05). Also, a significant decrease in the antioxidant capacity of all samples was observed during storage (p<0.05). As expected, consistency and texture, smell and taste, and overall acceptability scores decreased by panelists on day 22.

In the current work, different amounts of pomegranate juice were added to low-fat yoghurt containing 2% inulin. Our findings showed that pomegranate juice can be used in certain quantities to produce flavored low-fat yoghurt. Totally, the best sensory properties were related to the samples containing 5% pomegranate juice; this sample had a reasonable antioxidant activity. Regarding physio-chemical properties, this sample also had the highest value of viscosity and water-holding capacity among the yoghurts manufactured with pomegranate juice. The texture of low-fat yoghurt containing 5% pomegranate juice had the highest hardness and adhesiveness compared to the control yoghurt with whole milk. So, based on the results, it can be concluded that low-fat flavored yoghurt with inulin and 5% pomegranate juice (w/w) can be commercially produced.

Button mushrooms are very popular and account for 30 % of the world's mushroom production (Royse, 2014). It has been reported that the Agaricus bisporus mushroom has a shelf life of one to three days at 20−25 ºC, five to seven days at 4 ºC (Diamantopoulou & Philippoussis, 2015; Jiang, 2013). Throughout the short shelf life of white button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), a few quality degradation processes emerge, including moisture loss, discoloration as browning, texture changes, off-flavor, and nutritional loss, reducing their economic value (Ding et al., 2016). This phenomenon is accompanied by the increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, due to the decline of the ROS scavenging power of the cell. Numerous studies have been performed on maintaining the postharvest quality of fresh mushrooms and postponing their deterioration (Zhu et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2020; Shekari et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2019). Extensive investigations reported that the role of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) as an endogenous gaseous signaling molecule primarily acts on the regulation of physiological functions associated with nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), and H2O2 in animals and plants (Hancock and Whiteman, 2016; Beltowski, 2019). Zheng et al. (2016) stated that postharvest exogenous H2S treatment of fresh-cut apples mitigated enzymatic browning. In the present investigation, NaHS solution as an H2S donor was applied to fumigate edible white button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) in the postharvest and its effects on cap browning index, percent open caps, weight loss, dry matter, firmness, ascorbic acid, total phenol, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging in edible white button mushroom during shelf life for 6 days was evaluated.

Fresh button mushrooms were selected on the basis of the uniformity of maturity and size. Sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) was applied as an H2S donor. Each treatment was implemented in three replications. To prepare the solution, NaHS was dissolved in 200 mL of distilled water in 3 L sealed containers at room temperature, then mushrooms were exposed to 0 (control; distilled water), 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, and 1.5 mM NaHS for 20 min. Afterward, treated mushrooms were maintained for 6 days at shelf life. Samplings of mushrooms were taken at 0, 2, 4, and 6 days after treatment. To calculate the browning index (BI), photographs of edible mushroom samples were taken on sampling days and L, a and b were calculated in Photoshop software environment (Aghdam et al., 2019). Percent open caps were measured according to Jiang et al's (2011) method. Weight loss was measured according to the method of Sing et al (2016). Dry matter was measured according to Kalberer's (1991) method. The firmness of the mushrooms was measured by a digital firmness tester by the method of Nasiri et al (2017). A spectrophotometric procedure described by Terada et al (1978) used for the determination of ascorbic acid content. Total phenolics was measured with using the Folin–Ciocalteu reagent by Singleton and Rossi (1965) method. DPPH radical was used to measure of scavenging activity according to the method of Dokhanieh & Aghdam (2016). Data were analyzed using SAS software and the comparison of means was performed using Tukey’s test for p < 0.05. Graphs were drawn using Excel software.

Our results showed that the cap browning index of mushrooms treated with 0.5 mM NaHS as donor H2S was significantly lower than that of control samples during 6 days of shelf life. Similar results were observed regarding color retention of strawberry and broccoli fruits treated with NaHS donor H2S during the postharvest period (Molinett et al. 2021; Hu et al. 2012; Li et al. 2014). The percentage of weight loss and cap opening of mushrooms treated with 0.5 mM NaHS was significantly lower, and the percentage dry matter and firmness was higher compared to the control mushrooms. The high dry matter content of mushrooms is related to their lower weight loss (Loon et al. 2000). The results of the present experiment are consistent with the results of Ni et al.'s (2016) studies, which showed that fumigation with H2S reduces the weight loss of grape bunches by increasing firmness and preventing senescence. Also, the use of NaHS treatment in strawberries caused a higher firmness of its fruits due to the decrease in the activity of pectin methylesterase and polygalacturonase enzymes (Molinett et al. 2021; Hu et al. 2014). Since H2S reduced the water loss rate of mushrooms treated with 0.5 mM NaHS, the percent cap opens of these mushrooms was much lower and their ascorbic acid content was higher compared to the control treatment. The lower decrease of ascorbic acid in button mushrooms treated with 0.5 mM NaHS donor H2S can be attributed to its the antioxidant effects, which causes a decrease in physiological activities related to senescence. The use of 0.5 mM NaHS treatment led to an increase in total phenol in button mushrooms. A similar increase in total phenolic content along with maintaining quality has also been reported in hawthorn and apple fruits treated with H2S during storage (Aghdam et al., 2018; Zheng et al., 2016). In this experiment, DPPH radical scavenging activities were higher in button mushrooms treated with 0.5 mM NaHS donor H2S compared to the control group during shelf life, which indicates that DPPH radical scavenging is improved after H2S fumigation.

In summary, in this experiment, the positive effect of postharvest NaHS treatment as H2S donor on the quality and antioxidant characteristics of edible white button mushroom during shelf life for 6 days was observed. The results of our study showed that postharvest H2S fumigation treatment of button mushrooms with 0.5 mM NaHS led to a reduction in postharvest senescence with delayed cap browning, lower percentage of open caps, lower weight loss and higher firmness than the control during the shelf life, which is probably related to maintaining the stability of the cell membrane during shelf life. In addition, button mushrooms fumigated by H2S showed increased antioxidant capacity and DPPH radical scavenging during shelf life, which was caused by increased accumulation of phenolic compounds and ascorbic acid in these mushrooms. In general, it can be concluded that the use of postharvest H2S fumigation treatment of the button mushrooms by maintaining the quality and antioxidant characteristics can be a suitable method to delay postharvest senescence and increase the shelf life of edible white button mushroom.

The fishing industry is one of the most important factors affecting the economy of many countries in the world. By-products of aquaculture processing constitute a large part of fish (He et al., 2013). The use of waste from aquatic processing will not only increase the economic value of aquatic harvesting, but also by reducing the amount of aquatic processing waste, it will reduce pollution and economic costs related to the treatment of produced waste (Fang et al., 2017). The main of by-products of aquatic processing industries including skin, intestines and viscera and blood, which contain a good amount of protein that can be used as a source for bioactive peptides (Chalamaiah et al., 2012). Hydrolyzed protein usually contains small fragments of bioactive peptides that contain 2-20 amino acids (Ryan et al., 2011). The most important functions of these bioactive compounds, can mention the anti-oxidation, anti-microbial, anti-cancer and immune system boosting activities (Vioque et al., 2001). Fiches viscera are one of their most important wastes and are rich in unsaturated fatty acids and protein (Bhaskar et al., 2008). Since the production of bioactive peptides from fish waste and their bioactive properties including antioxidant properties have been done in other studies, in this research we are looking for the effect of the molecular weight of peptides on their antioxidant properties using ultrafiltration membranes.

The viscera of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were prepared from fresh rainbow trout from the salmon breeding farm in Mashhad and were transported to the laboratory with sufficient amounts of ice in the shortest time and it was kept at -20°C until use. Approximate analysis of the samples was determined according to the standard method of AOAC (2005). Production of hydrolyzed protein from viscera was done by the method of Ovissipour et al (2012). The amount of protein in the solution phase was measured by the method of Lowry et al (1951) and the degree of hydrolysis was estimated by the equation of Kristinsson and Rasco (2000). The antioxidant property of the hydrolyzed protein of treatments 1 and 2 was measured by examining of DPPH free radical inhibition and ABTS+ radical scavenging power indices. and according to the results, it was determined that treatment 2 (2% concentration of alkalase) has a higher antioxidant effect, therefore this treatment were divided by ultrafiltration membranes with molecular weights (<30KDa, <10KDa and <3KDa) and treatment 1 was removed at this stage. After this step, the antioxidant property of peptide fractions in molecular weights (<30KDa, <10KDa and <3KDa) in the treatment of 2% alkalase was measured again by examining the DPPH and ABTS+ indices. Then, the antioxidant properties of peptide fractions in different molecular weights from treatment of 2% alkalase were again measured by the DPPH and ABTS+ indices.

The results of approximate compositions showed that the highest compositions of viscera were moisture (60.817%), and fat (21.91%) and protein content (13.57%), followed by was the low amount of ash content (1.12%) and carbohydrates ( 2.17%). The chemical compounds of food play an important role in the body's health by providing essential nutrients. The ratio between waste compounds is varied according to the age and sex of fish. The amount of moisture from this evaluation was similar to the waste of rainbow trout 64.52% (Mirsadeghi 2015) and the amount of protein is similar to the waste of Zalon fish 13.00 (Nemati e al., 2019). The ash similar to common Kilka 1.46% (Soleymani et al., 2016) and the fat was 22.83% similar to Anchoy Kilka (Mehdabi et al., 2021). The degree of hydrolysis estimates the change of peptide content in a hydrolytic reaction. The degree of hydrolysis increased by increase of enzyme concentration in hydrolysis, so treatment 2 showed a significant increase (68.15±0.02%) compared to treatment 1 (53.60±0.22%) (p<0.05). The results of antioxidant property using DPPH and ABTS+ indicators on research treatments showed that treatment 2 (2% concentration of alkalase) had a higher antioxidant property than treatment 1. The results of the antioxidant property of the peptide components again using DPPH and ABTS+ indicators on the treatment of 2% alkalase enzyme concentration showed that the hydrolyzed protein and all peptide components (<30KDa, <10KDa and <3KDa) have the ability to DPPH and ABTS+ free radicals inhibition but in the comparison of peptide components with the same concentration (1.25 mg/ml), the peptide component <3KDa had a higher inhibitory property than other fractions, that the value in DPPH free radical inhibition was 76.55±0.01 and ABTS+ free radical inhibition was 88.25±0.05 and the difference between the peptide components was significant (p<0.05). It should be noted that free radical scavenging of DPPH and ABTS+ had icreased by use of the ultrafiltration process. Also, short-chain peptides have higher antioxidant properties than long-chain peptides (Bordbar et al., 2018), the reason of this case is the number of hydrophobic amino acids in peptide components that affect the intensity of antioxidant activity (Guillén et al., 2010). The results of this study about the DPPH radical inhibition were similar to the results of Wang et al (2013), Jang et al. (2017) and Xi et al (2008). Also, the results of the antioxidant properties of ABTS+ were consistent of the results of Ma et al (2010) and Martysiak-Zurowska and Venta (2012).

The results of this study showed that, firstly, the used of concentration of the enzyme and the degree of hydrolysis has an effect on antioxidant property of the hydrolyzed protein and secondly, the ultrafiltracin process had a different effect on the antioxidant properties of peptides, so that all peptide components had antioxidant properties but also the molecular weight has an effect on the bioactivity, so that peptides with low molecular weight has an stronger bioactivity properties.

Cakes are one of the most consumed foods in the world, and their health-oriented product is of great importance. Due to the high amount of sugar and fat in these products, efforts have always been made to produce these products with less fat and sugar (Lebesi and Tzia 2011). Due to the undesirable side effects of synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyl anisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT), natural antioxidant have recently received attention as a source of bioactive compounds such as anti-cancer and anti-mutagenic. Consumers are gradually becoming more aware of natural ingredients (Kallel et al., 2014), which has critical implications for the food industry. Many types of aromatic plants as suitable alternatives are used in food products (Kordsardouei et al., 2013). In addition to the health benefits, it has been shown that the unique functional properties of these materials can lead to improved texture, consistency, and stability in food production and storage (Jahanbakhshi and Ansari 2020). Therefore, researchers are always looking to identify, extract and purify plant compounds for their use in the food industry (Ashfaq et al., 2021). One of these medicinal plants, which is used as a spice in food worldwide, is cinnamon. It is a valuable substance with high therapeutic potential and various medicinal and industrial applications (Jumbo et al., 2014). Many studies have shown the therapeutic effects of cinnamon including its antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-tumor, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, anti-lipemic, gastroprotective, and immune modulators effects) Hajimonfarednejad et al., 2019; Singletary 2019). In different types of food products, cinnamon is used as a flavoring agent, coloring agent, and food preservative (Saleem et al., 2015). It seems that its bioactive compounds can be suitable for use in food products, such as oil cakes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physicochemical and sensory properties of oil cake enriched with different percentages of cinnamon extract for applications in the food industry.

Numerous researches have been done to identify suitable extraction methods with high efficiency and environment friendly. Aqueous extraction is a cheap, non-toxic, green extraction technique and a highly acceptable method for consumers (Kallel et al., 2014; González-Centeno et al., 2015). Therefore, an aqueous extraction method was used in this study. The cake samples were prepared with the sugar-dough according to the Peyghambardoust method (2010). The drying of samples was done in an oven at 45ºC for 12 hours. Then, the dried cake samples were powdered and pH, protein, fat, and carbohydrate were measured for each sample. The pH of the dried cake samples was measured by Benchtop pH Meter. The moisture content of fresh cake samples was measured by the weight method. The water activity of the cake samples was measured at 25°C using a Water Activity Meter. Protein, fat, and carbohydrate contents were determined using the Kjeldahl method, the Soxhlet extraction method, and the Lane-Eynon method, respectively. The total ash content was determined by burning the samples in a furnace at 550º C. The content of acid-insoluble was also obtained by adding 25 ml of hydrochloric acid 5N to the raw ash. Sensory evaluation of food products is necessary to test the acceptability of foods (Nakov et al., 2020). Due to the high importance of sensory evaluation in the food industry, the sensory properties of oil cake enriched with different concentrations of cinnamon extract were also investigated in this research. In the current study, a completely random design was used with five different concentrations of extract cinnamon (0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25 % W/V) and the control sample, each with three replications. SPSS 21.0 software was used for statistical analysis, and the one-way ANOVA and Fisher's LSD post hoc test were applied to compare samples. The data were reported as mean ± standard deviation, and the significance level of the tests was p<0.05.

According to the measured variables, there was no significant difference in the pH of different samples, and this value varied from 7.41 to 7.49. The measured moisture content of the cake samples was higher than the control sample, and the results showed a significant difference between the control samples with 0.15 % and 0.25 % (p<0.05). The obtained water activity values showed that with the increase in the extract concentration, the water activity value decreased compared to the control sample. So that the highest amount of water activity belonged to the control sample. The sample containing 0.25% of the extract showed a significant difference in protein values compared to the control samples, 0.05 and 0.01 % (p<0.05). The fat percentage has decreased compared to the control sample for all samples, except for the 0.05% sample. So, this value was obtained at 13.46% and 13.03% for the control sample and the sample 0.25% extract, respectively. Also, carbohydrates decreased from 42.65 % in the control sample to 39.82 % in the 0.25 % sample. No significant difference was found in the total ash content of the samples. On the other hand, the extract percentage was directly related to the increase of acid-insoluble ash in the cake; this value increased from 0.16% for the control sample to 1.18% for the sample containing 0.25% extract. The results of the sensory evaluation showed that the color of the samples improved with the increase in the extract percentage. There was a significant difference between the control and other samples in the odor score. The highest and lowest taste scores were observed in samples containing 0.20% and 0.05% of the extract, respectively. All of the samples, compared to the control cake, had higher scores in the texture. The overall acceptability for the control sample showed a significant difference (p<0.05) compared to the 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25 % samples, so the best scores were related to the samples of 0.20%, and 0.25% extracts. In general, adding cinnamon extract improved the sensory characteristics of the oil cake.

Based on the investigated physicochemical and sensory properties, it seems that there is a possibility of enriching aqueous cinnamon extract into oil cake as a functional food ingredient in the food industry.

In recent years,attention has been paid to medicinal plant and its extracted compounds due to desirable functional properties as the natural additives in food technology and for producing functional food. According to the mentioned cases, it is observed that in no period has the attention to medicinal plants and the effects of their use and method of use been completely stopped (Mirshekari,1394). Due to the fact that the active ingredients in herbal medicines have a state of biological equilibrium due to their association with other substances, so they do not accumulate in the body and do not cause side effects. Therefore, a significant advantage over medicines. They have chemicals (Maghsoudi et al,1397).One of the applications of medicinal plants is their use as antimicrobial agents. Studies show that extracts of many medicinal plants are able to inhibit the growth of microorganisms(Kermanshahi,1385). Increased use and use of common therapeutic antibiotics leads to the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic microbial species.In other words, the emergence of these antibiotic-resistant strains prolongs the healing process. Therefore, paying attention to medicinal and native plants with antimicrobial effect can greatly reduce the problems caused by antibiotics (Nejati et al,2013). Plantago major is a perennial plant of the genus (Plantago major). Botanically,the leaf of a perennial plant is apparently hairless or slightly hairy (Alizadeh Behbahani et al, 2013). This plant is widely cultivated in Iran and the production of many seeds is one of the main characteristics of this plant (Samuelsen, 2000). Plantago genus includes species wellknown as medicinal plants and others can be used for food and animal feeding (P. coronopus, P. lanceolata, P. serraria). A large amount of data about the Plantago species usage refers to the leaves both in traditional and modern medicine (Oprica et al,2015). Traditionally, this plant has been used as a wound healer, immune booster and antioxidant (Samuelsen, 2000). In ancient medicine, fresh Plantago leaves were effective in healing wounds. This plant not only protects wounds from infection but also helps to heal quickly (Stanisavljevic et al ,2008). Plantago major contained significant amounts of phenolic compounds and has a potential antioxidant and antibacterial activities (Karima et al,2015). The medicinal plant (Plantago major) contains the glycoside compounds ocobin and plantagen and its antimicrobial properties and its growth is possible in most parts of Iran.This plant is involved in the treatment of respiratory problems, blood purification, fever, diarrhea, reduction of rheumatic pain, healing of inflammation of the kidneys and bladder (Amin,1384). The aim of this study was to extract polysaccharide and ethanolic extract from Plantago major and was to evaluate its functional properties.

In this study, Plantago with skin was prepared from Ahvaz city (Khuzestan province).Bacterial microbial strains were purchased from Iran Scientific-Industrial Research Organization and all chemicals used by German Merck Company. Extraction of polysaccharides was performed during several stages included defatting, water extraction and sedimentation with ethanol. Ethanol extract was prepared using 80% ethanol at room temperature. To investigate the structural properties of extracts Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) was used. The Fourier transform infrared range from 400 to 4000 cm-1 with a resolution of cm-1 was recorded using a spectrometer equipped with ATR system. Functional properties, including water holding capacity (WHC) and oil absorption capacity (LAC) of extracts extracted from plantago seeds were calculated according to the method of Carvalho et al (2009). Antioxidant activity was calculated using the DPPH method. DPPH radicals are widely recognized as a suitable method for evaluating the ability of antioxidant compounds to trap free radicals. Antimicrobial property of extracts against on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was studied using microdilution broth. To determine the antimicrobial properties, Staphylococcus aureus index bacterium was used as gram-positive and Escherichia coli as gram-negative. All data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21 in a completely randomized design and the means were compared using one-way analysis of variance and Duncan's test at 95% level.

Characteristic bands in FTIR spectra of both extract were same.In the FTIR spectrum of isolated polysaccharides, polysaccharide index bands and some effective groups were observed in their bioactive properties. The results showed that the indicator absorption bands in the infrared Fourier transform spectrum were similar for both types of extracts.The results showed that the extracted polysaccharides in compared with ethanol extract had lower (WHC) and higher (LAC)(p<0.01). In this study, the water absorption capacity of the extracted ethanolic extract and polysaccharide were observed 8.1 and 2.1, respectively.The antioxidant activity of polysaccharide extract was more than ethanolic extract. Thus, the antioxidant activity of the extracted polysaccharide at concentrations of (1,2,3,4)% was reported to be (18,31,36,44)%, respectively, which was higher compared to ethanolic extract. With increasing the concentration of polysaccharide and ethanolic extracts plantago major, a significant increase in antioxidant or free radical scavenging of DPPH was observed (P<0.05). Observation of optimal antioxidant activity in the studied concentrations showed that this extract can be used as an alternative to synthetic antioxidants and by delaying the oxidation of fat in food to maintain nutritional value and create desirable sensory properties. The effect of ethanolic extracts to inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was more than polysaccharides but bactericidal effect of both extract against of studied bacteria was same.

In recent years, the presence of antimicrobial compounds in extracts and essential oils of medicinal plants, long-term storage of food without additives and improving the quality of storage during storage have been considered by most researchers in this industry. Therefore, the relationship between medicinal plants and their health properties, with existing technologies in the food industry, guarantees the health of consumers and improves health properties. The result of this study indicating the application potential of the extracts isolated from Plantago major in food technology for modification of food formulation and creation of health promoting effects for producing functional food and food without chemical additive. It is hoped that based on this research, a big step will be taken to use this useful medicinal plant in the food industry.

Due to the harmful effects of chemical preservatives and the prevalence of the idea of green consumption, the need for research on the antimicrobial effects of natural preservatives and plant essential oils on the growth of important food microorganisms in laboratory and food models has increased. Plant extracts are a natural source of antioxidants. The need for natural antioxidants in the food and pharmaceutical industries has led to extensive scientific research in recent decades. Due to the harmful effects of chemical food preservatives, the use of natural preservatives is increasing (Dabbagh et al., 2011). Essential oils are aromatic oily liquids derived from various components of the plant. The antimicrobial properties of essential oils have been known for many years and today the approach of the general public as well as other national and international organizations responsible for food hygiene in the use of various natural preservatives instead of chemicals leads to a greater desire for scientific knowledge. This material has been. Phenolic compounds are responsible for the antimicrobial properties of plant essential oils. Therefore, the higher the amount of phenolic substances in essential oils, the higher their antimicrobial properties. These substances include carvacrol, eugenol and thymol (Barzegar et al., 2008). Clove is one of the plants that contains volatile and non-volatile compounds. Clove contains 10-13% of tannins, which have a chemical composition such as gallotanic acid. It also contains 2% triterpene and oleanolic acid (Milind et al., 2011). Clove has strong antioxidant activity that is comparable to the antioxidant activity of synthetic antioxidants such as butyl hydroxyl anisole and pyrogallol (Dorman et al, 2000). In recent years, food manufacturers have paid close attention to the use of natural preservatives of plant and microbial origin instead of chemical preservatives in their products. This is on the one hand due to the high tendency of consumers to use processed foods without preservatives or even possible with natural preservatives, and on the other hand, more and more attention of health authorities to this issue (Shafiei et al., 2014).

After preparing the plant sample powder, essential oil was extracted by steam distillation with the help of Clevenger device for 3 hours, and 150 g of clove powder was used in each essential oil extract. To prepare the extract, 60 g of clove powder in 1200 ml of 96% ethanol was placed in the dark at 30 ° C for 48 hours. Then, using Whatman 42 filter paper, plant powder residues were separated from the solution and extracted again by the previous method. The solution obtained from both stages was added on top of each other and the concentration operation was performed using a concentrator in a rotating vacuum at a temperature of 50°C (Zabetian Hosseini et al., 2013). After extraction, extract compounds were determined by GC-Mass method. Minimum mortality and inhibitory tests of clove extract were also performed for national standard bacteria and then used in mayonnaise formulation. Samples of mayonnaise with concentrations of zero (control), 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7% and with other raw materials including olive oil (44%), vinegar 4% (12%), 4.5% sugar, a mixture of egg yolk powder and emulsifiers (2.22%), starch (2%), salt 10% (1.5%), mustard powder (0.4%), xanthan gum (1/1) Guar gum (0.1%), citric acid (0.15%), sodium benzoate (0.04%), potassium sorbate (0.035%) and water (32.975%) were formulated. After preparing the final mixture, it was homogenized for 5 minutes using a high-speed homogenizer (1000 rpm). It should be noted that one kilogram of sample was prepared for each treatment and kept at 4 ° C for 5 months (Janine Passos Lima da et al., 2012). Sauce samples were evaluated and tested at production time intervals, first, second, third, fourth and fifth months. Microbial tests, peroxide number evaluation, emulsion stability, viscosity, colorimetric and sensory were performed for the treatments. The results of the research were evaluated with Minitab software version 16.

The studied clove extract had the highest percentage of eugenol with 5.85%, eugenol acetate with 1.3% and heptacosan with 1.8%, respectively. In the study of the percentage of compounds derived from clove essential oil, the highest percentages were observed: eugenol with 86.36%, beta-cariophylline with 66.7%, alpha-hemolen with 1.87% and eugenol acetate with 1.14%, respectively. The clove extract and essential oil used had inhibitory effect on the growth of Lactobacillus plantarum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Penicillium glaucoma. Increasing the amount of clove extract significantly reduced the initial microbial population as well as during storage. Mayonnaise treatment with clove extract at 0.7% also had the lowest population of Lactobacillus, mold and yeast, total number of microorganisms and Salmonella. The use of clove extract significantly inhibited the peroxide index during the storage period and also reduced the emulsion stability. With increasing the concentration of clove extract, the brightness index (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) of mayonnaise treatments increased significantly and during storage the brightness and redness index decreased but the yellowness index increased significantly. With increasing the use of clove extract and also over time, the pH decreased significantly. With increasing the ratio of shear rate to shear stress in mayonnaise treatments and with increasing the use of clove extract, the viscosity had a decreasing trend and mayonnaise treatment with 0.7% compared to the control treatment and other mayonnaise treatments had the lowest viscosity index. Sensory evaluators announced the 0.5 and 0.7 treatments as having the lowest score and the mayonnaise treatment with 0.1% as the optimal treatment during the storage period.

Due to the health of food against compounds and pathogens and maintaining the nutritional value of the desired food along with the elimination of pathogens, the use of natural antioxidant extracts such as clove extract as an antioxidant to prevent spoilage in food Perishable like mayonnaise seems essential. Analysis of the obtained results proved the antimicrobial effect of clove essential oil in mayonnaise product. Therefore, it can be claimed that mayonnaise contains clove essential oil, a completely natural and useful new product that, while eliminating the use of chemical preservatives, can maintain the shelf life of the product to an acceptable level and lead to the introduction of a new product as a flavored sauce with desirable nutritional properties.

One of the most important applications of artificial neural networks is to design a model based on which the value of one or more dependent variables can be predicted using independent variables. A genetic algorithm is one of the methods for optimizing problems and models, based on natural selection and some essential concepts of genetics. The performance of artificial neural networks (ANN) was reported by some researchers. They said that these approaches can estimate the characteristics of various fruits and vegetables with high precision. It has been shown that nonlinear techniques based on ANN are far better in generalization and estimation than empirical models. Determination of the best number of neurons in hidden layers of ANN models is generally carried out by trial and error. The genetic algorithm optimization method can be used to overcome this inherent limitation of ANN (Hafezi et al. 2020; Amini et al. 2021; Satorabi et al. 2021). Osmotic dehydration is an easy method for removing water from fruit and vegetable particles. At the same time, the correct term is “osmotic dewatering” while the final product still has high water content (Salehi et al. 2015). Ultrasound (sonication) treatments support the removal of intracellular water from fruit or vegetable particles to the surroundings as a result of a quick series mechanism of compressions and expansions (the phenomenon of cavitation). The use of continuous high-frequency ultrasound improves the mass transport rate during osmo-concentration. Also, the reduction of dehydration time and, as a result, processing costs have lately been reported at the laboratory scale after research conducted on some fruit and vegetable particles (Fernandes et al., 2008; Awad et al., 2012; Mohsen et al., 2017; Azarpazhooh et al., 2019; Salehi, 2020b; Salehi et al., 2022). In this study, the genetic algorithm-artificial neural network method was used to predict the weight reduction percentage, water loss percentage, solids gain percentage and rehydration percentage of kiwifruit slices dehydrated by the osmosis-ultrasound way.

Fresh kiwifruits of the Actinidia deliciosa variety were harvested in a patch located in Sari, Mazandaran Province, Iran. Before the experiments, the fresh and uniform-size kiwifruits with no external damage were selected, and with the aid of an industrial slicer (Girmi, Italy), cut into 0.5 cm thickness slices. The fresh kiwifruit slices moisture content (MC) was 84% w.b. (was calculated at 105°C for four hours, in an air forced oven, Shimaz, Iran). The ultrasonic treatments were carried out using an ultrasonic bath. The operating frequency of the bath was 40 kHz. The temperature of the osmotic solutions was maintained at 50°C. Treatments were structured in combinations of 8 time intervals: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 min; three osmotic solutions concentrations: 20, 30, and 40 °Brix; and three sonication power levels: 0, 75, and 150 watts. Treatments performed at 0 W were not subjected to sonication and were considered as control samples. The osmotic solutions were prepared by adding food-grade sucrose to water until concentrations of 20, 30, and 40 °Brix (% w/w) were attained. Each kiwifruit slice was immersed in the ultrasonic bath filled with 4L of treatment solution. Neurosolution software (version 5, NeuroDimension, Inc., USA) was employed for making the genetic algorithm–artificial neural network (GA-ANN) model. In the hidden layers and output layer a hyperbolic tangent activation function was used. The Levenberg–Marquardt optimization method was applied to network training. The crossover probability and the mutation probability operators were adjusted equal to 0.9 and 0.01, respectively. Also, a sensitivity analysis was done to supply the measure of relative significance between the inputs of the ANN model and to show how the model output changed in response to input changes. Genetic algorithm structure-artificial neural network with three inputs of ultrasound treatment time (in eight times of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 minutes), sucrose solution concentration (in three levels of 20, 30 and 40 °Brix) and ultrasound power (at three levels of 0, 75 and 150 watts) was developed to predict the characteristics of dehydrated kiwifruit slices.

It was considered that the weight reduction of kiwifruit slices increased with the enhancement in sonication powers. Also, it was observed that weight reduction increased with the enhancement in osmotic solution concentration from 20% to 40%. With increasing the ultrasonic power to 150 W, the average moisture loss percentage of the samples increased by 27.51% (P<0.05). With increasing the osmotic solution concentration from 20 to 40%, the average moisture loss percentage in the samples increased significantly from 16.58% to 35.33% (P<0.05). The results of modeling showed that a network with eight neurons in a hidden layer and using the hyperbolic tangent activation function could predict the dehydration process parameters of kiwifruit slices. The values of coefficients of determination (r) calculated to indicate the weight reduction percentage, water loss percentage, solids gain percentage and rehydration percentage of kiwifruit slices dehydrated using the genetic algorithm-artificial neural network method were 0.983, 0.989, 0.992 and 0.979, respectively.

Based on the results of the sensitivity analysis test, the rehydration parameter was the most sensitive parameter to changes in osmotic solution concentration and increasing the ultrasonic treatment time. The results obtained from this method show that the genetic algorithm-artificial neural network method is a suitable solution for modeling the kiwifruit dehydration process by the osmosis-ultrasound technique.

Study on modern biodegradable packaging materials has attracted the attention of researchers, due to increasing concerns about food safety and environmental issues related to waste generated by non-degradable plastic packaging. One of these modern packaging technologies is active packaging, which offers a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to improve the shelf life of food. In the food packaging industry, gelatin is one of the frequently used biopolymers. In addition, gelatin has been used in the fields of cosmetics, food industry, tissue engineering, and pharmaceuticals due to properties such as good biocompatibility, unique functional properties, abundant extraction sources, and biodegradability. However, pure gelatin film exhibits low mechanical, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, limiting its practical use as active packaging. Therefore, active packaging films and coatings are usually combined with various biopolymers, natural extracts, nanofillers to improve their properties, and enhance food safety. Rosemary is an evergreen plant, belonging to the Lamiaceae family. Its extract or essential oil has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-obesity and anti-diabetic properties. Rosemary essential oil also has antibacterial and antifungal activity. These health benefits of rosemary are due to the phenolic substances in its composition, including carnosol, carnosic acid and rosemanol. Many studies have included rosemary essential oil in food packaging to prevent food spoilage. Aloe vera is a xerophytic plant belonging to the Aloaceae family that grows in tropical regions of the world. Several researchers have reported that aloe vera has a variety of biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory. In the past decades, the use of aloe vera gel in edible films has received attention due to its effectiveness in increasing the shelf life of various perishable foods. The antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of aloe vera gels make them an excellent example of active packaging.

In this study, rosemary essential oil was extracted using a Clevenger apparatus. Also, aloe vera gel was extracted from the aloe vera plant. Then, gelatin-based films were produced using the casting method. Afterward, the produced film thickness was measured using a digital micrometer. Also, the film samples were placed in glass vials containing calcium chloride, to measure the water vapor permeability. The film surface morphology analyzed using a scanning electron microscope. Also, an X-ray diffractometer was used in the 2θ = 5-75 to check the crystal structure. Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to check the chemical structure of the films. Moreover, disc diffusion method was used to analyze the antimicrobial properties of the films.

The results showed that the thickness of the film containing aloe vera gel and rosemary essential oil was higher than the pure gelatin film. Also, water solubility and moisture content of the films were significantly reduced by adding aloe vera gel and rosemary essential oil. The pure gelatin film had a tensile strength of 20.74 MPa, flexibility of 21.42 % and Young's modulus was 165.14 MPa. The addition of rosemary essential oil increased the tensile strength of the film to 33.61 MPa. However, Young's modulus and flexibility of the film did not show a significant change (p < 0.05). Also, the addition of aloe vera gel increased the flexibility (30.24 %) of the film and decreased the tensile strength (17.92 MPa) and Young's modulus (44.18 MPa). In addition, the pure gelatin film had a uniform and smooth surface, which is the basic morphology of gelatin films. Also, the surface of the film maintained its uniformity and smoothness with the addition of aloe vera gel, which can indicate the complete dissolution of aloe vera gel as a result of its hydrophilic nature. Furthermore, the addition of rosemary essential oil formed a very homogeneous and uniform surface, which can be caused by the placement of rosemary essential oil inside the continuous polymer network of gelatin. X-ray diffraction results showed that at 2θ ~19°, all films had a broad peak, which indicates the semi-crystalline structure of gelatin and caused. However, the addition of rosemary essential oil and aloe vera gel did not cause a significant change in the crystalline structure of gelatin-based films, which could be due to the amorphous structure of aloe vera gel and rosemary essential oil. Also, the pure gelatin film had no antioxidant activity. However, the antioxidant activity of the film increased to 15.60% with the addition of aloe vera gel. Similarly, adding rosemary essential oil to the film caused 11.71% antioxidant activity of the film. In addition, pure gelatin and gelatin/aloe vera film did not have antibacterial activity. However, the addition of rosemary essential oil to the gelatin-based film caused significant antibacterial activity of the film, which is due to the presence of diterpene compounds such as carnosic acid, carnosol, rosmanol, isorosmanol, and rosmarinic acid in the structure of rosemary.

Briefly, gelatin active film containing rosemary essential oil and aloe vera gel was prepared using the casting method. Investigation of the optical, mechanical, barrier, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties of the film samples showed that gelatin/rosemary essential oil/aloe vera gel film had the lowest water solubility and moisture content, promising mechanical, light barrier, and antioxidant properties. Also, this film had suitable antibacterial against Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (gram-negative) bacteria, which indicates its significant potential for active food packaging.

The effect of addition of Malva sylvestris extract on the structural (FT-IR, XRD, SEM), physical (moisture, water solubility, WVP), mechanical (TS and elongation at break) properties, color, sensitivity to pH and ammonia of starch/tragacanth films were investigated. Results showed that the moisture content and water solubility were significantly lower in the films containing anthocyanins than control starch/tragacanth film. WVP of films were decreased with increasing the anthocyanins concentration. The TS of films were decreased with addition of anthocyanins and lowest TS were observed in the films containing 2% anthocyanins. The extracted anthocyanins were sensitive to the pH changes and lower 5 s the color change was observed. The color of films were pink, purple and green at acidic, neutral and alkaline, respectively. Furthermore, the films containing 0.5 and 1% anthocyanin extract were sensitive to the 0.8 and 1.4 M ammonia and after 20 min the color change were observed. The effect of addition of Malva sylvestris extract on the structural (FT-IR, XRD, SEM), physical (moisture, water solubility, WVP), mechanical (TS and elongation at break) properties, color, sensitivity to pH and ammonia of starch/tragacanth films were investigated. Results showed that the moisture content and water solubility were significantly lower in the films containing anthocyanins than control starch/tragacanth film. WVP of films were decreased with increasing the anthocyanins concentration. The TS of films were decreased with addition of anthocyanins and lowest TS were observed in the films containing 2% anthocyanins. The extracted The effect of addition of Malva sylvestris extract on the structural (FT-IR, XRD, SEM), physical (moisture, water solubility, WVP), mechanical (TS and elongation at break) properties, color, sensitivity to pH and ammonia of starch/tragacanth films were investigated. Results showed that the moisture content and water solubility were significantly lower in the films containing anthocyanins than control starch/tragacanth film. WVP of films were decreased with increasing the anthocyanins concentration. The TS of films were decreased with addition of anthocyanins and lowest TS were observed in the films containing 2% anthocyanins. The extracted anthocyanins were sensitive to the pH changes and lower 5 s the color change was observed. The color of films were pink, purple and green at acidic, neutral and alkaline, respectively. Furthermore, the films containing 0.5 and 1% anthocyanin extract were sensitive to the 0.8 and 1.4 M ammonia and after 20 min the color change were observed. The effect of addition of Malva sylvestris extract on the structural (FT-IR, XRD, SEM), physical (moisture, water solubility, WVP), mechanical (TS and elongation at break) properties, color, sensitivity to pH and ammonia of starch/tragacanth films were investigated. Results showed that the moisture content and water solubility were significantly lower in the films containing anthocyanins than control starch/tragacanth film. WVP of films were decreased with increasing the anthocyanins concentration. The TS of films were decreased with addition of anthocyanins and lowest TS were observed in the films containing 2% anthocyanins. The extracted The effect of addition of Malva sylvestris extract on the structural (FT-IR, XRD, SEM), physical (moisture, water solubility, WVP), mechanical (TS and elongation at break) properties, color, sensitivity to pH and ammonia of starch/tragacanth films were investigated. Results showed that the moisture content and water solubility were significantly lower in the films containing anthocyanins than control starch/tragacanth film. WVP of films were decreased with increasing the anthocyanins concentration. The TS of films were decreased with addition of anthocyanins and lowest TS were observed in the films containing 2% anthocyanins. The extracted anthocyanins were sensitive to the pH changes and lower 5 s the color change was observed. The color of films were pink, purple and green at acidic, neutral and alkaline, respectively. Furthermore, the films containing 0.5 and 1% anthocyanin extract were sensitive to the 0.8 and 1.4 M ammonia and after 20 min the color change were observed. The effect of addition of Malva sylvestris extract on the structural (FT-IR, XRD, SEM), physical (moisture, water solubility, WVP), mechanical (TS and elongation at break) properties, color, sensitivity to pH and ammonia of starch/tragacanth films were investigated. Results showed that the moisture content and water solubility were significantly lower in the films containing anthocyanins than control starch/tragacanth film. WVP of films were decreased with increasing the anthocyanins concentration. The TS of films were decreased with addition of anthocyanins and lowest TS were observed in the films containing 2% anthocyanins. The extracted The effect of addition of Malva sylvestris extract on the structural (FT-IR, XRD, SEM), physical (moisture, water solubility, WVP), mechanical (TS and elongation at break) properties, color, sensitivity to pH and ammonia of starch/tragacanth films were investigated. Results showed that the moisture content and water solubility were significantly lower in the films containing anthocyanins than control starch/tragacanth film. WVP of films were decreased with increasing the anthocyanins concentration. The TS of films were decreased with addition of anthocyanins and lowest TS were observed in the films containing 2% anthocyanins. The extracted anthocyanins were sensitive to the pH changes and lower 5 s the color change was observed. The color of films were pink, purple and green at acidic, neutral and alkaline, respectively. Furthermore, the films containing 0.5 and 1% anthocyanin extract were sensitive to the 0.8 and 1.4 M ammonia and after 20 min the color change were observed. The effect of addition of Malva sylvestris extract on the structural (FT-IR, XRD, SEM), physical (moisture, water solubility, WVP), mechanical (TS and elongation at break) properties, color, sensitivity to pH and ammonia of starch/tragacanth films were investigated. Results showed that the moisture content and water solubility were significantly lower in the films containing anthocyanins than control starch/tragacanth film. WVP of films were decreased with increasing the anthocyanins concentration. The TS of films were decreased with addition of anthocyanins and lowest TS were observed in the films containing 2% anthocyanins. The extracted