Journal of Food and Bioprocess Engineering
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2024

This study evaluates the antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of selected soybean varieties, Sri Lankan P.B 1 and Indian MACS-330. The methanolic extracts of soybean were in-vitro evaluated for their antioxidant, α–amylase, and amyloglucosidase inhibitory activities. Mixed flours with different proportions of soy flour (3%, 5%, and 8%), in wheat flour were investigated for their bread quality. Sensory properties of the bread were evaluated by trained panelists and the proximate composition of bread was assessed according to AOAC procedures. The research results show that the inhibition activity of α-amylase and amyloglucosidase did not differ significantly (P<0.05) from each variety. However, the total phenolic and flavonoid content of the Sri Lankan P.B 1 variety was not significantly difference (p > 0.05) than the Indian MACS-330 variety. The methanolic extracts from soybean may inhibit key-enzymes associated with type 2 diabetes, and thus may explain part of the mechanism by which soybeans exerts this health-promoting effect. As soy flour content increased, all the macro-nutrient parameters increased except carbohydrate content. The highest overall sensory score was the bread with 5% added soybean from Sri Lankan P.B 1. In conclusion, the functional and nutritional properties of the bread can be improved by the addition of soy flour.

Food waste generation has increased in recent years due to population growth. The continuous rise in food production for human consumption has resulted in 1.3 billion tons of food waste annually worldwide. Waste bread, an inexpensive substrate with high carbohydrate content, can hydrolyze by proper methods, such as enzymatic hydrolysis, for utilization in fermentation. Glutamic acid, a non-essential amino acid with various applications in pharmaceuticals, food industries, and cosmetics, can be produced by fermentation. In this study, we applied waste bread, as a cost-effective starchy waste, to produce fermentable substances through enzymatic hydrolysis. This process resulted in a significant increase in reducing sugar concentration from 1.285 ± 0.195 g/L to 123.282 ± 0.924 g/L. The obtained hydrolysate was utilized as a carbonic source for the glutamic acid synthesis by Corynebacterium glutamicum PTCC 1532. To enhance the glutamic acid yield, response surface methodology was employed to optimize the independent variables. The optimum levels of reducing sugar concentration of hydrolysate, urea concentration, biotin concentration, and inoculum size was 49.889 g/L, 6.812 g/L, 6.57 μg/L, and 5.339% (v/v), respectively. Under these optimized conditions, the experimental glutamic acid production was 21.34 ± 0.204 g/L, which demonstrated a reasonable correlation between the predicted and experimental results. This study illustrated that waste bread can serve as a low-cost carbon source for producing valuable compounds such as glutamic acid.

Food and agricultural products can be contaminated by mycotoxins. Many emerging methods, including ozonation, have been used to reduce the level of these contaminants. This study aimed to assess the effects of different treatment times and doses of ozonation on the reduction of aflatoxins in contaminated corn samples. A central composite design (CCD) via response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the ozonation for maximum reduction of AFB1 contamination level. The variables used in this study were: AFB1 concentration (X1, 5–50 ng/ml), ozone dose (X2, 200–600 mg/kg), and ozonation time (X3, 100–400 min). Increasing the dose and time of ozonation showed significant effects on initial AFB1 content. The results have demonstrated that an ozonation dose of 600 mg/kg for 250 min, was sufficient to eliminate at least 96% of the AFB1 contamination level of corn samples. The obtained results have been validated and showed that ozonation under optimal conditions could be a promising method to reduce aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, zearalenone, and deoxynivalenol contamination in corn.

The use of functional compounds to improve the nutritional value of foods is becoming increasingly popular across all sectors of the food industry. Even though many of these ingredients are unstable under normal conditions or have an unpleasant aftertaste, their use is restricted. Thus, it is necessary to use techniques that preserve the stability of these functional components, allow their use in a variety of food matrices, and improve their absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. Encapsulation technology is a new technique that has the potential to improve the stability of these functional ingredients while also allowing for their use in a variety of food matrices. Numerous methods have been used to microencapsulate active agents, including coacervation, co-crystallization, spray drying, lyophilization, and extrusion. Among these encapsulation techniques, extrusion encapsulation has proven to be the simplest, enabling the formation of resistant microcapsules while preserving the bioactivity of the encapsulated material. Extrusion-based encapsulation is advantageous economically and environmentally because it involves the formation of encapsulated material through direct dispersion of active components into wall material without the use of an organic solvent, as well as the benefits of lower energy and water consumption. This section discusses the basic concept, fundamental principles, and applications of extrusion encapsulation in the food industry. The review focuses primarily on the effects of extrusion encapsulation technologies on a variety of food ingredients, including oils, antioxidants, probiotics, and flavours.

Nanochitin (NC) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) are biodegradable polymers that are prepared from aqua cultural and natural resources. NC at three concentrations (0.1, 0.5 and 1% w/w) was added to the CMC film using casting methods. The optimum result was obtained through the nanocomposite film with 1% NC in terms of water solubility (WS) (17%), moisture content (MC) (14%), and moisture absorption (MA) (16.28%). Water vapor permeability (WVP) of composite film is reduced by increasing concentration of NC. The lowest water vapor permeability value belongs to CMC/NC 1% with 0.30 g s-1 m-1 Pa-1 × 10-10. Moreover, tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EB) improved in CMC/NC film by increasing the NC content. By adding NC, the tensile strength of the nanocomposite was considerably enhanced from 4.98 to 24.59 MP. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed that the glass transition temperature of NC (204.81 °C) was lower than CMC (206.31 °C). X-ray analysis confirmed the emersion of crystalline peaks in CMC/NC. However, high concentration (1%) of NC led to the aggregation of NC in CMC film. Antibacterial activity was obtained against five pathogen bacteria and the result showed an effective inhibition on E.coli and S. aureus. The inhibition zones for CMC/ 1% NC were 3.66 mm and 3.00 mm against E.coli and S. aureus respectively. In conclusion, the results suggested that the quality of the CMC-based films can be improved through the addition of NC.

This study aimed to analyze the influence of microwave treatment (MT) at various time intervals on the viscosity and flow behavior of Wild sage seed gum (WSSG) dispersion (0.2%, w/v). The flow behavior of WSSG dispersions were calculated from the resulting flow curves using four flow behavior models (Power law (PL), Bingham, Herschel-Bulkley (HB), and Casson). The fit quality of the selected models was evaluated using correlation coefficient (r), sum of squared error (SSE), and root mean square error (RMSE). It was observed that the apparent viscosity of WSSG dispersion reduced from 68 mPa.s to 19 mPa.s as the shear rate (SR) increased from 12.2 s-1 to 171.2 s-1. Additionally, the apparent viscosity of the samples reduced from 34 mPa.s to 28 mPa.s as the MT time increased from 0 to 3 min (SR=49 s-1). The HB model, which is a combination of Bingham and PL models, fitted the data very well with an overall r of more than 0.9990 and, SSE and RMSE values of lower than 0.0123, and, 0.0310, respectively, therefore, used to describe the shear stress (SS) and apparent viscosity of WSSG dispersions. The consistency coefficient of WSSG dispersion decreased significantly from 0.185 Pa.sn to 0.155 Pa.sn (p<0.05) with increasing MT time from 0 to 3 min. Also, the flow behavior index (PL and HB models) of dispersions increased as the MT time increased.

This study presents the design and evaluation of a portable amperometric biosensor for detecting nitrates, utilizing a gold three-electrode system with immobilized nitrate reductase. With a sensitivity of 12.01 μA mM−1 cm−2 over a 0.16–0.96 mM range and a regression coefficient of 0.98, the biosensor outperforms traditional UV spectrophotometric methods (0.01–0.19 mM) by offering a broader range (0.16–0.96 mM) and greater accuracy, as evidenced by a 6.69% relative standard deviation for reproducibility and a detection limit of 0.14 mM. Maintaining 63% of its initial response after four days and showing minimal interference from nitrite (1 mM), this biosensor is highly suitable for water testing, although pre-treatment is required for analyzing food samples due to phenolic compounds.

This study aimed to investigate the production of beverage powder based on Shahani grape pomace extract (SPE). Antioxidant activity, anthocyanin and polyphenol compounds in SPE were 84%, 133 mg/100mL and 957 mg GAE/g; respectively. The effect of Maltodextrin (MD) and Arabic gum (AG) as foam stabilizers on foam properties were evaluated. The foam stabilizers improved foam properties in expansion, density, and stability. According to the results, foam-mat freeze-dried (FMFD) powders had higher amounts of anthocyanin, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, Carr’s index, degree of caking, solubility, hygroscopicity as well as tapped and particle density in comparison to spray-dried (SD) powders. However, the FMFD powders had lower cohesiveness in comparison to SD powders. According to the results, the addition of MD and AG has led to some improvements in the quality properties of Shahani grape pomace beverage powder, and freeze drying was determined as the more suitable method for drying the foam.

The present study aims to determine the influence of edible organic acids (ascorbic, citric, malic, and tartaric) at two concentrations (0.5, and 1 %) on the viscosity and rheological behavior of xanthan gum dispersion (0.2%, w/v). The results of this study showed that the apparent viscosity of xanthan gum dispersion reduced as the shear rate (SR) increased (shear-thinning behavior). Furthermore, the apparent viscosity of the xanthan gum dispersion decreased as the organic acid concentration increased. The highest decrease in viscosity was related to 1% citric acid and the lowest was related to 0.5% ascorbic acid. The rheological behavior of xanthan gum dispersion was successfully modeled using Power law, Bingham, Herschel-Bulkley, and Casson models, and the Power law model was the best one for describing the behavior of xanthan gum dispersion containing edible organic acids. The Power law model showed good performance with the maximum r-value (mean r-value=0.993) and least sum of squared error (SSE) values (mean SSE value=0.115) and root mean square error (RMSE) values (mean RMSE value=0.046) for all samples. The consistency coefficient values of the samples (Power law and Herschel-Bulkley models) reduced as the acid percent was increased. The sample containing 1% citric acid had the lowest consistency coefficient and the sample containing 0.5% ascorbic acid had the highest consistency coefficient. Based on the results of this research, the use of xanthan gum in food products containing high concentrations of citric acid is not recommended.

In this study, the viability of Lactobacillus bacteria in probiotic dairy products sold in Qazvin city within two periods was examined. Eighteen samples of dairy products (yogurt, cheese, and kefir drinks) labeled with probiotics from different brands of various companies in Iran were prepared. Dilutions were prepared appropriately from each sample and inoculated into MRS Bile Agar culture medium as a pour plate culture procedure. After incubation, the colonies were counted and checked to see if the standards of the Iranian National Standardization Organization (INSO) (min 106 CFU/gr) were met. Then, to perform probiotic confirmation tests, each colony characterized different morphological was examined regarding catalase and Gram staining tests. The average count of live Lactobacillus showed that out of eighteen samples of probiotic dairy products, only one sample (5.5%) had the minimum number of bacteria according to INSO. In the yogurt, none of the samples could grow in the bile culture medium. In the cheese, none of the samples had the minimum number of viable bacteria according to the standard. Regarding the kefir drink, only one sample had the minimum number of live bacteria based on the standards, in the first week after the production date. In most of the dairy products labeled as probiotic, the average count of Lactobacillus with the ability to grow in bile, is lower than INSO measurements, which is at least one million bacteria per gram of a product.

The dangers of heavy metals in rice have received much attention in the world. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the contamination status and health risk of Kamfiruz rice in Fars province, Iran. The results showed that the average concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and Chromium (Cr) in rice were (0.034-0.069), (0.129-0.186), and (0.354-0.426) mg kg-1 respectively. Among them, the concentration of Pb in rice grown in the lower reaches of the Kor River was 20% higher than the Iranian standard. The consumption of rice didn't have a specific non-carcinogenic risk for consumers (target hazard quotient, hazard index, and hazard quotient < 1), except the hazard index in the downstream areas (1.04 - 1.14). In contrast, rice was considered a threat in terms of carcinogenic risks (CR). In this study, CR values of Cd and Cr in rice were > 1×10-4, while this value was in the safe range for Pb (<1×10-4), however TCR of all HMs had carcinogenic risk (> 1×10-4). According to the results, the continuous monitoring of rice samples is essential to mitigate exposure to toxic metals through rice ingestion in the region.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of peracetic acid compared to lactic acid and citric acid to improve the shelf life of red meat in refrigeration. Sequential concentrations (50, 200, 400 ppm) of organic acids and peracetic acid were sprayed on the meat surface. Then the level and intensity of germicidal impacts on microorganisms were investigated and the effects of these compounds on peroxide value, and sensory evaluation were determined. Mesophilic microorganisms, salmonella, Escherichia coli of meat samples were determined during one week in the refrigerator (first, fourth, and sixth day), according to the standard methods. The results demonstrated that all peracetic acid treatments caused a significant difference in microbial counts compared to equivalent dilution of other solutions (p˂0.05). Sensory evaluation was performed on color, smell, and general acceptability factors based on the 5-point hedonic method. Comparing the peroxide value in the examined meat samples showed that increasing the peroxide value in treated meat samples (p˂0.05) did not lead to undesirable alterations and no effects on consumer acceptance. The findings of this study demonstrated that the use of peracetic acid especially at a concentration of 200 ppm immediately after slaughter can extend the shelf life of raw meat.