Determination of Total Antioxidant Capacity of Lipophilic and Hydrophilic Antioxidants In the Same Solution by Using Ferric–Ferricyanide Assay

The purpose of this work is to develop a simple, low-cost, and diversely applicable antioxidant capacity assay, the ferric–ferricyanide method based on Prussian blue formation, for both lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants in food matrices. The trolox equivalent antioxidant capacities of various antioxidant compounds were calculated with respect to the ferric–ferricyanide, FRAP, and modified CUPRAC methods. The linear calibration curves of the ferric–ferricyanide assay for lipophilic antioxidants (as absorbance vs. concentration) in 1:9 (v/v) H₂O–acetone mixture solution with and without 2% MβCD were comparatively drawn. Simultaneous determination of lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants could be achieved without using MβCD. Testing of synthetic mixtures of lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants in 1:9 (v/v) H₂O–acetone medium with the proposed method yielded the theoretically expected antioxidant capacities, considering the additivity of absorbances of constituents obeying Beer’s law. The proposed assay is simple, versatile, and cost-effective; its reagents are cheap and stable, and can be performed using a simple colorimeter.     

Mouse Models of Food Allergy: How Well do They Simulate the Human Disorder?

Food allergy is a growing health problem with serious concerns due to high potential for fatality. Rapid advances in the knowledge on causes and mechanisms as well as in developing effective prevention/therapeutic strategies are needed. To meet these goals, mouse models that simulate the human disorder are highly desirable. During the past decade, several mouse models of food allergies have been reported. Here, we briefly reviewed the human disorder and then critically evaluated these models seeking answers to the following important questions: To what extent do they simulate the human disorder? What are the strengths and limitations of these models? What are the challenges facing this scientific area? Our analysis suggest that: (i) the mouse models, with inherent strengths and limitations, are available for many major food allergies; there is scope for additional model development and validation; (ii) models mostly simulate the severe forms of human disorder with similar immune and clinical features; (iii) the approaches used to develop some of the mouse models may be questionable; and (iv) the specific mechanisms of sensitization as wells as oral elicitation of fatal reactions in both humans and mice remains incompletely understood and therefore warrants further research.     

How Maillard Reaction Influences Sensorial Properties (Color,Flavor and Texture) of Food Products?

ABSTRACT

Maillard reaction products are largely responsible for the development of color, taste and especially aroma of thermally treated food. For this reason, our review focused on gathering literature from the last 10 years about the influence of the Maillard reaction products formation on food acceptance in aspects of color, texture and flavor. Maillard reaction products have a characteristic odor note and can significantly positively or negatively influence the sensory acceptance of a product. For example, pyrazines and thiols were found in most cases as the most potential odor compounds formed in MR. Another important aspect of high sensorial acceptability is food color. Color development of thermally treated products is mainly attributed to the formation of brown polymers called melanoidins. It was also noted that the increasing concentration of “probably carcinogenic and mutagenic” acrylamide is related to the darker color of a product. Not much attention is focused on the connection between Maillard reaction products formation and textural properties. Therefore, textural properties have been mostly investigated in meat products. Changes in the texture of meat products were estimated as the difference in linkage formations between proteins and polysaccharides.     

How to Determine the Geographical Origin of Seafood?

Traceability of seafood is a much needed service for the seafood industry. Current ways of tracing seafood are minimal while tracing of shellfish is nearly nonexistent. Tracing fish and shellfish are necessary for indicating where the fish and shellfish were fished from, farmed and packed from. This study reviews history of traceability of aquaculture and analytical approaches to verify the origin of seafood. It then describes the new molecular technique of the traceability by using PCR-DGGE to discriminate the geographical origin of fish (cases studies of Pangasius fish from Viet Nam and Sea bass fish from France) by analysis the DNA fragments of microorganisms (bacteria) on fish. This method is based on the assumption that the microbial communities of food are specific to a geographic area.     

Meat molecular traceability: How to choose the best set of microsatellites?

To set up routine assays for molecular meat traceability along the food chain, the availability of a simple and low cost test for the identification of cattle carcasses is required. For this purpose, we evaluated 13 microsatellites for their ability in the identification of animals belonging to four Italian cattle breeds. Here we propose a criterion for a microsatellite-based test with the best reliability when reducing the number of loci to be analysed. The method is based on the observation that in the same loci breeds can show differences in frequencies and number of fixed alleles. This non-uniform distribution of alleles between breeds results in differences in the informative content of the same loci in different breeds. Taking into account these differences, it is possible to perform tests for the allocation of samples to specific animals utilizing a small number of microsatellites. The proposed approach allows cost reduction and ease in performing the analyses.     

Federal Monitoring Activities Related to Food and Nutrition: How do they Compare?

Several nutrition monitoring related activities are carried out by the federal government in the United States. These include the What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA, NHANES), the Total Diet Study (TDS), and the Nutrient Availability Data (NA). The intent, purpose, and methodology of the activities, and their inter-relationships were examined. Mean intakes of selected nutrients common to the datasets were compared. It is important to consider the purpose of these datasets when comparing results.     

Analytical Methods in Wineries: Is It Time to Change?

A review of the methods for the most common parameters determined in wine—namely, ethanol, SULFUR dioxide, reducing sugars, polyphenols, organic acids, total and volatile acidity, iron, soluble solids, pH, and color—reported in the last 10 years is presented here. The definition of the given parameter, official and usual methods in wineries appear at the beginning of each section, followed by the methods reported in the last decade divided into discontinuous and continuous methods, the latter also are grouped in nonchromatographic and chromatographic methods because of the typical characteristics of each subgroup. A critical comparison between continuous and discontinuous methods for the given parameter ends each section. Tables summarizing the features of the methods and a conclusions section may help users to select the most appropriate method and also to know the state-of-the-art of analytical methods in this area.     

Olestra: A Solution to Food Fat?

Olestra is a sucrose polyester, the first fat substitute that replaces many of the uses of dietary fat such as in dough conditioning, in sprays, in filling ingredients, in flavors, as well as in frying. However, it is not absorbed in the human digestive system, and therefore, it does not provide any nutrition or energy. It has taste and cooking properties similar to the conventional fats and oils. FDA approved the use of olestra only in limited and specific foods with a listing of fat soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) in the ingredient statement of olestra-containing foods followed by an asterisk that is linked to the statement “Dietarily insignificant.” This article reviews the physiological, nutritional, health, and environmental effects of the human consumption of olestra.     

Functional foods from the perspective of the consumer: How to make it a success?

Functional foods have become the corner stone of food innovation in the past few years. All big food companies are investing in functional foods because the mega trends in society seem to require healthy food with added benefits to improve the health, wellness and quality of life of people. The food companies have not only adapted their strategies and their communication to the health awareness and request of consumers but they have also changed their innovation process. And yet, there are more failures of functional food products out in the markets than there are global successes. The analysis of this phenomenon shows that the invention of new food products has to start in the mind of the consumers. A consequent orientation at consumer insights, translated into relevant, noticeable benefits, added to trustworthy and adequate brands, may be one potential route to market success.     

Food of the Future? Consumer Responses to the Idea of 3D-Printed Meat and Insect-Based Foods

3D printing technologies are beginning to be employed to fabricate new food products. One of the more unusual and potentially controversial adoptions of this novel food technology involves the use of laboratory-cultured meat or insect-based ingredients to support ethical consumption, food security, and environmental sustainability initiatives. In this article, we discuss findings from our study involving an online discussion group with Australian participants concerning their attitudes to a novel technology that combined new food processing and presentation devices (the 3D printer) with a range of ingredients. The participants recognized the potential benefits of insect- and cultured-meat-based printed food for society. However, their own priorities for food consumption choices centered more on the qualities of health, taste, and naturalness. We found that overall, few participants articulated interest in or support for consuming or serving 3D-printed food products made from cultured meat or insects. Most expressed their disquiet about the degree of processing cultured meat undergoes. It was considered to be “unnatural,” and therefore not fresh, potentially harmful, lacking taste or not nutritious. Most of the participants also expressed antipathy towards the idea of eating printed products containing insects. While such products were considered more “natural” and nutritious than cultured meat, the idea of eating insects was predominantly greeted with disgust. As these findings suggest, plans to use 3D printing technologies to render ingredients such as cultured meat and insects more acceptable and appealing to consumers in countries like Australia have major cultural barriers to overcome.     

Contribution of Plant Breeding Efforts to the Safety of the Cereal-based Food Chain

A comprehensive food safety strategy requires the establishment of a farm-to-fork traceability system, which allows each step in the food chain to be followed and identified. This policy requires a multidisciplinary scientific approach including the wide …     

Is Food Safety Compatible with Food Waste Prevention and Sustainability of the Food Chain?

In a context where the sustainability of food chains and food waste prevention are subjects of interest for public authorities and professionals, it is important to assess if these new objectives of food policy are compatible with food safety. The objective of this work was to develop a global model for a ready-to-eat meat product that provides three different outputs, i.e. energy consumption, percentage of spoiled products and exposure levels of Listeria monocytogenes. First a cold chain model was developed. The cold chain model was then coupled with (i) predictive microbiology models and (ii) energy consumption models for cold equipments. Various scenarios were tested for assessing the consequences of potential changes in cold chain equipment on safety, food waste and energy cost. This global approach could help policy makers in decision making.     

Methodology to improve epidermal barrier homeostasis: How to accelerate the barrier recovery?

Good water-impermeable barrier function is vital for healthy skin. Abnormality of the barrier function is observed in a variety of skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and contact dermatitis. Moreover, repeated barrier disruption induces epidermal hyperplasia and inflammation. On the other hand, acceleration of the barrier recovery prevents epidermal hyperplasia induced by barrier disruption in a dry environment. Thus, methods to improve the barrier function are very important for clinical dermatology. Recently, we have been searching for new reagents and/or new materials to improve barrier homeostasis. In this review, I will describe our recent findings and show how they provide the basis for a new perspective for clinical dermatology.     

Simultaneous Determination of Biogenic Amines and Methylxanthines in Foodstuff—Sample Preparation with HPLC-DAD-FL Analysis

Chromatographic system for simultaneous determination of levodopa, biogenic amines, and methylxanthines in food has been developed. Chromatographic column and pre-column with octadecylsilane phase and simultaneously fluorescence and DAD detectors have been used. Gradient elution with acetate buffer (pH?=?4.66) with acetonitrile has been applied. Examination included levodopa, norepinephrine, dopamine, normetanephrine, tyramine, and serotonin as well as caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) have been determined for all compounds with signal to noise ratio (S/N) equal to 3 and 10, respectively. LOD of 10 ng/mL and LOQ of 30 ng/mL for levodopa and biogenic amines as well as LOD of 70 (60)?ng/mL and LOQ of 210 (180)?ng/mL for methylxanthines have been determined. Authors have also developed method for simultaneous separation of all analytes from food matrix. Developed chromatographic system with sample preparation method has been applied for determination of examined compounds in cocoa products, vegetables, and fruits.     

Determination of the γ-aminobutyricacid in Guangxi Longan Fruit

[Objective] To better study the functional components of longan fruits. [Method] The content of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in 23 longan species planted in Guang...