Stretching the income in the demand for food and other goods in marginal urban populations in the city of Guatemala

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of changes in income and retail prices on the consumption of foods by low income groups living in Guatemala. A representative sample of 200 low-income families living in a marginal area of Guatemala City, known as "El Milagro", was studied. Of five surveys conducted, two concerned food demand exclusively. In the first one the food consumption survey used was the 24-hr recall method, and the second survey was related to income expenditures, obtaining weekly information on expenses on foods and in other items. The expenditures were utilized to estimate the elasticity of demand, including foods. Total family expenses were used as an estimation of total income. Analyses of the data were obtained by forming three income groups: families with per capita expenses below the per capita cost of the foods basket; families with per capita expenses within the cost of the food basket, and the cost of a modified food basket (all expenses); families with an income above the modified food basket. The analyzed data clearly confirmed that: a) food expenses increase less as a response to income increases than expenses for other family needs; the income elasticity for foods high in carbohydrates content is lower with respect to food of animal origin and the income elasticity of the demand for rice and wheat bread are higher in comparison to the more basic foods such as beans, maize and maize products, roots and tubers.     

Requirements for foods containing soy protein in the food for peace program

Under the Food for Peace Program, whole grains, milled wheat flour, milled rice, soybean oil, soybean flour, nonfat dry milk, soyacontaining blended food supplements, and soya-fortified processed foods are provided by the U.S. to needy people abroad to alleviate malnutrition. These commodities are used in maternal/child health programs, school feeding, food for work projects and disaster relief. The wide diversity of nutritional requirements and traditional food preferences has led to development of nine soya-containing food types, which are used in the PL-480 Title II donation program as blended food supplements or fortified processed foods. Research studies have led to the development of product specifications. Blended food supplements include the standardized mixtures of corn-soya-milk (CSM), instant CSM, wheat-soy blend and whey-soy drink mix. These foods, developed to fulfill the nutritional requirements of preschool children, contain from 17.5 to 29.7% either toasted-defatted or equivalent full-fat soya flour, along with vitamins and minerals. In addition, 4–19% soya oil is added to improve caloric density. These products contain 19 or 20% minimum protein and 6 or 19% minimum fat content. Fortified processed foods include soya-fortified bulgur (SFB), soya-fortified bread wheat flour (SFWF), soya-fortified cornmeal (SFCM), soya-fortified sorghum grits (SFSG), and soya-fortified rolled oats (SFRO). These foods contain toasted soya flour, grits, or flakes added at 12–15% levels. Fortified foods are generally consumed by people other than infants.     

Fat-based food emulsifiers

Emulsifiers are widely used in foods in order to achieve the texture, taste, appearance and shelf life characteristics desired by today’s consumers. A relatively limited number of fat-based emulsifiers is used alone and in various combinations to provide these characteristics. Bakery products is one of the more important food areas utilizing emulsifiers, and bread is the most important food within this class. The use of dough conditioners and softeners in bread represents one of the largest markets for fat-based emulsifiers. Therefore, the emphasis in this paper is on those fat-based emulsifiers used in the manufacture of bread. To a lesser extent, those emulsifiers used in other bakery products will also be covered.     

Soy protein foods in U.S. assistance programs

Soy protein food products occupy an important place in both U.S. overseas and domestic food assistance programs. In the overseas food donation program the products serve as the source of protein for the fortification of conventional processed commodities—wheat flour, corn meal, rolled oats, bulgur, and sorghum grits—and as a major source of protein in several cereal soy products designed for special use as child food supplements. Acceptance of these products has been good and more than 1 billion lb. of soy-fortified foods were distributed in the overseas program during July 1, 1972-June 30, 1973. In domestic food assistance programs, soy protein foods which meet U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements have been introduced into both school lunch and breakfast programs and also are distributed to needy families. Two products, textured soy protein and protein-fortified enriched macaroni, are permitted to meet part of the meat requirement in the Type A school lunch. In the school breakfast program, soy protein is a permitted ingredient in protein-fortified foods such as doughnuts, cake-like baked products, and cereal-fruit products. They were introduced primarily to meet the need for nutritious food items that require no kitchen facilities to prepare and are convenient to serve in schools that lack food service facilities. Specifications for the various food products are presented.     

Soy flour and grits for use in food products

Processing alternatives enable the soybean processor to manufacture soy flour products which vary in fat content, granulation and degree of heat treatment. By controlling these variables, the processor is able to regulate the nutritional value and functional properties of these products. The application of soy flour products is dependent upon their functional properties, nutritional value and low cost. Currently, the major markets for soy flour and grits are in pet foods and animal feeds, cereal based foods and ingredients, meat based foods, and as a substrate for refined protein products such as the textured vegetable proteins, soy protein concentrates, isolates and hydrolysates. These soy protein products are generally marketed as functional and nutritional substitutes for meat, milk and egg protein. For example, soy flour is a functional replacement for milk in many cereal-based foods, e.g., bread, and also enhances the nutritional value of the cereal protein by supplying lysine to the formulation. The United States government has pioneered the development and marketing of protein-enriched, cereal-based foods designed to combat worldwide starvation. The government has directly supported the research and development of corn and wheat-based food substrates supplemented with soy flour, and has purchased over one billion pounds of these products since 1966 for worldwide distribution. One of 21 papers presented at the Symposium, “Oilseed Processors Challenged by World Protein Need,” ISF-AOCS World Congress, Chicago, September 1970.     

Germinated or fermented legumes: food or ingredients of functional food

Epidemiological research has shown a positive association between certain diseases and dietary intake of food components found in fruits, grains, legumes, fish oil among others. Food that may provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients that it contains, are named functional food. In addition to the varied nutrients, legumes contain compounds such as polyphenols, soluble fiber, alpha-galactosides and isoflavones which confer propierties of functional foods. Do to the cuse of flatus production in some people, long cooking periods, or anti-nutritional factors, legume consumption levels are limited. In this review, germination and fermentation processes will be presented as alternatives that are able to reduce or inactivate anti-nutritional factors, preserve and even improve the content of the isoflavones, or better the potencial of the legumes as functional food or as ingredients for the formulation of functional foods.     

Development of a food frequency questionnaire for Sri Lankan adults

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs) are commonly used in epidemiologic studies to assess long-term nutritional exposure. Because of wide variations in dietary habits in different countries, a FFQ must be developed to suit the specific population. Sri Lanka is undergoing nutritional transition and diet-related chronic diseases are emerging as an important health problem. Currently, no FFQ has been developed for Sri Lankan adults. In this study, we developed a FFQ to assess the regular dietary intake of Sri Lankan adults. METHODS: A nationally representative sample of 600 adults was selected by a multi-stage random cluster sampling technique and dietary intake was assessed by random 24-h dietary recall. Nutrient analysis of the FFQ required the selection of foods, development of recipes and application of these to cooked foods to develop a nutrient database. We constructed a comprehensive food list with the units of measurement. A stepwise regression method was used to identify foods contributing to a cumulative 90% of variance to total energy and macronutrients. In addition, a series of photographs were included. RESULTS: We obtained dietary data from 482 participants and 312 different food items were recorded. Nutritionists grouped similar food items which resulted in a total of 178 items. After performing step-wise multiple regression, 93 foods explained 90% of the variance for total energy intake, carbohydrates, protein, total fat and dietary fibre. Finally, 90 food items and 12 photographs were selected. CONCLUSION: We developed a FFQ and the related nutrient composition database for Sri Lankan adults. Culturally specific dietary tools are central to capturing the role of diet in risk for chronic disease in Sri Lanka. The next step will involve the verification of FFQ reproducibility and validity.     

Chemical composition of food products derived from wheat and corn produced in Costa Rica

Twenty one wheat and corn based food products elaborated in Costa Rica were analyzed by chemically with the purpose of having data on local foods. The analytical methods to determine proximate composition were AOAC's. Energy was estimated by calorimetric bomb and dietary fiber (DF) by the gravimetric enzymatic method. Also food portion size was estimated and related with DF content for food classification. The values of the nutrients per food were established and compared with others reported in foreign tables commonly used in the country. Fat and energy content in cookies are higher than in salad breads and crackers. Wheat and corn based food products are classified either as low or very low DF sources (< 2.9 g FD/portion). Corn "tortilla" DF content duplicates bread's and the fiber is basically insoluble. Marked differences were founded in the nutritive composition of specific foods when compared with values reported in foreign food tables. In other foods, as corn based products, similarities in the chemical composition were common. The chemical composition of the studied local foods shows the potential of the diet to be atherogenic, an important aspect to be considered with relation to the main causes of mortality in Costa Rica population. The more compatible food composition table with our data is the Central American, followed by the Latin American one. The necessity of having data on the chemical composition of local foods has been demonstrated.     

Soybean protein food in China

This paper introduces the history of soybeans and soybean protein foods in China. For 4,000 years, soybeans have been one of the main crops cultivated in this country. The history of extracting protein to prepare a protein food (bean curd, tu-fu) is about 1,000 years old. Our ancestors had long been aware of the edible value of the soybean and had developed a technique for preparing many kinds of soybean foods. The traditional methods of preparing soybean protein foods such as bean curd (tu-fu), fermented bean curd (fu-ru) and dried bean milk cream (fu-tsu) are discussed.     

Molecularly imprinted polymers integrated with surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy: Innovative chemosensors in food science

Determination of trace levels of compounds in agri‐foods are challenging due to the complexity of the agricultural and food matrices. A specific and complete separation and enrichment of the target compound is sometimes more important than the development of detection tools. Raman spectroscopy and its derivative, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), have been widely used for the detection of specific food components due to their unique ability to record “fingerprinting” features of each molecule. However, Raman spectroscopy/SERS records the spectral signatures of all the food components, demonstrating that a pre‐separation of the target compound is critical. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), defined as “artificial antibodies”, have been constructed and integrated with Raman spectroscopy/SERS for an accurate and reliable separation and detection of target compounds in agri‐foods with minimum interference from food matrices. Compared to other separation elements (e.g., antibody, aptamer etc.) that can be integrated with Raman spectroscopy/SERS for sensing, MIPs do not contribute to spectral signature, can be reused multiple times and are more resistant to environmental factors, demonstrating the potential to be used for in‐field and on‐line screening of food safety and quality.     

Functional biopolymers produced by biochemical technology considering applications in food engineering

Polysaccharides are widely used in foods as thickening, gelling, stabilizing, emulsifying, and water-binding agents. The majority of the polysaccharides currently employed in the food industry are derived from plants and seaweeds. Recently, microbial polysaccharides have emerged as an important set of biothickeners for foods. These biopolymers have overcome to great extent the flaws associated with the plants and seaweeds polysaccharides. This relatively new class of biopolymers has unique rheological properties because of their potential of forming very viscous solutions at low concentrations and pseudoplastic nature. This review deals with the current applications of these microbial biopolymers in the food industry with a special focus on the commonly used important exopolysaccharides in this area.     

Development of a screening test based on isothermal calorimetry for determination of self‐heating potential of biomass pellets

For the risk for spontaneous combustion in storage of biomass pellets to be assessed, it is important to know how prone the fuel is to self‐heating. There are traditional methods that are used to determine self‐heating characteristics of fuels, eg, basket heating tests. The results from basket heating tests indirectly give the reactivity from a series of tests at high temperatures. This paper presents a sensitive screening test procedure for biomass pellets using isothermal calorimetry for direct measurement of the heat production rate at typical bulk storage temperatures. This method can be used to directly compare the reactivity of different batches of biomass pellets. The results could be used, eg, by storage security managers to gain better knowledge of their fuels propensity for self‐heating and thereby for safer storage. A large number of tests have been performed to develop the test procedure presented. Different parameters, such as temperature, type of the test sample (powder/crushed or pellets), mass of test sample, and preheating time, have been varied. Furthermore, gas concentrations in the sample ampoule have been measured before and after some tests to study the oxygen consumption and the formation of CO and CO₂. Three different types of pellets with different characteristics were tested to assess the variation in behaviour. Based on these tests, a screening test procedure is presented with a test temperature of 60°C, a sample size of 4 g, a 15‐minute preheating period at the test temperature, and 24‐hour test duration.     

Nutritional contribution of soy protein to food systems

From the nutritional point of view, soybeans can play a significant role in at least three aspects: as a source of supplementary and complementary protein, as a source of calories, and as a source of nitrogen. The protein role is probably the most important for food systems of developed and underdeveloped populations, while the role as a source of protein and calories applies more to food systems of developing populations. Soy protein efficiently supplements cereal grain protein, because it corrects the lysine deficiency of cereals. In some cases, for example with maize, it also corrects the tryptophan deficiency. On the other hand, the essential amino acid pattern of soybean protein complements that of other protein sources, for example cereal grains, cottonseed flour, and, in general, lysine deficient protein sources. This makes feasible the preparation of foods of optimum protein quality and of a high protein content. Because of its quality, soybean protein can replace animal protein without a significant decrease in nutritive value, for example as milk and meat extender; for diets low in quantity and quality of protein and deficient in calories, soybeans, as full-fat flour, provide both. Because of cultural eating habits, it is difficult to conceive the use of soybeans as complete substitutes of common beans; therefore, efforts should be made to use soy protein in combination with common foods used by populations to whom soybeans are foreign food. Examples of the nutritional benefits derived from the use of soybean protein as flour or protein concentrate or as full-fat soybean flour are given, particularly for foods consumed in Latin American countries. Besides the role soybeans play in human foods, they also play a significant role in the animal industry as a very important component of diets. The efficiency of the swine and poultry industry would be lower if it were not for the nutritional contribution of soybeans.     

Regulation of food advertising on television for the prevention of childhood obesity

Obesity is a serious global epidemic and the prevention strategies implemented have been insufficient. Numerous environmental factors have been associated with risk of obesity and their full consideration in prevention policies is important. The connection between food advertising on television and childhood obesity has been demonstrated. The large number of advertisements for unhealthy foods targeted at children through television and its possible impact on health has led some countries to legislate on this matter. However, a conceptual framework of reference enabling legislation must be internationally defined in order to achieve a real impact in preventing childhood obesity. This paper reviews scientific evidence on the relationship between food advertising and childhood obesity as a basis for developing public policies to regulate food marketing on television.     

Emerging food drying technologies with energy-saving characteristics: A review

Abstract

Drying is one of the most vital preservation techniques used in the food industry. It demands different levels of energy to produce commercially high-quality-dried food products. Novel drying technologies minimize deterioration of the food ingredients and produce novel products for consumers. In recent years, there have been many developments in the technology connected with the industrial drying of foods. Recent research has shown that novel food drying technologies could be utilized to improve the efficiency of drying by lowering the energy consumption and also to enhance the product quality. This article reviews selected energy- saving techniques in drying and discusses some novel combined drying technologies. These include solar-assisted, infrared-assisted, microwave-assisted and similar hybrid drying methods for food drying. Recommendations are also made for future research and development.     

Voltamperometric Sensors and Biosensors Based on Carbon Nanomaterials Used for Detecting Caffeic Acid—A Review

Caffeic acid is one of the most important hydroxycinnamic acids found in various foods and plant products. It has multiple beneficial effects in the human body such as antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antineoplastic. Since overdoses of caffeic acid may have negative effects, the quality and quantity of this acid in foods, pharmaceuticals, food supplements, etc., needs to be accurately determined. The present paper analyzes the most representative scientific papers published mostly in the last 10 years which describe the development and characterization of voltamperometric sensors or biosensors based on carbon nanomaterials and/or enzyme commonly used for detecting caffeic acid and a series of methods which may improve the performance characteristics of such sensors.     

The adaptation and validation of the food security scale in a community of Caracas, Venezuela

This paper describes the process of modifying and validating a hunger index developed in the United States by Wehler et al (1992). It is part of a research whose main objective is to develop and validate a simple method that measures both quantitative (food sufficiency) and qualitative (female self-perception) dimensions of household food insecurity. In a pilot study, the original instrument was modified from a 2 point 8 item to a 4 point 12 item scale. Precision measured with Alpha Chronbach's coefficient was high (0.871) suggesting consistency in the scale's items. The instrument was applied to a sample of 238 poor and very poor households in a peri-urban barrio of Caracas. To determine overall internal validity of the scale the relationship between possible economic, social and behavioral determinants and food security level measured with the scale, was analyzed. Construct validity of the scale was established with factor and principal components analysis. Finally, with multiple regression analysis evidence is presented for overall validity of the scale. Four determinants: predictors of food sufficiency score, monthly income per capita, social class, and number of children in the household predict in the expected direction self-perceived food security level (R2 = 0.343). Results suggest that this instrument, together with an abbreviated measure of food sufficiency, based on strategic foods may be a valid, precise, and simple method for identifying and monitoring households that suffer from some degree of food insecurity in poor urban communities.     

Textured and shaped oilseed protein food products

The major emphasis in developing textured and shaped protein foods has been with the use of soy proteins. The availability at a low stable price, the high protein content and quality, and the inherent chemical properties of the protein allowing for unique structure development are major reasons for its strong world-wide use. The changing economic trends of many basic protein foods are creating a need for the use of unique textured proteins either as ingredients in existing foods or allowing improved functionality in new products. The two main procedures for texturing and shaping oilseed protein are spinning of protein isolates, and direct extrusion of flour. The spinning technique is more expensive and has greater product functionality in contrast to the direct extrusion method. Consumer acceptance is in large part correlated with the technological success of imparting desirable colors, flavors and textural properties in the finished food product. Examples of these variations are given. The use level of these textured proteins, particularly in meat products, are restricted by labeling standards. The present regulations are not clearly defined. Current proposals for labeling textured vegetable proteins when used with meat products involve standards on a ratio to meat basis. One of 21 papers presented at the Symposium, “Oilseed Processors Challenged by World Protein Need,” ISF-AOCS World Congress, Chicago, September 1970.     

Using multiple household food inventories to measure food availability in the home over 30 days: a pilot study

Background  

The consumption of foods, especially by children, may be determined by the types of foods that are available in the home. Because most studies use a single point of data collection to determine the types of foods in the home, which can miss the change in availability when resources are not available, the primary objective of this study was to determine the extent to which the weekly availability of household food items changed over one month by 1) developing the methodology for the direct observation of the presence and amount of food items in the home; 2) conducting five in-home household food inventories over a thirty-day period in a small convenience sample; and 3) determining the frequency that food items were present in the participating households.     

浅谈食品添加剂及其对食品安全的影响

阐述了食品添加剂的种类和作用,介绍了我国食品添加剂现状和国内外研究进展,探讨了面粉、奶粉和肉制品等食品中食品添加剂对人体安全的影响。