Is it possible to create an innovative craft durum wheat beer with sourdough yeasts? A case study

Craft beer is often produced as a non‐filtered, unpasteurized and bottle re‐fermented beer, whose production is aimed at maintaining original sensory characteristics. The intention of most micro‐breweries is to meet these requirements in producing a high‐quality beer. In Italy, as well as in Sardinia, the number of micro‐breweries is increasing. In an attempt to make this product more original, new strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were selected. Sourdough yeasts were used as an alternative source of starters for beer production. In this particular work, two wheat beers were compared, one brewed with an autochthonous yeast isolated from sourdough and the other brewed with a commercial yeast normally used in Italian micro‐breweries. The wheat beer fermented with the autochthonous yeast had the highest ethanol content, the lowest pH and the highest content of esters and alcohols. From a sensory point of view the two beers showed significant differences in the triangle test, but were not significantly different in the paired test with preference. Copyright © 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling     

Addition of milk or caseinophosphopeptides to fruit beverages to improve iron bioavailability?

A study has been made of the influence of caseinophosphopeptides (CPPs) added to a fruit beverage versus milk based fruit beverages upon iron retention, transport and uptake, using a combined simulated gastrointestinal digestion/Caco-2 cell system. Grape concentrate, orange concentrate, and apricot puree were used for sample formulation. Eight samples were assayed with/without added Fe sulphate (3 mg/100 ml fruit beverage) and/or added Zn sulphate (1.6 mg/100 ml fruit beverage), with/without skimmed milk (11% v/v). The addition of milk to fruit beverages exerted a positive effect on iron retention, transport and uptake versus fruit beverages, and this effect was greater than that of CPPs added to soluble fractions of fruit beverages. The addition of CPPs to soluble fractions of fruit beverages improved iron transport. Iron supplementation increased Fe retention, transport and uptake – the effect being more notable in samples with milk. Zinc supplementation did not affect Fe retention, transport or uptake.     

Uncertainty of air pollution cost estimates: to what extent does it matter?

How large is the social cost penalty if one makes the wrong choice because of uncertainties in the estimates of the costs and benefits of environmental policy measures? For discrete choices there is no general rule other than the recommendation to always carefully compare costs and benefits when introducing policies for environmental protection. For continuous choices (e.g., the ceiling for the total emissions of a pollutant by an entire sector or region), it is instructive to look at the cost penalty as a function of the error in the incremental damage cost estimate. Using abatement cost curves for NOx, SO2, dioxins, and CO2, this paper evaluates the cost penalty for errors in the following: national emission ceilings for NOx and SO2 in each of 12 countries of Europe, an emission ceiling for dioxins in the UK, and limits for the emission of CO2 in Europe. The cost penalty turns out to be remarkably insensitive to errors. An error by a factor of 3 due to uncertainties in the damage estimates for NOx and SO2 increases the total social cost by at most 20% and in most cases much less. For dioxins, the total social cost is increased by at most 10%. For CO2, several different possible cost curves are examined: for some the sensitivity to uncertainties is greater than for the other pollutants, but even here the penalty is less than 30% and in most cases much less if the true damage costs are twice as high as the ones estimated. The paper also quantifies the benefit of improving the accuracy of damage cost estimates by further research.     

Electric power deregulation: will it mean dirtier air?

When U.S. utility restructuring arrives, it may bring more polluting power production, critics say.     

What does global warming mean for stored-grain protection? Options for Prostephanus truncatus (Horn) control at increased temperatures

Global climate change is expected to accelerate reproduction, development and activity of stored-product insect pests and degradation of grain protectants hence compromising efficacy of available storage pest management technologies. However, there is little information on these effects. The current laboratory study examined the effect of increasing temperatures on the efficacy of stored maize grain protectants and hermetic containers in controlling Prostephanus truncatus (Horn). In Experiment I, three commercial synthetic grain pesticides (cocktails of an organophosphate and a pyrethroid or a neonicotinoid) and two farmer-practices (neem leaf powder and wood ash) were tested on shelled maize grain. In Experiment II, four storage containers, viz Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bag, Super Grain bag (SGB), metal silo (MS) and polypropylene bag (PP) (all containing untreated maize) were tested. Both experiments were conducted for 12 weeks at 32 °C, 38 °C and mean ambient temperature of 26 °C; with three replicates per treatment. All treatments were artificially infested with laboratory-reared adult P. truncatus. Sampling was at baseline (0 weeks) and 4-weekly intervals. Overall, results showed significant differences in grain damage and weight losses between non-synthetic and synthetic grain protectants in all treatments at all tested conditions. The hermetic storage containers kept mean insect grain damage below 6.4% compared to 24.5% in the untreated control at all the experimental conditions. These results indicate that the use of synthetic grain protectants and hermetic storage containers (SGB, PICS and MS) in the management of P. truncatus may not be negatively affected by projected warmer temperatures of 32 °C or 38 °C; suggesting these storage technologies will remain efficacious under sub-Saharan Africa’s warming climates.     

How does it make you feel? A new approach to measuring emotions in food product experience

The objective of this study was to define an approach to describe the emotional profile specific to a product category able to solve some limitations of the current approaches. A multistep approach was applied to measure emotions related to consumer liking for a specific food product category, chocolate and hazelnut spreads, chosen as the first case of application. Three interrelated experiments were conducted: (1) selection of products that spanned the most relevant sensory variation within the considered product category; (2) development of a product specific questionnaire (EmoSemio) based on interviews conducted with a modified version of the Repertory Grid Method and analysed with a semiotic approach; and (3) collection of liking and emotional consumer responses with EmoSemio and with EsSense Profile™ questionnaires. Both questionnaires used to measure emotional responses produced information that is not captured by only measuring acceptability. However results from ANOVA model applied on emotion ratings highlighted important differences between the two questionnaires. The product specific questionnaire was found to discriminate across the products more effectively, with a higher percentage of discriminating emotions and a higher number of sample groups discriminated by each emotions (LSD_99% post hoc test). Different factors contributed to these results: (a) the product-specific and language/culture-specific nature of the questionnaire; (b) a different and clearer way to express emotions in EmoSemio: not using single adjectives but full sentences helps to reduce ambiguity; and (c) a reduced length – 23 instead of 39 items. For these reasons, EmoSemio approach seems to be appropriate when the emotional profile of a specific product category is of interest, allowing a fine-grained analysis with relatively modest costs as to the benefits (25 interviews). Further studies are needed to experiment EmoSemio on other product categories, testing its reliability and suitability with different food and also non-food products.     

Are questionnaires the best way to measure emotions for food products and beverages?

There is a growing awareness in the field of consumer and sensory research to include emotional measurements when evaluating food products and beverages. The present paper provides an overview of the recent measures used for emotional measurements within the context of food products and beverages. Further, it discusses to what extent questionnaires might be the best measurement to capture consumer’s emotions in the field of food science by focusing on three aspects of emotion measurement, namely (i) what do we want to measure, (ii) how do we measure it and (iii) what is the added value of the measurement.     

Is it merely a myth that alcoholic beverages such as red wine can be cardioprotective?

It has been suggested that although the negative impact of alcohol consumption varies from person to person, on a global level the adverse effect of alcohol on cardiovascular disease outweighs any protective effect by between two- and three-fold. This is inaccurate. There is a proven positive relationship between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease that is acknowledged by the World Health Organization. For example, moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by approximately 25%, such that alcohol consumption per se accounts for -4.7% of the total cardiovascular disease burden in Australia. Correspondingly, cardiovascular disease accounted for 34% of the total number of deaths in Australia in 2008, and 18% of the overall burden of disease in Australia in 2003, with coronary heart disease and stroke contributing over 80% of this burden. Australia is not substantially different from other developed countries having similar demographics to, and the same leading causes of burden as, other high-income developed countries. This article examines the suggestions and evidence surrounding the relationship between light-to-moderate alcohol consumption and benefits to human health.     

The National Nutrient Databank Conference: What is it?

Food composition databases (FCDs) are a foundation of nutrition research, monitoring and surveillance of the food supply, commercial applications, and nutrition in clinical practice. The National Nutrient Databank Conference (NNDC) is a gathering of researchers and users dedicated to the development, maintenance, and use of FCDs. The NNDC has met regularly since 1976 to provide a forum for researchers and users to share information about current resources and activities involving FCDs. The NNDC is governed by a Steering Committee and led by an Executive Committee that defines the purpose of the organization, monitors the needs of the nutrition community, carries out professional responsibilities associated with FCDs, and recommends priorities for the future. In an ever-changing food marketplace, emphasis on dietary surveillance around the world, and the need for additional food composition data to answer new scientific questions, the NNDC is more critical to the nutrition community today than ever before. The annual assembly of a group of FCD experts and users with the purpose of identifying and preparing for new possibilities in food composition is critical for the future of nutrition research and clinical practice.     

What determines consumer attention to nutrition labels?

To identify the key determinants of consumer attention to nutrition labels, visual search tasks (present –absent; one – two targets) were used as an effective experimental tool. The main manipulation concerned: set size (number of labels on front of pack); label characteristics (display size, position of the label on front-of-pack, colour scheme); and familiarity with type of the label and its location on the front of pack.Attention capture was faster and more accurate when the label was present rather than absent, with doubled rather than standard display size, and with mono- rather than polychromatic colouring. There was performance benefit when the type of label and its location on the package did not change in two consecutive exposures, suggesting that nutrition logos should be printed in a consistent location on the package.The results confirm our hypotheses that display size, colour scheme, familiarity with the label and its location on the front of the pack are key determinants of consumer attention to labels. These findings are crucial to better understanding consumer attention to labels and thus the impact of nutrition information on healthy food choice.     

Tear evaporation rates: What does the literature tell us?

Purpose

A previous literature review reported tear evaporation rates (TERs) from studies conducted on rabbits and humans between 1941 and 2003. Closer examination of the presented data revealed inaccuracies in the reporting of some values. This paper presents updated tables of TERs using values from the original papers cited in the review, in addition to incorporating new studies published between 2003 and 2016.