Sensory perception of creaminess and its relationship with food structure

Practical difficulties are frequently encountered in understanding the meaning of creaminess as used as a sensory attribute, and in the compositional and physical characteristics of foods that give rise to creaminess. Selected factors have been investigated in this project. The size of dispersed particles (solid, liquid and gaseous) on the perceived creaminess was of particular interest during the course of the work, and this was varied using appropriate changes in processing, during production of samples for analysis. Additional factors investigated included the presence of an added cream flavour in artificial creams, fat content in artificial creams and air content in chocolate mousses. Sensory characterisation of samples was carried out using sensory profiling, while physical characterisation of the samples was by means of particle size measurements, microscopy and rheology. The results show that perceived creaminess is a complex attribute in multi-phase food systems, being dependent on both flavour and textural characteristics of products, with different dependencies on these characteristics, depending on the product type concerned. The project demonstrated the value of manipulating processing and formulation variables as a means of generating a range of food structures for the investigation of creaminess. It is evident, however, that the concept of creaminess might differ between different structural types, limiting opportunities for devising general rules governing the factors controlling creaminess. Further studies should focus on specific structural types that are open to manipulation, and further research is in progress to investigate systematic changes to a mousse structure.     

Manufacturing personalized food for people uniqueness. An overview from traditional to emerging technologies

Abstract

Personalized nutrition means that we are unique in the way to absorb and to metabolize nutrients as a consequence of our genetic profile and the microbiome that we host in the gut. With the terminology of Personalized Food Manufacturing we want not only to stress the idea of the capability to manufacture food meeting our unique nutritional needs but – based on the idea that eating is a global experience – also to broad this to meet additional personal requirements and expectations, i.e. taste, texture, color, aspect, etc. To address this aim, traditional and advances technologies will have to be employed in new ways and new technological solutions will have to be implemented. All these considerations motivated our paper by which we want to explore and to discuss the technological options having the potential to produce personalized food. After pointing out the main diet styles, firstly we have analyzed the modern approaches of agricultural and animal nutrition in use to manufacture food for narrow group of consumers. Secondly, we have explored emerging technologies at disposal employable to manufacture customized food that meet our uniqueness. Finally the most important market products belonging in the sector of personalized food production have been considered.     

Sensory quality of traditional foods

It is generally admitted that the expression ‘traditional food’ refers to a product with specific raw materials, and/or with a recipe known for a long time, and/or with a specific process.     

Sensory quality of traditional foods

It is generally admitted that the expression ‘traditional food’ refers to a product with specific raw materials, and/or with a recipe known for a long time, and/or with a specific process.     

Sensory memory and food texture

Memory for texture plays an important role in food expectations. After fasting overnight, subjects (41 women, 35 men, age 19–60 years) received a breakfast including breakfast drink, biscuits and yoghurt. Subsequently, they rated their hunger feelings every hour, and returned for a taste experiment in the evening. When unexpectedly confronted with five texture variations of each breakfast item, they were asked to recognise the samples they had eaten earlier. Signal detection showed that subjects could recognise the drinks and yoghurts, but not the biscuits. In a second test with newly coded samples, subjects rated liking and compared their perception of the sample with the remembered target on different attributes. Memory was not related to liking and it was poor for fat (biscuits and yoghurt), but good for thickness (drinks and yoghurt) and crispiness (biscuits). Levels of fat were not remembered as such, but showed some indirect distinctiveness in related attributes as crispiness, thickness or crumbling (biscuits) and thickness or creaminess (yoghurt).     

Lactose processing: From fundamental understanding to industrial application

This review looks at the research that has been done to understand the main problems that the lactose processing industry faces from a fundamental point of view and hence to the solutions that have been found or to the suggestions for addressing the problems. It also points to areas where further work is needed. Problems looked at include crystallisation issues of fines production, clusters, yield and habit and drying issues that can lead to transportation issues of blocked lines and caking in bags.     

From lesser‐known to super vegetables: the growing profile of African traditional leafy vegetables in promoting food security and wellness

There are hundreds of traditional leafy vegetables and wild food plants of horticultural and nutritional significance in Africa. These lesser‐known crops and wild food plants that are highly adapted to harsh growing conditions thrive with little care and are available when other sources of food fail or are out of season. They are rich in micronutrients and are often the cheapest sources of many essential vitamins and minerals in many localities. Many of them are very important functional foods in African traditional diets and are rich in nutraceuticals, including polyphenols, tannins, flavonoids and flavonols, that exert demonstrable antioxidant, free radical scavenging and enzyme inhibition activities and have antimicrobial properties that provide scientific justification and possible mechanisms for their use in the management of a wide range of ailments, including diet‐related, non‐communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. African traditional leafy vegetables are invaluable in promoting food security and wellness in Africa on account of their availability and affordability, their great nutritional value, chemotherapeutic and health‐promoting properties and other unique qualities. Long recognised by the rural populace as quality food items, they are becoming more popular even with the more affluent urban elites. There is the need to develop improved management practices for these super vegetables to promote their cultivation and boost their exploitation for food security and wellness in Africa. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

正确认识食品添加剂,确保食品安全

食品安全直接关系到千家万户.近年来,由食品添加荆引发的食品安全问题层出不穷,导致消费者对食品添加刺充满恐慌.实际上,在正常范围内使用食品添加剂对公众健康是没有危害的,所有的问题都是由于添加剂的非规范使用造成的,这也是国家整顿食品添加剂行业的重点.     

From food structure to texture

Understanding the relationship between food texture perception and food structure is of increasing importance for companies wishing to produce texturally attractive food products. The perception of texture is a complex process involving the senses of vision, hearing, somesthesis and kinesthesis. Texture perception takes place partly during the dynamic process of food breakdown in the mouth and is affected by oral processes, such as motility, saliva production and temperature. To take account of these factors, a multidisciplinary approach is proposed for studying the relationship between food structure and texture perception, combining sensory research, physiology studies and research into food physicochemical characteristics. Recent developments in these three areas that give potential for a better understanding of texture perception and its relationship with food structure are discussed.     

Sono-activation of food enzymes: From principles to practice

Over the last decade, sono-activation of enzymes as an emerging research area has received considerable attention from food researchers. This kind of relatively new application of ultrasound has demonstrated promising potential in facilitating the modern food industry by broadening the application of various food enzymes, improving relevant industrial unit operation and productivity, as well as increasing the yield of target products. This review aims to provide insight into the fundamental principles and possible industrialization strategies of the sono-activation of food enzymes to facilitate its commercialization. This review first provides an overview of ultrasound application in the activation of food protease, carbohydrase, and lipase. Then, the recent development on ultrasound activation of food enzymes is discussed on aspects including mechanisms, influencing factors, modification effects, and its applications in real food systems for free and immobilized enzymes. Despite the far fewer studies on sono-activation of immobilized enzymes compared with those on free enzymes, we endeavored to summarize the relevant aspects in three stages: ultrasound pretreatment of free enzyme/carrier, assistance in immobilization process, and modification of the already immobilized enzyme. Lastly, challenges for the scalability of ultrasound in these target areas are discussed and future research prospects are proposed.     

论食品安全消费者信任的重构:以食品经营者规制为视角

食品的信用品特征形成食品经营者和消费者之间信息的不对称,并成为食品安全社会信任缺乏的根本原因。但是,为保障食品行业的发展和维护消费者权益,必须通过强化监管和责任承担等构筑食品安全的消费者信任。     

Pungency in food perception and preference

Abstract

While sensations of pungency are characteristic of food in all cultures, relatively little attention has been given to trying to understand the role these sensations play in our perception of, and preference for, foods and food flavors. This review provides an overview of research on the psychophysics of the sensory system responsible for perception of pungency (the trigeminal nerve), current views on how preference for pungency develops, and the qualities of common pungent food ingredients and their interactions with food flavors. It is argued that understanding the role that pungency plays in foods is essential to successful development of acceptable food flavors, especially for those markets in Asia in which pungency is a defining characteristic of the cuisine.     

Bioremediation: a novel approach to food waste management

Bioremediation is a general concept that includes all those processes and actions that take place in order to biotransform an environment, already altered by contaminants, to its original status. Although the processes that can be used in order to achieve the desirable results vary, they still have the same principles; the use of microorganisms or their enzymes, that are either indigenous and are stimulated by the addition of nutrients or optimization of conditions, or are seeded into the soil. There are several advantages of the implementation of such methods but mainly they have to do with the lack of interference with the ecology of the ecosystem. This article presents general bioremediation principles and techniques along with representative examples of their use both in the laboratory and industry and the ways that they work and give results in the five main areas of the food industry where bioremediation is applicable. Although the application of bioremediation to the food industry is not new, developments in microbiology and genetic engineering have given a valuable instrument to scientists to deal with contaminants in the environment. Pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, cleaning chemicals and chemicals used in the food chain are among the new contaminants which have entered the biogeochemical cycles. Bioremediating methods transform the contaminants into substances that can be absorbed and used by the autotrophic organisms with no toxic effect on them.