The effects of acid and oxidative modification on the expansion properties of rice flours with varying levels of amylose

This study evaluates the effects of acid and oxidative modifications on the development of the expansive properties of rice flours with varying levels of amylose. Rice grains of the cultivars Embrapa-7 Taim (high amylose), BRS Firmeza (medium amylose) and Motti (low amylose) were used. The rice flours were modified with lactic acid and oxidised with hydrogen peroxide at concentrations of 4 g H₂O₂/100 g flour and 8 g H₂O₂/100 g flour in 5 h, 21 h and 27 h reactions. The rice flours were evaluated for chemical composition, pasting properties, carbonyl and carboxyl contents and expansion properties. The effects of modification with lactic acid and oxidation with hydrogen peroxide were more intense in the flour with the lowest amylose content. The modification of rice flour with lactic acid promoted a reduction in amylose content and in pasting viscosity; the exception to this finding was the peak viscosity of Motti rice flour. The acid and oxidative modifications not changed the specific volume of biscuits made with Taim (1.33 mL/g) and Firmeza (1.88 mL/g) rice flours, however for the Motti rice flour promoted the development of baking expansion. The specific volume increased of 6.53 mL/g in biscuits with native Motti rice flour to 15.80 mL/g in biscuits made with Motti rice flour oxidised with 8 g/100 g of hydrogen peroxide for 27 h.     

Risk characterisation from the presence of environmental contaminants and antibiotic residues in wild and farmed salmon from different FAO zones

Salmon consumption is increasing year by year. Salmon aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system in the world, and often uses feed mixed with antibiotics or other drugs. Feed can be also contaminated by environmental contaminants like persistent organic pollutants and organophosphorus pesticides that usually accumulate in fatty tissue, or emerging contaminants such as perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), that instead bioaccumulate in protein tissues. Therefore, there is the need to investigate the presence of antibiotics and environmental contaminants, with multi-class and multi-residue liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry and gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry methods to monitor a broad spectrum of residues comparing between wild and farmed salmons. The presence of residues was encountered at a concentration range of 0.35–51.52 ng g^?1 for antibiotics only in farmed salmon, 0.19–34.51 ng g^?1 for PFASs and 0.26–9.01 ng g^?1 for (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) PBDEs, and 0.19–5.91 ng g^?1 for organochlorine pesticides with higher frequencies and concentrations in farmed fish. Finally, the risk deriving from salmon intake is low, being of minor concern only for PBDE 99 and perfluorooctanoic acid.     

Composition,toxic and antinutritional factors of newly developed cultivars of Brazilian soybean (Glycine max)

Five different recently released Brazilian soybean cultivars (Bays, BR-10, Rio Balsas, Serido and Tropical) were compared for their proximate analyses and presence of antinutritional or toxic factors. As expected, the seeds are rich in proteins, varying from 360·7 to 485·4 g kg⁻¹ flour, and they also have a high amount of fat (from 183·0 to 215·3 g kg⁻¹ flour). Crude extracts from seeds of Bays, BR-10, Serido and Tropical were highly toxic to mice within 1–12 h, depending on the administration route (intraperitoneal, intramuscular or subcutaneous) and dose used while Rio Balsas was not. These acute effects were very similar to those produced by the soytoxin, a neurotoxin that has been recently purified from the commercial soybean sold in Brazil. The amount of trypsin inhibited in the presence of crude extracts ranged from 28·5 to 62·5 g kg⁻¹ flour. Urease was also present and the seed lectin agglutinated preferentially rabbit erythrocytes. A heat treatment at 92°C for 1 min destroyed completely the toxic activity while the haemagglutinating and trypsin inhibitor activities were abolished within 5 min. At these conditions urease was still active. Due to its high protein content, lack of soytoxin, and low levels of trypsin inhibitor, lectin, and urease it is suggested that Rio Balsas could be an alternative for breeding programmes aimed to improve the nutritional quality of soybeans. ©1997 SCI     

High time resolution and size-segregated analysis of aerosol bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an ubiquitous class of compounds in the environment, mostly generated by anthropogenic processes. High time resolution measurements are necessary to gain further knowledge on the fate and diurnal pattern of these often carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds in the atmosphere. It is expected to find a strong correlation of the PAH levels with the strength and proximity to sources, as well as with meteorological parameters. To determine the fate of particle-bound PAHs, they were sampled in this study at an urban background site in Zurich, Switzerland, during summer 2002 and winter 2003. Particle-bound PAHs were collected with a rotating drum impactor and subsequently analyzed with two-step laser mass spectrometry. Using this combination of sampling and measurement, size-segregated (10-1.1, 1.1-0.3, and 0.3-0.1 microm) and high time resolution (20 min) data were obtained. The pronounced diurnal cycle (with day/night ratios of 0.1) was only altered during intensive atmospheric mixing periods (resulting in day/night ratios of up to 8) by cleaner air from upper atmospheric layers which was mixed into the boundary layer. During summer, signal intensities due to particle-bound PAHs were about a factor of 2-10 lower than during winter.     

Effects of oxidative treatment on the physicochemical,rheological and functional properties of oat β-glucan

The objective of this work was promote oxidation of β-glucan from oat bran with hydrogen peroxide at different concentration levels (0.3%, 0.6% and 0.9% H₂O₂) and reaction times (30 and 60 min), and evaluate the physicochemical and functional properties of isedoxidised β-glucan with in-vitro tests. An increase in carbonyl and carboxyl groups and alterations in swelling power were verified in the oxidised β-glucan. The cholic acid binding capacity increased in the oxidised β-glucan; however, the fat binding capacity was not affected. After chemical digestion, the available glucose of the oxidised β-glucan was increased. Oxidation with hydrogen peroxide decreased the viscosity, hardness, adhesiveness and gumminess of the β-glucan gels. More studies are necessary to determine the effect of the oxidative treatment of β-glucan on its technological properties in food products, and biological properties should be examined with in-vivo studies.     

Quantitative image analysis of acoustic tomography in woods

The development of acoustic techniques for wood analysis through tomography has enabled the generation of images by means of nondestructive techniques. These images allow for the evaluation of the internal condition of wood trunks. This type of evaluation provides valuable information since the internal defects (e.g. holes) in the wood are difficult to identify—especially in its early stages of development. Whereas there is a substantial body of work that aims to improve these images by applying new interpolation and inspection techniques, the assessment of these techniques has traditionally been carried out via a bare visual analysis or inspection of the real wood trunk. In this work, an approach is proposed to quantitatively assess interpolation methods regarding their ability to correctly detect faults in the wood. This approach is based on a confusion matrix that allows for the computation of accuracy, reliability and recall. An experiment is presented using images from the cross-section of wood trunks generated by two interpolation methods applied for internal-hole detection: (1) an interpolation method using surrounding points and (2) the Ellipse Based Spatial Interpolation. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach in quantitatively assessing and comparing these methods.     

Online monitoring of molecular processes in a plasma air purifying system

Plasma air purifying systems present an interesting alternative to filters for purifying air. In this study, molecular processes in a commercially available ac driven plasma air purifier were studied in detail. This air purifier is supposed to reduce all air contaminants to small nontoxic molecules (e.g., H(2)O and CO(2)). However, degradation mechanisms are not yet fully understood. In this study, we investigated the exhaust of the plasma air purifier to determine which degradation products are formed. An interface was designed and constructed to allow the direct coupling of the plasma air purifier's exhaust to a mass spectrometer. The compounds studied, primary and secondary amines, were introduced at a concentration of 1 ppmV. Contrary to our expectations, polymerization instead of degradation was observed. The higher the ac voltage applied (max. 9.0 kV) to the plasma air purifier, the higher the mass of the oligomer distribution. Side chain oxidation products as well as oligomers could be observed for all compounds tested. Starting with amines of low mass (m/z < 200), compounds of molecular masses above 1000 Da were observed in the plasma air purifier. Detailed analysis of the observed mass spectra as well as experiments with deuterated dibutylamine helped to unravel the mechanism taking place in the plasma air purifier. Nitrate anions generated in the plasma air purifier (presumably from N(2)) are proposed to form ionic clusters with protonated amines.     

A simple GC–MS method for the screening of betulinic,corosolic, maslinic,oleanolic and ursolic acid contents in commercial botanicals used as food supplement ingredients

The occurrence of triterpene pentacyclic acids in plants is extensive, but little is known about their availability in commercial extracts. A simple GC–MS method for the simultaneous determination of betulinic, corosolic, maslinic, oleanolic and ursolic acids was developed and applied to 38 different commercial plant extracts sold as ingredients for dietary supplements. A suitable protocol was set up to perform routine control of a diverse array of samples with different botanical, chemical and physical characteristics. Remarkable quantities of corosolic acid were found in dried extracts from aerial parts of Lagerstroemia speciosa and Ortosiphon stamineus (14233 and 1132 mg/kg, respectively), while oleanolic acid was abundant in O. stamineus and Crataegus monogyna flowers (2774 and 2339 mg/kg); ursolic was identified in O. stamineus, C. monogyna, L. speciosa and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi leaves (7773, 4165, 2108 and 1034 mg/kg). Only L. speciosa was rich in maslinic acid (4958 mg/kg), while minor amounts of betulinic acid (257 and 80 mg/kg) were detected in L. speciosa and C. monogyna extracts. Lower quantities of triterpenic acids were identified in dried extracts of Harpagophyton procumbens root, propolis, Punica granatum root, Styrax benzoin, Vaccinium myrtillus fruits and Vitis vinifera seeds. Decoctions and fluid extracts lacked or contained very low amounts of triterpenic acids. Results are discussed in terms of quality and safety of these ingredients.     

Incidence of Salmonella from poultry products and their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents

The incidence of Salmonella in 60 samples of poultry products of national origin available for consumers obtained from two local butcher shops and one canteen of the city of Porto and the susceptibility to antimicrobial agents allowed for human or animal therapy were evaluated. The results show that poultry samples are frequently contaminated with Salmonella (60%), belonging to 10 different serotypes. Salmonella enteritidis and S. hadar were the most prevalent serotypes. In addition, a high number (75%) of the Salmonella isolates was resistant to one or more antimicrobial agents and eight different resistance profiles were recorded. Resistance to nalidixic acid and enrofloxacin was demonstrated for 50% of the isolates and the occurrence of resistant and multiresistant S. enteritidis isolates were less frequent than for S. hadar. This study suggests a high incidence of Salmonella on Portuguese poultry products and shows that they could be a potential vehicle of resistant Salmonella foodborne infections.     

Adsorptive-Stripping Voltammetry at PEDOT-Modified Electrodes. Determination of Epicatechin

The food industry has a direct interest to bitter-tasting substances, either for the identification of negative off-flavors or for the monitoring of organoleptic quality. Polyphenols (such as catechins and epicathechins) are among the main molecular components responsible for the bitter taste of coffee/cocoa/chocolate-based products. The electrochemical detection of epicatechin through adsorptive stripping voltammetry on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-modified Pt electrodes has been investigated. The accumulation conditions were defined in order to record repeatable and reproducible electrochemical signals. Calibration plots were built in the 0.2–2.5 ppm concentration range of epicatechin in phosphate buffer solutions, pH 7. Preliminary tests in aqueous extraction solutions of biscuits containing different percentages of cocoa were performed; they confirmed, in principle, the effectiveness of the device and of the procedure proposed for the epicatechin determination by simple extraction from complex food matrices.