Antioxidant properties and shelf‐life extension of fresh‐cut tomatoes stored at different temperatures

BACKGROUND: The feasibility of using modified atmosphere packaging (5 kPa O₂ + 5 kPa CO₂) to maintain the antioxidant properties of fresh‐cut tomatoes during shelf‐life was assessed through storage at different temperatures (5, 10, 15 and 20 °C). Health‐related compounds, antioxidant capacity, microbiological counts, physicochemical parameters and in‐package atmosphere of tomato slices were determined. RESULTS: Initial lycopene, vitamin C and phenolic contents and physicochemical parameters of tomato slices were well maintained for 14 days at 5 °C. Lycopene and total phenolic contents were enhanced over time in tomato slices stored at 15 and 20 °C. However, this increase in antioxidant compounds of fresh‐cut tomatoes during storage may be associated with excessive amounts of CO₂ (R² = 0.5679–0.7328) in the packages due to microbial growth. Although keeping tomato slices at temperatures above 10 °C increased their antioxidant content, the shelf‐life of the product was reduced by up 4 days. CONCLUSIONS: A storage temperature of 5 °C is appropriate for maintaining the microbiological shelf‐life of fresh‐cut tomatoes for up to 14 days and also allows the antioxidant properties of tomato slices to be retained over this period, thus reducing wounding stress and deteriorative changes. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

非靶向代谢组学分析阿拉伯半乳聚糖对嗜黏蛋白阿克曼菌代谢物的影响

众多植物多糖中,阿拉伯半乳聚糖对嗜黏蛋白阿克曼菌(Akkermansia muciniphila,Akk)模式菌株(DSM 22959)的促生长效果最佳.为进一步探究阿拉伯半乳聚糖对Akk代谢物的影响,本研究将阿拉伯半乳聚糖作为部分碳源对Akk进行体外发酵培养,确定了阿拉伯半乳聚糖的补充量以便于Akk发酵液样本的后续分...     

Metabolic Potential of Halophilic Filamentous Fungi—Current Perspective

Salty environments are widely known to be inhospitable to most microorganisms. For centuries salt has been used as a food preservative, while highly saline environments were considered uninhabited by organisms, and if habited, only by prokaryotic ones. Nowadays, we know that filamentous fungi are widespread in many saline habitats very often characterized also by other extremes, for example, very low or high temperature, lack of light, high pressure, or low water activity. However, fungi are still the least understood organisms among halophiles, even though they have been shown to counteract these unfavorable conditions by producing multiple secondary metabolites with interesting properties or unique biomolecules as one of their survival strategies. In this review, we focused on biomolecules obtained from halophilic filamentous fungi such as enzymes, pigments, biosurfactants, and osmoprotectants.     

Rapid detection of Salmonella in pet food: design and evaluation of integrated methods based on real-time PCR detection

Reducing the risk of Salmonella contamination in pet food is critical for both companion animals and humans, and its importance is reflected by the substantial increase in the demand for pathogen testing. Accurate and rapid detection of foodborne pathogens improves food safety, protects the public health, and benefits food producers by assuring product quality while facilitating product release in a timely manner. Traditional culture-based methods for Salmonella screening are laborious and can take 5 to 7 days to obtain definitive results. In this study, we developed two methods for the detection of low levels of Salmonella in pet food using real-time PCR: (i) detection of Salmonella in 25 g of dried pet food in less than 14 h with an automated magnetic bead-based nucleic acid extraction method and (ii) detection of Salmonella in 375 g of composite dry pet food matrix in less than 24 h with a manual centrifugation-based nucleic acid preparation method. Both methods included a preclarification step using a novel protocol that removes food matrix-associated debris and PCR inhibitors and improves the sensitivity of detection. Validation studies revealed no significant differences between the two real-time PCR methods and the standard U.S. Food and Drug Administration Bacteriological Analytical Manual (chapter 5) culture confirmation method.     

Inactivation of Oxidative Enzymes by High-Intensity Pulsed Electric Field for Retention of Color in Carrot Juice

The effects of high-intensity pulsed electric fields (HIPEF) on oxidative enzymes and color of fresh carrot juice were studied. A response surface methodology (RSM) was used to evaluate the effect of pulse polarity (mono or bipolar mode), pulse width (from 1 to 7 μs), and pulse frequency (from 50 to 250 Hz) on color and peroxidase (POD) inactivation of carrot juice treated by HIPEF. The total treatment time and the electric field strength were set at 1,000 μs and 35 kV/cm, respectively, at a temperature below 35°C. The physicochemical characteristics of carrot juice were measured. There was a linear relationship between electrical conductivity and temperature of the carrot juice. The results showed that HIPEF-treated carrot juice at 35 kV/cm for 1,000 μs applying 6 μs pulse width at 200 Hz in bipolar mode led to 73.0% inactivation of POD. The color coordinates did not change significantly. Therefore, HIPEF was effective in POD inactivation and carrot juice color preservation.     

Using polysaccharide-based edible coatings to maintain quality of fresh-cut Fuji apples

The effect of alginate and gellan-based edible coatings on the shelf-life of fresh-cut Fuji apples packed in trays with a plastic film of a known permeability to oxygen (110 cm³ O₂ m⁻² bar⁻¹ day⁻¹) was investigated by measuring changes in headspace atmosphere, color, firmness and microbial growth during 23 days of storage at 4 °C. Concentration of O₂ and CO₂ in the package was measured and no significant differences between coated and uncoated fresh-cut apples were observed. Ethylene concentration in coated apples seemed to be delayed since it remained below 50 μl l⁻¹ throughout the whole refrigerated storage period, while production of this gas was detected in uncoated apples from the very initial days of storage. Coated apple wedges exhibited ethanol and acetaldehyde formation from the second week of storage indicating fermentative metabolism. Polymers were crosslinked with a calcium chloride solution, to which the antibrowning agent N-acetylcysteine was added, being incorporated into the coatings formulation and helping to maintain firmness and color of apple wedges during the entire storage time. The application of the edible coatings also retarded the microbiological deterioration of fresh-cut apples. Alginate and gellan edible coatings effectively prolonged the shelf-life of Fuji apple wedges by 2 weeks of storage compared with the control apple slices which showed a considerable cut surface browning and tissue softening from the very early days of storage, limiting their shelf-life to less than 4 days.     

Robust far-field imaging by spatial coherence engineering

The degree of coherence (DOC) function that characterizes the second-order correlations at any two points in a light field is shown to provide a new degree of f...     

Validation of Tuba1a as Appropriate Internal Control for Normalization of Gene Expression Analysis during Mouse Lung Development

The expression ratio between the analysed gene and an internal control gene is the most widely used normalization method for quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) expression analysis. The ideal reference gene for a specific experiment is the one whose expression is not affected by the different experimental conditions tested. In this study, we validate the applicability of five commonly used reference genes during different stages of mouse lung development. The stability of expression of five different reference genes (Tuba1a, Actb Gapdh, Rn18S and Hist4h4) was calculated within five experimental groups using the statistical algorithm of geNorm software. Overall, Tuba1a showed the least variability in expression among the different stages of lung development, while Hist4h4 and Rn18S showed the maximum variability in their expression. Expression analysis of two lung specific markers, surfactant protein C (SftpC) and Clara cell-specific 10 kDA protein (Scgb1a1), normalized to each of the five reference genes tested here, confirmed our results and showed that incorrect reference gene choice can lead to artefacts. Moreover, a combination of two internal controls for normalization of expression analysis during lung development will increase the accuracy and reliability of results.