Parental family food choice motives and children’s food intake

Children’s food intakes are important for their health and it is their parents that mainly decide what foods are available at home. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between parental family food choice motives (FFCMs) and children’s intakes of ‘nutrient-dense’ and ‘energy-rich foods’. In 2008, Finnish children, aged 10-12 years, completed a 16-item food frequency questionnaire and their parents completed a 27-item questionnaire to assess the FFCMs. Matching data existed for 564 child-parent pairs. Principal component analysis was conducted. The following eight dimensions of FFCM were found: ‘health and natural content’, ‘ethical concerns’, ‘mood’, ‘convenience’, ‘price’, ‘sensory appeal’, ‘weight control’ and ‘familiarity’. The association between FFCM and children’s food intakes was analyzed by Spearman correlations and logistic regression corrected for gender, school class, gender of respondent parent, living with one parent and parental education. The results based on logistic regressions showed that the FFCMs ‘health and natural content’ and ‘sensory appeal’ were positively associated, ‘convenience’ was negatively associated with ‘nutrient-dense foods’ and ’ethical concern’ was negatively associated with ‘energy-rich foods’. Parents’ FFCMs should be considered when promoting healthy eating among children.     

Effect of heat treatment and homogenization on the rheological properties of aqueous parsnip suspensions

Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) suspensions, at concentrations corresponding to a dilute and concentrated regime, were subjected to pasteurization, and heat treatments that favored β-elimination reactions and pectin methyl esterase activity. The different heat treatments were combined with homogenization. Physicochemical properties such as content of insoluble/soluble material and insoluble/soluble pectin were measured together with particle and rheological properties. Pectin methyl esterase activity led to a high yield of insoluble material and insoluble pectin, whereas β-elimination led to a high yield of soluble material and solubilized pectin. Homogenization after heat treatment resulted in increased solubilization of the pectin, especially after β-elimination reactions. Parsnip suspensions subjected to pectin methyl esterase activity exhibited the highest elastic modulus most likely due to the cross-linked pectin conferring rigidity to the cell walls. The content of insoluble material and the particle properties such as size and rigidity are important factor for the rheological properties of concentrated parsnip suspensions.     

Universal primers for species authentication of animal foodstuff in a single polymerase chain reaction

BACKGROUND: There are many DNA‐based systems for detecting animal species present in food and food products, applicable for food quality control and authentication. However, most (if not all) methods require more than one pair of primers and cannot be applied over a wide taxonomic range, e.g. identifying vertebrates and invertebrates with the same primers and protocols. RESULTS: A pair of primers is described here that allows in a single polymerase chain reaction the identification of animal species in food and processed (precooked, canned or smoked) food products over a wide taxonomic range. CONCLUSION: These primers permit the identification of most animal taxa employed in human nutrition, from invertebrates such as molluscs to higher vertebrates, distinguishing between species of the same genus. The short fragment amplified within the 16S rDNA exhibits phylogenetic value and could be considered universal based on the wide taxonomic range assayed. The primers are easy to use and accessible for laboratories with a modest budget, as well as being valuable for consumer information and to reveal food fraud. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of cell immobilization on heat-induced sublethal injury of Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria innocua

The occurrence of sublethally injured cells in foods poses major public health concerns and is an essential aspect when assessing the microbial response to food preservation strategies, yet there is limited research dealing with its specific implications for mild heating. All available studies so far have been performed in broths colonized by planktonic cells, although their susceptibility to lethal agents has often been reported to be markedly different to the stress tolerance of cell colonies developed in solid foods. In this work, the effect of planktonic and colony growth, as well as the influence of colony density on sublethal injury induced by mild heating of Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria innocua were assessed in food model systems. Detection of injured survivors relied on their inability to form visible colonies on salt-based selective media, which do not affect the growth of healthy cells. Sublethal injury (SI) increased rapidly with shorter exposure times and afterwards, decreased progressively, suggesting a mechanism of cumulative damage triggering lethal instead of SI. Cell arrangement affected the degree of SI, higher values being generally found for gelified systems, although the effect of colony density depended on the target microorganism. This information is essential for optimizing the design of food safety assurance systems.     

Biogenic Fe(III) minerals lower the efficiency of iron-mineral-based commercial filter systems for arsenic removal

Millions of people worldwide are affected by As (arsenic) contaminated groundwater. Fe(III) (oxy)hydroxides sorb As efficiently and are therefore used in water purification filters. Commercial filters containing abiogenic Fe(III) (oxy)hydroxides (GEH) showed varying As removal, and it was unclear whether Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria influenced filter efficiency. We found up to 10(7) Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria/g dry-weight in GEH-filters and determined the performance of filter material in the presence and absence of Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria. GEH-material sorbed 1.7 mmol As(V)/g Fe and was ~8 times more efficient than biogenic Fe(III) minerals that sorbed only 208.3 μmol As(V)/g Fe. This was also ~5 times more efficient than a 10:1-mixture of GEH-material and biogenic Fe(III) minerals that bound 322.6 μmol As(V)/g Fe. Coprecipitation of As(V) with biogenic Fe(III) minerals removed 343.0 μmol As(V)/g Fe, while As removal by coprecipitation with biogenic minerals in the presence of GEH-material was slightly less efficient as GEH-material only and yielded 1.5 mmol As(V)/g Fe. The present study thus suggests that the formation of biogenic Fe(III) minerals lowers rather than increases As removal efficiency of the filters probably due to the repulsion of the negatively charged arsenate by the negatively charged biogenic minerals. For this reason we recommend excluding microorganisms from filters (e.g., by activated carbon filters) to maintain their high As removal capacity.     

Comparative Proteomic and Metabolomic Analysis of Human Osteoblasts,Differentiated from Dental Pulp Stem Cells,Hinted Crucial Signaling Pathways Promoting Osteogenesis

Population aging has been a global trend for the last decades, which increases the pressure to develop new cell-based or drug-based therapies, including those that may cure bone diseases. To understand molecular processes that underlie bone development and turnover, we followed osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) using a specific induction medium. The differentiation process imitating in vivo osteogenesis is triggered by various signaling pathways and is associated with massive proteome and metabolome changes. Proteome was profiled by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography and comprehensively quantified by ion mobility-enhanced mass spectrometry. From 2667 reproducibly quantified and identified proteins, 432 were differentially abundant by strict statistic criteria. Metabolome profiling was carried out by nuclear magnetic resonance. From 27 detected metabolites, 8 were differentially accumulated. KEGG and MetaboAnalyst hinted metabolic pathways that may be involved in the osteogenic process. Enrichment analysis of differentially abundant proteins highlighted PPAR, FoxO, JAK-STAT, IL-17 signaling pathways, biosynthesis of thyroid hormones and steroids, mineral absorption, and fatty acid metabolism as processes with prominent impact on osteoinduction. In parallel, metabolomic data showed that aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, as well as specific amino acids, likely promote osteodifferentiation. Targeted immunoassays validated and complemented omic results. Our data underlined the complexity of the osteogenic mechanism. Finally, we proposed promising targets for future validation in patient samples, a step toward the treatment of bone defects.     

The effects of presalting methods from injection to pickling, on the yields of heavily salted cod (Gadus morhua)

The production of heavy-salted cod (Bacalao) has changed from being a single-step process (kench) salting to a multistep procedure varying between producers and countries. Presalting by injection, brining, or pickling is increasingly applied prior to pile (dry) salting. This article describes the effects of different presalting methods (injection and brining, brining only, and pickling) on yield and chemical composition of salted cod fillets, in comparison to a single-kench salting step. The procedures used influenced the weight yields and chemical composition of the products. Injection was significantly different from other methods in increasing weight yields throughout brining, dry salting, and rehydration. The yield of nitrogenous compounds tended to be lower for injected and brine-salted fillets, mainly due to higher losses of nonprotein nitrogen. Practical Application: Salting procedures for cod have changed rapidly in recent years. Injection is increasingly used as a presalting method. It has been suggested to have strong effects on weight yields of salted cod products. This article describes the effects of injection on weight yields on products in salted, rehydrated, and cooked stage.     

The effect of heat processing on the functional properties of pectin contained in olive mill wastewater

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of prolonged heat processing (180 min at 50-80 °C) on the functional and rheological properties of pectin, derived from olive mill wastewater (OMW). It was shown that a low temperature blanching of OMW at 60 °C, activates endogenous pectin methyl esterase and promotes demethylation, despite the high concentration of phenols. Activation of the enzyme resulted in enhanced solubilization and subsequent partial degradation of pectin. The induced degradation impaired pectin grade and resulted in loss of gelling functionality. An alternative heating process at 80 °C resulted in negligible enzyme induced degradation of the pectin and improved gelling properties of the recovered material, despite the lower solubilization of the pectin. The obtained results contribute to a better understanding of the temperature effect on pectin functional properties and can be utilized in order to optimize pectin recovery from OMW.     

Functional properties and chemical composition of fractionated brown and yellow linseed meal (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Considering its high content of protein and dietary fiber, linseed meal is a remarkable source for food ingredient and food additive production. In this study, brown and yellow linseed meal (Linum usitatissimum L.) were fractionated via pH control, to obtain five linseed meal fractions rich in protein and fiber. The fractions were characterized by measuring functional properties, proximate and carbohydrate composition, and lignan contents. Acid soluble protein fractions were characterized by lower emulsification capacities and foaming activities in comparison to a commercial soy protein isolate. Alkaline soluble protein fractions showed emulsification activities comparable to whole egg and relatively high contents of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) of 110 mg/g DM and 56.2 mg/g DM, respectively. The good emulsification and foaming activities, as well as the enriched concentration of SDG and therefore high nutritional value, make especially the alkaline soluble protein fraction highly interesting for food ingredient production.