Natural Bioactive Compounds in Organic and Conventional Fermented Food

Compared to conventional agriculture, organic farming is believed to provide a higher nutritional and health value in its products due to the elimination of harmful contaminants (pesticides, nitrates, heavy metals, etc.). Numerous studies have been conducted to show how the production system affects the quality of food in terms of the content of bioactive compounds. The aim of this study was to compare the content of some bioactive compounds (vitamin C, β-carotene, Ca content) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) number and their bacteriocinogenic activity in organic and conventional fermented food. Although the results do not provide an unambiguous conclusion regarding the superiority of one production system over the other, the LAB number in organic pickled carrot juice, sauerkraut, yogurt, and kefir was higher than in their conventional counterparts. Their bacteriocinogenic potential against selected pathogens was also higher in most organic products. Organic vegetables contained significantly more vitamin C, and the calcium content in the organic yogurt was higher compared to the conventional version of the product. Relatively similar concentrations of ß-carotene for both production systems were found in carrot juice, while in organic pickled beet juice, there was five-fold less ß-carotene than in conventional juice.     

Red Tomato Products as an Alternative to Reduce Synthetic Dyes in the Food Industry: A Review

Most dyes used in the food industry are synthetic and can be a health hazard. Red tomato may serve as a natural alternative dye to replace synthetic colorants. This study aimed to review the literature on the addition of red tomato products (powder tomato, paste, freeze-dried, tomato peel powder, tomato pomace) to reduce the usage of synthetic dyes in the food industry. Red tomato products have been used as coloring in pasta, bologna, sausages, cookies, crackers, macaroons, hamburgers, breads, muffins, cheeses, and nuggets. The trans-cis isomerization of lycopene by oxidative processes directly affects the color of the pigment. The lycopene contained in tomato has antioxidant activity and could reduce or eliminate other oxidants and/or synthetic preservatives in food. Moreover, tomatoes in foods have high sensory scores, nutritional appeal, and marketing potential. However, its use as a food colorant has been not extensively explored. Therefore, further studies are still required, especially on the stability of carotenoids in tomatoes used in processed foods.     

The NMR added value to the green foodomics perspective: Advances by machine learning to the holistic view on food and nutrition

Food is a complex matter, literally. From production to functionalization, from nutritional quality engineering to predicting effects on health, the interest in finding an efficient physicochemical characterization of food has boomed in recent years. The sheer complexity of characterizing food and its interaction with the human organism has however made the use of data driven approaches in modeling a necessity. High-throughput techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, are well suited for omics data production and, coupled with machine learning, are paving a promising way of modeling food–human interaction. The foodomics approach sets the framework for omic data integration in food studies, in which NMR experiments play a key role. NMR data can be used to assess nutritional qualities of food, helping the design of functional and sustainable sources of nutrients; detect biomarkers of intake and study how they impact the metabolism of different individuals; study the kinetics of compounds in foods or their by-products to detect pathological conditions; and improve the efficiency of in silico models of the metabolic network.     

Development of a rapid and sensitive HPLC method for the identification and quantification of cavoxin and cavoxone in Phoma cava culture filtrates

Cavoxin is a tetrasubstituted phytotoxic chalcone and cavoxone is the corresponding chroman-4-one, both produced in vitro by Phoma cava, a fungus isolated from chestnut. Cavoxin showed biofungicide potential against fungal species responsible for food moulding. Therefore, cavoxin has potential to be incorporated into biopolymer to generate ‘intelligent food packaging’. To reach this objective, large-scale production of cavoxin by P. cava fermentation needs to be optimized. A rapid and efficient method for cavoxin analysis, as well as of cavoxone, in the fungal culture filtrates and the corresponding organic extracts is the first experimental step. Thus, a HPLC method was developed and applied to quantify cavoxin and cavoxone production in two different fungal culture conditions. The analysis proved that cavoxin production in stirred culture filtrates is significantly higher than in static ones.     

Evaluation of two different extraction methods for chromatographic determination of bioactive amines in tomato products

Bioactive amines are organic bases originating from corresponding amino acid which have undergone decarboxylation by putrefactive bacteria or lactic acid bacteria. When formed by microbial enzymatic decarboxylation of amino acids, they are called “ biogenic” and can produce detrimental effects on human health. Many techniques have been developed for extraction and/or clean up of bioactive amines in food, including acidic or organic extraction as well as solid phase extraction. This study deals with the comparison of two different extraction methods, homogenizing and matrix solid phase dispersion, for the chromatographic determination of eight non-volatile bioactive amines in tomato-based products (mashed tomato, biological mashed tomato, concentrated tomato pasta and ketchup) very popular in Italian alimentary habits. In both cases, perchloric acid has been used for analytes extraction and the influence of different parameters affecting amine recoveries have been evaluated. After a derivatization step with dansyl-chloride, samples were analyzed for amines quantitative determination using 1,7-diaminoheptane as internal standard on a C₁₈-RP-HPLC-UV system. Method performances were tested and good results of linearity, repeatability and recovery were obtained for all the considered amines. The collected data have shown that ketchup contains the highest levels of amines followed by concentrated tomato pasta, biological mashed tomato and common mashed tomato. Moreover, it has been found that in all samples, putrescine is the most abundant amine followed by tyramine, spermidine and tryptamine.     

Dissipation of carbendazim and its metabolites in cucumber using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Currently, there is growing interest in the degradation pathways of organic contaminants such as pesticides. In the case of pesticides, the determination of metabolites in agricultural products and environment is necessary as some of them could present similar toxicity to or even higher toxicity than the parent compound. The development of analytical methodology for the identification and quantification of carbendazim fungicide and its metabolites in cucumber was studied. Cucumber (cucumis sativus) is a global food in terms of economic importance and nutritional quality. Careful optimisation of the liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS)/MS parameters was achieved in order to attain a fast separation with the best sensitivity. The detection was carried out on an Ion-Trap tandem mass spectrometer (MS/MS) by electrospray ionisation in positive ion mode (ESI+) with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM).     

Carotene location in processed food samples measured by cryo In-SEM Raman

Cryo In-SEM Raman has been used for the first time to localise carotene compounds in a food matrix. Raman spectra of lycopene and β-carotene have been obtained from sampling oil droplets and plant cell structures visualised with cryo-SEM in tomato and carrot based emulsions containing 5% oil. It was possible to identify the carotenoids in both the oil droplets and the cell walls. Furthermore our results gave some indication that the carotenoids were in the non-crystalline state. It has been suggested that a higher amount of carotenes solubilised into the oil phase of the food matrix would lead to a higher bioaccessibility, thus understanding the effect of processing conditions on micronutrients distribution in a food matrix might help the design of plant based food products with a better nutritional quality. This shows improved structural characterisation of the cryo-SEM with the molecular sensitivity of Raman spectroscopy as a promising approach for complex biological problems.     

Designing of an Intensification Process for Biosynthesis and Recovery of Menaquinone-7

A nutritional food rich in menaquinone-7 has a potential in preventing osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases. The static fermentation of Bacillus subtilis natto is widely regarded as an optimum process for menaquinone-7 production. The major issues for the bulk production of menaquinone-7 are the low fermentation yield, biofilm formation and the use of organic solvents for the vitamin extraction. In this study, we demonstrate that the dynamic fermentation involving high stirring and aeration rates enhances the yield of fermentation process significantly compared to static system. The menaquinone-7 concentration of 226 mg/L was produced at 1,000 rpm, 5 vvm, 40 °C after 5 days of fermentation. This concentration is 70-fold higher than commercially available food products such as natto. Additionally, it was found that more than 80 % of menaquinone-7 was recovered in situ in the vegetable oil that was gradually added to the system as an anti-foaming agent. The intensification process developed in this study has a capacity to produce an oil rich in menaquinone-7 in one step and eliminate the use of organic solvents for recovery of this compound. This oil can, therefore, be used for the preparation of broad range of supplementary and dietary food products rich in menaquinone-7 to reduce the risk of osteoporotic fractures and cardiovascular diseases.     

Characterisation of commercial Perna canaliculus samples and development of extemporaneous oral veterinary paste formulations containing Perna

Perna canaliculus is a nutritional supplement recently studied and highly recommended for its anti-inflammatory effects in both animals and humans. In this study, the physicochemical properties, the microbiological quality, the total lipid content and fatty acids composition of three commercial samples of Perna powder were determined. Subsequently, three simple formulations of extemporaneous oral pastes containing Perna were prepared and designed for veterinary use. Their microbiological stability was assessed after 1-month storage at either room temperature or 35 °C. The results demonstrated that commercial Perna samples lack homogeneity, in regard to some technological properties and fatty acid composition; therefore, a preliminary characterisation of commercial Perna samples is recommended to assure the quality of formulations containing this nutritional supplement. Oral paste formulations are easy and simple to prepare and show good physical and microbiological stability, suggesting their large-scale production.     

A new HPIC-UV method to quantify phenolic acids in food and environmental samples

A simple and rapid HPIC method has been developed for the separation and quantification of nine phenolic acids (PAs): gallic acid, syringic acid, vanillic acid, sinapic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, protocatechuic acid, caffeic acid and ellagic acid. Separation was carried out on an Dionex Ion-Pac AS-11 (250 mm × 4 mm I.D.) column with a Dionex Ion-Pac AG-11 (50 mm × 4 mm I.D) guard column. Elution was performed using 1000 mM sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 500 mM sodium acetate (NaOAc) in a multi step binary gradient at a flow rate of 1 mL min^?1. Detection was performed using diode array detector set at 230, 250, 280, and 330 nm. After optimisation of various parameters, the separation of the nine phenolic acids was achieved within 23 minutes with a good resolution. Peak areas for each compound showed good linearity (R2 > 0.999) in a relatively wide concentration range. Detection limits were in the range of 10–530 µg L^?1 at a signal-to-noise ratio 3 : 1 and the amount of phenolic acids determined were in the range 0.20–10.0 ng when 20 µl of sample was injected. The developed procedure was successfully applied for the determination of these compounds in food (green tea, tomato juice and wine samples) and environmental samples (soil, surface water, organic fertiliser, organic waste) with minimal sample preparation. Beside good performances (separation, resolution, sensitivity and linearity), the new method is very fast and not expensive which makes it interesting for both scientific research and routine analysis of food and environmental samples.     

Purification and characterization of a new Bacillus thuringiensis bacteriocin active against Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus and Agrobacterium tumefaciens

This study reports on the identification, characterization and purification of a new bacteriocin, named Bacthuricin F103, from a Bacillus thuringiensis strain BUPM103. Bacthuricin F103 production began in the early exponential phase and reached a maximum in the middle of the same phase. Two chromatographic methods based on high performance liquid chromatography and fast protein liquid chromatography systems were used to purify Bacthuricin F103. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that this bacteriocin had a molecular weight of approximately 11 kDa. It also showed a wide range of thermostability of up to 80 °C for 60 min and a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity over a pH range of 3.0–10.0. This bacteriocin was noted, and for the first time, to exhibit potent antimicrobial activity against Agrobacterium subsp. strains, the major causal agents of crown gall disease in tomato and vineyard crops, and against several challenging organisms in food, such as Listeria monocytogenes and Bacillus cereus. Complete killing with immediate impact on cells was observed within a short period of time. The sequence obtained for Bacthuricin F103 by direct N-terminal sequencing shared considerable homology with hemolysin. Bacthuricin F103 was noted to act through the depletion of intracellular ions, which suggest that the cell membrane was a possible target to Bacthuricin F103.     

High efficiency joint CZE determination of sugars and acids in vegetables and fruits

In this work, an improved CE method for the medium-throughput determination of main organic acids (oxalate, malate, citrate), the amino acid glutamate and the sugars fructose, glucose and sucrose in several food matrices is described. These compounds have been identified as key components in the taste intensity of fruit and vegetable crops. Using a running buffer with 20 mM 2,6-pyridine dicarboxylic acid pH 12.1 and 0.1% hexadimethrine bromide, replacing it every 5 h to avoid pH decrease, and optimizing capillary conditioning between runs with 58 mM SDS during 2 min at 20 psi, it is possible to effectively quantify these compounds while increasing medium throughput repeatability. This procedure resolves problems such as increases in migration time and reduction of resolution between problematic peaks (malate/citrate and fructose/glucose) detected in a previous method. The new procedure even considerably reduced time analysis down to 12 min. Under optimal conditions, a large number of injections (200) could be administered without any disturbances in the same capillary. The reliability of the proposed method was further investigated with several food matrix samples, including tomato, pepper, muskmelon, winter squash, and orange. This method is recommended for routine analysis of large number of samples typical of production quality systems or plant breeding programs.     

Production and utilization of amino acids.

The amino acid industry has been steadily expanding since monosodium glutamate was first marketed as a flavoring material in 1909. Its production has recently reached almost the 1 billion dollar level. Amino acids are produced by extraction from protein hydrolyzates, by fermentation with the aid of microorganisms, by enzymatic processes, and by chemical synthesis. To obtain natural L-amino acid, chemical synthesis generally requires two additional steps, i.e. optical resolution and racemization of the D isomer. The most important applications of amino acids include the fortification of plant food and feeds by supplementation of the deficient essential amino acid(s). Apart from their uses in the food industry, medical applications of amino acids (nutritional preparations and therapeutic agents) are becoming increasingly important.     

Evaluation of the Effect of Pear Stone Cells on the Recovery of Multi-Class Pesticides

The widespread sample preparation method for the extraction of pesticide residues, the QuEChERS method, sometimes yields different pesticide recovery values for different food matrices. Pear (Pyrus communis L.) is an example of a matrix that can be characterized with somewhat lower pesticide recoveries. In order to investigate the reason for this result, the most characteristic structural feature of pears, the stone cells, possessing a specific surface due to their greater cellulose and lignin contents, were isolated and purified. The isolated stone cells were used for the preparation of a model sample in combination with tomato, a food matrix showing high pesticide recovery values, in a pesticide spiking experiment. Eleven multi-class pesticides were selected for the study where the quantification was carried out with HPLC-ESI-MS/MS. No significant differences were found between the pesticide recoveries obtained from the tomato and the combined tomato-pear stone cells matrices, which indicates the reason behind the lower pesticide recoveries in pear matrices is still to be determined.     

Enantioselective separation and determination of the dinotefuran enantiomers in rice,tomato and apple by HPLC

An effective chiral analytical method was developed for the resolution and determination of dinotefuran enantiomers in rice, tomato and apple samples. Dinotefuran enantiomers were baseline‐separated and determined on a novel chiral column, ChromegaChiral CCA, with n‐hexane–ethanol–methanol (85:5:10, v/v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min with UV detection at 270 nm. The resolution of dinotefuran enantiomers was about 1.8. The first eluted enantiomer was (+)‐dinotefuran and the second eluted one was (?)‐dinotefuran. The effects of mobile‐phase composition and column temperature on the enantioseparation were evaluated. The method was validated for linearity, repeatability, accuracy, LOD and LOQ. LOD was 0.15 mg/kg in rice and tomato, 0.05 mg/kg in apple, with an LOQ of 0.5 mg/kg in rice and tomato, 0.2 mg/kg in apple. The average recoveries of the pesticide from all matrices ranged from 75.8 to 92.9% for all fortification levels The precision values associated with the analytical method, expressed as RSD values, were <16.5% for the pesticide in all matrices. The methodology was successfully applied for the enantioselective analysis of dinotefuran enantiomers in real samples, indicating its efficiency in investigating the environmental stereochemistry of dinotefuran in food matrix.     

Pomegranate By-Products as Natural Preservative to Prolong the Shelf Life of Breaded Cod Stick

This work evaluated the efficacy of pomegranate byproducts, specifically peel powder, as valid preservatives for food quality. Ready-to-cook cod sticks breaded with pomegranate peel powder were prepared. Shelf-life tests were conducted on breaded cod sticks during refrigerated storage (17 days) at 4 °C, monitoring the pH, microbiological and sensory quality. In addition, the nutritional quality of both the breaded and control samples was assessed. The results highlighted that active samples showed higher phenol and flavonoid content and higher antioxidant activity compared to the control fish, suggesting that pomegranate peel powder was responsible for a significant increase in cod stick nutritional quality. Furthermore, the cod stick active breading led to a delay in microbial growth without affecting the sensory properties; rather, it helped slow down the sensory attribute decline during the refrigerated storage. The data suggest that using pomegranate byproducts in breaded cod stick was effective in prolonging its shelf life, as well as improving its nutritional quality. Therefore, pomegranate peel powder can be considered as a potential resource as natural food preservative.     

The Chemistry of Protein Oxidation in Food

Oxidation is one of the deterioration reactions of proteins in food, the importance of which is comparable to others such as Maillard, lipation, or protein‐phenol reactions. While research on protein oxidation has led to a precise understanding of the processes and consequences in physiological systems, knowledge about the specific effects of protein oxidation in food or the role of “oxidized” dietary protein for the human body is comparatively scarce. Food protein oxidation can occur during the whole processing axis, from primary production to intestinal digestion. The present review summarizes the current knowledge and mechanisms of food protein oxidation from a chemical, technological, and nutritional–physiological viewpoint and gives a comprehensive classification of the individual reactions. Different analytical approaches are compared, and the relationship between oxidation of food proteins and oxidative stress in vivo is critically evaluated.     

Hydroxyethyl curdlan as a novel water soluble derivative: Synthesis,characterization, and antioxidant capacity

In this study, hydroxyethyl curdlans (HeCDs) with different molecular weights were successfully fabricated. The structure and properties of the synthesized HeCDs were measured by FTIR, ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Raman spectroscopy and compared with curdlan. The degree of crystallinity of HeCDs was measured with X-ray diffractometry (XRD). Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis were performed to determine thermal properties of HeCs. Solubility of HeCDs was tested in water, common organic solvents, and NaOH solution. Antioxidant activities of HeCs were investigated using various in vitro assay systems. The HeCDs exhibited a dose-dependent free radical scavenging activity as shown by their DPPH radical, ABTS radical and superoxide anion radical inhibition, and ferrous chelating ability and reducing power. The improved water solubility property and antioxidant activity of these curdlan derivatives could have a wide range of applications, particularly its use as an antioxidant in food, food packaging, biomedical, and pharmaceutical industries.     

Enzyme Production by Solid Substrate Fermentation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pleurotus ostreatus</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trametes versicolor</Emphasis> on Tomato Pomace

A process of solid state fermentation (SSF) on tomato pomace was developed with the white-rot fungi Pleurotus ostreatus and Trametes versicolor, using sorghum stalks as support. Operative parameters (humidity, water activity, and size of substrate particles) guaranteeing a good colonization of tomato pomace by both fungi were defined and conditions for production at high titers of the industrially relevant enzymes laccase, xylanase and protease were identified. Significant laccase activity levels (up to 36 U g⁻¹ dry matter) were achieved without any optimization of culture conditions, neither by nutrient addition nor by O₂ enrichment. Furthermore, protease activity levels up to 34,000 U g⁻¹ dry matter were achieved, being higher than those reported for the fungi typically considered as the best protease producers such as Aspergillus strains. Moreover, as one of the most significant results of this study, analysis of P. ostreatus tomato SSF samples by zymogram revealed two bands with laccase activity which had not been detected so far.