Journal of Food Engineering最新文献

Electrolyzed water (EW) presents promising potential as an alternative sanitation solution, offering cost savings and eliminating the need for harsh chemicals in food factories. This study investigates EW's efficacy in cleaning contaminated stainless-steel plates. Some plates were covered with meat residues, and the upper side of the plate's surfaces were inoculated with Escherichia coli ATCC 10536. Plates were then immersed in sterile distilled water (SDW) (pH: 7 ± 1), acidic electrolyzed water (AcEW) (free chlorine: 4.21 ± 0.05 mg/L, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP): 1168 ± 3.54 mV, pH: 2.74 ± 0.03), or alkaline electrolyzed water (AlEW) (ORP: 817 ± 8.49 mV, pH: 11.38 ± 0.01), at different temperatures (30 or 50 °C) for 30 s. The cleanliness of plates was confirmed microbiologically when no E. coli was detected, (below 1.0 log CFU/cm²). Treatment with SDW resulted in a modest reduction of the E. coli by 1.67 ± 0.84 log CFU/cm² (±70% of the survived population). At 30 °C, E. coli was undetectable when AlEW was used without meat residue. At 50 °C, E. coli was undetectable when either AcEW or AlEW was used without meat residue. Visual and tactile inspections were conducted to validate cleanliness. The visual examination was performed after cleaning the plates with EW to ensure they appeared clean. However, tactile inspection indicated the presence of residues. Subsequent microbial analysis revealed 1.50 ± 0.87 log CFU/100 cm² (±36% of the surviving population) of E. coli. This study demonstrated that meat residues on food-contact surfaces create a barrier to sanitation, necessitating mechanical action and heat for improved cleanliness.

Emulsions stabilized by normal starch-based emulsifier could be easily digested for fat absorption. In this study, a novel design of resistant starch-based emulsifier (RSE) is expected to be a promising strategy in reducing fat digestibility. Waxy corn starch (WCS) was used to prepare RS by pullulanase debranching, and then RS was esterified with different hydrophobic agents of octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) and dodecenyl succinate anhydride (DDSA) to prepare OSA/DDAS modified RSE (OSA-R and DDSA-R). The structure and emulsification properties of OSA-R and DDSA-R were comprehensively investigated. The results showed that RS content of WCS was increased from 0.17% to 35.52% by pullulanase debranching and then RS contents of OSA-R (37.53%) and DDSA-R (42.18%) could be further increased by OSA/DDSA modifications. Moreover, both OSA-R and DDSA-R stabilized emulsions were stable under neutral and alkaline conditions and were of good quality within 10 days of storage at 4 °C. Compared with OSA-R stabilized emulsion, DDSA-R stabilized emulsion had higher acid stability, CaCl₂ stability and storage stability. Furthermore, in vitro digestion study demonstrated that both OSA-R and DDSA-R stabilized emulsions exhibited strong resistance against digestion. In conclusion, two high resistant starch-based emulsifiers obtained by OSA/DDAS modifications could be used for stabilizing oil-in-water emulsions, which provide important references for the selection of RSE esterification agents and the application of RS in food industry.

Chestnut flour is a material with unique properties but difficult to use in 3D printing. This work achieved 3D printing using sodium alginate (SA) and chestnut flour, and 4D printing of chestnut flour under microwave and infrared heating conditions. SA increased the modulus, viscosity, and hardness of the bioinks, but weakened starch gel structure. The puffing effect during microwave heating led to directional deformation of the 3D printed products, and the 1.0% SA content contributed to a more desirable deformation. Infrared heating for 4 min followed by microwave heating for 4 min (4IR4MW) reduced deformation and avoided collapse. Microwave and infrared heating would contribute to the flavor, texture and swallowability. This research created 4D printed chestnut flour food products with personalized and rapidly shape-changing behavior, providing a new technology for 4D food manufacturing.

The oil-water separation phenomenon in sesame paste poses a challenge for the storage of sauce products. In this study, soy protein isolate (SPI), peanut protein isolate (PPI) and flaxseed gum (FG) conjugates were prepared to stabilize the solid-liquid phases of sesame paste. The results indicated that the highest degree of grafting (25.07%) was observed in a ratio of PPI:FG = 4:1 (PF2). The interaction between proteins and FG generated the extension of the protein molecule and increased structural disorder. PPI-FG conjugates exhibited the lower surface hydrophobicity and higher thermal stability. The addition of 4% PF2 to sesame paste led to a reduction of 5.06% oil separation rate and showed higher storage modulus (G′), loss modulus (G″), apparent viscosity, and hardness. A stable and continuous three-dimensional network was created to physically entrap the oil, resulting in a more uniform distribution of oil droplets and a reduced particle interaction of sesame paste.

Magnetic field (MF)-assisted technology is considered a potentially effective approach to improve the edible quality of meat products. This study aims to investigate various parameters (0 mT–4.5 mT) of MF-assisted marinating and preheating processes on the water-holding capacity and flavor of prepared meat patties. Analyzing cooking loss, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance, emulsion stability, and rheological properties confirmed that the water-holding capacity of meat patties rises initially and then falls with increasing MF strength during two processes (marinating and preheating processes). Furthermore, MF-assisted processing boosts sulfur compounds production in meat patties, resulting in higher concentrations of keto alcohols such as 2-heptanone, ethanol, and amyl alcohol, which contribute positively to the flavor and sensory properties. Overall, an appropriate MF intensity with 3.0 mT for 3 h at marinating and with 4.5 mT for 45 min at preheating could enhance the water-holding capacity and flavor of prepared meat patties, indicating promise for the meat industry.

Phosphatidylcholine-depleted (PC-depleted) lecithin is characterized by a lower phosphatidylcholine/phosphatidylethanolamine (PC/PE) ratio, favoring the formation of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, and thus can be applied in water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double emulsions (DEs). However, up to now, only a limited number of studies have described the use of PC-depleted lecithin in double emulsions. In this study, the influence of the formulation and processing conditions on the formation and stability of PC-depleted lecithin stabilized-DEs was investigated. The characterizations of DEs involved morphology, droplet size, viscosity, and entrapped water yield. The experimental results indicated that the incorporation of glucose in the water phase instead of potassium chloride (KCl) increased both the droplet size and the entrapped water yield in DEs, whereby the latter was increased by around 65% as compared to DEs containing 100 mM KCl. Reducing the salt content also facilitated the formation of DEs. Moreover, a correlation between the oil type and the 1st homogenization method was found: whereas DEs formulated with high oleic sunflower oil were always unstable irrespective of the emulsification method used, stable DEs were produced by the combination of medium-chain triglyceride oil and a rotor-stator system whereby microfluidization caused phase inversion. In addition, PC-depleted lecithin could stabilize up to 60% of water in oil. Meanwhile, stable DEs with a maximum internal water fraction of 24.1% were obtained by adjusting the original W/O/W ratio to 25/25/50. Finally, DEs stabilized by PC-depleted lecithin showed a comparable stability to those stabilized by polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) during 28 days of storage. To sum up, this work provides a better understanding of the sensitivity of PC-depleted lecithin-stabilized W/O/W emulsions towards the applied formulation conditions.

Ensuring the freshness of salmon in the face of freezing and thawing cycles during cold chain transportation is a critical challenge, particularly as some merchants may mislabel frozen-thawed salmon as fresh for higher profits. In this study, we developed an advanced monitoring system to track changes in bioimpedance signals and quality parameters of salmon. Bioimpedance data at 1 kHz and 16 kHz were analyzed and fed into four machine learning classification models: support vector machine (SVM), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), K-nearest neighbors (KNN), and random forest (RF). Following correlation analysis between quality parameters and bioimpedance signals, the classification models achieved average accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores of 98%, 97%, 97%, and 97%, respectively. The findings of this study can be applied to other fish and meat quality classification tasks, offering a reliable method for identifying freeze-thaw cycles in these products.

For real-time dynamic quality evaluation of pork meat, the thermal accumulation monitoring for the entire period is essential. The research aims to develop a novel covalent organic framework (COF) gel capable of recording such information. The COF with self-responsive irreversible color change property was synthesized using benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxaldehyde, 2,5-diamino-1,4-benzenedithiol dihydrochloride and p-phthalaldehyde as monomers. The thermal accumulation was monitored based on the COF over a broad temperature range (−22 °C–55 °C), which covered the storage temperatures of the pork meat. The results were easily readable by series visible color variations (yellow, green, blue and dark blue) displayed by COF during the thermal accumulation monitoring in the temperature range (25 °C–55 °C) of study. At the lower temperature (−22 °C–4 °C), small variation of the thermal information can be effectively represented by quantitative analysis. The color change rates were in the order of k_-22 °C < k_{4 °C} < k_25 °C < k_35 °C < k_55 °C. The activation energy of reaction was 65.31 kJ mol⁻¹. The indicator gel was prepared by the COF combining with carrageenan in pure aqueous medium. The potential application of the COF gel for real-time monitoring the dynamic quality change of pork samples was investigated. The response signals of the COF gel were well matched with the growth rate of microbe in pork meat. The proposed COF gel based thermal history indicator is promising for real-time monitoring dynamic quality changes of pork meat during the cold supply chain.

Fried centipede, a popular food in southern China and Vietnam, is well known for its notable health benefits owing to its unique chemical composition. This study focused on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor screening, bioactivity evaluation, and the extraction of bioactive compounds derived from fried centipedes. To determine the accuracy of in vitro AChE inhibitor screening, receptor-ligand affinity ultrafiltration and enzymatic reaction kinetics technologies were employed for the rapid screening and structural identification of bioactive compounds and to verify the enzyme inhibition activity and mechanism of the compounds. Moreover, molecular docking and dynamic simulations were utilized to assess the effectiveness of the target, and the integration of experimental and computational approaches facilitated a comprehensive analysis of the active compounds and their activities at four levels. To address the issues of low content and low extraction and separation efficiencies of bioactive compounds derived from centipedes, an activity-oriented complex preparation method (consecutive ultrasonic-assisted centrifugal extraction coupled online with UNIFAC countercurrent chromatography and semi-high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for efficient extraction, online concentration, and complex separation of the identified AChE ligands. As a result, six active compounds, including cytidine, guanine, uracil, hypoxanthine, xanthine, and β-thymidine demonstrated significant binding affinity to the AChE active sites within 3 h. This study provided valuable insights into the active compounds of fried centipedes and their potential anti-Alzheimer's disease properties. These findings contribute to the advancement of animal food preparation methodologies by combining cutting-edge extraction techniques, biological activity screening, and the development of AChE inhibitors from fried centipedes. Our method serves as a valuable reference for exploring and developing functional animal materials from diverse medicinal resources.

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of ultrasonication on the formation of crystalline network of monoglycerides (MGs) and Tween 20 (Tw20) in a continuous matrix of olive oil. Several analytical methods such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), confocal and polarized optical microscopy, rheometry, and infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were employed to characterize the ultrasonicated oleogel structures. DSC and FT-IR provided evidence that ultrasonication accelerated the crystallization of the β-polymorph of the monoglycerides. Confocal and optical microscopy revealed that ultrasonication resulted in shorter and thinner β-MGs crystals. The addition of Tw20 to the system led to formation of oil-in-oil emulsion gels with the β-MGs crystals acting as Pickering particles. Rheology showed that ultrasonication induced the formation of stronger but with lower yield stress oleogels. Overall, ultrasonication can modulate the structure of MGs-based crystallized networks, thereby influencing the thermomechanical properties, which could be beneficial for fat substitution in food products.