Current Opinion in Food Science最新文献

Aquafaba (chickpea cooking water) has been successfully commercialized as a clean-label emulsifier and egg replacer. It contains albumin, which incorporates air, and saponins that stabilize foams. Soluble protein, soluble fiber, and saponins emulsify oil in water emulsions. Liluva (processing water of legumes, including chickpeas) express comparable foaming ability to the respective legume flours, with higher emulsifying ability. Gluten-free bread formulated with liluva gained loaf volume, softness, and moistness. Sourdough fermented faster due to the prebiotic activity of oligosaccharides. In addition, aquafaba reduced syneresis in oat yogurt and modulated ice cream melting in a coconut dessert. Furthermore, the peptide defensin found in pea water exerted selected antimicrobial activity. While aquafaba is already successfully commercialized but with higher carbon footprint than egg white, liluva is an exciting opportunity: versatile, environmentally friendly alternative to hydrocolloids, and affordable. Concentration and drying technologies must be optimized to fully use these functional ingredients.

Mycoprotein is a protein-rich food ingredient derived from cultivated fungal mycelium. Mycoprotein-containing meat imitation food products were first commercialized nearly 40 years ago and have since become a safe, nutritious, and generally well-established vegetarian alternative for consumers wishing to reduce or completely avoid meat consumption. In just the past few years, there has been a notable resurgence in mycoprotein innovation with many new companies developing novel mycoprotein products while also employing a wider range of fungal species as well as cultivation methods. However, questions remain about how successful mycoprotein has been as a novel food ingredient with regard to its sustainability and resilience of production as well as its potential for further market growth globally.

Macrofungi, commonly known as mushrooms, are not only considered functional foods for supplying essential nutritional ingredients but also a good source of physiologically beneficial medicines. Trametes versicolor, referred to as turkey tail’s Mushroom or Yun Zhi in China, is an edible mushroom that has extensive historical usage in conventional and traditional Chinese medicine. This mushroom contains an abundance of physiologically bioactive compounds, most notably β-glucan polysaccharides, which are responsible for antioxidant, neuroprotection, hypolipidemic effects, immune-modulating effects, and anticancer effects. Trametes versicolor has also been revealed to have wound healing, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antifibrotic, neurotrophic, and anti-inflammatory effects among other therapeutic efficacies. This review paper has overviewed the recent advances in the research and study on Trametes versicolor and discussed the potential health-promoting properties of this exotic macrofungi, with the recognition of bioactive and polysaccharide constituents responsible for these medicinal agents.

The growing demand for dietary protein presents challenges for environmentally sustainable food production within global limits. Precision fermentation (PF) offers an innovative solution by employing engineered micro-organisms to ecosustainably produce animal or other proteins of interest for food applications. While microbes have been used to modify and create foods for thousands of years, microbial bulk protein production is relatively new. Some of the most compelling PF products are food proteins previously only derived from animal sources that can now be expressed in micro-organisms. The alternative protein space is flourishing with PF-derived protein research and development for formulation in dairy, egg, meat, and sweetener applications. This review discusses recent innovations in the space, popular target ingredients, bioprocesses, production microbes, and the regulatory landscape, all in a space poised for expansion this decade.

Proteomics is a potent tool to be used for functional studies of foodborne undesirable moulds, mainly utilised for deciphering the antifungal mechanisms of biocontrol agents against moulds. Within such discipline, Phosphoproteomics has enormous potential for revealing signalling pathways to be combined with results from single shot-gun proteomics, although it has been scarcely used in this field as several limitations must be overcome. Furthermore, Proteomics, which offers a faithful picture of the phenotype, requires other omics to obtain a complete comprehension of the moulds’ metabolism and physiology. Thus, integration libraries and platforms for foodborne moulds, which are not available yet, as well as the computational tools implementation for analysing the enormous data generated, comprise the main current weakness of Proteomics. Finally, current applications performed in other research fields, such as clinical Proteomics, may serve as a mirror for further developing this tool when applied to food-related moulds.

Precision fermentation is a promising food production technology that uses micro-organisms to produce specific proteins, fats, and vitamins, offering a more sustainable alternative to animal agriculture. This review explores recent advances in computer-aided chemical engineering research within precision fermentation, focusing on process systems engineering (PSE), process control, and artificial intelligence. PSE offers important process synthesis and process optimisation tools for fermentation, helping evaluate environmental impacts and economic feasibility during design. Advanced control strategies, such as soft sensors, can improve productivity and yield. Artificial intelligence methods, such as surrogate modelling, enable rapid experimentation, process optimisation, and scale-up, accelerating development. These advances pave the way for precision fermentation to play a greater role in the food production system of the future.

Meat analogs are developed in response to environmental concerns, health conscious, and ethical consumer choices. Advancements in texturization processes with respect to the optimization of extrusion cooking, shear cell, and 3D printing are thought be essential to maintain future consumer interest. Here, we describe both thermal and nonthermomechanical treatments based on peculiar gelation mechanisms of ingredients. The combination of two or more different technologies is a promising strategy to enhance textural, nutritional, and sensory properties. Examples include integrating extrusion with shear cell, using new rotating die geometries, or combining fermentations with structuring processes. Other innovations explore sustainable protein sources and additives and nonprotein ingredients to improve textural properties, although the latter may raise concerns about acceptance and sustainability.

With escalating concerns over sustainability and public health, the integration of plant-based options has the potential to advance the overall sustainability goals. This opinion paper discusses the role of plant-based foods in addressing current environmental, health, and socioeconomic challenges. Plant-based diets offer significant environmental benefits, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, soil health preservation, water pollution mitigation, and biodiversity promotion through diverse crop cultivation practices. Additionally, they are linked to various health benefits and potentially mitigate the burden on healthcare systems. Leveraging technological advancements can further increase efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and promote sustainable practices throughout the entire food supply chain. Plant-based diets could promote more equitable resource distribution and create new opportunities for employment and economic growth. Nevertheless, the complexity of socioeconomic aspects requires careful consideration to ensure inclusive and sustainable outcomes.

Synthetic nitrates and nitrites are commonly used food additives that play an important role in enhancing the sensory quality and consumer acceptability of cured meats. However, these compounds have been linked to health concerns, leading to recent regulatory changes. On the 6th of October 2023, a new European Commission Regulation was launched to reduce the maximum allowable limits of these additives in cured meats in the European Union. This review presents the legislative chronicles in the European Union regarding nitrates/nitrites as food additives and their antimicrobial and antioxidant effect when used in cured meats. Consumer perception of reduced/free-from nitrates/nitrites cured meats and strategies for creating product formulations without or with reduced amounts of nitrates/nitrites and their impact on different sensory attributes are discussed.