Current Opinion in Food Science最新文献

There is a high demand for animal-sourced foods because of their high nutritional content, but these can also be a breeding ground for pathogens and spoilage microbes. Meanwhile, the quality and safety of meat are a great concern for the consumers around the world. In this article, problems related to meat and meat items are discussed with antimicrobial films (AMFs) as a possible solution. The authors have discussed the different types of AMFs studied in recent years with challenges and the improvements made by different researchers. In the authors' point of view, the use of AMFs extracted from the natural sources is a promising strategy to minimize microorganisms’ growth in meat and meat items with no physicochemical and sensory changes that can promote the consumer acceptability and economically efficient approach. The authors suggested that more research is required on standardization and technical parameters in the development of low-cost and effective AMFs. Moreover, in the authors' opinion, cytotoxicity studies can be performed on AMFs for consumers' safety.

The compelling health-promoting properties of mushrooms have attracted researchers to explore Schizophyllum commune as a source of food and pharmaceutical products. A systematic review was conducted by searching specific electronic databases for relevant articles on nutritional, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory properties of S. commune. Significant advances have been achieved in the antioxidative properties of S. commune as a consequence of studies involving cell and animal models, and the identification of mechanisms of action through molecular studies. However, its anti-inflammatory properties are meagerly reported and research on the nutritional properties of S. commune is deficient. It is anticipated that insights about these developments will motivate further discovery of novel antioxidative and anti-inflammatory components, and advance research on the nutritional properties of S. commune.

Listeria monocytogenes can persist in food processing environments, mainly thanks to its biofilm-forming abilities. Alongside classical decontamination methods, environmentally friendly technologies, including electrolyzed water (EW), plasma-activated water (PAW), ozone, and enzymes, with considerable antimicrobial potential, were recently proposed as antibiofilm strategies. However, data published in recent years suggest significant variability in the response of L. monocytogenes biofilms to these approaches. This phenomenon seems related to environmental conditions/parameters and to genetic determinants or resistance mechanisms of different strains. The implementation of eco-friendly antibiofilm approaches in cleaning and disinfection protocols in food industries should begin from an in-depth knowledge of production environments and cannot be disregarded from the understanding of genetic features and resistance patterns that this fearsome pathogen might develop against the new stressors.

This review elucidated the nutritive and health benefits of crayfish to encourage the consumption during complementary feeding among poor households in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Crayfish contained high-quality nutrients that may complement poor traditional complementary foods (CFs) for child growth and development. Crayfish had high contents of about 64.14% protein, 10.5 g/100 g of crude protein of sulfur–amino acids, low contents of about 9.12% and 5.45% of lipid and carbohydrate (CHO) respectively, and a substantial ratio of n-3/n-6, 6.41. CFs formulated from plant-based foods (PBFs) and crayfish were found to be of high quality and nutritious value. The astaxanthin content may improve organoleptic qualities of CFs and health status of individual consumers. Introduction of crayfish diet during complementary feeding may lower undernutrition among children in LMICs.

The aim of this publication is to discuss the role and examples of applications and challenges for computer tools applied in food peptidomics, a research area merging proteomics and metabolomics, focused on the entire set of peptides in a raw material or product. It encompasses the characterization of a peptidome, its properties, bioactivity, and fate during digestion or technological processes. Bioinformatics and cheminformatics tools serve to support all steps of workflow. They are necessary because the number of peptides possibly present in peptidomes is too big to be characterized by experiments only. On the other hand, only experiments can provide data enabling the development of programs. Tools for work on peptides are available via metabases and metaservers, that is, websites offering access to multiple databases or programs. New tools are launched every year, while the others cease to exist. Ensuring the quality and continuity of operation of computer tools is also a challenge.

Biofilm formation plays a critical concern in the food processing industry due to potential environmental, economic, and food spoilage impacts. To maintain microbial safe levels, a sanitation process, comprising cleaning and disinfection steps, needs to be periodically performed. Biocide treatment for surface disinfection is the most widely applied strategy. Owing to the critical failure of current sanitation processes, the microbial persistence on surfaces, and the events of resistance and cross-resistance, the search for new effective antimicrobial strategies is emerging. This review aims to provide an overview of emerging strategies for biofilm prevention/control, as alternatives to current cleaning and disinfecting agents. Specifically, the use of antimicrobial peptides, biosurfactants, bacteriophages, essential oils, extracellular polymeric substances, matrix-degrading enzymes, and nanoparticles as alternative strategies for biofilm control in the food industry was revised, focusing on their main applications, advantages, and limitations. Combinatory approaches were critically assessed for allowing a personalized and specific attack of microbial contaminations, which may have a significant relevance in improving biofilm control while reducing the environmental impact from the use of conventional biocides.

Collagen peptides (CPs) derived from different food sources can act as a nitrogen or carbon source for gut microbiota, thereby generating fermentation products that play a prebiotic role in maintaining human health. This review summarizes the potential of prebiotic activity of CPs to regulate gut microbiota as well as their action mechanisms. CPs can exhibit a prebiotic activity by interacting with gut microbiota, which can reduce symptoms associated with metabolic diseases through production of short-chain fatty acids and branched-chain fatty acids. In addition, the type and source of CPs, molecular weight, amino acid composition, and the extent of digestion and absorption in the body can impact the prebiotic activity of CPs. Overall, CPs have a prebiotic potential in the human microbiota.

Stingless bees (SB) are an almost untouched source of valuable bioactive compounds, with potential application in food, medicines, and health. The bioactive molecules from SB-related products come from the environment, from bees, and/or from the metabolism of symbiont microorganisms. For this review, a robust search for recent articles with information on the main bacterial groups associated with the health-balance state of SB was done. The keyword SB was associated with other search words (microbiota, microbiome, and names of key bacterial genera) related to SB. The main SB-related bacterial symbionts are presented, aiming to shed light on the range of possibilities for biotechnological application of these microbes, to stimulate future research aiming to make better use of these inestimable natural resources.

Chinese yam, a group of vegetables belonging to the species Dioscorea opposita, has a long history of use on promoting gut health. Recent studies highlighted the diverse components found in yam (Dioscorea spp.), including yam polysaccharides, dioscin, and β-carotene, which play a significant role in gut protection. These components were shown to alleviate inflammatory bowel disease, improve colitis, and positively modulate intestinal flora. Yam polysaccharides and β-carotene help restore the balance of intestinal flora by increasing the levels of beneficial lactic acid bacteria such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, as well as Parabacteroides spp., while inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens and species from Firmicutes phylum (Lachnoclostridium and Marvinbryantia spp.). Additionally, dioscin has been found to improve intestinal permeability. This review will power further research into the potential functions of these compounds and yam as whole food, as well as for yam-based food product development.

Interest in meat analogs has grown as consumers demand foods that are better for the environment, health, and animal welfare. However, many consumers are not incorporating meat analogs into their diets because they do not accurately simulate the sensory attributes of real meat. An improved understanding of the factors impacting the texture of these complex colloidal materials is required. This article highlights mathematical and computational approaches being developed to model the properties of polymer and particle gels assembled from plant proteins, polysaccharides, and lipid droplets. In particular, models for describing interpenetrating and phase-separated gel networks are presented, as well as models for describing filled gel networks containing inclusions such as fat droplets, nanofibers, starch granules, or air bubbles. More research is needed to understand the structure–function relationships of these complex materials, which should lead to higher- quality products, but several challenges must be overcome, such as model identification and validation.