Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization最新文献

This study investigates the effect of different pre-treatments, viz., soaked and germinated millet flour of barnyard and browntop on the anti-nutritional, nutritional, functional, rheological, and digestion characteristics of barnyard millet (BM) and browntop millet (BTM). The soaking treatments were conducted for 12, 16, and 20 h at temperatures of 25 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C using seed-to-water ratios of 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4. Germination followed soaking (20 h) and was carried out over 24, 36, and 48 h at temperatures of 25 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C. The findings indicated a significant reduction in anti-nutritional factors (p < 0.05) during soaking and germination. In BM, these values decreased from 5.53 to 3.41 TIU/mg, 1.49 to 0.65 mg/g, 68.76 to 42.39 mg/g, and 6.25 to 2.85 mg/g, for BTM decreased from 6.17 to 4.69 TIU/mg, 2.68 to 1.43 mg/g, 72.39 to 38.27 mg/g, and 5.63 to 1.65 mg/g, for trypsin inhibitor activity, tannin level, oxalic content and phytic acid content respectively. Following soaking and germination, both BM and BTM exhibited reduced bulk density and porosity. In contrast, their water absorption capacity increased to a range of 0.82–0.90 g/g, while oil absorption capacity rose to 1.87–2.73 g/g. Structural and functional alterations were evident in the SEM and FT-IR analyses, indicating notable modifications in the millet samples. In contrast, XRD patterns and crystallinity levels exhibited only minor changes, suggesting a limited impact on the crystalline structure. The pasting behaviour analysis revealed distinct changes in viscosity, indicating structural modifications during processing. In vitro digestibility showed marked improvement, with barnyard millet’s starch digestibility increasing from 5.81 to 15.84 mg maltose per 100 mg, and protein digestibility rising from 72.13 to 76.61 g per 100 g. Similarly, BTM’s starch digestibility increased from 66.44 to 76.98 mg maltose/100 mg, and protein digestibility from 80.68 to 87.17 g/100 g.

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Grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) are widely consumed fruits known for their diverse bioactive compounds. Vinhão and Loureiro are the major red and white grape varieties, respectively, of the largest Portuguese wine region: Vinho Verde. Large amounts of residues are produced in wine making that potentially are rich in bioactive compounds, so this study aimed at valorizing the residues from these grape varieties for further applications. The grape extracts were obtained from the seeds and from the pulp and skin together for characterization. The phenolic composition differed across these parts, with the seeds being particularly rich in polyphenols and flavonoids. Both varieties exhibited high antioxidant activity; seed extracts stood out, showing the strongest radical scavenging ability (IC₅₀ = 0.22 ± 0.08 for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and 0.004 ± 0.001 mg mL⁻¹ for thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assays). The Loureiro seed extract showed higher antihaemolytic properties (IC₅₀ = 4.81 ± 0.22 µg mL⁻¹) by protecting erythrocyte membranes from oxidative damage. The seed extracts displayed cytotoxic potential on tested tumor cells, particularly with the Loureiro variety. Overall, the results suggest that both varieties have high antioxidant properties, with the seed extracts showing the most promising bioactivities. Although further characterization is required in terms of bioactivity in in vivo experimental models, these findings contribute to the potential utilization of grape extracts and their waste products, providing new applications for Portuguese grape varieties in various applications, such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and nutraceuticals.

Insect infestation contributes to substantial qualitative and quantitative deterioration in pearl millet grains in various storage regimes. This research examined the effect of different stages of Rhizopertha dominica infestation (1st day of infestation, egg, larvae, pupa and adult stages) at different storage temperature (15, 25 and 35 °C) on the quality deterioration of pearl millet grains. The impact of temperature was significant (p ≤ 0.05) on the crude protein and fat content. Pearl millet grains’ free fatty acid value (FFA), peroxide value (PV), and acid value (AV) were utilised as quality degradation indicators. Increase in storage temperature has seen an increase in the crude protein content, FFA, AV, PV and decreased crude fat content. The deterioration was severe at the adult stage of infestation, where protein content, FFA value, AV, and PV increased by 1.2 times, 2.5 times, 2 times, and 3–5 times, respectively, over the range of temperature under this investigation. On the other hand, fat content decreased by 1 factor for the same condition. The values of FFA, AV, PV, crude fat and protein content of the infested pearl millet grains were predicted using the artificial neural network (ANN) modelling based on the backpropagation method of Levenberg-Marquardt, with high R² (0.983), and lower root mean square error (0.0053), which indicated the best fit of the developed model.

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) rind, an underutilised by-product of the cocoa industry, contains significant levels of antioxidant phenolics and flavonoids. This study aimed to optimise ultrasonic-natural deep eutectic solvent (NaDES) assisted extraction conditions including NaDES compositions, solid–liquid ratio (SLR), water content, extraction time, and temperature for optimal polyphenolic compound recovery. Extraction parameters were first evaluated using Single Factor Experiments (SFE), followed by optimisation through response surface methodology via Central Composite Design (CCD) approach. Choline chloride:1,2-propanediol was selected as the optimal NaDES based on preliminary evaluations. The optimal polyphenol extraction conditions for cocoa rind were: SLR of 1:3, 30% water content, 45–60 min, and 45–60 °C, yielding a total phenolic content (TPC) of 76.10–102.95 µg GAE/g dry powder and total flavonoid content (TFC) of 44.20–72.58 µg QCE/g dry powder. Both cocoa rind extracts prepared at SFE and RSM conditions showed high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. With strong hydrogen bonding interaction and compatibility with cocoa rind, at optimized conditions, NaDES performed better than conventional solvent (water) as extraction media in extracting antioxidant-polyphenols from agricultural waste, cocoa rinds. These findings confirm ultrasonic-NaDES assisted extraction as a promising method for valorising cocoa rind as a sustainable source of antioxidant-phenolic compounds for pharmaceutical, food, beverage, and cosmetic applications.

Enzymatic browning, catalyzed by polyphenol oxidase, occurs due to cell membrane damage resulting from postharvest senescence and biotic and abiotic stressors, including physical injury, which leads to colour changes in fruits and vegetables. Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), a rich source of polyphenols, has garnered significant attention in nutrition and medicine for its potent antioxidant capacity and potential protective effects on human health. This study aims to purify the polyphenol oxidase enzyme (PPO) from chokeberry, characterize its key biochemical properties, and evaluate the inhibitory activities and antioxidant capacity of carbamate derivatives. First, the enzyme was purified 51.94 times using single-step affinity chromatography. The enzyme’s molecular weight was determined to be approximately 100 kDa through SDS-PAGE, appearing as a single band. The K_M and V_max values were found to be 5.43 mM and 1,428.5 EU/mL for catechol and 7.5 mM and 1,666.6 EU/mL for 4-methyl catechol. In inhibition studies, compound 7, which contains a carbamate group at the benzyl position and an electron-donating methyl group, emerged as the most potent PPO inhibitor with a K_i of 0.018 µM. Additionally, compound 7 exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity. In silico molecular docking and binding energy calculations further supported these findings, revealing strong interactions between compound 7 and key active site residues. Induced-fit docking simulations demonstrated that compound 7 formed stable hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions, consistent with its high binding affinity and low IC₅₀ value. These computational results corroborate the experimental data and highlight the potential of rationally designed carbamate derivatives as effective PPO inhibitors.

Enzymatic oxidation (EO) is a core process in Tieguanyin tea processing, playing a decisive role in determining its color, aroma, and taste. However, automatic recognition of EO stages remains a highly challenging task. This study proposes TGR-EOSR, an improved model based on ShuffleNet V2. It is designed to achieve high recognition accuracy across six key EO stages. Specifically, the coordinate attention mechanism is introduced to enhance the model’s focus on high-level features, such as the distribution of brown spots on tea shoots. A multi-scale feature extraction module is employed to improve the capture of low-level features, including leaf color and morphological details. Additionally, the combined use of ReLU6 and residual connections suppresses excessively large activations, enhances robustness, and accelerates convergence. The Ghost module is incorporated to reduce parameters and enable a lightweight design. The experimental results demonstrate that TGR-EOSR substantially outperforms ShuffleNet V2. It achieves an EO stage recognition accuracy of 93.93% and an F1-score of 93.95%, with only 3.902 M parameters. The proposed model reduces reliance on the subjective expertise of tea masters and enhances the standardization and quality stability of tea production. It provides a practical and feasible solution for intelligent tea processing.

As the quality of gelatin-containing foods, such as gummy candies, deteriorates over time and is affected by environmental conditions, efficient, nondestructive testing methods are essential for real-time quality monitoring and control. This study introduces a nondestructive method based on small deformation double compression, using commercially available gelatins with varying bloom values as the primary material. Gelatin–maltose composite gel gummy candies (simplified gummy model samples) were prepared. The textural parameters were measured using both traditional texture profile analysis (TPA) and modified small deformation TPA (TPA_Modif). Additionally, microstructural characteristics were observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results demonstrate that the small deformation TPA method is highly correlated with the traditional TPA method in terms of key parameters such as hardness and gumminess, with correlation coefficients of 0.97 and 0.95, respectively. Furthermore, the small deformation TPA method exhibited higher repeatability for parameters such as springiness and cohesiveness, with standard deviations among parallel samples reduced by 20–30%. TPA_Modif reduced testing time by 77.6% compared with the traditional TPA method, significantly improving the efficiency. Mantel testing revealed significant correlations (p < 0.01) between small deformation TPA parameters and bloom values, further validating the sensitivity and applicability of this method for detecting mechanical properties. SEM morphology analysis revealed that as gel strength increased, the composite gel gummy candies exhibited denser gel networks, higher degrees of crosslinking, and significant effects on maltose distribution. This study provides a novel approach for nondestructive texture characterization of gelatin-based foods, offering potential for real-time monitoring and quality control.

Resistant starches (RS) are valued as functional ingredients due to acting as fermentable fibers in the colon, and help regulate postprandial glycemia and gut microbiota balance. Among various modification techniques, citric acid modification introduces stable crosslinks that enhance thermal stability, reduce enzymatic hydrolysis, and improve physicochemical properties without the use of synthetic reagents. In this study, native Zea mays starch was surface-modified with different citric acid concentrations—20% ( ST1–ST3) and 40% (ST4–ST6)—and subsequently converted into starch nanoparticles (ST7–ST9) by thermal treatment at 150 °C for 1, 3, or 5 h, respectively. FTIR confirmed successful esterification through the appearance of carbonyl and ester peaks. XRD revealed reduced crystallinity, indicating structural disruption. DSC thermograms showed altered thermal transitions and increased enthalpy in higher treatment groups, suggesting enhanced crosslinking and thermal stability. Surface hydrophobicity, measured by Rose Bengal dye adsorption, showed increased slope values for ST7 (− 0.0038 ± 0.0002), ST8 (− 0.0027 ± 0.0001), and ST9 (− 0.0015 ± 0.0001), indicating enhanced hydrophobicity. In vitro digestion showed reduced glucose release in modified samples (ST7–ST9: 21.80 ± 0.90% to 19.10 ± 1.20%), due to increased crosslinking and limited enzyme accessibility. FESEM images displayed irregular, rough-surfaced granule clusters. Transparency was highest in ST7 (13.57 ± 0.10%), ST8 (14.24 ± 0.09%), and ST9 (14.81 ± 0.08%). Molecular docking revealed the interactions between starch and citric acid. These results demonstrate that citric-acid–esterified starch provides a promising strategy for developing next-generation functional food ingredients and nutraceutical formulations.

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This work evaluated changes in the profile of bioactive compounds (carotenoids, phenolic compounds and fatty acids) of bacaba pulp, a fruit native to the Amazon known for its high phytochemical content, but underused in industrial applications, after foam-mat drying at two temperatures (50 and 60 °C) and foam-mat freeze-drying. Ten phenolic compounds were identified, including cyanidin 3-O-glucoside, seven phenolic acids, and two flavonols. Notably, four compounds: bergapten, homogentisic acid, 3,5-di-O-galloylquinic acid, and rosmarinic acid, were reported for the first time in this specie. Carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, α-carotene, and β-carotene) and unsaturated fatty acids (oleic and linoleic acids) were also detected. Three drying techniques were compared: freeze-drying (FMFD), FMD at 50 °C (FMDT50), and FMD at 60 °C (FMDT60). While FMFD showed the lowest degradation of bioactives, FMDT60 demonstrated comparable compound retention with significantly lower processing costs. Both FMFD and FMDT60 powders exhibited higher concentrations of total phenolics (956.8 µg g⁻¹ and 818.2 µg g⁻¹, respectively) in relation to the lyophilized pulp (control, 614.9 µg g⁻¹), suggesting increased extractability and bioaccessibility of these compounds. In contrast, anthocyanins were substantially degraded across all treatments, primarily due to their thermal and oxidative instability. These findings highlight FMDT60 as a feasible and efficient method for producing bacaba powder with functional potential. The preservation of key bioactive compounds supports its application in the development of health-oriented food products. Future investigations into storage stability are recommended to assess the commercial viability of bacaba powders.

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This study systematically optimized the production parameters of cold-stewed soft-boiled eggs (CSEs) by integrating fuzzy mathematical sensory evaluation and response surface methodology (RSM). The results showed that the heating time was identified as the most significant factor affecting product quality, followed by cold marinating time and cooling time. Optimal processing parameters were established as follows: heating at 100℃ for 7.5 min, rapid cooling in ice water for 4 min, and cold Marination at 4℃ for 12 h. The optimized protocol resulted in high sensory acceptability (86.96 ± 0.43) and consistent yolk coagulation (12.6 ± 0.8 mm) across replicate trials. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis detected 21 volatile compounds in optimized CSEs, with phenols as the dominant class (ethyl Maltol accounting for 62.31 ± 5.36% of total volatiles). Microbiological safety was validated with total bacterial count < 50 CFU/g and absence of coliforms and Salmonella. This work establishes a scalable industrial framework for soft-boiled egg production and provides theoretical guidance for developing value-added egg-based products.