A novel strategy based on mouse organoid biosensor for detecting umami substances and their synergistic effect.

Interfacial behavior of a polylactic acid active packaging film dictates its performance in complex food matrices

Essential oil components (EOCs) have limited water solubility and are used at much higher concentrations in complex food matrices than in growth media to inhibit pathogens. However, the correlation between solubility and activity has not been studied. The objective of this work was to characterize the solubility of EOCs in solvents and milk and correlate solubility with antilisterial activity. The solubilities of four EOCs, thymol, carvacrol, eugenol, and trans-cinnamaldehyde, in water was significantly increased in the presence of 5% (vol/vol) ethanol. In milk, the solubility of EOCs was lower than in water, with lower solubility in higher-fat milk. EOCs applied to milk as stock solutions (in 95% aqueous ethanol) enabled quicker dissolution and higher solubility in milk serum than other methods of mixing, such as end to end, and greater reductions of Listeria monocytogenes Scott A after 0 and 24 h. When the EOC concentration detected in milk serum was above the minimum bactericidal concentration, complete inhibition of L. monocytogenes in tryptic soy broth resulted. Therefore, the antilisterial properties in milk could be correlated with the solubility by comparison to the minimum inhibitory or bactericidal concentrations of EOCs. While the EOCs applied using ethanol generally had solubility and activity characteristics superior to those of other mixing methods, ethanol is not used to a great extent in nonfermented foods. Therefore, mixing methods without an organic solvent may be more readily adaptable to enhancing the distribution of EOCs in complex food systems.

Australia's largest university, Monash, is a complex food system, with >70 000 students, 17000 staff, 50 food outlets, a supermarket and >100 vending machines. Analysis of this food system in 2016 identified poor availability of healthy food and prompted the university to implement a local healthy eating framework, the Victorian Government's Healthy Choices Guidelines (HCGs). Australians consume a diet low in plant foods and high in discretionary foods: 67% of adults are overweight or obese. Our food environment is large, complex and competitive and akin to a shopping mall or small town and our findings are broadly applicable to these settings. In 2016 Monash commenced implementation of HCGs which classify foods using a traffic light system: Green (best choice), Amber (choose carefully) and Red (limit). To create health enabling environments, the guidelines recommend ≥50% Green and <20% Red foods. Three key strategies are explored: 1) Retail food healthiness assessments, 2) Vending changes and 3) Retail food healthiness labelling. Multiple implementation challenges arose in food retail. In 2016, we conducted retail food healthiness assessments using HCGs. These assessments indicated the Monash food retail environment was 19% Green, 26% Amber and 55% Red. HCG vending was successfully implemented in 2017 using a commercial tender process. Healthy retail labelling was implemented with 32 retailers in 2018; the cost and complexities associated with menu assessments, retailer education and labelling fidelity present enormous challenges. Local frameworks do not scale up in large, complex, competitive retail systems. Success with vending contracts indicates change to food retail may occur with contract clauses. Implementing change in established food retail is problematic. Implementation challenges in large, complex, competitive retail settings require further exploration. Contract clauses show promise for implementing and sustaining change in complex food systems. Key messages Large, complex, competitive retail settings present challenges for food system change. Leasing clauses show promise for changes to large, complex, competitive, retail food systems.

Background and Objective Quantifying phytic acid in complex or fermented foods is essential for assessing nutritional quality. Conventional enzymatic assays often overestimate phytic acid due to nonspecific hydrolysis of phosphorylated compounds. This study aimed to develop a modified enzymatic method with improved specificity by correcting for non‐phytate phosphorus interference. Results The modified protocol introduced a parallel alkaline phosphatase (ALP)‐only control to determine background phosphate release. Phytic acid content was then calculated as the difference between total (phytase + ALP) and background (ALP‐only) phosphorus. The method was validated using chicken, fungal biomass, fermented oats, and oat flour. It showed a detection limit of 11.29 mg P per 100 g (≈40 mg phytic acid per 100 g) and linearity from 0.5 to 7.5 μg P per assay. In interference‐prone samples, the apparent phytic acid content was reduced by 85%–99% compared with the standard Megazyme K‐PHYT assay (e.g., chicken: 0.45 → <0.04%), with results aligning closely with high‐performance ion chromatography (HPIC) data (e.g., fungal biomass: 0.07% vs. 0.15%). Conclusions The modified enzymatic assay improves analytical specificity and accuracy for phytic acid quantification in complex food matrices. It provides a robust, low‐cost, and high‐throughput alternative to chromatographic methods. This method introduces a simple background‐correction step for enzymatic phytic acid analysis, enhancing reliability in fermented or protein‐rich foods and facilitating integration into automated compositional analysis workflows.

Accurate quantification of small bioactive peptides derived from dairy and plant-based beverages using isotope-coded dimethyl labeling and LC-MS/MS.

Sodium chloride is an important ingredient added to most of foods which contributes to flavor enhancement and food preservation but excess intake of sodium chloride may also cause various diseases such as heart diseases, osteoporosis and so on. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the effect of monosodium glutamate (MSG) as a salty flavor enhancer on the quality and sensorial properties of the NaCl/MSG complex and actual food system. For characterizing the spray-dried NaCl/MSG complex, surface dimension, morphology, rheology, and saltiness intensity were estimated by increasing MSG (0-2.0%) levels at a fixed NaCl concentration (2.0%). MSG levels had no effect of the characteristics of the NaCl/MSG complex, although the addition of MSG increased the surface dimension of the NaCl/MSG complex significantly (p<0.05). Furthermore, the effect of MSG on enhancing the salty flavor was not observed in the solution of the NaCl/MSG complex. In the case of an actual food system, model meat products (pork patties) were prepared by replacing NaCl with MSG. MSG enhanced the salty flavor, thereby increasing overall acceptability of pork patties. Replacement of NaCl with MSG (<1.0%) did not result in negative sensorial properties of pork patties, although quality deterioration such as high cooking loss was found. Nevertheless, MSG had a potential application in meat product formulation as a salty flavor enhancer or a partial NaCl replacer when meat products were supplemented with binding agents.

Taste perception of monosodium glutamate (MSG) in foods in young and elderly subjects

Recent advances on the stability of dietary polyphenols

In this review of the sensory impact of lipid oxidation, off-flavours caused by lipid oxidation in various complex food products are summarised. Further, it is demonstrated that sensory data often do not correlate well with data obtained by simple chemical analytical methods, such as peroxide values and anisidine values. It is also demonstrated that even if chemical oxidation data indicate that different food products are oxidised to the same degree, the sensory impact of lipid oxidation may be very different in various foods. Based on these data coupled with determinations of the oil-water partition coefficients of selected volatile oxidation products in fish oil enriched mayonnaise a hypothesis was recently suggested to explain these differences. According to this hypothesis oxidation products present in the aqueous phase of mayonnaise will have a major impact on the sensory perception of oil-in-water emulsions like mayonnaise. Finally, data from our recent investigations in which sensory analysis was employed together with electron spin resonance, GC-MS, HPLC and measurements of the rheological properties and physical structure of mayonnaise are discussed. These methods were used to study the effect of various antioxidants of commercial interest in fish oil enriched mayonnaise. A major conclusion from these studies is that GC-MS data correlate well with sensory data, but that more research is necessary to clarify the sensory impact of both individual lipid oxidation compounds and combinations of these products in complex food emulsions.

Introduction ...................................................................................................... 94 Sorptive extraction ........................................................................................... 95Commercial sample-enrichment techniques ........................................... 95 Novel multichannel sample-enrichment devices ................................... 96Multichannel silicone (PDMS) rubber traps ....................................... 97 High-capacity headspace sorptive extraction of aroma compounds from milk followed by TDS-CIS-GC-FID ..................................................... 98Sample enrichment ..................................................................................... 98 Chemical standards ..................................................................................... 99 Instrumentation ........................................................................................... 99Novel heart-cutting fraction collection GC-based methods .................... 100 Capturing of single compounds and their combinations by off- line heart-cut GCFC ............................................................................ 100Off-line olfactory evaluation of single compounds and their combinations ......................................................................................... 102Slow release of the aroma of single compounds captured by GCFC on individual secondary MCTs ................................................... 105 Slow release of the total milk aroma pro€le captured by purge- and-trap on primary MCTs .......................................................... 105 Slow release of heart-cuts of combinations of single compounds captured by GCFC on individual secondary MCTs ............................. 105Summary ......................................................................................................... 107 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 107 References ........................................................................................................ 107Introduction Consumers consider the cooked cabbage-like, sulfurous and stale notes imparted by the ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) treatment of packaged long-life milk undesirable. (Contarini et al. 1997; Nursten 1997; Perkins et al. 2005; Simon and Hansen 2001; Vazquez-Landaverde et al. 2005; VazquezLandaverde, Torres, and Qian 2006). Analytical methods that have been used to study the aroma of dairy products are gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-olfactometry (GCO) (Bendall 2001; D’Acampora Zellner et al. 2008; Friedrich and Acree 1998; Mahajan, Goddik, and Qian 2004; Moio et al. 1994; Moio and Addeo 1998; Moio, Piombino, and Addeo 2000; Qian, Nelson, and Bloomer 2002; Van Aardt et al. 2005). GCO is traditionally used to identify individual odor active gas chromatographic fractions; a human record of aroma perception, in real time, of the GC efuent at the olfactometer outlet. The rapid elution of compounds is problematic in terms of recalling appropriate odor descriptors. GCO requires utmost concentration and can cause nose fatigue. Typically one to two trained evaluators perform the sniffing. However, a group of evaluators is required for reliable GCO analysis, necessitating numerous analyses and multiple gas chromatographs equipped with sniff ports (Van Ruth 2001). Instrumental analyses are not always performed on the aroma-relevant compounds but also on nonodorous compounds that may include hazardous chemicals (Ampuero and Bosset 2003). Coelution of compounds is a common occurrence in separating complex mixtures, thus the evaluator may not realize that composite peaks, instead of pure compounds, are sniffed. Potential synergistic effects cannot be observed where single compounds are evaluated over time. Many synergistic effects are known to occur between single compounds in complex food matrices (Herrmann et al. 2010). Combinations of single substances can produce enhancing or masking interactive effects. Perceived synergistic sensory effects can arise not only from a blend of similar volatiles, but also from a blend of chemically unrelated compounds; for example, the sensory threshold for vanillin is lower in the presence of oak lactones (Perez-Coello, Sanz, and Cabezudo 1997). Interestingly, the end result of combining single substances in complex food matrices may be the emergence of a strikingly different sensory perception, completely unrelated to that of the individual compounds alone. Herrmann et al. (2010) evaluated the aging of beer and reported a change in the sensory perception of components when in combination. Here, E-2-nonenal was described by tasters as cardboard-like when the single substance was evaluated, whereas (E)-2-(Z)-6-nonadienal was described as cucumber-like. However, the combined effect of the two compounds produced a sweet fruity avor sensory perception distinctlydifferent from the single substances alone. This new sensory perception appears related to both the absolute and relative concentrations of the two compounds. Because the generation of new odors by addition of individual compounds is not yet fully understood, it is hard to determine how individual compounds of a product relate to the perception of its overall aroma when using traditional instrumental techniques (Ampuero and Bosset 2003).

Identification of novel umami peptides from truffle and their effects on umami perception when used in combination with MSG or IMP

Taste effects of six newly synthesized ribonucleotide derivatives, i.e., disodium salts of 2-methyl-5′-inosinic acid · 6H2O, 2-ethyl-5′-inosinic acid · 1.5H2O, 2-N-methyl-5′-guanylic acid · 5.5H2O, 2-N-dimethyl-5′-guanylic acid · 2.5H2O, 2-methylthio-5′-inosinic acid · 6H2O and 2-ethylthio-5′-inosinic acid · 2H2O, were studied. Stimulus thresholds (detection thresholds) of these derivatives ranged from about 0.02 to 0.006 g/100ml. Flavor-enhancing activities of them were 2.3 to 8.0 times larger than that of disodium 5′-inosinate · 7.5H2O IMP) in the synergistic effect with monosodium glutamate. Furthermore, the quality of taste of all the derivatives was recognized to be the same kind to that of IMP.

Taste effects of six newly synthesized ribonucleotide derivatives, i.e., disodium salts of 2-methyl-5′-inosinic acid · 6H2O, 2-ethyl-5′-inosinic acid · 1.5H2O, 2-N-methyl-5′-guanylic acid · 5.5H2O, 2-N-dimethyl-5′-guanylic acid · 2.5H2O, 2-methylthio-5′-inosinic acid · 6H2O and 2-ethylthio-5′-inosinic acid · 2H2O, were studied. Stimulus thresholds (detection thresholds) of these derivatives ranged from about 0.02 to 0.006 g/100ml. Flavor-enhancing activities of them were 2.3 to 8.0 times larger than that of disodium 5′-inosinate · 7.5H2O IMP) in the synergistic effect with monosodium glutamate. Furthermore, the quality of taste of all the derivatives was recognized to be the same kind to that of IMP.

Despite the proven antioxidant and antimicrobial efficiency of nanoemulsions as carriers of essential oils, there is scarce research on their behavior once incorporated into complex food matrices. In the current work, lemongrass or mandarin essential oil (LEO or MEO) nanoemulsions were formulated using three different continuous phases (water, an apple juice model and an apple juice-based beverage). Droplet size, ζ-potential, colloidal stability as well as the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity were studied. The increase in the complexity of the continuous phase promoted the formation of nanoemulsions with smaller sizes. Consequently, creaming phenomena was prevented in complex systems. Moreover, nanoemulsions formulated using the apple juice-based beverage presented a high antioxidant activity, with values of up to 400 mg Eq. Trolox/mL, probably due to the presence of polyphenols. Nevertheless, nanoemulsions presented slower and lower inactivation kinetics at increasing complexity of the continuous phase, which may be related to the ability of sugars to protect cell damage. This work evidenced that antimicrobial nanoemulsions within complex food matrices leads to higher colloidal stability and antioxidant activity, but lower bactericidal activity than nanoemulsions alone. Hence, it provides valuable information for the design of complex foods with nanoemulsions as delivery systems of functional ingredients.

An evaluation of Lux technology as an alternative methodology to determine growth rates of Listeria in laboratory media and complex food matrices