Efficiency Of Food Processing Research Articles

Optimizing Harvesting Efficiency: Development and Assessment of a Pneumatic Air Jet Excitation Nozzle for Delicate Biostructures in Food Processing.

This study presents a new pneumatic air jet excitation nozzle, specifically designed for food processing applications. The device, which uses compressed air equipment and a precision solenoid valve, controls air discharge through a parametric air jet nozzle. Tests showed that the device could achieve shooting frequencies in the 40-45 Hz range, with operational pressures between 5 and 7 bar. A sensor system was used to measure the force generated by the device at different frequencies and pressures. Using the Design of Experiments (DOE) methodology, we identified optimal cavity designs for 5 and 6 bar pressures. These designs outperformed others in generating uniform force and maintaining consistent vibration voltage behavior. This highlights the efficacy of our approach in enhancing device performance under different conditions. The device's practical application in food processing was demonstrated, particularly in delicate tasks such as the selective harvesting of sensitive crops like coffee fruits. The precise vibrations generated by the device could potentially enhance harvesting efficiency while significantly reducing mechanical damage to plants. The results position the device as a compelling proof of concept, offering an alternative method for exciting biostructures in food processing. This device opens up new possibilities in agricultural and biological fields, providing a non-intrusive and practical approach to manipulating and interacting with delicate, contactless structures, with a specific focus on improving food processing efficiency and quality.

Identifying the optimal combinations of temperature and macronutrient balance for rearing Tenebrio molitor larvae

Abstract The yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is one of the few edible insects commercially produced around the globe as alternative protein sources for food and feed. Temperature and nutrition are the two most influential environmental determinants of growth and development in insects, but little is known about their combined effects in T. molitor. Here we examined how temperature and dietary protein:carbohydrate (P:C) balance act in concert to influence key performance traits in T. moltior larvae reared on one of the 36 treatment combinations of six temperatures (19, 22, 25, 28, 31, and 34 °C) and six protein:carbohydrate ratios (P:C = 1:5, 1:2, 1:1, 2:1, 5:1, and 1:0). Apart from females accumulating higher lipid content than males, there were no sex differences in all measured traits. Survivorship was high at low temperatures (<25 °C) and high P:C ratios (>1:1), but decreased with increasing temperature and decreasing P:C ratio. An increase in temperature accelerated development but resulted in reduced pupal mass. Thermal optimum for pupal mass (19.3 °C) was thus much lower than that for development time (28.1 °C). Growth rate peaked at 27.9 °C and P:C 1.65:1 and decreased as both temperature and P:C ratio deviated from their optimum. All four key performance traits (survivorship, development time, pupal mass, and growth rate) were expressed at high levels and, hence, optimized at temperatures between 25.7 °C and 27.4 °C and P:C ratios between 1.17:1 and 2.94:1. Food consumption rate was the highest at a high P:C ratio of 8.4:1, whereas post-ingestive food utilization was the most efficient at a moderate P:C ratio of 1:1.27. The rate and efficiency of food processing were optimized at temperatures between 24.5 °C and 29.9 °C and P:C ratios between 1:1.01 and 3.98:1. Our results have implications for improving the production and nutritional value of T. molitor larvae.

Selection for high growth displaces costs of digestion from SDA to SMR in divergent ecotypes of rainbow trout

AbstractTo understand the drivers of variation in digestive performance and their effects on growth, we examined relationships among food consumption, digestive metabolism, food processing efficiency, and growth rate in juveniles of fast‐growing piscivore versus slow‐growing insectivore ecotypes of rainbow trout reared at satiation rations on the same diet (i.e., commercial food pellets). Relative to slow‐growing insectivores with lower basal metabolism, and despite a much larger maximum food ration, faster‐growing piscivores presented an unexpected pattern of higher digestive efficiency through a reduction in the absolute costs of postprandial metabolism coupled with shorter or similar gut residence time and higher assimilation efficiency. These results suggest that the increase in digestive metabolism following the ingestion of larger meals can be mitigated by displacing the costs of digestion from SDA to SMR. Reducing total digestion costs (SDA + SMR) while maintaining higher assimilation efficiency may be possible through potential adaptations including (1) increased intestinal absorption capacity; (2) economies of scale that shorten gut transit time with increasing ration level; or (3) a permanently larger digestive tract that increases maintenance costs but reduces the need for cyclic upregulation and associated overhead costs.

Effects of food material properties and embedded status on food processing efficiency in bearded capuchins

AbstractObjectivesCapuchin monkeys (Cebusspp. andSapajusspp.) routinely extract food resources that are embedded in protective matrices. Features such as relative brain size, manual dexterity, and—in the case ofSapajusspp.—a robust feeding system are considered adaptations for accessing embedded foods. Compared with adults, juvenile capuchins exhibit reduced food processing efficiency when processing embedded foods. Although this reduced efficiency has been attributed to inexperience or lack of strength when processing embedded foods, little is known about how food material properties (FMPs) relate to age‐related changes in feeding efficiency.Materials and methodsWe used data collected from three groups ofSapajus libidinosusto test relationships between feeding efficiency and FMP variation when processing embedded and nonembedded foods. Feeding efficiency was defined in three ways: (i) duration, (ii) frequency, and (iii) variation in sequence of food processing behaviors.ResultsWe found limited support for an effect of FMPs and age on feeding sequence durations or on processing behavior frequency. Number of unique behavioral patterns was negatively correlated with age. Embedded foods elicited longer durations, higher behavioral frequencies and more unique behaviors compared to nonembedded foods.DiscussionResults indicate FMP variation impedes some measures of juvenile food processing efficiency. Foods with high stress‐limited indices reduced some measures of processing efficiency in juveniles. These data are consistent with prior studies of juvenile capuchin feeding competency when exploiting embedded foods and suggest skill development may be a relatively more important constraint for overall juvenile feeding efficiency than body size or strength.

Application of High-Intensity Ultrasound to Improve Food Processing Efficiency: A Review.

The use of non-thermal processing technologies has grown in response to an ever-increasing demand for high-quality, convenient meals with natural taste and flavour that are free of chemical additions and preservatives. Food processing plays a crucial role in addressing food security issues by reducing loss and controlling spoilage. Among the several non-thermal processing methods, ultrasound technology has shown to be very beneficial. Ultrasound processing, whether used alone or in combination with other methods, improves food quality significantly and is thus considered beneficial. Cutting, freezing, drying, homogenization, foaming and defoaming, filtration, emulsification, and extraction are just a few of the applications for ultrasound in the food business. Ultrasounds can be used to destroy germs and inactivate enzymes without affecting the quality of the food. As a result, ultrasonography is being hailed as a game-changing processing technique for reducing organoleptic and nutritional waste. This review intends to investigate the underlying principles of ultrasonic generation and to improve understanding of their applications in food processing to make ultrasonic generation a safe, viable, and innovative food processing technology, as well as investigate the technology’s benefits and downsides. The breadth of ultrasound’s application in the industry has also been examined. This will also help researchers and the food sector develop more efficient strategies for frequency-controlled power ultrasound in food processing applications.

How do CSR and EO relate to the efficiency of food processing enterprises Endogenous production inefficiency stochastic frontier analysis

How do CSR and EO relate to the efficiency of food processing enterprises Endogenous production inefficiency stochastic frontier analysis

How do CSR and EO relate to the efficiency of food processing enterprises Endogenous production inefficiency stochastic frontier analysis

Despite the growing interest research in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO), it is unclear that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should concern about the ...

Sexual dimorphism in skeletal shape in voles (Arvicolinae): disparate selection on male bodies and female heads

AbstractSexual dimorphism evolves as a response to different selective pressures on males and females. In mammals, sexual selection on traits that improve a male’s ability to compete for access to mates is a common cause of sexual dimorphism. In addition to body mass, adaptations in specific components of the musculoskeletal system that increase strength, stability, and agility, may improve male fighting performance. Here we test the hypotheses that males, when compared to females, are more specialized for physical competition in their skeletal anatomy and that the degree of this sexual dimorphism increases with the intensity of male–male competition. In three species of voles (Cricetidae: Arvicolinae: Microtus), we found partial support for these hypotheses. Male-biased sexual dimorphism in a set of functional indices associated with improved fighting performance was identified in the postcranial anatomy. This dimorphism was greatest in the polygynous Microtus californicus, absent in the monogamous M. ochrogaster, and intermediate in the promiscuous or socially flexible M. oeconomus. However, in the skull, we found results opposite to our predictions. Females had larger skulls relative to overall skeletal size than did males. This may be associated with selection for increased food processing efficiency, which should be highly important because of the compounding effects of increased caloric requirements during gestation and lactation, and the generally low-quality diet of voles. In addition, larger heads in females may be associated with selection for greater digging ability or for defending offspring. These results suggest disparate selective pressures on the postcranial skeletons and skulls of male and female voles.

Genetic and Environmental Control on Mandibular Form and Function in Mice

Bone modelling and remodelling is a means by which organisms may be able to plastically modify the external morphology and internal structure of their skeletal tissues. We have shown previously that lab mice of the C56BL/6 strain that were fed either hard or soft foodstuffs with the same nutritional value have significantly different shaped jaws. The shape differences manifest as difference in function, with the mandibles of hard food eaters possessing a higher mechanical advantage (MA) of the temporalis and masseter adductor musculature than the soft food eaters. Here we compare the magnitude of difference in MA between the C56BL/6 hard and soft food eaters to the difference in MA between C56BL/6 hard food eaters and BALB/c hard food eaters. We also compare the difference between strains and between plastically generated morphotypes in resistance to bending and torsion from second moment of area measurements from CT scans and in simulated functional bony stress and strain deduced from finite element models. Hard food eaters have increased resistance to bending, torsion (n=39) and loading induced stress and strain (n=4) compared to soft food eaters. C56BL/6 and BALB/c mice have significantly different shaped jaws with BALB/c mice having more gracile jaws with a less developed masseteric ridge (n = 20). Comparative finite element (FE) models show that BABL/c mice also experience consistently greater deformation when subject to functional feeding‐induced loads (n=4). Environmentally driven plasticity leads to functional differences that favour the efficiency of food processing in the hard food eaters. Difference in performance between hard and soft food eaters exceed the difference in performance between lab strains, suggesting plasticity as a mechanism to provide morphological variation on which natural selection may act.

Adaptive plasticity in the mouse mandible.

BackgroundPlasticity, i.e. non-heritable morphological variation, enables organisms to modify the shape of their skeletal tissues in response to varying environmental stimuli. Plastic variation may also allow individuals to survive in the face of new environmental conditions, enabling the evolution of heritable adaptive traits. However, it is uncertain whether such a plastic response of morphology constitutes an evolutionary adaption itself. Here we investigate whether shape differences due to plastic bone remodelling have functionally advantageous biomechanical consequences in mouse mandibles. Shape characteristics of mandibles from two groups of inbred laboratory mice fed either rodent pellets or ground pellets mixed with jelly were assessed using geometric morphometrics and mechanical advantage measurements of jaw adductor musculature.ResultsMandibles raised on diets with differing food consistency showed significant differences in shape, which in turn altered their biomechanical profile. Mice raised on a soft food diet show a reduction in mechanical advantage relative to mice of the same inbred strain raised on a typical hard food diet. Further, the soft food eaters showed lower levels of integration between jaw regions, particularly between the molar and angular region relative to hard food eaters.ConclusionsBone remodelling in mouse mandibles allows for significant shifts in biomechanical ability. Food consistency significantly influences this process in an adaptive direction, as mice raised on hard food develop jaws better suited to handle hard foods. This remodelling also affects the organisation of the mandible, as mice raised on soft food appear to be released from developmental constraints showing less overall integration than those raised on hard foods, but with a shift of integration towards the most solicited regions of the mandible facing such a food, namely the incisors. Our results illustrate how environmentally driven plasticity can lead to adaptive functional changes that increase biomechanical efficiency of food processing in the face of an increased solicitation. In contrast, decreased demand in terms of food processing seems to release developmental interactions between jaw parts involved in mastication, and may generate new patterns of co-variation, possibly opening new directions to subsequent selection. Overall, our results emphasize that mandible shape and integration evolved as parts of a complex system including mechanical loading food resource utilization and possibly foraging behaviour.

Technical efficiency of food processing in China: the case of flour and rice processing

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the technical efficiency of wheat and paddy rice processing in China. Understanding the level of technical efficiency of food processing helps to decide whether efforts are warranted to improve this efficiency. Studies on China's technical efficiency of flour and rice processing are scarce. This paper fills this gap.Design/methodology/approachWith a unique set of firm‐level survey data collected by China's State Statistical Bureau, this study adopts a stochastic frontier model to investigate the technical efficiency of flour and rice processing.FindingsThe technical efficiency for both flour and rice processing is low in China, being only about 50 per cent. On average, rice processing firms have slightly higher technical efficiency than flour processing firms. It is also found that a significant proportion of firms experienced negative growth of technical efficiency during the time period of investigation.Originality/valueEach year, some 300 million tonnes of wheat and paddy rice are processed in China. Any small improvement in technical efficiency is translated into huge economic gains. Further, a tiny improvement in flour or rice output rate is equivalent to an enormous increase in food supply, contributing to China's food security. The paper confirms the need and potential to raise technical efficiency in China for wheat and paddy rice processing.

Gizzard vs. teeth, it's a tie: food-processing efficiency in herbivorous birds and mammals and implications for dinosaur feeding strategies

Particle size reduction is a primary means of improving efficiency in herbivores. The mode of food particle size reduction is one of the main differences between herbivorous birds (gizzard) and mammals (teeth). For a quantitative comparison of the efficiency of food comminution, we investigated mean fecal particle sizes (MPS) in 14 herbivorous bird species and compared these with a data set of 111 non-ruminant herbivorous mammal species. In general MPS increased with body mass, but there was no significant difference between birds and mammals, suggesting a comparable efficiency of food processing by gizzards and chewing teeth. The results lead to the intriguing question of why gizzard systems have evolved comparatively rarely among amniote herbivores. Advantages linked to one of the two food comminution systems must, however, be sought in different effects other than size reduction itself. In paleoecological scenarios, the evolution of “dental batteries,” for example in ornithopod dinosaurs, should be considered an advantage compared to absence of mastication, but not compared to gizzard-based herbivory.

Dental wear, wear rate, and dental disease in the African apes

The African apes possess thinner enamel than do other hominoids, and a certain amount of dentin exposure may be advantageous in the processing of tough diets eaten by Gorilla. Dental wear (attrition plus abrasion) that erodes the enamel exposes the underlying dentin and creates additional cutting edges at the dentin-enamel junction. Hypothetically, efficiency of food processing increases with junction formation until an optimal amount is reached, but excessive wear hinders efficient food processing and may lead to sickness, reduced fecundity, and death. Occlusal surfaces of molars and incisors in three populations each of Gorilla and Pan were videotaped and digitized. The quantity of incisal and molar occlusal dental wear and the lengths of dentin-enamel junctions were measured in 220 adult and 31 juvenile gorilla and chimpanzee skulls. Rates of dental wear were calculated in juveniles by scoring the degree of wear between adjacent molars M1 and M2. Differences were compared by principal (major) axis analysis. ANOVAs compared means of wear amounts. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to compare the relationship between molar wear and incidence of dental disease. Results indicate that quantities of wear are significantly greater in permanent incisors and molars and juvenile molars of gorillas compared to chimpanzees. The lengths of dentin-enamel junctions were predominantly suboptimal. Western lowland gorillas have the highest quantities of wear and the most molars with suboptimal wear. The highest rates of wear are seen in Pan paniscus and Pan t. troglodytes, and the lowest rates are found in P.t. schweinfurthii and G. g. graueri. Among gorillas, G. b. beringei have the highest rates but low amounts of wear. Coefficients between wear and dental disease were low, but significant when all teeth were combined. Gorilla teeth are durable, and wear does not lead to mechanical senescence in this sample.

Study on shock loading pre-processing for freeze-drying

In the food industry, it is hoping high value-aided product and the increase in efficiency of food processing. On the other hand, we get an experimental result that the load of the shock wave improves an extraction of food, and soften food. We tried to examine the effectivity of the shock wave as pre-processing for freeze-drying from the result in permeation character seen in the radish and so on. In the case of freeze-drying, the object tends to be limited to the small or thin one with size, from the sublimability in processing, the performance in case of the restoration and the viewpoint of the cost performance ratio. We report the result that shock wave loading was done to various foods as pre-processing of freeze-drying.

Physical-Mechanical Modifications of Eggs for Food-Processing During Storage

Physical-mechanical properties of egg constituents and their modifications during storage and poststorage greatly influence the efficiency of food processing, such as the separation of white and yolk by mechanical shelling. Thick albumen height, Haugh unit, yolk index and vitelline membrane-yolk system strength of eggs from Hy-Line White and Lohmann Brown hens were analyzed during 7 mo of storage at 0°C performing 3 poststorage treatments: i) immediately after refrigeration, T1; ii) after a further 6 h at 18°C after refrigeration, T2; and iii) after a week at 18°C after refrigeration, T3. For all qualitative parameters considered, this last poststorage treatment appeared to be the factor that produced the highest decrements; with respect to the first poststorage treatment, a further week at 18°C after refrigeration can involve mean decreases of about 19, 14, 14, and 16% in thick albumen height, Haugh unit, yolk index, and vitelline membrane-yolk system strength (in terms of maximum force), respectively. During about 7 mo of storage at 0°C, the latter parameter decreases, on average, by 10%. Increasing the storage time, physical-mechanical behavior was sometimes divergent from the observed trends.

Effects of plant nutrient availability and host plant species on the performance of two Pieris butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

We assayed the interaction on the availability of plant nutrient and species of host plant on the performance of two species of Pieris butterfly. The results indicated that constant application of different levels of fertilizers to the four different host plants resulted to an increase in their content of plant nutrients. The chemical analysis showed that the added nutrients increased foliar nitrogen and water contents, but there was no effect on the level of glucosinolates. Larvae that fed on highly-nutritious foliage increased their growth rates and showed a shorter development period. The results of feeding trials revealed that the 4th-instar larvae, which had fed on host plants with higher levels of fertilization had a shorter duration of development, less consumption rate, higher growth rate and food processing efficiency. To summarize, this research revealed that both the availability of plant nutrient and species of host plant can strongly influence the physiology and foliar chemistry of host plants. Moreover, the changes of phytochemical in the host plants may play an important role in affecting the performance (growth and food utilization efficiency) of both species of Pieris butterflies.

Modulation of intra-oral processing in mammals and lepidosaurs

The mammalian masticatory apparatus is distinguished from the intra-oral processing systems of other amniotes by a number of morphological and functional features, including transverse movements of the teeth during the power stroke, precise occlusion, suspension of the teeth in the socket by a periodontal ligament, diphyodonty (reduction to two generations of teeth), a hard palate, and the presence of a single bone (the dentary) in the lower jaw which articulates with the skull at the temporomandibular jaw joint. The evolution of these features is commonly argued to have improved the efficiency of food processing in the oral cavity. The present aricle highlights the existence in mammals of the fusimotor system and afferent fibers from the periodontal ligament through which the CNS modulates the responses by the muscle spindles. Published data suggest that the fusimotor system and the periodontal afferents are important components in feed-forward (or anticipatory) control of chewing behavior. We hypothesize that this feed-forward control is used to maintain relatively constant cycle lengths in mammals in the face of intra-sequence and inter-sequence variation in material properties of the food, and that this enables them to maintain a higher average chewing frequency than that of lizards. These predictions were evaluated using data on mean cycle length and its variance from the literature and from our own files. On average, mammals have less variable cycle lengths than do lizards and shorter cycle lengths than do lizards of similar size. We hypothesize that by decreasing variance in cycle length, presumably close to the natural frequency of their feeding systems, mammals minimize energy expenditure during chewing, allowing them to chew for longer, thereby maintaining the high rates of food intake required for their high metabolic rates.

Effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on insect–plant interactions

Effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on insect–plant interactions

Adaptation and constraint in the growth pattern of lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks

The growth and development of lapwing chicks were studied on farmland in Central Scotland. Selective pressures and constraints imposed by initial priority, limited resources and limitations of the food processing efficiency of the chicks explain the general growth pattern. Those structures with a high early priority, e.g. locomotory and feeding apparatus, were comparatively mature at hatching and developed early. By contrast, wing development was delayed until the chicks had reached a suitable feeding area and were feeding efficiently. Habitat, season and size and weight at hatching were additional intrinsic and environmental factors affecting growth.