Value In Food Industry Research Articles

Polygonati Rhizoma with the homology of medicine and food: A review of ethnopharmacology, botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology and applications.

Polygonati Rhizoma (PR), which contains rich national cultural connotations, is a traditional Chinese medicine with homology of medicine and food. It has been used for a long time as a tonic in China's multi-ethnic medical system, and is also used to treat diseases such as premature graying hair, deficiency of blood and essence, diabetes, hypertension, etc. Meanwhile, PR is often used as food in China, India, South Korea and other Asian countries, which can satisfy hunger and provide many health benefits. This paper systematically reviewed the ethnopharmacology, botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology and related applications research of PR, and provided a reference for the comprehensive applications of PR, including basic research, product development and clinical applications. This paper also refined the national application characteristics of PR, such as rich plant resources, special chemical components and anti-hidden hungry, which laid a foundation for its high value and high connotation development in the future. The literature information was collected systematically from the electronic scientific databases, including PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Geen Medical, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, as well as other literature sources, such as classic books of herbal medicine. A comprehensive analysis of the above literature confirmed that PR has been used in the ethnic medicine system of Asian countries such as China for thousands of years. In this paper, 12 species including official species that can be used as PR are summarized, which provide rich plant resources for PR. The chemical components in PR are divided into nutritional components and active components. The former not only contains non-starch polysaccharides and fructo-oligosaccharides, which account for about 50% in PR and are recognized as high-quality diet in the world, but also contains inorganic elements and mineral elements. And a total of 199 kinds active ingredients, including saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, etc., were sorted out by us. The above ingredients make PR have a special property of anti-hidden hunger. Studies have shown that PR has a wide range of pharmacological activities, such as immune regulation, blood glucose regulation, lipid-lowering, antioxidant, anti-tumor, antibacterial, etc. It has been widely used in medicine, food, cosmetics, gardens and other fields. PR, as a classic medicinal material of the same origin, is widely used in the traditional ethnic medicine system. It contains abundant potential plant resources, chemical components and pharmacological activities. This paper also suggests that PR with high application value in food industry, has the potential to become a high-quality coarse grain. Exploring the way of grain and industrialization of PR is beneficial to fully develop the economic value of PR.

Microfluidic fabrication of size-controlled nanocarriers with improved stability and biocompatibility for astaxanthin delivery

Improving the stability of astaxanthin (AST) is a vital way to enhance its oral bioavailability. In this study, a microfluidic strategy for the preparation of astaxanthin nano-encapsulation system was proposed. Thanks to the precise control of microfluidic and the rapid preparation ability of the Mannich reaction, the resulting astaxanthin nano-encapsulation system (AST-ACNs-NPs) was obtained with average sizes of 200 nm, uniform spherical shape and high encapsulation rate of 75%. AST was successfully doped into the nanocarriers, according to the findings of the DFT calculation, fluorescence spectrum, Fourier transform spectroscopy, and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy. Compared with free AST, AST-ACNs-NPs showed better stability under the conditions of high temperature, pH and UV light with<20% activity loss rate. The nano-encapsulation system containing AST could significantly reduce the hydrogen peroxide produced by reactive oxygen species, keep the potential of the mitochondrial membrane at a healthy level, and improve the antioxidant ability of H2O2-induced RAW 264.7 cells. These results indicated that microfluidics-based astaxanthin delivery system is an effective solution to improve the bioaccessibility of bioactive substances and has potential application value in food industry.

Selection of promising lines for yield and quality traits in advanced segregating generation of linseed

Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) is becoming more important due to its unique nutrient profile and a source of high-added value raw material, for both food and industrial uses. However, low productivity and lack of combined quality traits has limited its cultivation and there is an urgent need to develop improved varieties through genetic recombination of traits. In this respect 96 linseed F4 families, derived from eight contrasting parents were field evaluated during 2019–2020. A reasonable diversity among the F4 families indicated a considerable potential for improving linseed for agronomic and quality traits. Results demonstrated that strict selection for oil content, protein content, fatty acid composition and amino acid profile, with comparatively high heritability and genetic advance, is feasible and successful in F4 generation. Families with linolenic acid content as low as 9.26% and as high as 72.46% were identified. Yellow-seeded families had higher values of phenological traits, plant height and number of capsules and lower values of seed number, linolenic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, aspartic acid, leucine and lysine content than the brown-seeded types. Among the many low linolenic acid families identified those with superior yield and quality traits, offer opportunitiesfor development of new varieties that may be of high value in food industry. Also the high linolenic acid and high oil content families recognized may have genetic potentials for development of new varieties of linseed for industrial purposes. Among the parental genotypes four were found to be promising for developing superior high yielding linseeds with high quality.

Influence of microwave treatment on the structure and functionality of pure amylose and amylopectin systems

Pure granular amylose (AM) and pure granular amylopectin (waxy) starch (AP) granules have the high nutritional value in food industry. Effects of microwave treatment (400 W/g DW, 1–8 min) on the structure and properties of transgenic AM granules and AP granules were investigated in direct comparison. Microwave treatment, especially during the first 3 min, decreased the molecular weight of molecules in both the AM and the AP samples. The crystallinity of AM starch initially increased from 15.6% to 20.6%, which was associated with the formation of new Vh-type crystals. After that, crystallinity decreased alongside to 11.3% with the complete disruption of B-type crystals. In contrast, the crystallinity of AP starch initially decreased from 18.9% to 10.8% followed by an increase to 20.0%. Upon prolonged treatment of AM granules, the resistant starch and water solubility was significantly increased. Our data demonstrate notable different microwave-dependent reorganization patterns for pure granular AM and AP molecules as native granular systems, which is helpful to the improvement of functionality of these two starches.

Biosynthesis of 2,5-dimethylpyrazine from L-threonine by whole-cell biocatalyst of recombinant Escherichia coli

2,5-dimethylpyrazine (2,5-DMP) is of important economic value in food industry and pharmaceutical industry, and is now commonly produced by chemical synthesis. In this study, a recombinant Escherichia coli high-efficiently converting L-threonine to 2,5-DMP was constructed by combination of metabolic engineering and cofactor engineering. To do this, the effect of different threonine dehydrogenase (TDH) on 2,5-DMP production was investigated, and the results indicate that overexpression of EcTDH in E. coli BL21(DE3) was beneficial to construct a 2,5-DMP producer with highest 2,5-DMP production. The recombinant strain E. coli pRSFDuet-tdh(Ec) produced (438.3±23.7) mg/L of 2,5-DMP. Furthermore, the expression mode of NADH oxidase (NoxE) from Lactococcus cremoris was optimized, and fusion expression of EcTDH and LcNoxE led to balance the intracellular NADH/NAD⁺ level and to maintain the high survival rate of cells, thus further increasing 2,5-DMP production. Finally, the accumulation of by-products was significantly decreased because of disruption of shunt metabolic pathway, thereby increasing 2,5-DMP production and the conversion ratio of L-threonine. Combination of these genetic modifications resulted in an engineered E. coli Δkbl ΔtynA ΔtdcB ΔilvA pRSFDuet-tdhEcnoxELc-PsstT (EcΔkΔAΔBΔA/TDH(Ec)NoxE(Lc)-PSstT) capable of producing (1 095.7±81.3) mg/L 2,5-DMP with conversion ratio of L-threonine of 76% and a yield of 2,5-DMP of 28.8% in 50 mL transformation system with 5 g/L L-threonine at 37 °C and 200 r/min for 24 h. Therefore, this study provides a recombinant E. coli with high-efficiently catalyzing L-threonine to biosynthesize 2,5-DMP, which can be potentially used in biosynthesis of 2,5-DMP in industry.

Novel Method for the Quantitative Analysis of Protease Activity: The Casein Plate Method and Its Applications.

No simple methods are used for the quantitative analysis of the protease activity in colored food up till now. Thus, this study aims to establish a new and simple method for the quantitative detection of protease activity, especially in colored food. The detection accuracy, detection limit, and repeatability of the casein plate method were analyzed. Then, the application of the casein plate method in sample detection and recovery was further evaluated. The results showed that the casein plate method for the quantitative detection of protease activity has high accuracy, high precision, and low detection limit. The recoveries of eight kinds of colored samples were in the range of 92.26–97.84%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was in the range of 3.56–10.88%. The results of the casein plate method exhibited high accuracy. This indicated that the method was suitable for the detection of colored samples. The casein plate method for the quantitative detection of protease activity is simple. The newly constructed casein plate method has broad potential application value in food industry, especially for the detection of dark food.

Chemical analysis of saffron by HPLC based crocetin estimation

Saffron is one of the most expensive and valuable spice having tremendous commercial value in food industry and thus its quality check is of utmost importance. Crocins are unique group of extremely hydrophilic apocarotenoids which are main components of saffron. Crocetin is an aglycone of crocins which do occur naturally in saffron, and is produced in biological system as a bioactive metabolite via hydrolytic cleavage of crocins. Crocins are unstable and tend to undergo isomerisation/ inter-conversions, and therefore their quantitative estimation is difficult. Herein, we have established for the first time, a crocetin-based HPLC method to evaluate the total crocin content of saffron, and thereby analyze the quality of saffron. The present approach comprises alkali-mediated conversion of crocins to crocetin in raw material followed by quantitative estimation of in-situ formed crocetin by HPLC analysis. The unique and efficient protocol for preparation of high purity analytical grade 'crocetin' directly from saffron has also been established. It is simple and efficient way to check the quality of saffron/ saffron-containing products.

Purification and characterization of a novel bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecalis CG-9 from human saliva

Strain CG-9, isolated from human saliva and identified as Enterococcus faecalis, produced a component that inhibits the growth of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The active peptide from the cell-free supernatant of Enterococcus faecalis CG-9 was purified in three steps: (1) precipitation with 70% saturated ammonium sulfate: (2) cation-exchange chromatography, (3) gel filter chromatography. The purified bacteriocin exhibited a wide range of antimicrobial activity against many food-borne spoilage and Pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, as well as some yeast. The bacteriocin was heat stable, pH resistant and protease sensitive. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, sodium dodecyl sulfate, Tween 80 and 6% sodium chloride did not decrease the activity. The characterization, antimicrobial spectrum and molecular mass of this bacteriocin suggested that it was a novel bacteriocin with potential research and application value in food industry.

Optimized ultrasonic-assisted extraction of papaya seed oil from Hainan/Eksotika variety.

Hainan/Eksotika papaya is a popular cultivated plant in Hainan Island, China. Papaya seed oil (PSO) contains functional compounds with good antioxidant activity, especially monounsaturated fatty acids. In this work, the ultrasound‐assisted extraction (UAE) of PSO was optimized using response surface methodology. It was found that the optimal extraction performance was realized when the elevated time was set to 20 min, the ultrasound power was set to 250 W, and the n‐hexane‐to‐sample ratio was set to 16:1 (v/w). The highest yield of PSO (32.27%) was obtained under the optimal conditions, and PSO showed good oxidative stability. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis showed that the melting point of Hainan/Eksotika PSO was low, while its crystallization temperature was high. FTIR and NMR were used to analyze the chemical structure of PSO, which also proved that PSO possessed good stability without oxidative degradation. In addition, scanning electron micrograph was employed to investigate the change in seed microscopic structure. The results showed UAE caused serious structural damage of sample cell membranes and walls, which help oil access to the solvent with a high extraction ratio. The results indicated that UAE is an efficient environmental‐friendly, and promising technique could be applied to produce PSO or other edible oil with a better health‐beneficial value in food industry.

Identification of volatile compounds in codfish (Gadus) by a combination of two extraction Methods coupled with GC-MS analysis

Codfish is a kind of abyssal fish species with a great value in food industry. However, the flavor of codfish, especially the unpleasant odor, has caused serious problems in its processing. To accurately identify the volatile compounds in codfish, a combination of solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) method and simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE) method was used to extract the volatiles. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) along with Kovats indices (KI) and authentic standard compounds were used to identify the volatiles. The results showed that a total of 86 volatile compounds were identified in codfish, of them 24 were extracted by SDE, 69 compounds by SPME, and 10 compounds by both SDE and SPME. Seventy volatile compounds were found to have specific odors, of them 7 typical compounds contributed significantly to the flavor of codfish. Alcohols (i.e., (E)-2-penten-1-ol and 2-octanol), esters (i.e., ethyl butyrate and methyl geranate), aldehydes (i.e., 2-dodecenal and pentadecanal) contributed the most to fresh flavor while nitrogen compounds, sulphur compounds, furans, as well as some ketones (i.e., 2-hydroxy-3-pentanone) brought unpleasant odor, such as fishy and earthy odor. It was indicated that the combination of multiple extraction methods and GC-MS analysis can enhance the accuracy of identification, and provide a reference for the further study on flavor of aquatic products.

Purification and characteristics of bifidocin A, a novel bacteriocin produced by Bifidobacterium animals BB04 from centenarians' intestine

Bacteriocin-producing strain BB04, isolated from centenarians' intestine and identified as Bifidobacterium animals, produced the maximum activity of bifidocin A (640 AU/ml) in MRS medium supplemented with 0.05% (w/v) l-cysteine hydrochloride in the mid-stationary phase of growth (i.e. after 32 h at 37 °C). The bacteriocin, with a molecular mass of 1198.68 Da, was successfully purified by a four-step procedure consisting of adsorption and desorption onto/from producer cells, cation-exchange chromatography, gel filter chromatography and reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Purified bifidocin A exhibited a wide range of antimicrobial activity against many food-borne spoilage and pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, as well as some yeast. The mode of action of bifidocin A was bactericidal with concomitant cell lysis. Also, bifidocin A was heat stable, pH resistant and protease sensitive. EDTA, Tween 80, Tween 20 and urea did not decrease the activity, whereas, SDS induced 36% activity loss. This is the first report on a bacteriocin produced by B. animals. And the characterization, antimicrobial spectrum and molecular mass of bifidocin A suggested that it was a novel bacteriocin with potential research and application value in food industry.

Purification and characterization of bacteriocin F1, a novel bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. tolerans FX-6 from Tibetan kefir, a traditional fermented milk from Tibet, China

A bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria, FX-6, was isolated from Tibetan kefir using the agar well diffusion assay. Strain FX-6 was identified as Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. tolerans on the basis of 16S rDNA sequence analyses. This bacteriocin, which was designated bacteriocin F1, was purified by a three-step purification procedure. The molecular mass of bacteriocin F1 was 2113.842 Da by MALDI-TOF–MS analyses. It was also discovered to have blocked N-termini, hampering analysis by Edman degradation. Bacteriocin F1 exhibited a wide range of antimicrobial activity, strong heat stability (20 min at 121 °C, or 60 min at 100 °C) and pH stability (pH 3.0–9.0). Following treatment by pepsin and trypsin, the antibacterial activity was partly reduced. Bacteriocin F1 is the first reported bacteriocin produced by L. paracasei subsp. tolerans which can not only inhibit fungi but also bacteria. The characterization of bacteriocin F1 suggested that it was a novel bacteriocin with potential research and application value in food industry.