Microstructural Modification and Sorption Capacity of Green Coffee Beans.

To enhance the pore structure of green coffee beans (GCB) and detect the sorption capacity and extraction characteristics of flavor compounds before roasting, this study employed several methods: hot air drying (HD), freeze-drying (FD), 3-levels short-time heating with puffing (SHP, SHP, and SHP), and 3-levels microwave with puffing (MWP, MWP, and MWP). These methods were applied to GCBs pre-soaked in water for different times. The effects of these treatments on color change, porosity, microstructure, citric acid sorption capacity, and caffeine and chlorogenic acid extraction yield were investigated.

Use of microscale heterogeneity in samples for spectral factorization-A strategy to build robust prediction models for nondestructive analyses.

Nondestructive spectroscopic analysis is widely used to evaluate food composition. However, distinguishing analytes of interest from other compounds remains challenging. Since most foods are heterogeneous when viewed under a microscope, we hypothesized that spectra measured at microscopic points would be "purer" than spectra acquired from a larger area.

Refermentation with yeast and lactic acid bacteria isolates: a strategy to improve the flavor of green coffee beans.

Background: Yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play an important part in the post-harvest fermentation of coffee. This study applied lab-scale fermentation to commercial green coffee beans using dry coffee pulp as the substrate, with the aim of modifying coffee-bean flavor. In addition to spontaneous fermentation, yeast and LAB isolated from coffee beans and dried coffee pulp were added during fermentation.

Steam distillation process for flavor enhancement of milk coffee: Effects of condensation temperature on volatile compounds and flavor characteristics.

To enhance the flavor characteristics of milk coffee, steam distillation was applied to roasted ground coffee to obtain extracts that were then added to the hot water extract of the residue. The effects of different condensation temperatures for steam distillation on the volatile compounds of condensates and the flavor characteristics of the milk coffees prepared with each condensate were investigated. The volatile compounds were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the mean peak areas of the volatiles that showed significant differences between the samples.

Utilization of multiple-dilution fluorescence fingerprint facilitates prediction of chemical attributes in spice extracts.

Fluorescence Fingerprint (FF) is a powerful tool for rapid quality assessment of various foods and plant-derived products. However, the conventional utilization of FFs measured at a single dilution level (DL) to substitute chemical analyses is extremely challenging, especially for multicomponent materials like spice extracts because fluorescence intensity and concentration widely differ between components, with complex phenomena like inner filter effects. Here, we proposed a new strategy to use the meta-data comprised of FFs measured at multiple DLs with machine learning to estimate common chemical attributes including total polyphenol and flavonoid contents, and antioxidant abilities.

Effect of Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water Immersion at Different Frequencies on Quality of Raw Chicken Legs.

Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) is used as a disinfectant for raw chicken meat. Because its volume for a single immersion exceeds 10 times the weight of meat, a large amount of wastewater is generated. Importantly, a higher frequency of immersion is believed to reduce microbial contamination.

Isolation of Yeast and LAB from Dry Coffee Pulp and Monitoring of Organic Acids in Inoculated Green Beans.

Yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are known to play an important role in the fermentation process of coffee post-harvest. This study aimed to isolate and screen yeast and LAB to be applied in lab-scale refermentation of commercial green coffee beans and coffee pulp with the aim of modifying the composition of organic acids (OAs) in coffee beans. Yeast and LAB strains were isolated from green coffee beans and dry coffee pulp and identified, and their effect on OA concentration in the coffee beans was quantified.

Evaluation of spice and herb as phyto-derived selective modulators of human retinaldehyde dehydrogenases using a simple in vitro method.

Selective modulation of retinaldehyde dehydrogenases (RALDHs)-the main aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzymes converting retinal into retinoic acid (RA), is very important not only in the RA signaling pathway but also for the potential regulatory effects on RALDH isozyme-specific processes and RALDH-related cancers. However, very few selective modulators for RALDHs have been identified, partly due to variable overexpression protocols of RALDHs and insensitive activity assay that needs to be addressed. In the present study, deletion of the N-terminal disordered regions is found to enable simple preparation of all RALDHs and their closest paralog ALDH2 using a single protocol.

Utilization of Fermented Rice Milk as a Novel Coagulant for Development of Paneer (Soft Cheese).

In this study, fermented rice milk was used as a novel coagulant for a type of soft cheese named as paneer. Rice milk was produced by a wet milling system in a process where brown rice was first soaked in water at a ratio of 1:2 (/), then milled by micro wet milling. Rice milk was pasteurized and gelatinized followed by the saccharification and lactic acid fermentation process.

Nondestructive Evaluation of Wet Aged Beef by Novel Electrical Indexes: A Preliminary Study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a nondestructive quality monitoring tool of aged beef, focusing on the development of accurate electrical indexes. The relationship between the electrical indexes derived from the impedance ratio (IR) or admittance was established. Quality parameters such as the drip loss, cooking loss, water-holding capacity, and shear force of beef loin wet-aged for 0 to 21 days were evaluated to develop the new electrical indexes.

Effects of micro wet milling on bioaccessibility of phosphatidic acid and lysophosphatidic acid in komatsuna during in vitro digestion.

Foods rich in phosphatidic acid (PA) can ameliorate stomach ulcers in mice by hydrolysis of PA to lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). In this study, PA-rich komatsuna was produced using the micro wet milling (MWM) system, which can mill food products into micrometer-scale without causing detrimental factors such as frictional heat. To evaluate the efficiency of the MWM system in increasing PA and forming LPA, the availability of PA in the MWM komatsuna to hydrolyze into LPA under in vitro simulated gastrointestinal (GI) digestion conditions were investigated.

Evolution of the bulk optical properties of bovine muscles during wet aging.

The bulk optical properties (BOP) of two bovine muscles were studied in the 500nm to 1850nm wavelength range. Over a two-week period of wet aging, the BOP of the biceps femoris (BF) and longissimus lumborum (LL) were determined and related to moisture content, tenderness and cooking loss. The absorption by myoglobin and reduced scattering coefficient were higher in the BF compared to the LL.

Effect of gum arabic-modified alginate on physicochemical properties, release kinetics, and storage stability of liquid-core hydrogel beads.

Different weight ratios of alginate/gum arabic (GA) solutions were prepared to serve as the wall material of liquid-core hydrogel beads (LHB) that were formulated to protect the total phenolic compounds (TP) of radish by-product juice from degradation during storage and release in simulated gastrointestinal fluid. The diameter of LHB ranged from 4.63 to 5.

Simultaneous estimation of scavenging capacities of peach extract for multiple reactive oxygen species by fluorescence fingerprint method.

In this study, the potential of using fluorescence fingerprint, also known as fluorescence excitation-emission matrix, for estimating the scavenging capacity of peach extract on reactive oxygen species (ROS) was investigated. Samples from each of the five cultivars (Asama Hakuto, Hakuho, Kawanakajima Hakuto, Natsukko and Ougonto) were freeze-dried and crushed. The scavenging capacities of peach extracts for the target ROS (hydroxyl, superoxide, alkoxyl radicals and singlet oxygen) were measured by electron paramagnetic resonance spin trapping method.

Liquid-core alginate hydrogel beads loaded with functional compounds of radish by-products by reverse spherification: Optimization by response surface methodology.

Liquid-core hydrogel beads (LHB) were formulated through reverse spherification, by sodium alginate and using calcium lactate (CL) to replace the common calcium source, calcium chloride. The effect of four independent variables: first gelation time (X), CL concentration in first gelation (X), secondary gelation time (X), and CL concentration in secondary gelation (X), on seven physical properties of LHB: diameter, hardness (Y), loading efficiency (LE, Y), release amount of total phenolic compounds (TP) in simulated gastric (Y) and small intestinal (Y) fluid, swelling capacity (Y), and sphericity (Y), were evaluated. Furthermore, a central composite design with response surface methodology was used for the optimization of LHB properties Y-Y, and the importance of the four independent variables to physical properties was analyzed.

Fluorescence fingerprint as an instrumental assessment of the sensory quality of tomato juices.

Background: Sensory analysis is an important standard for evaluating food products. However, as trained panelists and time are required for the process, the potential of using fluorescence fingerprint as a rapid instrumental method to approximate sensory characteristics was explored in this study.

Results: Thirty-five out of 44 descriptive sensory attributes were found to show a significant difference between samples (analysis of variance test).

Method of determining the optimal dilution ratio for fluorescence fingerprint of food constituents.

Quantitative determination by fluorescence spectroscopy is possible because of the linear relationship between the intensity of emitted fluorescence and the fluorophore concentration. However, concentration quenching may cause the relationship to become nonlinear, and thus, the optimal dilution ratio has to be determined. In the case of fluorescence fingerprint (FF) measurement, fluorescence is measured under multiple wavelength conditions and a method of determining the optimal dilution ratio for multivariate data such as FFs has not been reported.

Changes in the texture and viscoelastic properties of bread containing rice porridge during storage.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of rice porridge on the texture and viscoelastic properties of bread during storage. Three types of bread, wheat flour bread, 15% rice flour bread, and 15% rice porridge bread, were prepared. After baking and storing the bread for 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h at room temperature, we measured the texture and viscoelastic properties of the bread crumbs by texture profile analysis (TPA) and creep test.

Visualization of gluten and starch distributions in dough by fluorescence fingerprint imaging.

A novel method combining imaging techniques and fluorescence fingerprint (FF) data measurement was developed to visualize the distributions of gluten and starch in dough without any preprocessing. Fluorescence images of thin sections of gluten, starch, and dough were acquired under 63 different combinations of excitation and emission wavelengths, resulting in a set of data consisting of the FF data for each pixel. Cosine similarity values between the FF of each pixel in the dough and those of gluten and starch were calculated.

Predicting the buckwheat flour ratio for commercial dried buckwheat noodles based on the fluorescence fingerprint.

A rapid method for predicting the buckwheat flour ratio of dried buckwheat noodles was developed by using the fluorescence fingerprint and partial least squares regression. Fitting the calibration model to validation datasets showed R(2)=0.78 and SEP=12.