RESUMO

Natural catastrophes include those of biological origin as the pandemic provoked by virus SARS CoV2, earthquakes, flooding and hurricanes among others, while provoked ones are mainly those related to wars and social movements. These situations may cause food shortage and challenge food safety and security systems. In this review, strategies to produce foods aimed to alleviate food needs before, during and after catastrophic conditions are described based on the supply of various processed, intermediate and low moisture foods and three categories of food supplies are depicted based on the nature of the adverse conditions, Also, relevant patents on on innovative food preparations and containers for disaster areas are discussed. Innovation to produce appropriate and nutritious foods for disaster zones may include food bags containing individual packages of high protein, high fiber/vitamins and carbohydrate/oils ingredients in dried/vitreous state. Additionally, the role of food structure on food preservation is mentioned in the context of ready to eat, nutritious and sensory acceptable food supplies during natural or provoked catastrophes is also reported.

RESUMO

Functional foods are classified as traditional or staple foods that provide an essential nutritional level and share potentially positive effects on host health, including the reduction of disease by optimizing the immune system's ability to prevent and control infections by pathogens, as well as pathologies that cause functional alterations in the host. This chapter reviews the most recent research and advances in this area and discusses some perspectives on what the future holds in this area.

RESUMO

Diverse researchers have considered by-products of food and agricultural processing industries as a source of antioxidants. Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is a leguminous tree, native from tropical Africa bearing edible fruit. The fruit is composed of 30% pulp, 40% seed, and 30% pericarp. Currently, tamarind pericarp is a waste from tamarind processing (approximately 54,400 tons of pericarp in 2012 worldwide) and is contributing to environmental contamination. This research aimed to determine the effect of maceration, microwaves, and ultrasound on the increase in the antioxidant availability in tamarind pericarp and its incorporation as a functional ingredient in cookies (5 and 10% substitution). Antioxidant content, antioxidant activity, proximate, and sensorial analysis of the cookies were conducted. The microwave method was the best pretreatment compared with sonication and maceration since it showed 1.3-fold higher amounts of phenolic compounds and 1.2-fold higher antioxidant capacity. The 10% substitution of tamarind pericarp powder in cookies, significantly increased the fiber content (four-fold) and phenolic compounds content (2.6-fold) and the product presented good acceptance in a sensorial test. Thus, tamarind pericarp powder could be considered as an antioxidant and fiber source and could be used as a functional ingredient in food products.

RESUMO

Xoconostle, the acidic cactus pear fruit of Opuntia joconostle of the Cactaceae family, is the source of several phytochemicals, such as betalain pigments and numerous phenolic compounds. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of four cooking procedures (i.e., boiling, grilling, steaming and microwaving) on the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (measured by ABTS, DPPH, reducing power, and BCBA) of xoconostle. In addition, HPLC-DAD analyses were performed to identify and quantify individual phenolic compounds. After microwaving and steaming xoconostle, the TPC remained the same that in fresh samples, whereas both grilling and boiling produced a significant, 20% reduction (p ≤ 0.05). Total flavonoids remained unchanged in boiled and grilled xoconostle, but steaming and microwaving increased the flavonoid content by 13 and 20%, respectively. Steaming and microwaving did not produce significant changes in the antioxidant activity of xoconostle, whereas boiling and grilling result in significant decreases. The phenolic acids identified in xoconostle fruits were gallic, vanillic, 4-hydroxybenzoic, syringic, ferulic and protocatechuic acids; the flavonoids identified were epicatechin, catechin, rutin, quercitrin, quercetin and kaempferol. Based on the results, steaming and microwaving are the most suitable methods for retaining the highest level of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in xoconostle.

Assuntos

RESUMO

Carotenoids extracted from dried peppers were evaluated for their antioxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities. Peppers had a substantial carotenoid content: guajillo 3406 ± 4 µg/g, pasilla 2933 ± 1 µg/g, and ancho 1437 ± 6 µg/g of sample in dry weight basis. A complex mixture of carotenoids was discovered in each pepper extract. The TLC analysis revealed the presence of chlorophylls in the pigment extract from pasilla and ancho peppers. Guajillo pepper carotenoid extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity and had the best scavenging capacity for the DPPH(+) cation (24.2%). They also exhibited significant peripheral analgesic activity at 5, 20, and 80 mg/kg and induced central analgesia at 80 mg/kg. The results suggest that the carotenoids in dried guajillo peppers have significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory benefits and could be useful for pain and inflammation relief.

Assuntos

RESUMO

While a long shelf life for fruit products is highly desired, enzymatic browning is the main cause of quality loss in fruits and is therefore a main problem for the food industry. In this study polyphenol oxidase (PPO), the main enzyme responsible for browning was isolated from mamey fruit (Pouteria sapota) and characterized biochemically. Two isoenzymes (PPO 1 and PPO 2) were obtained upon ammonium sulfate precipitation and hydrophobic and ion exchange chromatography; PPO 1 was purified up to 6.6-fold with 0.28% yield, while PPO 2 could not be characterized as enzyme activity was completely lost after 24 h of storage. PPO 1 molecular weight was estimated to be 16.1 and 18 kDa by gel filtration and SDS-PAGE, respectively, indicating that the native state of the PPO 1 is a monomer. The optimum pH for PPO 1 activity was 7. The PPO 1 was determined to be maximum thermally stable up to 35°C. Kinetic constants for PPO 1 were K(m)=44 mM and K(m)=1.3 mM using catechol and pyrogallol as substrate, respectively. The best substrates for PPO 1 were pyrogallol, 4-methylcatechol and catechol, while ascorbic acid and sodium metabisulfite were the most effective inhibitors.

Assuntos