Research Publications (Food Safety)

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Growth of ice crystals can cause serious problems, such as frozen products deterioration, road damage, energy losses, and safety risks of human beings. Antifreeze peptides (AFPs), a healthy and effective cryoprotectant, have great potential as ice crystal growth inhibitors for a variety of frozen products.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Fish and crustaceans are highly perishable due to microbial growth and metabolism. Recent studies found that the spoilage process of fish and crustaceans is highly related to their microbiota composition. Microbiota of fish and crustaceans changes dramatically during storage and can be influenced by many factors (e.g., aquaculture environment, handling process, storage temperature, and various quality control techniques).

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Cultured muscle tissue‐based protein products, also known as cultured meat, are produced through in vitro myogenesis involving muscle stem cell culture and differentiation, and mature muscle cell processing for flavor and texture. This review focuses on the in vitro myogenesis for cultured meat production.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. The intestinal barrier plays a central role in sustaining gut homeostasis and, when dysfunctional, may contribute to diseases. Dietary flavonoids derived from Citrus genus represent one of the main naturally occurring phytochemicals with multiple potential benefits for the intestinal barrier function.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Today, both consumers and food industry producers have exhibited an ever‐growing interest in improving and broadening the functional performance of proteins in food industry. Myofibrillar protein (MP) is mainly responsible for texture, yield and organoleptic characteristics of final meat products.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Understanding of the mechanism of interactions between dietary elements, their salts, and complexing/binding ligands is vital to manage both deficiency and toxicity associated with essential element bioavailability.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Meat quality plays an important role in the purchase decision of consumers, affecting producers and retailers. The formation mechanisms determining meat quality are intricate, as several endogenous and exogenous factors contribute during antemortem and postmortem periods. Abundant research has been performed on meat quality; however, unexpected variation in meat quality remains an issue in the meat industry.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Consumers are increasingly aware of the importance of regular consumption of fresh fruit in their diet. Since fresh fruit are highly sensitive to postharvest decay, several investigations focused on the study natural compounds alternative to synthetic fungicides, to extend their shelf life. A long list of studies reported the effectiveness of the natural biopolymer chitosan in control of postharvest diseases of fresh fruit.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Proteins displayed on the cell surface of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) perform diverse and important biochemical roles. Among these, the cell‐envelope proteinases (CEPs) are one of the most widely studied and most exploited for biotechnological applications.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. The authentication of animal species is an important issue due to an increasing trend of adulteration and mislabeling of animal species in processed meat products. Polymerase chain reaction is the most sensitive and specific technique for nucleic acid‐based animal species detection. However, it is a time‐consuming technique that requires costly thermocyclers and sophisticated labs.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3618-3658, November 2020. ood‐to‐food fortification (FtFF) is an emerging food‐based strategy that can complement current strategies in the ongoing fight against micronutrient deficiencies, but it has not been defined or characterized. This review has proposed a working definition of FtFF.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 2766-2766, November 2020.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3755-3773, November 2020. Sweet taste perception is a key factor in the establishment of the food pattern with nonstatic thresholds. Indeed, taste sensitivity can be influenced by physiological factors (age and sex), pathologies (obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus), and acquired habits (tobacco and alcohol consumption).

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3365-3389, November 2020. Fonio grains are a type of small‐seeded cereals native to Western Africa and are important cereal crops for food security. The two species are white fonio (Digitaria exilis) (commonly called acha) and black fonio (Digitaria iburua) (commonly called iburu).

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3191-3218, November 2020. Phytochemicals, especially polyphenols, are gaining more attention from both the scientific community and food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries due to their implications in human health.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3031-3083, November 2020. Interest in starch‐based films has increased precipitously in response to a growing demand for more sustainable and environmentally sourced food packaging materials.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 2862-2884, November 2020. Oral bioavailability is the key to the bioefficiency of food bioactive ingredients; it evaluates the relationship between foods and their health benefits.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3241-3265, November 2020. Although the consumption of whole grains, including bread made with whole‐wheat flour, is promoted for health benefits and reduced risk for disease and mortality, consumer acceptance, and consumption of some whole‐wheat products is low compared to that of white breads.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3219-3240, November 2020. Nowadays due to the concern with the environmental impact of analytical techniques and in order to reduce the ecological footprint there is a tendency to use more efficient and faster procedures that use a smaller amount of organic solvents.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 2955-2971, November 2020. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play an important role in promoting brain development, decreasing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, and reducing inflammation. However, PUFAs are inherently unstable and susceptible to oxidative deterioration due to two or more double bonds in their structure.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3084-3105, November 2020. Aging is an inevitable process characterized by the accumulation of degenerative damage, leading to serious diseases that affect human health. Studies on aging aim to develop pre‐protection or therapies to delay aging and age‐related diseases. A preventive approach is preferable to clinical treatment not only to reduce investment but also to alleviate pain in patients.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3825-3885, November 2020. Bioactive peptides (BPs) are specific protein fragments that exert various beneficial effects on human bodies and ultimately influence health, depending on their structural properties and amino acid composition and sequences.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 3266-3322, November 2020.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 4008-4030, November 2020. According to recent reports, the global market for melatonin is worth 700 million USD in 2018 and would reach 2,790 million USD by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 18.9% during 2019 to 2025.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Volume 19, Issue 6, Page 2972-2993, November 2020. Hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) fruits, usually termed as chili, have been used since ancient times as food vegetables, flavoring ingredients, natural colorants, and in traditional medicines. Nowadays, a wide variation of sweet and pungent peppers are consumed worldwide in a large variety of forms. Interestingly, the most important hot pepper at the global level in commercial terms is C.