Research Publications (Food Safety)

Carbon-based antibacterial materials have attracted considerable attention to preserve food and prolong the shelf life. In this study, four types of carbon dots (CDs) based on glucose and biogenic amines including spermine (Spe), putrescine (Put), spermidine (Spd) and histamine (His) were synthesized by microwave synthesis. The nanosized, amorphous and nearly spherical CDs had excellent water solubility.

Quercetin, the well-known abundant natural flavonoid, displays a wide range of biological and medicinal properties with antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, and antibiofilm activities. However, poor aqueous solubility and low stability limit its potential prophylactic or therapeutic uses. In the present study, a novel type of quercetin-loaded Ca3(PO4)2·hybrid nanofibers (HNFs) was fabricated to overcome the mentioned restrictions.

Calcium treatment can reduce fruit softening and browning and enhance postharvest fruit quality. Chitosan (CS) had a certain viscosity. Therefore, in this study, calcium chloride (CaCl2) was used as a calcium source and CS was used as a carrier to study the interaction of Ca2+ and CS of the film coating through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).

Hydrothermally prepared garlic (Allium sativum) cloves-derived carbon dots (CDs) were used to fabricate carrageenan/sodium alginate (Car/Alg)-based functional films for UV-barrier food packaging. The effects of different concentrations of CDs on the films’ structural, functional, physical, and mechanical properties were analyzed. The CDs acted as a reinforcing agent to improve the films’ mechanical stability and surface hydrophobicity.

The current research was designed to compare the physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of cell-free supernatant (CFS) and whole-cell postbiotic (WCP) and reveal the efficacy of WCP in combination with chitosan and thymol for extending the shelf life and inhibiting emerging foodborne pathogens in chicken breast fillets during storage at 4 °C.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is the most hazardous mycotoxin for humans. It is mainly produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus in a wide range of crops. Alternative strategies to the use of pesticides are more and more studied in order to limit the fungal development as well as the synthesis of aflatoxins in food and feeds. The use of aqueous plants extracts with high an-tioxidant activity has been the issue of different studies because of their impact on AFB1 production.

This study aimed to improve bacterial inhibition in Pickering emulsions during storage using antimicrobial peptides. A peptide (ARHQGVMVGMGQK), designated SA6, isolated from the broth of salt-fermented shrimp (Penaeus vannamei). Peptide SA6 had a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 15.6 μg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus. The mean particle size of SPI-SA6 particles (417.4 nm) was significantly smaller compared with soybean isolate protein (SPI) (463.3 nm).

The emergence of magnetic nanotechnology has prompted the development of novel sample preparation techniques. Phytic acid (PA) is an organophosphate compound of natural origin. Not only is it highly attractive to multivalent metal ions such as calcium, zinc, and iron, but it is also capable of forming complexes with molecules such as proteins.

This research aimed to develop a new bi-layer edible coating using sodium alginate (SA, internal layer) and sage seed gum (SSG, external layer) to extend the shelf-life of fresh cheese. Satureja khuzestanica Jamzad essential oil (SEO) with high carvacrol content (91.33%) was incorporated into SA coating as an active agent. Four fresh cheese groups were prepared, including uncoated and coated samples with SA-SSG, SA-SSG with 0.5% SEO, and SA-SSG with 1% SEO.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pulsed light (PL) treatment on the degradation of patulin in apple juice and its quality. The impact of different processing parameters on the degradation effect of patulin was explored. The degradation rate of patulin (200 μg/L) reached 96.27% in apple juice (12 oBrix) by applying the highest fluence (40.50 J/cm2, total processing time: 6 min 30 s) at 3.5 cm from the quartz glass.

Patulin is a mycotoxin whose presence in apple-derived products and fruit juices is legally regulated, being its maximum limits established in the legislation of multiple countries. However, the management of contaminated batches is still an issue for producers. This investigation aims to evaluate ultraviolet light (254 nm, UV-C254nm) irradiation to find solutions that can be applied at different stages of the apple juice production chain.

Gray mold, caused by the Botrytis cinerea fungus, is the most common and destroying disease in kiwifruit during storage. In this study, an experimental electronic nose system combined with machine learning (ML) approaches were utilized for early detection and monitoring of Botrytis cinerea in Hayward kiwifruit based on the odor-extracted information.

The aim of the present study was to produce lactoferrin (L) and chitosan (C) nanoparticles by ionic cross-linking with TPP and thereby increase the antimicrobial activity of biopolymers. The nanoparticles were synthesized in different proportions of biopolymers and TPP and characterized regarding their size, zeta potential, morphology, chemical interactions, structural characteristics, and antibacterial activity.

This study investigated the effects of two commercial protective cultures, one containing Lactobacillus sakei (now Latilactobacillus sakei) and the other containing Staphylococcus carnosus and L. sakei, in vacuum-packaged minced beef (ground beef) to advance the understanding of this biopreservation approach for fresh meat shelf-life extension.

Sumac (Rhus coriaria) cultivated mainly in the Mediterranean region, Eastern and Western North America, South Africa, and Asia is rich in phenolic compounds, especially tannins, anthocyanins, and flavones. For this reason, the sumac extract has the potential to be incorporated in the films that could be used as active packaging material.

The active pectin-polyvinylpyrrolidone nanocomposite film incorporated with titania nanoparticles and bael shell extract was fabricated via the casting solution method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was utilized to analyze the nanocomposite films. The titanium nanoparticles were found to be uniformly dispersed throughout the matrix of the pectin-polyvinylpyrrolidone polymer, as shown by the SEM analysis.

The impact of red and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) irradiation on the sugar metabolism and γ-aminobutyric acid in postharvest table grapes stored at 4 °C for 21 days after harvest were explored.

Nanoemulsification of essential oils (EOs) is one of the common techniques that prevent the EO interaction with food components and improve its bioavailability and absorption. In this study, the EO of Froriepia subpinnata (Ledeb.) Baill (FSLB) was extracted, and its 28 compounds were identified by the GC-FID and GC–MS analysis. The EO nanoemulsion (EON) was produced using Tween 80 and Span 80 surfactants with high-intensity ultrasound.

Fresh-cut fruits have a limited postharvest life compared to fresh intact fruits; they have gained considerable market share. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of melatonin (1 mM) and ascorbic acid (20 mM) treatments, alone or in combination, on qualitative traits and antioxidant systems of fresh-cut avocado fruits during 14 days of cold storage (4 ± 0.5 °C and RH 95 ± 0.5%).

During the last years, the worldwide market of fruit-based foods, mainly juices and fresh-cut commodities, has experienced an increasing consumption trend, which can be mainly attributed to changes in the human lifestyles. However, mechanical operations used during processing, as well as the chemical compounds and presence of native microorganisms, bring a rapid deterioration of juices and fresh-cut fruits.

The aim of this study was to determine the optimal conditions for gliding arc plasma using a response surface methodology and consider a low total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB) count, peroxide value (PV), color differences (ΔE), and appropriate sensory properties of stored Pacific white shrimp (PWS; Litopenaeus vannamei).

The influence of alginate edible coatings enriched with black cumin (BC) extract was investigated to preserve the quality of guava fruits for 16 days at 11 ± 1 °C and 85 ± 2% relative humidity. The analysis of polyphenolic compounds in BC extract confirmed the TPC (28.43 ± 1.11 mg GAE/g DM) and TFC (4.83 ± 0.17 mg QE/g DM) with strong antioxidant activity (161.69 ± 2.31 µM Trolox/g DM in DPPH and 889.19 ± 36.45 µM Fe (II)/g DM in FRAP assays).

Non-uniform heating of RF energy is the main obstacle for its large-scale application in blanching. In this study, we proposed a new blanching method: steam (ST)-assisted radio frequency (RF) blanching of fresh-cut stem lettuce cuboids.

The advanced oxidation processes (AOP) employ free radicals generated from the photolysis of H2O2 by UV radiation to decompose the contamination in foods. This study aims at applying AOP to reduce the aflatoxins in peanuts. Radiations in UV-C or UV-A range combined with H2O2 solution efficiently degraded aflatoxins in the model solution. The degradation compound, aflatoxin B2a, was also degraded by AOP.

The bioactive ingredients of green coffee beans were extracted using high pressure-assisted extraction (HPE) and compared against those derived from the traditional heat reflux (HR) extraction method.