Food Safety, Nutritional & Other Quality & Value Enhancements to Food Commodities Through the Appl. of Edible Films & Other Approved Additive Postharvest Treatments to Foods

<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/> Cut meats and fish easily oxidize during transport and retail display. Fruits and vegetables also wither and wilt easily. Whey is natural, nutritious, inexpensive, and available in abundance. Initial model studies have shown that whey can reduce oxidative degradation and off-color development. This study will investigate the efficacy of whey as coating agents in extending the shelf-life of retail cut foods mentioned above.
<p>APPROACH:<br/> Sweet whey from Edam and Cheddar cheese and sour whey from short-set cottage cheese manufacture will be lyophilized to obtain "native" whey powders. A portion will be heat-treated using various temperatures/time protocols to obtain "thermized" powders. The powders will be used along with plasticizers and CMC at various pH and hydrolytic conditions to produce films for extending shelf-life of cut muscle foods (red meat, poultry, and catfish), fruits and vegetables. Chemical tests will be carried out along with sensory and colorimetric studies.
<p>PROGRESS: 2013/01 TO 2013/09<br/>Target Audience: Retail value of US farm grown catfish is estimated to be close to two billion dollars of which a significant part goes to the catfish farmers. This makes it an important contributor to the economies of numerous southern states including Mississippi. Prevention of oxidative degradation, which results in off-color and flavor development, will greatly facilitate earning ability by extending shelf life and safety. It will also enhance development of value added products and export potential. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The following individuals were provided training and opportunity for professional development: Post-doctoral Associate: Dipaloke Mukjherjee (FTE 0.75) Student Undergraduate: Haley Abessinio (FTE0.2) Student
Graduate: Snow Xue Zhang (FTE0.3) Student Graduate: Mike Wnjie Shao (FTE 0.2) Student Graduate: Jane Jingyi Yan (FTE0.2) Student Graduate: Soma Mukherjee (FTE0.2) Student Graduate: Nagham Aluwadi (FTE 0.1) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to work to standardize and optimize natural antioxidants for fod applications.
<p>PROGRESS: 2012/01/01 TO 2012/12/31<br/>OUTPUTS: In our continuing effort to reduce/prevent oxidative degradation and improve microbial safety of muscle foods, a variety of natural ingredients were added to thermized Edam (EW) and Cheddar (CW) whey based edible coatings to further enhance their preservative properties (e.g., moisture barrier, antimicrobial and antioxidative). Protein and lipid oxidation of catfish fillets were significantly (PIMPACT: 2012/01/01 TO 2012/12/31Oxidative and microbial degradations are two most important factors responsible for a significant amount of food spoilage across the globe. Microbial contamination of food may result in severe, even life threatening health conditions in consumers. Oxidative
degradation results in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in food systems, which upon long term consumption, can cause a number of detrimental health related issues including cardio-vascular diseases, different types of cancers, etc. Addition of synthetic food preservatives may significantly prevent oxidative and microbial degradation of food items, but unfortunately, their long-term use may also prove to be unfavorable for consumers' health. The current studies depict the antioxidative and antimicrobial efficacies of a wide range of natural and potentially 'healthy' ingredients. It is also depicted how they can be effectively used in protecting muscle food items from the harmful effects of oxidative and microbial degradations. These studies have the potentials of not only boosting the economy by preventing considerable food spoilage by various means, but also enhancing the
health of the consumers by reducing the usage of synthetic preservatives, as well as the degree of microbial contamination and/or oxidative degradation of a wide range of food items. The economic potential through shelf life extension alone of various muscle protein foods could result in millions in revenue to the food industry. With the addition of 1 to 2 additional days of shelf life in the retail case without products being reduced for quick sale alone could easily mean an additional average of $.75-$2.00/lb. across the different muscle protein food groups. Using a very conservative volume estimate of 30 million pounds that may fall into the quick sale category annually, this could mean an additional $22.5 - $60 million in revenue throughout the food industry supply chain. This is independent of any health benefits from reduction of potential food borne illnesses. According to the CDC
and Scharff (2010), food borne illnesses cause an estimated 325,000 hospitalizations yearly. With an estimated cost of $3000 per hospitalization, this amounts to $975 million annually in costs without the loss of work time wages and additional costs of productivity losses.