Bread is a staple grain product that many consumers eat every day. The quality and durability of bread depends, among others, on the recipe, the baking method, the bread cooling method after baking, and the way of packaging. Producers use a lot of techniques to extend the freshness of baking and delay the staling process. In order to extend the freshness of bread, producers add enzyme preparations, lipid compounds, emulsifiers or hydrocolloids to the recipe composition.

The purpose of the work was to determine the effect of three types of fiber (wheat, oat, potato) with two fiber lengths on bread staling process. Type 750 bread wheat flour and fiber addition with a specific length of fiber in the amount of 2%, 4% and 6% (mass basis) were used to bake bread. Studies on the physical and chemical properties of flour were carried out. The bread volume, porosity and texture, crumb moisture and bread staling using differential scanning calorimetry on the day of baking, after 24h, 72h, were determined.

Bread analysis was performed using a differential scanning calorimeter - DSC, Q200, TA Instruments. All measurements were made under a nitrogen atmosphere. The reference sample was an empty aluminium pan, hermetically sealed. The DSC curve of bread mass (10-15 mg) was obtained by heating the sample from -50 °C to 110 °C at heating rate of 5K / min. Samples were analysed in triplicate.

The control sample (without fiber addition) was characterized by the lowest enthalpy. The highest enthalpy in the case of the addition of fiber with shorter fiber length was found in bread with 6% wheat and 6% potato fiber. At 24 hours after baking, it was found that the enthalpy of the control sample decreased. The same result was obtained in the analysis with the addition of 2% potato fiber with a shorter fiber and 2% oat fiber with a longer fiber. The greatest loss of water was recorded for bread with the addition of 6% oat fiber with shorter fiber. At 72 hours after baking, the test with the addition of 2% oat fiber with a shorter fiber, 6% potato fiber with a longer fiber, and the control sample were characterized by the highest loss of water. In the analysis with the addition of fiber with longer fiber length in the amount of 2% wheat, potato and 4% wheat, there was an increase in water content in the crumb compared to the research after baking.

A significant effect of the fiber addition on the staling of wheat bread was found. Hardness of the crumb on the day of baking increased with higher fiber content. In the majority of samples with the addition of fiber, the moisture content of the crumb increased during storage.

Melon (Cucumis melo L., Cucurbitaceae family) is an important horticultural crop worldwide, cultivated in temperate climate countries from America and Europe to arid areas in Asia and Africa.

Cantaloupe (Cucumis melo L., var. reticulatus) is of incredible economic worldwide diffusion due to its sweetness, juicy taste, pleasing flavour, and nutritional value. It contains huge quantities of vitamins A, C and microelements, such as potassium and magnesium, and also it was considered one of the best source of antioxidants. In particular, flavonoids and phenolic acids were found to be the most polyphenols.

Moreover, cantaloupe has been shown healthy properties; analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-ulcer, anti-cancer, antimicrobial, diuretic and anti-diabetic were reported in recent studies.

This research aims to provide additional information on peels from melons of an Italian cantaloupe cultivar. Fruits were harvested at different maturity, ranging from the unripe to overripe condition, and antioxidant enzyme (polyphenol oxidase, peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase) activities were measured on crude extracts. Moreover, in order to gain a broad understanding of antioxidant system of C. melo, polyphenols, ortho-diphenols and flavonoids contents were carried out on peels, also to verify their potential exploitation as biomass yet rich of high-added value molecules.

Our results demonstrate that cantaloupe peels can be considered a prospective source of natural antioxidants, enzymatic and non-enzymatic, with potential applications in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic companies.

Banana is one of the fruit crops that is mostly consumed and produced in the Philippines (PSA, 2017). As a result, the banana peels (BPs) are neglected as a waste. Furthermore, numerous studies have investigated and stated that the BP is a good source of dietary fiber (DF). This study aims to develop a breading mix (BM), determine the most acceptable formulation of BM with BP, and evaluate its nutrient and microbial content. One (1) control commercial BM and three (3) BM with different formulations, substitution of all-purpose flour (APF) with partially fine dried banana peel (PFDBP) for 25%, 30%, and 35% in production of BM formulation, were tested in terms of nutrient and microbiological content. For sensory evaluation, Quantitative Descriptive Analysis was conducted by 11 trained panelists and Consumer Acceptability Test was facilitated by 50 untrained panelists using the 9-point hedonic scale, utilizing chicken breast fillet as carrier. The statistical treatments used were weighted mean and one-factor repeated measures analysis of variance. The BM formulations produced were all found to be high in total dietary fiber (TDF) except for the control. Hence, it was proven that BP is a suitable dietary source for the BM formulations. Furthermore, the BM with DF had a lower fat content as compared to control due to its low oil-holding capacity that is beneficial with fried foods. Apart from color, all of the BM samples tested on pan-fried chicken breast fillet were found to be comparable to the sensory characteristics of the control. Therefore, the most favorable sample was BM A, which contains 25% substitution of APF with PFDBP, as it has shown an impressive result regarding TDF, fat analysis, and microbiological analysis, and in evaluation in terms of its sensory attributes.

Currently, honey fraud and adulteration have become a global issue. Due to the ongoing finding of new ways to circumvent old analyses, new analysis techniques are being evolved. One of the molecular-based techniques, DNA metabarcoding, allows for the rapid and accurate identification of short genetic markers in the DNA of various species by matching them with reference sequences. Using this identification, it is frequently able to go beyond the species and determine the regional variants and geographic origin of the product. In addition to high throughput sequencing, metabarcoding is presented as an impartial method for determining the taxonomic composition of complicated materials. This study evaluated the applicability of the “DNA from honey” based approach by developing metabarcoding procedure.

A total of twenty varieties of honey were acquired from local markets. Following pretreatment, DNA was extracted from 20 samples using the optimized process, and PCR amplifications were conducted with primers targeting the P6-loop region of the trnL gene for the plant. Twenty honey samples were evaluated in a single tube, in addition to the analysis of a single flower honey. PCR yields were indexed using an adaptor ligation procedure for a 2x150bp pair-ended 300K read per sample and examined by high throughput sequencing. The terminal of the Linux/Unix-based operating system was used to analyze the sequencing data using several pipelines.

Each of the targeted taxa had a ≥97% match to a species in NCBI GenBank. Our results confirmed the vast majority of the species listed on the product label. Twenty percent of the raw data permitted identification of the species listed on the label. Additionally, the percentage of matches at the genus level exceeds 80%. In mixed honey, 90% of the honey was found to be flower honey. Some species were not identified and necessitate additional research for verification.

Iron fortification in infants living in rural areas of Africa has been associated with gut dysbiosis and higher rates of infection which imposes an additional health risk. Ongoing cohort studies assess the protective effect of prebiotics and lactoferrin, which aim to favor a healthy gut microbiota. Relevant ex vivo studies are needed to investigate the mode of action on the gut microbiota directly to further improve nutritional intervention strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate the direct effect of galacto-oligosaccharides and lactoferrin combined with iron on the gut microbiota of infants living in a rural area of Kenya. We used the in vitro continuous fermentation model PolyFermS to cultivate and treat the fecal microbiota of two 6-months-old Kenyan infants in conditions selected to closely mimic their colon and diet (milk and maize porridge). Iron combined with galacto-oligosaccharides induced a strong metabolic and compositional response. In microbiota 1 and 2, acetate increased by 45 mM and 16 mM, respectively, concomitant with an increase in Bifidobacterium of 0.6 log and 0.7 log, respectively. In microbiota 1 also propionate increased by 10 mM while in microbiota 2 also butyrate increased by 15 mM. We further observed a decrease in Clostridium perfringens in microbiota 1 of 1.3 log and a decrease in Clostridium difficile of 0.3 log in microbiota 2. A trend towards a synergistic effect against Clostridium perfringens was observed upon combination of iron, galacto-oligosaccharides and lactoferrin. Surprisingly, iron alone at a dose of 5 mg/L did not affect the ex vivo colon microbiotas, which hints for a host-dependent mode of action. In conclusion, galacto-oligosaccharides promote the Kenyan infant’s beneficial gut microbes and the production of metabolites thereby preventing outgrowth of enteropathogens. Next, the effect of treatment-modified microbial metabolites on the host-microbe interaction will be assessed using in vitro cell models.