The change of fatty acids composition of Polish biscuits during storage

Effects of Shortening Replacement with Extra Virgin Olive Oil on the Physical-Chemical-Sensory Properties of Italian Cantuccini Biscuits

Olive oil is recognised for its beneficial effects on human health, mainly due to it containing oleic acid (a monounsaturated fatty acid), whereas fats of animal origin or margarine, which are often used in recipes for biscuit production, contain mainly saturated fatty acids. The aim of this study was to evaluate the shelf-life and physicochemical properties of biscuits and of the fats contained in original recipe Italian Cantuccini biscuits (50% cow's butter and 50% margarine). Additionally, the sensory properties of the biscuits were evaluated, including their colour, appearance, taste, flavour, texture and overall acceptability. At the same time, the fat composition of the original recipe was also modified to contain 30% cow's butter and 70% extra virgin olive oil, in order to replace an aliquot of the saturated fatty acid content with unsaturated fatty acids, in particular with one monounsaturated fatty acid, oleic acid. Colour (CIELab), water activity, relative humidity, hardness and fracturability analyses were conducted on Cantuccini biscuits. Colour (CIELab), free acidity, spectrophotometric characteristics, DPPH assay and fatty acid methyl ester (FAMEs) analyses were conducted on the fat extracted from Cantuccini biscuits prepared from both the original and modified recipes.

A review combining emerging techniques with classical ones for the determination of biscuit quality: advantages and drawbacks

The production of biscuit and biscuit-like products has faced many challenges due to changes in consumer behavior and eating habits. Today's consumer is looking for safe products not only with fresh-like and pleasant taste, but also with long shelf life and health benefits. Therefore, the potentiality of the use of healthier fat and the incorporation of natural antioxidant in the formulation of biscuit has interested, recently, the attention of researchers. The determination of the biscuit quality could be performed by several techniques (e.g., physical, chemical, sensory, calorimetry and chromatography). These classical analyses are unfortunately destructive, expensive, polluting and above all very heavy, to implement when many samples must be prepared to be analyzed. Therefore, there is a need to find fast analytical techniques for the determination of the quality of cereal products like biscuits. Emerging techniques such as near infrared (NIR), mid infrared (MIR) and front face fluorescence spectroscopy (FFFS), coupled with chemometric tools have many potential advantages and are introduced, recently, as promising techniques for the assessment of the biscuit quality.

Biscuit Contaminants, Their Sources and Mitigation Strategies: A Review

The scientific literature is rich in investigations on the presence of various contaminants in biscuits, and of articles aimed at proposing innovative solutions for their control and prevention. However, the relevant information remains fragmented. Therefore, the objective of this work was to review the current state of the scientific literature on the possible contaminants of biscuits, considering physical, chemical, and biological hazards, and making a critical analysis of the solutions to reduce such contaminations. The raw materials are primary contributors of a wide series of contaminants. The successive processing steps and machinery must be monitored as well, because if they cannot improve the initial safety condition, they could worsen it. The most effective mitigation strategies involve product reformulation, and the use of alternative baking technologies to minimize the thermal load. Low oxygen permeable packaging materials (avoiding direct contact with recycled ones), and reformulation are effective for limiting the increase of contaminations during biscuit storage. Continuous monitoring of raw materials, intermediates, finished products, and processing conditions are therefore essential not only to meet current regulatory restrictions but also to achieve the aim of banning dietary contaminants and coping with related diseases.

Acorn flour properties depending on the production method and laboratory baking test results: A review

Acorns, the fruit of the oak, have long been an important source of food in different cultures around the world. Despite their long culinary tradition, they have become under-appreciated. Due to their high starch content, acorns are mainly used for flour production, and acorn flour is considered as a replacement for cereal flour in a wide range of applications in food production. This study reviewed the published literature concerning acorn flour production and composition as well as the possibility of using acorn flour in the most popular flour-based products such as bread, cake, and cookies. The study also presents the advantages resulting from acorn flour incorporation to the human diet and acorn flour influence on the quality of bread and pastry products. This review found that acorn flour is characterized by a lack of gluten proteins and a high content of fiber and minerals as well as the presence of polyphenols with antioxidant properties. However, negative impact of its larger amount on the dough rheological features and product physical properties has been emphasized in many studies. The researchers recommend the incorporation of acorn flour up to a level of 15% in formulating composite flour for bread production. However, the literature data indicates that acorn flour substitution for pastry production depends on the product type and ranges from 10 to even 60%. It is also highlighted that the application of acorn flour into gluten-free products is particularly favorable from a nutritional point of view.

Effect of Different Egg Products on Lipid Oxidation of Biscuits

Egg products are one of the main ingredients used in bakery industries, and they contain cholesterol. Cholesterol suffers several chemical changes during the food processes, allowing some potentially toxic compounds called cholesterol oxidized products (COPs). Thus, the aim of this work was to study the evolution of lipid oxidation from eggs to egg products, and to evaluate the influence of egg products on COPs formation in biscuits formulated with them. The results confirmed that spray-drying technology improves the cholesterol oxidation 2.6 times compared to pasteurized eggs. Biscuit samples showed a COPs content that is strictly related to the egg products used. Samples formulated with spray-dried eggs noticed lower amounts of COPs compared to those formulated with pasteurized eggs. It is important to stress that COPs composition was different between the two samples, underlining that the kinetic of COPs formation is dependent on the type of egg products.

Estimation of Free Fatty Acids in Stored Paddy Rice Using Multiple-Kernel Support Vector Regression

Grain quality changes during the storage period, and an important grain quality indictor is the free fatty acid (FFA) content. Understanding real-time change of FFA content in stored grain is significant for grain storage safety. However, the FFA content requires manual detection with time-consuming and complex procedures. Thus, this paper is dedicated to developing a method to estimate FFA content in stored grain accurately. We proposed a machine learning approach—multiple-kernel support vector regression—to complete this goal, which improved the accuracy and robustness of the FFA estimation. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was validated by the grain storage data collected from northeast China. To show the merits of the proposed method, several prevailing prediction methods, such as single-kernel support vector regression, multiple linear regression, and back propagation neural network, were introduced for comparative purposes, and several quantitative statistical indexes were adopted to evaluate the performance of different models. The results showed that the proposed approach can achieve a high accuracy with mean absolute error of 0.341 mg KOH/100 g, root mean square error of 0.442 mg KOH/100 g, and mean absolute percentage error of 2.026%. Among the four models tested, the multiple-kernel support vector regression model performed best and made the most robust forecasts of FFA content in stored grain.

Evaluation of the storage-associated changes in the fatty acid profile of oat-based gluten-free cookies prepared with different fats

This study was carried out to investigate storage-associated changes in the fatty acid profile (with GC and ¹H-NMR techniques) of oat-based gluten-free cookies prepared with different fats: margarine (MAR), butter (BUT), lard (LAR), refined palm oil (RPO), refined palm oil with stearin (RPOS), and hydrogenated palm oil (HPO). GC analysis indicated that palmitic and stearic acid were the predominant saturated fatty acids (SFAs), regardless of the type of fat used. cis-Oleic acid represented the major monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), while cis-linoleic acid was the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). After 6 months of storage, a significant decreasing trend in SFA concentration was observed for LAR and RPOS cookies, while a decrease in MUFA concentration was observed only for HPO cookies. In fresh cookies and in cookies stored for 6 months, the contents of SFA, MUFA, and PUFA determined by GC were positively correlated with those determined by ¹H-NMR (r > 0.90).

Carbohydrate-Based Fat Mimetics Can Affect the Levels of 3-Monochloropropane-1,2-Diol Esters and Glycidyl Esters in Shortbread Biscuits

Shortbread biscuits have become one of the most desirable snacks in all population groups but due to its high fat content it is searching for new solutions of fat reduction such as the use of carbohydrate-based fat mimetics. However, the thermal processing of food containing lipids in the presence of certain carbohydrates can contribute to the formation of toxic compounds or alter its levels. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the use of inulin and pectin gels as partial fat replacers (10-40%) in classical shortbread biscuits in a view of the changes of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol ester (3-MCPDE) and glycidyl ester (GE) levels after baking, and also after a two-months storage. The experiment showed that the amount of inulin gel higher than 10% promoted the endogenous formation of 3-MCPDE probably due to the higher amount of Maillard products formed in the biscuits, but after two months the levels decreased and were comparable with those transferred from shortening. Pectin did not demonstrate such phenomenon, owing to the presence of bound water in gel. Glycidyl esters were partially decomposed during baking and also during storage, particularly in the samples with the addition of pectin gel, which presumably caused by low stability of GE under acidic conditions resulting from the occurrence of galacturonic acid in pectin.

The Application of FT-IR Spectroscopy for Quality Control of Flours Obtained from Polish Producers

Samples of wheat, spelt, rye, and triticale flours produced by different Polish mills were studied by both classic chemical methods and FT-IR MIR spectroscopy. An attempt was made to statistically correlate FT-IR spectral data with reference data with regard to content of various components, for example, proteins, fats, ash, and fatty acids as well as properties such as moisture, falling number, and energetic value. This correlation resulted in calibrated and validated statistical models for versatile evaluation of unknown flour samples. The calibration data set was used to construct calibration models with use of the CSR and the PLS with the leave one-out, cross-validation techniques. The calibrated models were validated with a validation data set. The results obtained confirmed that application of statistical models based on MIR spectral data is a robust, accurate, precise, rapid, inexpensive, and convenient methodology for determination of flour characteristics, as well as for detection of content of selected flour ingredients. The obtained models' characteristics were as follows: R² = 0.97, PRESS = 2.14; R² = 0.96, PRESS = 0.69; R² = 0.95, PRESS = 1.27; R² = 0.94, PRESS = 0.76, for content of proteins, lipids, ash, and moisture level, respectively. Best results of CSR models were obtained for protein, ash, and crude fat (R² = 0.86; 0.82; and 0.78, resp.).