Simplex lattice mixture design approach on the rheological behavior of glucomannan based salep-honey drink mixtures: An optimization study based on the sensory properties

Essential oils as green promising alternatives to chemical preservatives for agri-food products: New insight into molecular mechanism, toxicity assessment, and safety profile

Microbial food spoilage caused by food-borne bacteria, molds, and associated toxic chemicals significantly alters the nutritional quality of food products and makes them unpalatable to the consumer. In view of potential adverse effects (resistance development, residual toxicity, and negative effects on consumer health) of some of the currently used preservative agents and consumer preferences towards safe, minimally processed, and chemical-free products, food industries are looking for natural alternatives to the chemical preservatives. In this context, essential oils (EOs) showed broad-range antimicrobial effectiveness, low toxicity, and diverse mechanisms of action, and could be considered promising natural plant-based antimicrobials. The existing technical barriers related to the screening of plants, extraction methods, characterization, dose optimization, and unpredicted mechanism of toxicity in the food system, could be overcome using recent scientific and technological advancements, especially bioinformatics, nanotechnology, and mathematical approaches. The review focused on the potential antimicrobial efficacy of EOs against food-borne microbes and the role of recent scientific technology and social networking platform in addressing the major obstacles with EOs-based antimicrobial agents. In addition, a detailed mechanistic understanding of the antimicrobial efficacy of EOs, safety profile, and risk assessment using bioinformatics approaches are summarized to explore their potential application as food preservatives.

Formulation Optimization of Sucrose-Free Hard Candy Fortified with Cudrania tricuspidata Extract

The aim of the study is to define the optimal formulation of sucrose-free hard candy using D-optimal mixture design as the base for the incorporation of Cudrania tricupidata fruit. Hard candy was produced using three different polyols: isomalt, maltitol syrup, and xylitol. This study examined the effects of polyol mixtures as sucrose and corn syrup substitutes on physicochemical (moisture, color, soluble solid (SSC)), hardness, and sensory features of hard candies. These three polyols had notable effects on quality characteristics in addition to their effects on L* value. Xylitol had an undesirable effect on moisture content and hardness, resulting in decreased texture acceptability, but improved color and clarity. Given the results of our experiments and optimization of variables, we determined that 90.21% isomalt, 8.63% maltitol syrup, and 1.16% xylitol produced a sugar-free candy with high desirability (0.894).

Background, Applications and Issues of the Experimental Designs for Mixture in the Food Sector

BACKGROUND

Mixtures play a key role in Food Science and Technology. For studying them, rational approaches should be used. In detail, the experimental designs for mixtures are useful tools for studying the effects of ingredients/components in formulations.

RESULTS

Food Science and Technology is the fourth category among the total records considered in this review. The applications span from food formulation to the composition of modified atmosphere, shelf-life improvement and bioactives extraction. However, the majority of the studies regards few products and ingredients. Simplex-lattice and simplex-centroid designs are the most common used, although some optimal designs, such as the D-optimal, have also interesting applications. Finally, some issues are highlighted, which basically regard the interpretation of the models coefficients and the lack of model validation.

CONCLUSION

In the last decade, mixture designs have been fairly used in the field of Food Science and Technology. Modeling the response(s) allows researchers to achieve a global knowledge of the system under study within the defined experimental domain. However, the majority of application has regarded limited classes of products, and thus an increase in the spectrum of applications is desired.

Dynamic mechanical spectra of salep and casein mixtures

In this study, a glucomannan based salep and casein were mixed in a solution at different concentrations (0-0.75% salep and 0-3.0% casein) according to the central composite rotatable design and their color, steady shear and dynamic shear rheological properties were characterized. All studied parameters were affected by the salep and casein levels significantly. Salep increased the apparent viscosity, consistency coefficient, storage modulus and complex modulus of the solution compared to casein and an interaction was observed between the salep and casein which shows a significant increasing effect on the parameters. Frequency dependency increased with the increase of casein in the mixtures. Regression equations having quite high coefficients of determination were constructed for the estimation of studied parameter levels. Optimization performed with desirability function showed that the maximum levels for the rheological parameters could be achieved by more increment of salep level in the solutions because sole effect of casein on the rheological parameters was limited compared to salep.

Mannans: An overview of properties and application in food products

This review aims to emphasize the occurrence and abundant presence of mannans in nature, their classification, structural differences and significance in food and feed industry. With rising demand from the consumers' end for novel natural foods, usage of galactomannan and glucomannan has also increased alternatively. Non toxicity of mannans permits their usage in the pharmaceutical, biomedical, cosmetics, and textile industries. In the food industry, mannans have various applications such as edible films/coating, gel formation, stiffeners, viscosity modifiers, stabilizers, texture improvers, water absorbants, as prebiotics in dairy products and bakery, seasonings, diet foods, coffee whiteners etc. Applications and functions of these commonly used commercially available mannans have therefore, been highlighted. Mannans improve the texture and appeal of food products and provide numerous health benefits like controlling obesity and body weight control, prebiotic benefits, constipation alleviaton, prevent occurrence of diarrhea, check inflammation due to gut related diseases, management of diverticular disease management, balance intestinal microbiota, immune system modulator, reduced risk of colorectal cancer etc. Mannan degrading enzymes are the key enzymes involved in degradation and are useful in various industrial processes such as fruit juice clarification, viscosity reduction of coffee extracts etc. besides facilitating the process steps and improving process quality.

Characterizing Texture, Color and Sensory Attributes of Cookies Made with Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) Flour Using a Mixture Design and Browning Reaction Kinetics

Effect of interactions between Jerusalem artichoke flour (JF), wheat flour (WF) and sugar (S) on the texture properties of cookies was investigated. JF was the most influential component on the dough and cookies, possibly due to inulin in JF. To develop an optimum formulation using mixture design, the constraint values for the quality indices were: hardness (12 N), adhesiveness (10 mJ), and cohesiveness (0.27) of dough, and maximum force of cookie (73 N). Optimum values of WF, JF and S in the mixture were found to be 151.89 g, 55.33 g and 87.78 g, respectively, with a desirability of 0.943. Two experimental cookie formulas, similar to the optimal formula, were tested for their sensory properties and resulted in highly acceptable scores. As baking time increased, the browning and antioxidant activity of all cookies increased; however, the browning and antioxidant activity of samples containing JF was significantly higher than the others.

Effect of Biomass Compositions on Combustion Kinetic Parameters using Response Surface Methodology

The aim of this research is to find the correlation between chemical compositions of biomass, including cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, and kinetic rates of biomass combustion. The combustion behavior of biomass constituent was studied by thermogravimetric analyzer. The correlations were generated by means of using Response Surface Methodology based on Simplex-Lattice experimental design. The results obtained from statistical analysis can be used to generate mathematical models and also contour plots which exhibited the relationship between biomass composition and its combustion kinetic. From the observation, the models and contour plots indicated the complexity of combustion mechanism. The correlations proposed by this research were expected to be potentially used to predict combustion behavior in case of real biomass.

Sweetener blend optimization by using mixture design methodology and the electronic tongue

Utilizing more than one sweetener has been shown to be an effective way to substitute sucrose in food products. The objective of this study was to apply the augmented simplex-centroid mixture design for the optimization of acceptable sweetener blends using coconut sugar, agave, and stevia. Sweetener blends were evaluated in aqueous solutions and gluten-free granola bars by a trained panel and consumers (n = 60). Significant differences were found between sweetener mixtures in solutions by both panelists and consumers (P < 0.05). Taste profiles for the sweetener solutions were also generated using the electronic tongue. Most consumer and trained intensity ratings were highly correlated (R(2) ≥ 0.79) with the electronic tongue taste profile analysis. Granola bars were also found to be significantly different (P < 0.05), with consumers preferring coconut sugar mixtures. Using contour plots and desirability function analysis, an optimal sweetener combination was found for a granola bar formulation of 89.9% coconut sugar, 6.1% agave, and 4% stevia. These results indicate that a mixture design can be a reliable way to develop new sweetener blends for product development.