How functional foods endure throughout the shelf storage? Effects of packing materials and formulation on the quality parameters and bioactivity of smoothies

Smoothies Marketed in Spain: Are They Complying with Labeling Legislation?

There is no legal definition of a smoothie, so the European legislation applicable to its labeling is that of fruit juice. The smoothie market has grown in recent years, as it can include a wide variety of ingredients: fruits, fruit purees, honey, milk and vegetable milks, vegetables, herbs, cereals, cereal flours, seaweed, and crushed ice. In this study, 57 smoothies were reviewed. All of them were purchased in supermarkets and classified into eight types according to the main ingredients. Fifteen legal statements/items were reviewed on the pack labels: eleven mandatory and three optional. Moreover, nutrition labels, nutritional claims, images, marks, and other symbols were also reviewed. Only 22.8% of the samples complied with EU and Spanish labeling legislation. More incorrectness was related to the name of the food and the fruits included as main ingredients; other errors related to the allergy/intolerance statements, and some nutritional claims concerning vitamin C were also detected to a lesser extent. General advice is provided for consumers to interpret smoothie labels correctly. Lawmakers should amend legislation to accept the term "smoothie" as a legal name.

A novel chromone and rhodamine derivative as fluorescent probe for the detection of Zn(II) and Al(III) based on two different mechanisms

In this study, a novel fluorescent probe, 6‑hydroxychromone‑3‑carbaldehyde‑(rhodamine B carbonyl) hydrazine (L), for Zn²⁺ and Al³⁺ was designed and synthesized. Initially, this probe L exhibited inferior fluorescence emission peak centered at 488 nm in EtOH/HEPES solution (3/1, 10.0 μM HEPES, pH 7.4) when excited at 421 nm. After the addition of Zn²⁺, this probe L displayed excellent selectivity towards Zn²⁺ with obvious fluorescence color change from colorless to yellow, which might be attributed to the formation of a 1:1 ligand-metal complex resulting in the inhibition of photo-induced electron transfer phenomenon. Whereas, the prepared Zn²⁺ complex of L could be used as a ratiometric fluorescent probe to detect Al³⁺ on the basis of fluorescence resonance energy transfer mechanism. This ligand-metal complex of Zn²⁺ (LZn) showed high selectivity towards Al³⁺ with obvious enhancement in fluorescence emission intensity at 580 nm and remarkable decrease in fluorescence emission intensity at 488 nm, and the fluorescence color also changed from yellow to pink. Furthermore, the detection limit of the probe L, LZn towards Zn²⁺, Al³⁺ were 1.25 × 10^-7 M and 3.179 × 10^-6 M, respectively. Additionally, the complexation properties of L towards Zn²⁺ and LZn towards Al³⁺ were studied in detail.