Effect of sonication, microwaves and high-pressure processing on ACE-inhibitory activity and antioxidant potential of Cheddar cheese during ripening

Spray drying and ultrasonication processing of camel whey protein concentrate: Characterization and impact on bioactive properties

The production of whey protein concentrates (WPCs) from camel milk whey represents an effective approach to valorize this processing by-product. These concentrates harbor active ingredients with significant bioactive properties. Camel WPCs were spray-dried (SD) at inlet temperature of 170, 185 and 200°C, or Ultrasonicated (US) for 5, 10 and 15 min, then freeze-dried to obtain fine powder. The impact of both treatments on protein degradation was studied by sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE and reverse-phase ultraperformance liquid chromatography (RP-UPLC) techniques. Significantly enhanced protein degradation was observed after US treatment when compared with SD. Both SD and US treatments slightly enhanced the WPCs samples' antioxidant activities. The US exposure for 15 min exhibited highest 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) scavenging activity (12.12 mmol TE/g). Moreover, US treatment for 10 min exhibited the highest in vitro anti-diabetic properties (α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition), and dipeptidyl-peptidase-IV inhibitory activity among all samples. In addition, the ultrasonication for 10 min and SD at 170°C showed the lowest IC50 values for in vitro anti-hypercholesterolemic activities in terms of pancreatic lipase and cholesteryl esterase inhibition. Conclusively, these green techniques can be adapted in the preservation and processing of camel milk whey into active ingredients with high bioactive properties.

Preparation of pH-responsive chitosan microspheres containing aminopeptidase and their application in accelerating cheese ripening

Microencapsulated enzymes have been found to effectively accelerate cheese ripening. However, microencapsulated enzyme release is difficult to control, often resulting in enzyme release during cheese processing and causing texture and flavor defects. This study aims to address this issue by developing aminopeptidase-loaded pH-responsive chitosan microspheres (A-CM) for precise enzyme release during cheese ripening. An aminopeptidase with an isoelectric point (pH 5.4) close to the pH value of cheese ripening was loaded on chitosan microspheres through electrostatic interaction. Turbidity titration measurements revealed that pH 6.5 was optimal for binding aminopeptidase and microspheres, affording the highest loading efficiency of 58.16%. Various characterization techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the successful loading of aminopeptidase molecules on the chitosan microspheres. In vitro release experiments conducted during simulated cheese production demonstrated that aminopeptidase release from A-CM was pH responsive. The microspheres retained the enzyme during the coagulation and cheddaring processes (pH 5.5-6.5) and only released it after entering the cheese-ripening stage (pH 5.0-5.5). By loading aminopeptidase on chitosan microspheres, the loss rate of the enzyme in cheese whey was reduced by approximately 79%. Furthermore, compared with cheese without aminopeptidase and cheese with aminopeptidase added directly, the cheeses made with A-CM exhibited the highest proteolysis level and received superior sensory ratings for taste and smell. The content of key aroma substances, such as 2/3-methylbutanal and ethyl butyrate, in cheese with A-CM was more than 15 times higher than the others. This study provides an approach for accelerating cheese ripening through the use of microencapsulated enzymes.

Interactions between proteins and phenolics: effects of food processing on the content and digestibility of phenolic compounds

Phenolic compounds have recently become one of the most interesting topics in different research areas, especially in food science and nutrition due to their health-promoting effects. Phenolic compounds are found together with macronutrients and micronutrients in foods and within several food systems. The coexistence of phenolics and other food components can lead to their interaction resulting in complex formation. This review article aims to cover the effects of thermal and non-thermal processing techniques on the protein-phenolic interaction especially focusing on the content and digestibility of phenolics by discussing recently published research articles. It is clear that the processing conditions and individual properties of phenolics and proteins are the most effective factors in the final content and intestinal fates of phenolic compounds. Besides, thermal and non-thermal treatments, such as high-pressure processing, pulsed electric field, cold plasma, ultrasonication, and fermentation may induce alterations  in those interactions. Still, new investigations are required for different food processing treatments by using a wide range of food products to enlighten new functional and healthier food product design, to provide the optimized processing conditions of foods for obtaining better quality, higher nutritional properties, and health benefits. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Recent Advances in Acoustic Technology in Food Processing

The development of food industry technologies and increasing the sustainability and effectiveness of processing comprise some of the relevant objectives of EU policy. Furthermore, advances in the development of innovative non-thermal technologies can meet consumers' demand for high-quality, safe, nutritious, and minimally processed foods. Acoustic technology is characterized as environmentally friendly and is considered an alternative method due to its sustainability and economic efficiency. This technology provides advantages such as the intensification of processes, increasing the efficiency of processes and eliminating inefficient ones, improving product quality, maintaining the product's texture, organoleptic properties, and nutritional value, and ensuring the microbiological safety of the product. This review summarizes some important applications of acoustic technology in food processing, from monitoring the safety of raw materials and products, intensifying bioprocesses, increasing the effectiveness of the extraction of valuable food components, modifying food polymers' texture and technological properties, to developing biodegradable biopolymer-based composites and materials for food packaging, along with the advantages and challenges of this technology.

Encapsulation of Nutraceuticals in Yoghurt and Beverage Products Using the Ultrasound and High-Pressure Processing Technologies

Dairy and beverage products are considered highly nutritious. The increase demand for added nutritional benefits within the food systems consumed by the consumers paves the pathway towards fortifying nutraceuticals into these products. However, nutraceuticals are highly unstable towards harsh processing conditions. In addition, the safety of dairy and beverage products plays a very important role. Therefore, various heat treatments are in practice. As the heat-treated dairy and beverage products tends to illustrate several alterations in their organoleptic characteristics and nutritional properties, the demand for alternative non-thermal processing technologies has increased extensively within the food industry. Ultrasound and high-pressure processing technologies are desirable for this purpose as well as a safe and non-destructive technology towards encapsulation of nutraceuticals into food systems. There are benefits in implementing these two technologies in the production of dairy and beverage products with encapsulants, such as manufacturing high-quality products with improved nutritional value while simultaneously enhancing the sensory characteristics such as flavour, taste, texture, and colour and attaining the microbial quality. The primary objective of this review is to provide detailed information on the encapsulation of nutraceuticals and mechanisms involved with using US and HPP technologies on producing encapsulated yoghurt and beverage products.

Enhancing the Biological Activities of Food Protein-Derived Peptides Using Non-Thermal Technologies: A Review

Bioactive peptides (BPs) derived from animal and plant proteins are important food functional ingredients with many promising health-promoting properties. In the food industry, enzymatic hydrolysis is the most common technique employed for the liberation of BPs from proteins in which conventional heat treatment is used as pre-treatment to enhance hydrolytic action. In recent years, application of non-thermal food processing technologies such as ultrasound (US), high-pressure processing (HPP), and pulsed electric field (PEF) as pre-treatment methods has gained considerable research attention owing to the enhancement in yield and bioactivity of resulting peptides. This review provides an overview of bioactivities of peptides obtained from animal and plant proteins and an insight into the impact of US, HPP, and PEF as non-thermal treatment prior to enzymolysis on the generation of food-derived BPs and resulting bioactivities. US, HPP, and PEF were reported to improve antioxidant, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory, antimicrobial, and antidiabetic properties of the food-derived BPs. The primary modes of action are due to conformational changes of food proteins caused by US, HPP, and PEF, improving the susceptibility of proteins to protease cleavage and subsequent proteolysis. However, the use of other non-thermal techniques such as cold plasma, radiofrequency electric field, dense phase carbon dioxide, and oscillating magnetic fields has not been examined in the generation of BPs from food proteins.

Conventional and Novel Technologies in the Production of Dairy Bioactive Peptides

Background

In recent years, researchers have focused on functional ingredients, functional foods, and nutraceuticals due to the rapidly increasing interest in bioactive components, especially in bioactive peptides. Dairy proteins are a rich and balanced source of amino acids and their derived bioactive peptides, which possess biological and physiological properties. In the dairy industry, microbial fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis are promising methods for producing bioactive peptides because of their rapid efficiency, and mild reaction conditions. However, these methods utilize less raw material, take long reaction time, result in low yields, and low activity products when used alone, which pose industry to seek for novel methods as pretreatments to increase the yield of bioactive peptides.

Scope and Approach

This review emphasizes the production of peptides from the dairy proteins and discusses the potential use of novel technologies as pretreatments to conventional methods of bioactive peptides production from dairy proteins, including the mechanisms of novel technologies along with respective examples of use, advantages, limitations, and challenges to each technology.

Key Findings and Conclusion

Noteworthily, hydrolysis of dairy proteins liberate wide-range of peptides that possess remarkable biological functions to maintain human health. Novel technologies in the dairy industry such as ultrasound-assisted processing (UAP), microwave-assisted processing (MAP), and high pressure processing (HPP) are innovative and environmentally friendly. Generally, novel technologies are less effectual compared to conventional methods, therefore used in combination with fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis, and are promising pretreatments to modify peptides’ profile, improve the yields, and high liberation of bioactive peptides as compared to conventional technologies. UAP is an innovative and most efficient technology as its mechanical effects and cavitation change the protein conformation, increase the biological activities of enzymes, and enhance enzymatic hydrolysis reaction rate.

Development of energy-rich protein bars and in vitro determination of angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory antihypertensive activities

Three energy-rich protein (ERP) bars were prepared to meet the daily recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for the protein of Pakistani athletes. The bars were developed using dates, cheddar cheese (CC), whey protein isolate (WPI), roasted chickpea flour, and rice flour in different proportions. Bar #1 contained 64 g dates, 16 g dried apricots, 12 g WPI, and 8 g ripened CC. Bar #2 contained the same proportion of these ingredients with an addition of 12.5 g roasted chickpea flour, while bar #3 contained 6.25 g roasted rice and 6.25 g roasted chickpea flour. All the ingredients were homogeneously mixed into paste to form bars weighing 100-110 g per serving size. These bars were studied for the compositional analysis (moisture, protein, and lipid content), protein characterization through sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and in vitro determination of the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE-I) antihypertensive activity. Moisture and lipid content in bars were 22% and 0.057%-0.313%, respectively, while protein, fiber, and ash contents varied from 22.3% to 23.6%, 6.66 to 5.81, and 2.12% to 2.44%, respectively. The minimum energy content was recorded (272.70 Kcal/100 g) in bar #1 while bar #3 showed the highest energy content 274.65 Kcal/110 g with the addition of (5%) roasted chickpea and rice flour, respectively. Electrophoresis analysis of proteins in bar # 1 (cheese +WPI) showed the four bands at 62, 24, 20, and 12 kDa. Bar #2 (10% roasted chickpea flour) showed some additional bands at 40, 36, 34, and 28 kDa while relatively lower antihypertensive activity than bars #1 and 3. The study revealed that adding 10% roasted chickpea flour (bar #2) increased the protein content and diversity in proteins. It provided 40% proteins to athletes and could be helpful to meet their R.D.A. by consuming two bars/day.

Conventional and in silico approaches to select promising food-derived bioactive peptides: A review

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Seaweed and edible insects are considered new sources of bioactive peptides.

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Conventional approaches are necessary to validate the bioactivity of peptides.

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Bioinformatics tools accelerate the obtaining of bioactive peptides.

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The integrated approach is a promising strategy to obtain bioactive peptides.

The interest for food-derived bioactive peptides, either from common or unconventional sources, has increased due to their potential therapeutic effect against a wide range of diseases. The study of such bioactive peptides using conventional methods is a long journey, expensive and time-consuming. Hence, bioinformatic approaches, which can not only help to predict the formation of bioactive peptides from any known protein source, but also to analyze the protein structure/function relationship, have gained a new meaning in this scientific field. Therefore, this review aims to provides an overview of conventional characterization methods and the most recent advances in the field of in silico approaches for predicting and screening promising food-derived bioactive peptides.

The Impact of the Adjunct Heat-Treated Starter Culture and Lb. helveticus LH-B01 on the Proteolysis and ACE Inhibitory Activity in Dutch-Type Cheese Model during Ripening

Simple Summary

Adjunct cultures are used in cheesemaking to improve flavour characteristics and accelerating cheese ripening. Different adjunct cultures are capable of producing enzymes with the specificity to hydrolyze caseins, leading to the release of various bioactive compounds. We studied the effect of adjunct heat-treated starter XT–312 and a cheese culture Lb. helveticus LH-B01 on selected physicochemical, microbiological properties, and on proteolysis in cheese models. Additionally, the effect of adjunct cultures on ACE inhibitory activity during ripening was determined. The application of adjunct cultures may be used as functional ingredients in Dutch-type cheese to maintain sufficient bioactive properties and improve proteolysis.

Abstract

Adjunct cultures are used in cheesemaking to improve the sensory characteristics of the ripened cheeses. In addition, it is known that different adjunct cultures are capable of producing enzymes with the specificity to hydrolyze caseins, leading to the release of various bioactive compounds (bioactive peptides, amino acids, etc.). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of adjunct heat-treated starter XT–312 and a cheese culture Lb. helveticus LH-B01 on the proteolytic activity and angiotensin converting enzymes inhibitors (ACE) in cheese models during ripening. Seven different cheese models were evaluated for: proteolytic activity using the spectrophotometric method with ortho-phthaldialdehyde (OPA), soluble nitrogen (SN), trichloroacetic acid-soluble nitrogen (TCA-SN) phosphotungstic acid-soluble nitrogen (PTA-SN), total nitrogen (TN), pH, contents of water, fat, as well as for total bacteria count (TBC), count of Lactococcus genus bacteria, count of Lb. helveticus, and number of non-starter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB). Presence of adjunct bacterial cultures both in the form of a cheese culture LH-B01 and heat-treated XT–312 starter promoted primary and secondary proteolysis, which resulted in acceleration of the ripening process. ACE inhibitory activity and proteolytic activity was the highest throughout of ripening for cheese model with LH-B01 culture. The cheese models with the adjunct heat-treated starter were characterized by lower TBC, NSLAB and lower count of Lactococcus genus bacteria during ripening, compared to control cheeses.

Benefits and effectiveness of high pressure processing on cheese: a ricotta case study

Today High Pressure Processing (HPP) is receiving interest thanks to its ability to stabilize foods preserving nutritional and sensorial characteristics. This work applies HPP on nutrient ricottas created in the Parmigiano Reggiano area and demonstrates not only its benefits, but also disadvantages, testing different pressures and packaging. Moreover, the ability of HPP to prolong the lag phase and reduce the maximum growth rate of bacteria is illustrated with a mathematical model. Results show the influence of HPP parameters on microbial growth, volatile organic compounds, syneresis, softness and colour, and demonstrate that not all packaging are suitable for the treatment. Obtained data highlight the effectiveness of HPP, which results the best stabilization method to sell safe and nutritive ricottas on the market with a long shelf life. Of course, the work can be a starting point for food companies who want to test an innovative and promising non-thermal technology.

The Addition of Microencapsulated or Nanoemulsified Bioactive Compounds Influences the Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of a Fresh Cheese

The objective of this study was to compare the effects of the incorporation of microcapsules or nanoemulsions with Opuntiaoligacantha on the quality of fresh cheese. Three treatments were established: Control, cheese with microcapsules (Micro), and cheese with nanoemulsion (Nano). The parameters evaluated were physicochemical (moisture, ash, fat, proteins, and pH), microbiological (mesophilic aerobic bacteria, mold-yeast, and total coliforms), functional (total phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity), and texture (hardness, elasticity, cohesion, and chewiness) during storage for 45 days at 4 °C. The results showed that adding microcapsules and nanoemulsion did not affect the physicochemical parameters of the cheese. Total coliforms decreased in all samples from the first days of storage (Control: 4.23 ± 0.12, Micro: 3.27 ± 0.02, and Nano: 2.68 ± 0.08 Log10 CFU), as well as aerobic mesophiles and mold-yeast counts. Regarding the functional properties, an increase in total phenols was observed in all treatments. The texture profile analysis showed that the addition of microcapsules and nanoemulsion influenced hardness (Control: 8.60 ± 1.12, Micro: 1.61 ± 0.31, and Nano: 3.27 ± 0.37 N). The antimicrobial effect was greater when nanoemulsions were added, while adding microcapsules influenced the antioxidant activity more positively.

Impact of high-pressure treatment on casein micelles, whey proteins, fat globules and enzymes activity in dairy products: a review

The quality and safety of food products are the two factors that most influence the demands made by consumers. Contractual food sterilization and preservation methods often result in unfavorable changes in functional properties of foods. High-pressure processing (HPP) (50-1000 MPa) is a non-thermal preservation technique, which can effectively reduce the activity of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms with minimal impact on the functional and nutritional properties of food. Comprehensive inquires have disclosed the potential profits of HPP as an alternative to heat treatments by affecting the structure of milk components, particularly proteins and fats. The present paper aims to investigate the effects of HPP on milk components including fats, casein, whey proteins, enzymes, and minerals, as well as on the industrial production of milk and dairy products including cheese, yogurt, ice cream, butter, cream, and probiotic dairy products. HPP allows to extend shelf life of products without the use of additives, meeting current consumer demands. The assurance of microbial safety and the production of food products with minimal changes in quality characteristics (organoleptic, nutritional, and rheological properties) are among its main effects. In addition, the nutritional value of HPP-treated dairy products is also preserved.

Influence of Sonication and Taraxacum Officinale Addition on the Antioxidant and Anti-ACE Activity of Protein Extracts from Sous Vide Beef Marinated with Sour Milk and after In Vitro Digestion

The present study assessed the effect of pretreating beef as a raw material for sous vide steak preparation. The pretreatment involved maceration of a batch of meat in sour milk with the simultaneous use of ultrasound (250 or 500 W) as well as the addition of Taraxacum officinale. The biological activity profile of the peptides was assessed in terms of their antioxidant activity and inhibiting activity against angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Changes in the biological activity of peptides under the influence of hydrolysis by gastrointestinal enzymes, i.e., pepsin and pancreatin, were also considered. There was no significant effect of T. officinale addition and sonication of beef batches on the protein content (except for lot S6, after sonication at 500 W as acoustic power and with the addition of dandelion). It was observed that the interaction of maceration in sour milk with simultaneous ultrasound treatment as the initial production step of sous vide beef steak generates the formation of peptides with antioxidant properties. Moreover, peptide formation can be further enhanced by adding dandelion (based on the results of antiradical and chelating activity tests). In addition, the progression of hydrolysis under the influence of gastrointestinal enzymes promotes the release of peptides with antioxidant and anti-ACE activity.