Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

Heidebach, Thomas; Först, Petra; Kulozik, Ulrich

doi: 10.1080/10408398.2010.499801pmid: 22332594

The addition of microencapsulated probiotic cells to food products is a relatively new functional food concept. Most of the published scientific research in this field is not older than ten years. However, the technological background reaches back to the 1980s, where lactic acid bacteria were microencapsulated within the concept of the so-called immobilized cell technology (ICT). Target applications of ICT were continuous fermentation processes and improved biomass production. The methods adopted from immobilized cell technology were applied for the microencapsulation of probiotics, often optimized towards specific requirements associated with the protection of probiotic cells in food applications. However, there are still significant hurdles with respect to currently available methods for probiotic cell microencapsulation. This is mainly due to the fact that important characteristics of microcapsules based on ICT appear to be in conflict with the requirements arising from an application of probiotic microcapsules in food products, with particle size and inappropriate matrix characteristics being the most prominent ones. Based on this situation the aim of this review is to give a critical overview of the current approaches regarding the microencapsulation of probiotic cells for food applications and to report on emerging developments.

Patil, Rajaram P.; Pai, Sandeep R.; Pawar, Nilesh V.; Shimpale, Vinod B.; Patil, Rakesh M.; Nimbalkar, Mansingraj S.

doi: 10.1080/10408398.2010.500227pmid: 22332595

Diversity needs to be “conserved through use.” Owing to the global need, the present study includes two underutilized berries, Carissa carandus and Eleagnus conferta, to explore their potential as supplementary food by evaluating their antioxidant activity and approximate chemical composition. Berries of E. conferta are a richer source of carotene, ascorbic acid, protein, and magnesium, whereas berries of C. carandus are rich in sugars, lipids, iron, and magnesium. The antioxidant properties of the berries and a comparative account on their performance using DPPH and FRAP assay was studied. Both assays revealed high activity in the peel extract of berries of C. carandus. The LC-MS/MS profile of C. carandus reveals the presence of eleven different polyphenolic compounds while E. conferta had only four of these compounds.

Nagpal, R.; Behare, P. V.; Kumar, M.; Mohania, D.; Yadav, M.; Jain, S.; Menon, S.; Parkash, O.; Marotta, F.; Minelli, E.; Henry, C. J.K.; Yadav, H.

doi: 10.1080/10408398.2010.500231pmid:

Banerjee, Soumya; Bhattacharya, Suvendu

doi: 10.1080/10408398.2010.500234pmid: 22332597

Food gels are viscoelastic substances and several gelled products are manufactured throughout the world. The gelling agents in foods are usually polysaccharides and proteins. In food gels, the polymer molecules are not cross-linked by covalent bonds with the exception of disulphide bonds in some protein gels. Instead, the molecules are held together by a combination of weak inter-molecular forces like hydrogen bonds, electrostatic forces, Van der Waals forces, and hydrophobic interactions. Polysaccharides including hydrocolloids are strongly hydrated in aqueous medium but they tend to have less ordered structures. The mechanism of gelation depends on the nature of the gelling agent(s) and on the conditions of gel formation like the temperature, the presence of ions, the pH, and the concentration of gelling agents, etc. Characterization of gels can be performed in several ways of which rheological measurements are frequently practiced. Multi-component or mixed gel system is an important area of interest in which two or more gelling components are simultaneously used to achieve certain specific structural and functional characteristics. We here discuss about the different gels and gelling agents, the characterization of gels, and the mechanism of gelation with an emphasis on mixed or multi-component gels that would have significant commercial applications.

Akin, Oğuz; Temelli, Feral; Köseoğlu, Sefa

doi: 10.1080/10408398.2010.500240pmid: 22332598

The functional foods and nutraceuticals market is growing at a rapid pace. Membrane processing offers several advantages over conventional methods for separation, fractionation, and recovery of those bioactive components. In this review, membrane applications of lipid-, carbohydrate-, and protein-based nutraceuticals and some minor bioactive components have been critically evaluated. Both non-porous and porous membranes were employed for lipid-based nutraceuticals separations. The use of non-porous membranes together with non-aqueous solvents brought about the impact of solution-diffusion theory on transport through membranes. Both organic and inorganic membranes gave encouraging results for the recovery of lipid components with single- and/or multi-stage membrane processing. Two-stage ultrafiltration (UF)–nanofiltration (NF) systems with polymeric membranes provided an efficient approach for the removal of high- and low-molecular weight (MW) unwanted components resulting in higher purity oligosaccharides in the NF retentate. The charged nature of protein-based nutraceutical components had a major effect on their separation. Operating at optimizal pH levels was critical for fractionation, especially for low MW peptide hydrolysates. Processing of minor components such as polyphenols, utilized all types of porous membranes from prefiltration to concentration stages. Coupling of membrane separation and supercritical fluid technologies would combine unique advantages of each process resulting in a novel separation technology offering great potential for the nutraceutical and functional food industry.