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Special Issue "Food Processing: Chemical Composition, Sensory Quality, and Xenobiotic Evaluation"

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A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2021.

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alberto Angioni
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Guest Editor

Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università degli studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
Interests: fruit; pesticides; fruit quality; agricultural science; postharvest; processing

Dr. Mariateresa Russo
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Guest Editor

Department of Agricultural Science, Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Località Feo di Vito - 89122 Reggio Calabria (RC), Italy
Interests: food safety; food authentication; biomimetic analytical techniques (e-nose, e-tongue)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Processing can affect both the quality and safety of foods and beverages. The technological process can be applied to raw food materials to obtain edible foods, increase shelf life, or modify foods’ structure to obtain new products. Processing influences foods’ chemical composition as well as the bioavailability and bioaccessibility of nutrients and active compounds, modifying their nutritional and safety properties.

This Special Issue aims to collect relevant papers in the field of conventional and innovative food transformation processes focused on the chemical changes produced in the quality, composition, and safety aspects. Newly formed flavor, nutraceutical, or toxic substances, as well as advanced analytical techniques, are of particular interest.

Articles dealing with the chemical characterization of food for industrial processing will also be considered.

Prof. Dr. Alberto Angioni
Assoc. Pro Mariateresa Russo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

foods’ process-induced changes
food chemical composition
xenobiotics
nutritional properties
advanced analytical techniques
aroma
newly formed nutraceuticals

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Food Protein Sterylation: Chemical Reactions between Reactive Amino Acids and Sterol Oxidation Products under Food Processing Conditions

Franks Kamgang Nzekoue

and

Foods 2020, 9(12), 1882; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9121882 - 17 Dec 2020

Abstract

Sterols, especially cholesterol and phytosterols, are important components of food lipids. During food processing, such as heating, sterols, like unsaturated fatty acids, can be oxidized. Protein modification by secondary products of lipid peroxidation has recently been demonstrated in food through a process called lipation. Similarly, this study was performed to assess, for the first time, the possibility of reactions between food proteins and sterol oxidation products in conditions relevant for food processing. Therefore, reaction models consisting of oxysterol (cholesterol 5α,6α-epoxide) and reactive amino acids (arginine, lysine, and methionine) were incubated in various conditions of concentration (0–8 mM), time (0–120 min), and temperature (30–180 °C). The identification of lysine adducts through thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a diode array detector (DAD), and electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry (MS) evidenced a reaction with lysine. Moreover, the HPLC-ESI with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analyses allowed observation of the compound, whose mass to charge ratio m/z 710.5 and fragmentation patterns corresponded to the reaction product [M + H]⁺ between cholesterol-5α,6α-epoxide and the ε-amino-group of N_α-benzoylglycyl-l-lysine. Moreover, kinetic studies between N_α-benzoylglycyl-l-lysine as a model for protein-bound lysine and cholesterol 5α,6α-epoxide were performed, showing that the formation of lysine adducts strongly increases with time, temperature, and oxysterol level. This preliminary study suggests that in conditions commonly reached during food processing, sterol oxidation products could react covalently with protein-bound lysine, causing protein modifications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Processing: Chemical Composition, Sensory Quality, and Xenobiotic Evaluation)

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Open AccessArticle

High-Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography with Pulsed Amperometric Detection (HPAEC–PAD) and Chemometrics for Geographical and Floral Authentication of Honeys from Southern Italy (Calabria region)

and

Foods 2020, 9(11), 1625; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9111625 - 07 Nov 2020

Cited by 1

Abstract

High-performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC–PAD) combined with chemometric analysis was developed to describe, for the first time, the sugar profile of sixty-one honeys of different botanical origin produced in southern Italy (Calabria Region). The principal component and linear discriminant analysis used to describe the variability of sugar data were able to discriminate the honeys according to their botanical origin with a correlation index higher than 90%. For the purpose of the robustness of the conclusions of this study, the analytical advantages of the HPAEC–PAD method have been statistically demonstrated compared to the official Italian HPLC–RI method (Refractive Index detection). Finally, as the characterization of the floral and geographical origin of honey became an important issue due to high consumer demand, 13 acacia honeys originating from Europe and China were studied by using the same method. By chemometric method it was possible to discriminate the different geographical origin with an index of 100%. All results proved the possibility to identify the sugar profile obtained by HPAEC–PAD combined with a robust statistical analysis, as a tool of authentication. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Processing: Chemical Composition, Sensory Quality, and Xenobiotic Evaluation)

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Open AccessArticle

Effects of Industrial Processing on Pesticide Multiresidues Transfer from Raw Tomatoes to Processed Products

and

Foods 2020, 9(10), 1497; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9101497 - 19 Oct 2020

Abstract

Pesticides are broadly used to improve food safety, although they can lead to adverse health effects on consumers. Various food processing approaches, at the industrial or domestic level, have been found to highly reduce the amount of pesticide residues in most food materials. In this work, samples of raw tomatoes were collected directly from the field and processed at the industrial level to produce purée, triple concentrated paste, fine pulp, and diced tomatoes. A multiresidue method based on a modified QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged e Safe) sample preparation, followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis (LC-MS/MS) for the assessment of 116 pesticides residues, was used. The analytical method has been validated according to SANTE indications. The recovery yields ranged from 75.5% to 115.3%, repeatability (RSDr) ranged from 3.4% to 18.3%, while reproducibility (RSD_wR) ranged from 5.4% to 19.8%. The limit of quantifications (LOQs) ranged from 2.35 µg kg⁻¹ for benthiavalicarb to 6.49 µg kg⁻¹ for allethrin. A total of 159 raw tomato samples were collected from the field. The analysis showed the presence of 46 pesticides with azoxystrobin and chlorantraniliprole the most represented. On the other hand, all industrially processed samples showed values ≤ LOD, confirming that post-harvest processes can lead to a decrease in pesticide residues from agricultural commodities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Processing: Chemical Composition, Sensory Quality, and Xenobiotic Evaluation)

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Open AccessArticle

Influence of the Technological Process on the Biochemical Composition of Fresh Roe and Bottarga from Liza ramada and Mugil cephalus

and

Foods 2020, 9(10), 1408; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9101408 - 04 Oct 2020

Abstract

Bottarga is a high-priced delicacy with high nutritional value, and, in Italy, bottarga from mullets has been recognized to be a traditional food product. The flathead grey mullet Mugil cephalus and the thinlip grey mullet Liza ramada are the main cultured grey mullets in the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, fresh roe and bottarga from these two species were investigated to evaluate the influence of the technological process and the species on their biochemical composition and health advantages. The 1 h/200 g salting-out step did not increase the levels of NaCl in the bottarga, although it highly decreased the levels of some heavy metals like Cu and Al. Processing of fresh roe in bottarga led to an essential modification of the lipid fraction, following a general series of monousatturated fatty acid (MUFA)> poliunsutturated fatti acid (PUFA) > saturated fatty acid (SAFA) and an increase in both ω3 and ω6 in Liza ramada. Moreover, bottarga showed higher levels of squalene and cholesterol and an increased Essential Amino Acid/Total Amino Acid ratio (EAA/TAA) in both species. In addition to the nutritional benefits for the consumer, the process proposed in this study may represent a reliable tool for local producers to obtain a final bottarga with both a reproducible biochemical composition and organoleptic characteristics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Processing: Chemical Composition, Sensory Quality, and Xenobiotic Evaluation)

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Open AccessArticle

Characterization of Local Products for Their Industrial Use: The Case of Italian Potato Cultivars Analyzed by Untargeted and Targeted Methodologies

Cristina Santarcangelo

Alessandra Baldi

Maria Daglia

and

Luisa Mannina

Foods 2020, 9(9), 1216; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9091216 - 02 Sep 2020

Cited by 1

Abstract

The chemical characterization of local Italian potato cultivars is reported to promote their preservation and use as high quality raw material in food industries. Twenty potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars from Piedmont and Liguria Italian regions were investigated using NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and RP-HPLC-PDA-ESI-MSn (Reversed Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Photodiode Array Detector and Electrospray Ionization Mass Detector) methodologies. Water soluble and lipophilic metabolites were identified and quantified. With respect to literature data, a more complete ¹H (protonic) spectral assignment of the aqueous potato extracts was reported, whereas the ¹H NMR assignment of potato organic extracts was reported here for the first time. Phenolics resulted to be in high concentrations in the purple–blue colored Rouge des Flandres, Bergerac, Fleur Bleu, and Blue Star cultivars. Servane, Piatlina, and Malou showed the highest amount of galacturonic acid, a marker of pectin presence, whereas Jelly cultivar was characterized by high levels of monosaccharides. Roseval and Rubra Spes contained high levels of citric acid involved in the inhibition of the enzymatic browning in fresh-cut potato. High levels of the amino acids involved in the formation of pleasant-smell volatile compounds during potato cooking were detected in Rouge des Flandres, Blue Star, Bergerac, Roseval, and Ratte cultivars. These results suggest that each local cultivar is characterized by a proper chemical profile related to specific proprieties that can be useful to obtain high quality industrial products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Processing: Chemical Composition, Sensory Quality, and Xenobiotic Evaluation)

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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: 1. Effect of the salting out process on the nutraceutical composition of Liza ramada and Mugil cephalus fresh roe during bottarga processing.
Authors: Francesco Corrias; Alberto Angioni
Affiliation: University of Cagliari.

Title: Influence of different ageing technologies on the volatile profile composition of Carignano CV red wine, in Sardinia.
Authors: Alberto Angioni
Affiliation: University of Cagliari

Title: Effect of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) processing on the shelf-life and chemical composition of fresh sea urchin gonads
Authors: Valentina Coroneo; Alberto Angioni
Affiliation: University of Cagliari

Title: Impact of the industrial processing of Solanum lycopersicum on pesticide residues amounts by QuEChERS – UHPLC-MS/MS analysis
Authors: Alberto Angioni
Affiliation: University of Cagliari

Title: Opening studies on the chemical reaction in food between oxysterols/oxyphytosterols and proteins
Authors: Gianni Sagratini; Michael Hellwig
Affiliation: FH Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences.

Title: Characterization of local products for industrial use: the case of local potato cultivars analysed by untargeted and targeted methodologies
Authors: Luisa Mannina
Affiliation: University of Sapienza

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Special Issue "Food Processing: Chemical Composition, Sensory Quality, and Xenobiotic Evaluation"

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