Current Nutrition & Food Science - Volume 10, Issue 2, 2014

Probiotics have been defined as “living microorganisms, which upon ingestion exert health benefits beyond inherent general nutrition”. Prebiotics are defined as short-chain carbohydrates, which are not digested by enzymes in the digestive system, which selectively stimulate the growth and activities of specific bacteria in the gut. Nano particles Ag and TiO2 have been shown to have wide applications in medicine and food industry. We investigated the antimicrobial activity of Ag and TiO2 nano particles on three species of Lactobacillus i.e. L. casei ATCC 39392, L. plantarum ATCC 8014 and L. fermentum ATCC 9338 in the presence and absence of Raffinose, Lactulose and Inulin, respectively. Result showed that nano silver particles decreased 85%, 85% and 71% of L. casei, L. plantarum and L. fermentum respectively after 48 hour and decreased percentages of L. casei, L. plantarum and L. fermentum that were 16%, 64% and 4% in the presence of the prebiotics and nano TiO2 particles decreased 59%, 85% and 61% number of L. casei, L. plantarum and L. fermentum, respectively after 48 h and decreased percentages of L. casei, L. plantarum and L. fermentum were 16% and 2% and 4% in the presence of these prebiotics.

A global recession, along with highly increased food prices in many countries in unregenerate manner, have caused some 100 million more people than last year suffering from silent hunger and poverty that would leave the world extremely vulnerable. The global food crisis potentially imposes a serious risk towards world peace and security.

The crop production however will have to be dramatically increased to meet the need. The ability of biotechnology to act as a tool to assist in solving the issue is far from being fully exploited.

Low crops production is considered to be the main reason for poverty and food insecurity in the world. High percentage of poor and food insecure people are living in developing countries and in rural aereas. Therefore, biotechnology can:1) increase the crops yield through introducing high-yielding varieties resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses; 2) reduce pest–associated losses; and 3) increase the nutritional values of foods which is a very important factor in rural areas or developing countries. Furthermore, in order to reduce or eliminate food insecurity, postharvest approach in wasting less is of a vital strategy to supplement increasing food productivity. Hence, the environmental issues in supplying safe and nutritious foods in a sustainable manner should be taken into account.

Biotechnology research and development have already produced significant products on the market, and will further have a pivotal role to play in encouraging and enhancing food production, considering the safety and environmental quality. Although the major concern being the safety and potential impact of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on human health, the future of biotech crops looks encouraging as the global area of biotech crops continue to increase yearly and commercialization of drought tolerant maize and Golden Rice are expected in 2013/2014. Thus, biotech crops could possibly contribute in accomplishing the 2015 Millennium Development Goal particularly in reducing poverty by half through maximizing crop productivity.

Microorganisms play a vital role in sustaining soil health and productivity, in the process of plant biomass conversion to produce both food and fuel, and in the production of novel foods and feeds mainly by fermentation.

This review discussed the current trends and future perspectives on how biotechnology and genetic engineering can help us to provide safe and secure food and can act as a valuable tool to reduce poverty.

Marine pollution monitoring is important for food bio-safety as well as the conservation of the environment. The green mussel, Perna viridis has previously been used as an eco-sentinel organism in marine pollution monitoring. In this study the byssogenesis of P. viridis was used as a biomarker during an in vivo study. Fifteen P. viridis were exposed for 14 days in filtered seawater to metal mixtures of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) containing 0.008, 0.04, 0.2, 1, 5 mg/l of each metal for 14 days. The results showed that Pb and Cd residues in the mussel tissue were proportional to the metal concentration in water. Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s Multiple Comparison tests were used to assess the effects of metal exposure on the production of byssus. The test results showed that the byssus production in 0.2 and 1 mg/l treatments was significantly different from controls (p < 0.05). Backward elimination regression was used to discern the role of Pb and Cd in the byssus productions. The regression demonstrated that Pb played a more important role than Cd in terms of byssogenesis. The study suggested that the byssogenesis production of P. viridis has potential to be used in biomarker studies.

This study aimed to examine the efficacy of zeolite addition in the reduction of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) levels in household bread waste used as animal feed. Three levels of zeolite (1, 3 and 5%) were added to two dry bread waste samples naturally contaminated by AFB1 at 11.48 and 4.8 ppm levels. Samples were then analyzed before zeolite treatment (day 0) and after 7 and 14 days of storage for chemical (pH, moisture content and ash) and microbial (mesophilic bacteria and molds) changes as well as aflatoxin levels relative to the control. Data analysis showed that aflatoxin levels significantly decreased as zeolite and storage time increased, so that the lowest level of aflatoxin was found in sample treated with 5% zeolite after 14 days of storage compared with the control (p<0.05). Such a trend was also observed in bacterial and mold counts. However, storage time had less effect than zeolite. Chemical analyses of bread samples exhibited significant increases in pH values and corresponding decreases in moisture and ash contents in all storage time points compared with the control. These findings suggest zeolite addition as a viable method of reduction of AFB1 levels in household bread waste used as animal feed.

The aim of this work was to develop products derived from fruits enriched with inulin, which is a carbohydrate seen as a functional or nutraceutical nutrient, consisting of fructose, found naturally in various vegetables, such as the Jerusalem artichoke.

The first step of this work was to obtain fruit juices as well as compotes with inulin from Jerusalem artichoke. The second part of the work included the determination of some chemical, microbiological and sensorial analyses to the products.After one month of storage, the products were submitted to all the analyses again, to assure their stability.

The results obtained allowed concluding that the products prepared could be considered as functional foods due to the high content of inulin and low percentage of fructose that they contained.

Enzymatic hydrolysis of food proteins is a common method for the production of bioactive peptides. The peptides generated have novel physico-chemical properties which affect functionality. Current knowledge on the functionality of milk protein hydrolysates at emulsion and foam interfaces is reviewed. The hydrolysis parameters exerting an impact on the ability of milk proteins to form and stabilize food colloidal structures are discussed. Recent findings indicate that modification of milk proteins via enzymatic hydrolysis could be beneficial in terms of peptide functionality at interfaces, provided that the process is carefully controlled. Depending on the parental protein the extent of hydrolysis, pH and the choice of a suitable enzyme are the most important factors, which singly or in combination, need to be taken into account for achieving optimum functionality. Failure to optimize the level of protein modification can have detrimental effects with respect to peptide adsorption and emulsion or foam stability.

Emblica officinalis Gaertn or Phyllanthus emblica Linn, colloquially known as the Indian gooseberry or amla, is an important medicinal plant in the Indian traditional system of medicine, the Ayurveda and is classified as a Hrudya which when translated means cardiotonic drug. Numerous preclinical studies with laboratory animals have shown that amla does possess cardioprotective and anticoagulant effects and is useful in delaying/preventing/ reducing experimentally induced cardiotoxicity, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, hypertension and reducing ischemic-reperfusion injury. The pleiotropic effect of amla is believed to be due to the presence of various phytochemicals and studies have shown that the tannoids (emblicanin-A and –B), gallic acid, ellagic acid and corilagin also possess cardioprotective properties. Additionally, clinical studies have also shown that the regular intake of amla was effective in reducing the cholesterol levels and the effect to be similar to that of the conventionally used HMG CoA reductase inhibitor, simvastatin. Recent studies have also shown that amla improves endothelial function and reduced biomarkers of oxidative stress and systemic inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This review for the first time summarizes the results related to these properties and also emphasizes the aspects that warrant future research to establish its activity and utility as a cardioprotective/cardiotonic therapeutic drug in humans.

The main objective of the presented research was to perform pollen analysis in seven kinds of honey taken in South-West region of Poland and measure total phenol amounts as well as antiradical, antibacterial and antifungal activities of these honeys.

Phenolic compounds were investigated with the colorimetric method using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, antiradical activity was determined using DPPH radical and antimicrobial features was studied with the disc-diffusion method.

Three kinds of honey were determined as monofloral, rape honey, three as multifloral, and one as honeydew.

The antiradical activity of honeys was small and the decrease of absorbency of samples during 24 hours was 0,102±0,0062 to 0,427±0,042 and positively correlated with the total amount of phenolic compounds in these honeys.

No honey exhibited antifungal activity. Three honeys possessed no antibacterial activity and four showed some antibacterial features against some species of bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922.

In conclusion, the antiradical activity of the honey from South-West region of Poland was very low which positively correlated with the small amount of phenolic compounds. A positive correlation was observed between antibacterial activity of honey and total phenol content.

Forty five milk producers (MP) and 45 street-vendors (SV) of milk were selected randomly from three locations (Kotebe, Bishoftu and Chancho), Ethiopia and interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 30 samples purposively selected from MP (15) and SV (15) were used for milk quality determinations. Milk producers in the study area generally followed unhygienic milking and improper milk handling practices. Average total bacterial (TBC) and coliform counts (CC) of milk from SV were 8.69 + 0.15 and 6.61 + 0.16 log10 cfu/ml and from MP the corresponding values were 6.98 + 0.15 and 4.88 + 0.16 log10 cfu/ml, respectively. TBC and CC of milk samples obtained from street-vendors were significantly (P < 0.05) higher (1.71 and 1.73 log units, respectively) than milk samples obtained from dairy farmers. Dominant microflora isolated from raw milk belonged to the genera Bacillus (11.7%), Micrococcus (8.3%), Pseudomonas (7.8%), Staphylococcus (24.4%), Streptococcus (5%) and family Enterobacteriaceae (lactose- (32.8%) and non-lactose fermentative (10%)). The results showed poor hygienic quality of milk that may pose public health hazards. This calls for milk quality and safety improvement in the study area.