Recent Patents on Food, Nutrition & Agriculture - Volume 8, Issue 3, 2016

Background: Breastfeeding is the best way to provide ideal food for infants. However, there are many situations in which breastfeeding is unviable (maternal illness, hygiene problems, intravenous feeding requirement, storage). Safe, efficient, and nutritious products should be offered by the industry to mothers and healthcare professionals as an alternative. Objective: The present review aims to update the state of the art regarding the most innovative developments in infant feeding formulation and, the promising novel technologies that are being investigated to achieve a balance between the microbiological stability, organoleptic and nutritional value of baby food. Methods: The research lines included in the present systematic review are focused on both, the most innovative ingredients and emergent technologies applied increasing the offer of tailor-made nutritional profiled products with improved quality and safety. Results: According to the reviewed research and recently published patents the current emergence of a new generation of infant products is remarkable, with specific product lines aimed at infants at different stages of development and affected by several disorders (low-weight babies, premature neonates, allergenic patients), with special emphasis on the application of novel technologies (e.g. High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) and microencapsulation) as potential techniques to ensure the microbiological safety of developed products, and the improvement of their nutritional value, complementary to the addition of functional ingredients, such as omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, amino acids, prebiotics and probiotics, and medicinal herb supplementation (e.g. lemon balm, royal jelly). Conclusion: The present research work provides a general view of recent advances in infant products processing and formulation focusing on the technological effects and quality/safety developments.

Background: Lipids are biomolecules with interesting structural variability. They are involved in many processes such as the storage of energy, in nutrition and are also of relevance for signal transduction processes, in apoptosis, cell differentiation and phagocytosis, etc. Macroalgae and microalgae are a promising and very diverse group of organisms. These living arganisms inhabit a vaste range of ecosystems from the Antarctic to the Deserts. They account for above half the primary productivity at the base of the food chain because of their multiple nutritional products including, for instance, lipids. Results: Recently, studies on the oleaginous algae encompass their uses for commercial exploitations with applications ranging from human health food, animal feed, aquaculture, nutraceutical, biofuels and others. In this article, updated knowledge of lipids and recent research studies for algae's valorization performed by several authors were reviewed. Special attention was paid to lipids accumulation and their characterization. Conclusion: The selection of the prominent species of algae will be of great importance to satisfy the corresponding valorization process. Patents identified with algal lipids composition, production and application are presented.

Background: Species identification and authentication in meat products are important subjects for ensuring the health of consumers. The multiplex-PCR amplification and species– specific primer set were used for the identification of horse, donkey, pig and other ruminants in raw and processed meat products. Methods: Oligonucleotid primers were designed and patented for amplification of species-specific mitochondrial DNA sequences of each species and samples were prepared from binary meat mixtures. Results: The results showed that meat species were accurately determined in all combinations by multiplex-PCR, and the sensitivity of this method was 0.001 ng, rendering this technique open to and suitable for use in industrial meat products. It is concluded that more fraud is seen in lower percentage industrial meat products than in higher percentage ones. There was also more fraud found in processed products than in raw ones. Conclusion: This rapid and useful test is recommended for quality control firms for applying more rigorous controls over industrial meat products, for the benefit of target consumers.

Background: Using antioxidant diets may be a good strategy for the inhibition of oxidative stress connected to age-related disease. Saffron is a dried stigma of with antioxidant properties. This investigation was done to study the effects of saffron administration on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in female aged rats. Methods: The rats were treated with the ethanolic extract of saffron for 4 weeks. At the end of our investigation, the hippocampi of rats were removed. The homogenate was used for the evaluation of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxides (GPx), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH). There are recent patents also suggesting the use of saffron and its gradients for prevention of oxidative stress in aged tissues. Result: The results showed that the aging was connected with a significant reduction in the activities of antioxidant enzymes, and an increase in MDA and nitric oxide levels in the hippocampus of aged rats. In addition, treatment of saffron was effective in reducing hippocampus MDA and NO levels and in increasing the antioxidant status. There is a possibility that saffron extract acts as a hormetin by inducing mild oxidative damage which leads to the activation of antioxidative enzymes. Conclusion: Therefore, saffron exerted considerable neuroprotective effect and proved to be efficacious in protecting rat hippocampus against age-related oxidative damage.

Background: The presence of anti-nutrients and toxins like phorbol esters in Jatropha curcas seed cake (JSC) limits its application in feeds. This study was done to assess the potential of detoxified JSC as rat feed. Methods: The rats were fed a diet containing 0-5 and 10% of detoxified fermented JSC for four weeks. For the group I, only casein diet was used in rat feed as a negative control. For the group II, untreated JSC was used in rat feed as a positive control. For the group III, fermented JSC using Saccharomyces cerevisiae MTCC-36 was used. For the group IV, the fermented JSC treated with 65% ethanol to remove the residual toxic phorbol esters was used as rat feed. Results: The rats fed with untreated JSC showed increased levels of serum liver enzymes as an indication of the onset of liver disease resulting in mortality. In this group, rats died in week 2, confirming that the cake is not safe as feed until it is processed. The rats fed with detoxified JSC with 5 and 10% level survived with no adverse effects, and the performance was on par with the control groups, although the body weight was slightly less compared to control. Conclusion: Therefore, it was concluded that the detoxified JSC might be the potential and alternative source of protein in the animal feedstuffs up to 10% level. There are recent patents also suggesting the use of alternative feed supplements in the animal feed applications.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of growing of algae Ulva lactuca L under different salinity levels coupled with varied KNO3 concentrations (source of N) as a potential source of oil for biodiesel production. Methods: U. lactuta was cultured in 10.0% NaCl coupled with either 2.5 g/L (S1+ 1N) or 1.0 g/L KNO3 (S1+ 2N) and in 30.0% NaCl coupled with 2.5 g/L (S2+ 1N) or 1.0 g/L KNO3 (S2+ 2N) nutrient medium. Among all algae cultures, biomass (dry weight) and lipid accumulation (total lipid content, TL) were significantly different (P>0.5%), with various degrees. The TL was increased (8.21% to 15.95%, g/100g) by increasing the NaCl % (from 10% to 30%) coupled with the depletion of KNO3 level (from 2.5% to 1%) in culture medium. High lipid content (15.95%) was obtained in S2+ 2N culture, this lipid showed physical (density, viscosity and average molecular weight) and chemical (iodine, acid, saponification and peroxide values) properties suitable for biodiesel production. Results: The fatty acid methyl esters (FAME, biodiesel) prepared by trans-esterifiction reaction under acidic condition were mainly composed of saturated (50.33%), monounsaturated (MUFA, 36.12%) and polyunsaturated (13.55%) esters. C-18:1 was found to be the main MUFA, representing 25.76% of total FAME. On the other hand, the values of some critical of physiochemical parameter (density, kinematic viscosity, iodine value, acid value and oxidation stability) of biodiesel were found to meet the standards for a high quality biodiesel. Conclusion: Hence, U. lactuta could be serving as a valuable renewable biomass of oil for biodiesel production. There are recent patents also suggesting use of oil of U. lactuta marine biomass for biodiesel production.