The development of food products using composite flour has increased and is attracting much attention from researchers, especially in the production of bakery products and pastries. This article focuses on the use of composite flour to produce food products, namely bread, biscuits, and pasta, with looks at on its impact, following some improvements made, on the sensory quality, rheology characteristics, and nutritional values as well as its overall acceptance. The blending of wheat flour with various sources of tubers, legumes, cereals and fruit flour in different percentages to produce variety of food products are also reported in this review. It was found that composite flour used to produce food products is still able to maintain similar characteristics to products made from full-wheat flour. The positive effects of the use of composite flour can be seen in the final product related to the functional and physicochemical properties and health benefits of raw blended flour along with percentage blending. Overall, composite flour is a good new approach to utilizing uncommon food products as the application of composite flour produced products with different characteristics and quality, depending on the types and percentage of wheat flour used in the formulation.
Diacylglycerol at 1 or 6% was added into refined bleached and deodorized palm oil (RBDPO) and crystallized from the melt in a thermally controlled water bath at 22°C for 90 min. Slurries were withdrawn after 5, 15, 30, 60 and 90 min of crystallization for solid fat content (SFC) and crystal morphology studies. Crystallization was also performed in a similar manner using a Labmax reactor connected to a FBRM detector to obtain the information on crystal count and size distribution during crystallization. SFC of the slurries increased with increase in crystallization time up to a certain level followed by a plateau. SFC of RBDPO added with DAG was also higher with the increase in percentage of DAG added and no induction time was observed to initiate crystallization in RBDPO added with DAG. The addition of DAG caused rapid crystallization of RBDPO as observed by enhance nucleation and larger crystal size with increase in the percentages of DAG added.
The advantage of cooking cannot be summarized just as the better food digestion. Some investigations showed the effect of cooking on reduction of food anti-nutrients such as oxalate. This study was aimed to determine the effect of cooking on oxalate content and its negative effects on calcium availability in eight Malaysian soy-based dishes. Since there is few data which examined the effects of cooking on food oxalate content globally, thus this study was designed as the first in Malaysia. Oxalate in this research was analyzed by using enzymatic methods, while calcium content was determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The oxalate concentration was in the range of 6.43-19.40 mg/100 g for whole cooked samples, 9.03-11.90 mg/100 g for raw soy products, and 4.36-7.99 mg/100 g for cooked ones. There were 5 out of 12 samples containing oxalate, which was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in cooked products compared to the raw ones. The rest of the samples were also lower in oxalate but not significantly different (p > 0.05). Oxalate in raw/cooked fermented soy products (tempeh) was slightly lower compared to the non-fermented ones. However, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in oxalate amount between fermented and non-fermented soy products. As Oxalate/Calcium ratio was below 1, oxalate did not have an effect on availability of calcium in the studied samples. Optimal cooking and food processing might be effective in reducing oxalate content in soy products. There is a need for more investigations about the effect of cooking on soy products to confirm the present results.
Proximate, functional and pasting properties of a new variety of sweet potato, VitAto, flour, known for its high vitamin A contents, were compared with two other commercial sweet potatoes, Bukit Naga and Okinawan, flour available in Malaysia. The recoveries of each sweet potato from milling were not significantly different at about 20% but in proximate analysis, the VitAto presented the highest protein (5.7%) and dietary fiber (14.8%) contents with more energy 399.6 kcal/100 g produced. The VitAto flour has average particle size of 132.04 μm. The pasting temperature of the VitAto flour was 65oC, with highest setback and trough viscosity values of 530.90 and 197.20 mPa.s, respectively. The flour is classified as easy flowing and stable powders. This study provides information which helps in the handling, packing and storage of sweet potato flours. It also shows that the VitAto flour has an array of functional, pasting and proximate properties that can facilitate its uses in many areas with better nutritional properties.
Pectin is a heterogeneous branched polysaccharide with complex structure. Microwave-assisted
extraction (MAE) is more efficient in extracting pectin compared to conventional method. The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of microwave-assisted pectin extraction against conventional extraction method. This study was also to investigate the effect of power level on yield and quality of extracted pectin from jackfruit rinds. Water-based extraction method was performed with the extraction duration for conventional extraction and MAE were 1 h and 10 min, respectively. The temperature of conventional extraction was set at 90°C and the power levels of MAE were 450 W, 600 W and 800 W. High yield of pectin was obtained from conventional extraction (14.59%) and MAE (16.72-17.63%). All quality characteristics determined were found to be insignificant different for pectin extracted from both conventional extraction and MAE except moisture and ash content. Increase in microwave power did not affect yield and quality characteristics of pectin from jackfruit rinds significantly. In conclusion, MAE requires shorter time than conventional extraction in extracting comparable amount and quality of pectin from jackfruit rinds. Microwave-assisted extraction at 450 W was the most effective and economic extraction condition among the different power levels tested.
Nutritive qualities of patties prepared from chicken, beef and oyster mushroom were determined. Three groups of rats were fed with patty diets prepared with either a combination of 75% chicken + 25% oyster mushroom (CMP) or 75% beef + 25% oyster mushroom (BMP) or 100% chicken patty + 0% oyster mushroom (CP). There was no significant difference (P < 0.05) in total tryglyceride (0.3-0.5 mmol/L), total cholesterol (1.7-1.9 mmol/L) LDL-cholesterol (0.3-0.4 mmol/L) and HDL-cholesterol (1.2-1.4 mmol/L) for all groups except for protein free. Protein effeciency ratio (PER) values of CMP and BMP groups were significantly lower than casein group but significantly higher than chicken patty (CP) group. Both CMP and BMP fed groups recorded PER values at 1.73 and 1.69 while CP had PER value at 1.52. The AD of rats fed with CMP, BMP and CP diets were closely ranged from 98.3-98.9% but not significant as compared to casein diet group (98.5%). The close AD values between CMP, BMP and CP indicated that the mixture of patty protein from either chicken or beef with protein of oyster mushroom did not affect digestibility aspect. In summary, addition of oyster mushroom into either chicken or beef patties did not changed AD but improved PER value, thus proving that oyster mushroom could be used as an alternative ingredient to replace meat partially in the making of patties.
In current work, the nutritional composition, bioactive compounds, total phenolic contents and anti-oxidant activity of young Malaysian ginger rhizome were investigated. Proximate analysis and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) recruited to determine nutritional composition and bioactive compounds. The total flavonoid (TF) and total phenolic contents (TPC) of ginger rhizome were determined by aluminium chloride calorimetric assay and Folin-Ciocalteau reagent, respectively. 2,2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method were used to measure antioxidant capacity. The rhizome contained high moisture content and low level of carbohydrate and energy. 6-gingerol was the most abundant component in the selected ginger, and total flavonoid and phenolic content were reported to be 3.66±0.45 mg gallic acid/g and 10.22±0.87 mg quercetin/g of dry weight of rhizome, respectively. The rhizome also showed lower antioxidant activity than controls, with the IC 50 value of 46.5 vs. 15.5 for α-tocopherol and 22 for BHT. The results of this study predicted that the young ginger rhizome originated from Malaysia may exhibit anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory potentials due to high levels of gingerols, total flavonoid and phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity.
This study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of fruit waste materials as source of natural antioxidant. The fruit peels including mango, guava and papaya peel were used in this study. The total phenolic content (TPC) was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu assay while antioxidant activities were determined by using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging, ferric thiocynate (FTC) and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) assays. These antioxidant activities were compared to synthetic antioxidants, BHA/BHT combination and ascorbic acid. The results demonstrated that TPC ranged from 3.23 to 15.84 g GAE/100 g extract. Mango peels extract exhibited highest TPC compared to guava peel and papaya peel extract. In the FRAP assay, mango peel extract at 200 ppm, guava peel extract at 400 ppm and papaya peel extract at 1200 ppm, exhibited reducing power comparable to the permissible amount of BHA/BHT at 200 ppm. At concentration of 250 μg/ml, the DPPH radical scavenging activity of extracts and standards decreased significantly in the order of mango peel extract > guava peel extract > BHA/BHT > ascorbic acid > papaya peel extract. For the FTC assay, the antioxidant activity of mango peel extract was significantly higher than ascorbic acid, guava peel and papaya peel extract but lower than BHA/BHT while in the TBA assay, percentage inhibition of BHA/BHT and ascorbic acid were found to be higher than fruit peel extracts. The quantitative analysis for flavonoids showed the presence of catechin, epicatechin and kaempferol in the peel extracts.
The impacts on both rheological parameters; Casson yield stress and Casson viscosity were determined. The interactions among blend’s components; xanthan gum (XG), corn starch (CS), glycerin (GL) and their relationship with both flow parameters were also investigated by using D-Optimal mixture design. Three levels of cocoa butter substitution assigned in chocolate production were at 5%, 10% and 15% level with random proportions of each component generated by Design Expert software. An appropriate mathematical model was applied to evaluate each response as a function of the proportions of the components enabling in prediction of future response by using any blend of components. As the incorporation of the blends (XG/CS/GL) in chocolate production was elevated from 5% to 15%, both parameters; viscosity and yield stress of chocolate were gradually increased, as in range 7.819 to 10.529 Pa, and 2.372 to 3.727 Pa.s, respectively. Neither binary nor ternary component-component interaction exhibited synergistic effect. Nevertheless, strongest antagonistic effect on both rheological parameters of substituted chocolate at 5% level and 10% level were respectively observed at ternary interaction region for the former, and at binary interaction area of CS:GL, closer to CS corner as for the latter. This study somehow provides ideas on how component-component interactions influence experimented response.
The aim of this work is to study the effect of hydrocolloids; guar gum (GG), xanthan gum (XG) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) on the physicochemical properties, microbiological quality and sensory properties in order to investigate the potential of applying fermented cassava (tapai ubi) in ice cream. Fermented cassava ice cream (FCI) incorporated with the three types of hydrocolloid was prepared and the protein content, pH value, overrun, colour, hardness, microstructure, FTIR spectrum and sensory acceptance of all samples were determined. Fermented cassava ice cream incorporated with XG showed the highest protein content (14.88%), pH value (pH 6.07), and overrun value (4.27%) as compared to the fermented cassava ice cream incorporated with GG and CMC. Meanwhile, ice cream incorporated with GG possessed the highest L* (94.43) and hardness (3693.15 g) value as compared to XG and CMC. The microstructure study showed that the difference in uniformity at the interface obtained with different types of the hydrocolloids added demonstrated the effect of fat absorption at the air interfaces. The FTIR spectrum investigated indicated that the addition of the fermented cassava to FCI had increased the OH group in the ice cream as compared to the control. All samples were microbial safe as the total plate counts in all samples were below the standard as prescribed in Food Act 1983 with no presence of E. coli . In conclusion, fermented cassava ice cream with XG showed the good quality in terms of its pH value, overrun, total plate count and overall acceptability.
The aim of this work is to study the effect of hydrocolloids (guar gum, xanthan gum and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) on the physical properties and sensory evaluation of ice cream produced in order to investigate the potential of applying fermented glutinous rice (tapai pulut) as a value-added ingredient. The addition of 25% fermented glutinous rice was the most reliable amount to enhance the physical and sensory properties of ice cream when incorporating hydrocolloids. The addition of hydrocolloids significantly (p < 0.05) increased the pH, firmness, overrun, and melting rate of fermented glutinous rice ice cream. The addition of guar gum scored the highest firmness value (5403 g) followed by CMC (4630 g) and xanthan gum (3481g). Fermented glutinous rice ice cream with xanthan gum added, induced a noticeable change in overrun value (62%) while the addition of CMC decreased the melting rate compared to the control. The FTIR spectrum of fermented glutinous rice ice cream with different hydrocolloids containing carboxyl, amide and carbonyl group was appeared at 3362-3379 cm-1 , 1639-1640 cm-1 and 1026-1064 cm-1, respectively. In conclusion, the addition of xanthan gum presented great potential to improve the quality of fermented glutinous rice ice cream produced in terms of its firmness, overrun and melting rate.
Athletes are a special group of consumers whose specific diet requirement is important during training and competition to ensure their success. As commercial foodservice establishments are increasing involved in providing foods to this group of consumers on one hand and the lack of research investigating the athletes’ dining satisfaction, especially meeting their diet requirement on the other hand, this study was conducted to investigate the influence of nutritional factors in athletes’ dining satisfaction and the acceptance of various foods provided in an international sporting event. Following a stratified random sampling, 700 athletes were selected from the entire population of 1330 participants. The final usable sample size was 450 (64.3% response rate). Regression analysis revealed that overall service, overall food quality, grooming of server, and nutritional information tag significantly influence the overall dining satisfaction among athletes. In addition, nutritional value, menu variety, fat content, freshness, and taste were found as the most important determinant in almost all food categories. It is intriguing that meeting diet requirement is not a significant factor but nutritional information tag is. Important implications were discussed. Nutrition education is recommended for foodservice operators especially when they are involved in providing food for sporting events. It is advisable that an appointed specialized sport dietitian or nutritionist to a sporting event works together with the foodservice operators to ensure that the menu meets the nutritional requirement of athletes.
Not many attempts have been made in previous studies to understand consumers’ socio-demographic characteristics and their awareness towards organic rice. Knowledge towards organic rice among consumers is fundamental to induce demand and market for organic rice. This study seeks to understand consumers’ awareness towards organic rice in Malaysia. The survey is exploratory in nature and was conducted at major supermarkets in Klang Valley. Data were analysed using descriptive analysis and chi-square analysis using cross-classification techniques, and correlation to determine their relationship, strength and direction of their relationship. The findings showed majority of the respondents (85.6%) have some level of awareness towards organic rice, while only 64.7% planned to consume organic rice in the future. This indicates that awareness of consumers towards organic rice does not necessarily translate to their planning to consume organic rice. Thus, achieving awareness and understanding the linkage between awareness and consumption is fundamental to impacting demand and market for organic rice. The study also showed that the younger respondents have more concern towards organic rice. These findings if well responded to, would definitely have positive implications for the Malaysian organic rice industry.
The present work sought to investigate the nutritional composition and phytochemical properties of red pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) juices from Malaysia and Australia and to determine the optimum ethanol concentration (in the range of 0 – 100% ethanol) for the extraction of phenolic, flavonoid and betacyanin contents. The predominant macronutrient in red pitaya juice was carbohydrate while potassium and vitamin A were the major mineral and vitamin content. Red pitaya juice from Malaysia achieved optimal total phenolic content at 20% of ethanol (20 mL ethanol in 100 mL water, v/v); total flavonoid content at 60% (v/v); and betacyanin content at 0% (v/v). Red pitaya juice from Australia achieved the maximum total phenolic content at 60% (v/v); total flavonoid content at 20% (v/v); and betacyanin content at 80% (v/v). Nutritional composition and the phytochemical properties of red pitaya in Malaysia and Australia were significantly different suggested the role of environmental factors like soil and climate on the phytochemical properties of red pitaya.
Ultraviolet (UV) light especially UV-C has been used to sterilize fruits and vegetables. However, overdose of UV-C irradiation could cause brownish-red colouration to products such as banana fruit. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: (1) examine the effect of UV-C irradiation at different doses on the surface colour of Berangan banana fruit during ripening; (2) determine polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity after irradiated with different doses of UV-C, and (3) examine the effectiveness of three browning assessment methods (subjective score, browning index derived from Lab colour space and optical density of 420 nm) in response to PPO activity of UV-C irradiated Berangan banana fruit. Mature green Berangan banana fruit were irradiated with 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04 kJ/m2 UV-C. After irradiation, the fruit were initiated to ripening using 1 mL/L ethylene for 24 h. Then, the fruit were allowed to ripen in 27oC and fruit of day 0, 1, 3 and 5 were sampled for peel colour (L*, a*, b*, C* and ho), browning assessment (three methods) and PPO assay. The peel colour, browning assessment using subjective score and optical density, and PPO activity of Berangan banana fruit were affected significantly (P ≤ 0.05) by interaction of radiation dose x ripening day. The values of L*, b*, C* and ho decrease while a* values increase as fruit irradiated with 0.03 and 0.04 kJ/m2 UV-C indicating brownish-red has occurred. Fruit irradiated with 0.04 kJ/m2 UV-C discoloured by ripening day 3 while those irradiated with 0.03 kJ/m2 discolored by day 5. Similar result was obtained when fruit assessed for its browning using subjective score and optical density. A contrary result was obtained in PPO activity where UV-C irradiation has inhibited Berangan banana fruit PPO activity by ripening day 5. Correlation analysis showed that browning index that derived from colour space is highly related to PPO activity with coefficients of 0.93. As conclusion, the lethal dose causing browning for Berangan banana fruit is 0.03 kJ/m2 and browning index that derived from colour space is most effective to correlate browning with PPO activity.
The present study was aimed at assessing the effect of solvents on the yield and the color properties of amaranth extract. Two species of amaranth namely Amaranthus gangeticus and Amaranthus blitum were extracted with water, methanol and ethanol. Seven parameters like betacyanin content, total soluble solids, lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*), hue angle (h*) and chroma (c*) were analyzed to assess extraction efficiency. Correlation analysis was carried out to assess the linear association among the analytical variables. Principal component analysis was used to establish the relationships between the different analytical variables and to detect the most important factors of variability. Among the two varieties, Amaranthus gangeticus extract contained about two and half time more betacyanin with half of total soluble solids compared to Amaranthus blitum. Water is the best as solvent for extracting betacyanin from Amaranthus gangeticus and ethanol in case of Amaranthus blitum. Among the analytical parameters, a* and c* were perfectly correlated. Three principal components were found among the seven analytical variables accounting 88% of total variability. The first principal components mostly reflected the redness (a*), whereas the second principal components reflected the betacyanin content, total soluble solids and lightness (L* value).
This study evaluated and compared the antioxidant capacity between freshly prepared and lactic fermented Malaysian herbal teas. Herbal teas are rich in antioxidants. Fermentation has been known to be the oldest and cost effective method with the ability to preserve or improve food nutritional qualities. Information on the antioxidant capacity of lactic fermented food or beverage is still lacking. Hence, the objective of this study is to determine the changes in the antioxidant properties of Malaysian herbal teas after being subjected to lactic fermentation. Commercially available local herbal teas were used for this study. Herbal teas such as “Allspice”, “Scaphium”, “Gora” and “Cinnamon” were purchased from the local store in Malaysia and were subjected to 24-hour lactic fermentation. Lactic fermented herbal teas were analyzed for their total phenolic, total flavonoid and antioxidant properties via DPPH, FRAP, and β-carotene linoleate bleaching assay. All lactic fermented herbal teas exhibited higher phenolic contents, flavonoid contents and antioxidant properties compared to the freshly-prepared herbal teas with majority showing significant changes (p < 0.05) in FRAP and β-carotene bleaching assay. Lactic fermented herbal teas also showed an increase in antioxidant capacity in DPPH assay, however non-significant changes were observed.
Aquaculture businesses in Malaysia require careful and comprehensive financial analysis to be successful. Comprehensive financial analysis has three key components, namely financial position, profitability and liquidity/cash flow. This research focuses on using pro forma income statements to analyze financial positions and to evaluate the effect of government incentives on sustainability of Malaysian aquaculture farms. This paper is divided into two sections; the first section discusses and provides the finding and comparability of the financial analysis on freshwater and brackish water producers. In the first section, the discussion was based on financial viability criteria, namely net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and benefit cost ratio (BCR)) for base study. The evaluation process was carried out using four different phases; base study and government incentives simulations, Pioneer Status (PS), Investment Tax Allowance (ITA), and Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) for effectiveness of government incentives and roles in increase of profitability and production. The results showed that in all brackish water farms, NPV after the ACA incentive showed a higher and positive value comparable to individual PS and ITA. The effect of Government Incentive on Penaeus vannamei and Grouper showed that IRR and NPV on ACA (based on PS) is 2% and 9%, respectively higher than ACA (based on ITA). Meanwhile, in Barramundi farming ACA (based on ITA) was 8% higher than ACA (based on PS). The results on freshwater showed that ACA (based on ITA) on Tilapia and Catfish was 8% and 6% higher than ACA (based on PS). This paper concludes that the aquaculture operators should choose to accept PS with ACA on Penaeus vannamei and Grouper and choose ACA based on ITA on Barramundi, Tilapia and Catfish in order to maximize private profitability.
This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and antibiogram of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in processed bivalve molluscs in Kuala Terengganu. A total of 80 seafood samples, namely mussels (n=20), carpet clams (n=20), cockles (n=20) and scallops (n=20), were subjected to PCR and conventional plating method for the detection of V. parahaemolyticus. V. parahaemolyticus was found in green mussels (55%), carpet clam (80%), cockles (40%) and scallops (55%). Fifty-five V. parahaemolyticus isolates were subjected to 9 types antibiotic sensitivity test using discs diffusion method. All isolates were susceptible to Tetracycline and Gentamycin. Isolates showed high resistance towards Vancomycin (52.73%), Penicillin (45.45%) and Amplicillin (32.73%). Resistance towards Amikacin, Ciprofloxacin and Norfloxacin were found to be 1.82%. It can be concluded that local bivalve molluscs were contaminated with V. parahaemolyticus and isolates showed resistance towards certain antibiotics. Therefore, consumption of raw or semi-cooked bivalve molluscs is not advisable.
In Malaysia, the aquaculture industry, particularly the production of freshwater aquaculture fish, is growing rapidly. Nevertheless, the illegal use of banned antimicrobial agents such as chloramphenicol in aquaculture has become a major concern in relation to the safety of consumers and also the development of drug-resistant strains in bacteria. Driven by those factors, the main intention of this study was to determine the prevalence and types of chloramphenicol resistance genes in E. coli isolated from aquaculture and other environmental waters. The respective chloramphenicol-resistance genes in the isolates were detected by multiplex PCR with four sense primers C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4 and one antisense primer C-R for targeting cat I, cat II, cat III and cat IV genes, respectively. Out of 27 E. coli isolated, 19 were resistant to chloramphenicol. Cat I, cat II, cat III and cat IV genes were detected in 19, 13, 10, and 6 of the E. coli isolates, respectively. The results of this study revealed that chloramphenicol-resistance E. coli is present in aquaculture and environmental waters, in the study area. This finding suggested that although banned, there could be illegal usage of chloramphenicol antibiotic in local aquaculture. The bacteria in aquaculture may have spread to other environmental water through disposal of aquaculture waste water to other environments.