Fresh pennywort (Centella asiatica) is usually eaten raw as 'ulam' or salad-like lettuce. Unfortunately, the fresh pennywort has the potential to cause foodborne outbreaks due to pathogens present on the surface and between the leaves, as washing the pennywort using tap water alone cannot guarantee that the pathogens are eliminated. Thus, the efficacies of several sanitizing solutions, i.e., sodium chloride, sodium hypochlorite, acetic acid, acidic electrolyzed water (acidic EW), alkaline electrolyzed water (alkaline EW), and a combination of acidic EW and alkaline EW (acidic-alkaline EW), were evaluated for their potential applications as washing solutions for pennywort. Washing using acidic EW alone or in combination with alkaline EW (two-step washing) reduced the microbial count. In sensory evaluation, all sanitizer solutions were accepted by the panellists with a score greater than 5, except those washing with acetic acid. Overall, the use of acidic EW, either alone or in combination with alkaline EW, was the best treatment to decontaminate microbes while maintaining the physicochemical and sensory properties of pennywort leaves.
Date palm counts among the oldest fruit crops of the world and is mainly cultivated for its highly nutritious fruits consumed as a staple food in many countries, especially in the Gulf region. Dates are enriched with numerous therapeutic bioactives and functional compounds such as phenolics, flavonols, carotenoids, minerals, and vitamins that not only provide an appreciable amount of energy required for the human body but also act as an effective therapeutic agent against several diseases. This review aimed to provide a deep insight into the nutritional as well as phytochemicals profile of date fruit and its seeds in order to explore their biological (anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, cardio-protective, anti-inflammatory properties), functional food, and nutra-pharmaceutical attributes. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This review provides updated information regarding the date fruits and seeds phytochemicals composition together with highlighting dates potential as a natural therapeutic agent against several diseases. The study also urges the importance of consuming dates as a great package to live a healthy life due to the functional food and nutraceutical properties of this valuable fruit. The study also provides information first time as recommending dates to cope with the hidden hunger or micronutrient deficiency faced by the third world inhabitants. Hence, the review may further help the industry and researchers to explore the potential of dates for future medicinal and nutra-pharmaceutical applications.
Sugarcane juice (Saccharum officinarum) is a proven nutritious beverage with high levels of antioxidants, polyphenols, and other beneficial nutrients. It has recently gained consumer interest due to its high nutritional profile and alkaline nature. Still, high polyphenolic and sugar content start the fermentation in juice, resulting in dark coloration. Lately, some novel techniques have been introduced to extend shelf life and improve the nutritional value of sugarcane juice. The introduction of such processing technologies is beneficial over conventional processes and essential for producing chemical-free, high-quality, fresh juices. The synergistic impact of these novel technologies is also advantageous for preserving sugarcane juice. In literature, novel thermal, non-thermal and hurdle technologies have been executed to preserve sugarcane juice. These technologies include high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), ultrasound (US), pulsed electric field (PEF), ultraviolet irradiation (UV), ohmic heating (OH), microwave (MW), microfludization and ozone treatment. This review manifests the impact of novel thermal, non-thermal, and synergistic technologies on sugarcane juice processing and preservation characteristics. Non-thermal techniques have been successfully proved effective and showed better results than novel thermal treatments. Because they reduced microbial load and retained nutritional content, while thermal treatments degraded nutrients and flavor of sugarcane juice. Among non-thermal treatments, HHP is the most efficient technique for the preservation of sugarcane juice while OH is preferable in thermal techniques due to less nutritional loss.
The meat industry is continuously facing challenges with food safety, and quality losses caused by thermal processing. This systematic review reports recent clean label approaches in high-pressure production of meat. A literature search was performed using Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Springer databases for studies published in 2018-2021. In this regard, 69 articles were assessed out of 386 explored research articles in the identified stage. The findings indicate that most of the earlier work on high-pressure processing (HPP) focused on physicochemical and sensorial meat quality rather than providing nutritional aspects and clean-label solutions. However, few advanced studies report effective and innovative solutions to develop low salt/fat, and reduced nitrite for raw and cured meat products. HPP could help on increasing the shell life by five times in meat products; however, it depends on the formulation and packaging, etc. HPP can also preserve nutrients by using this non-thermal technology and reduce food waste as once the shelf life of products is known, it easily reduces the shrinkage in the marketplace. This review explores the latest trend of experimental research in high-pressure processing alone, or multi-hurdle techniques employed to increase the effect of clean-label ingredients for enhanced meat safety/quality.
Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) is rich in bioactive compounds with high antioxidant activity. High pressure processing (HPP) is an efficient alternative to preserve these bioactive compounds in terms of microbial inactivation and shelf-life stability. This review compares the effects of pasteurization methods using high pressure or thermal pasteurization (TP) on the quality parameters of various strawberry-based products. To summarize, most of the high pressure-treated products are microbiologically stable and showed minimum degradation of thermolabile compounds than TP-treated ones. However, some studies reported that high pressure did not have an advantage over TP especially in the preservation of phenolic phytochemicals during storage. The insufficient enzyme inactivation and high residual activity of enzymes after high pressure treatment could cause anthocyanins degradation thus affecting the product quality. Overall, this review could be valuable to potential processors in evaluating the effective commercialization of high pressure-treated strawberry products.
Different parts of a plant (seeds, fruits, flower, leaves, stem, and roots) contain numerous biologically active compounds called "phytoconstituents" that consist of phenolics, minerals, amino acids, and vitamins. The conventional techniques applied to extract these phytoconstituents have several drawbacks including poor performance, low yields, more solvent use, long processing time, and thermally degrading by-products. In contrast, modern and advanced extraction nonthermal technologies such as pulsed electric field (PEF) assist in easier and efficient identification, characterization, and analysis of bioactive ingredients. Other advantages of PEF include cost-efficacy, less time, and solvent consumption with improved yields. This review covers the applications of PEF to obtain bioactive components, essential oils, proteins, pectin, and other important materials from various parts of the plant. Numerous studies compiled in the current evaluation concluded PEF as the best solution to extract phytoconstituents used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. PEF-assisted extraction leads to a higher yield, utilizes less solvents and energy, and it saves a lot of time compared to traditional extraction methods. PEF extraction design should be safe and efficient enough to prevent the degradation of phytoconstituents and oils.
A circular economy promotes a world-friendly style of economic development, and the main aim is a closed-loop cycle of "resource-production-consumption-regeneration" economic activities. A circular economy can assist in implementing sustainable development in the food industry. During conventional food processing, the thermal effects degrade the food residues and make their wastes. Nonthermal processing has emerged as a promising, safe, and effective technique for extracting bioactive compounds from food residues. Nonthermal processing help in implementing a circular economy and meeting the United Nations approved Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Collaboration between food producers and the food chain may make the food industry more circular. This article motivates adopting nonthermal technologies to conserve natural resources, food safety, and energy in different food processing phases to meet SDGs.