Study of awareness of food labeling among consumers in North-West Russia

A survey among the consumers of North-Western region of Russia (St. Petersburg and Leningradskaya oblast) was carried out, to determine awareness and understanding of food labeling, as well as usefulness of various elements of food labeling.

Comparative analysis and antimicrobial action of some essential oils from plants

In this research, essential oils (EOs) were extracted through steaming from aerial parts of three plants: basil (Ocinum basilicum L.), peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) and oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) form Sibiu County, Romania. The GC-MS analysis indicated that eugenol and apiol were the major compounds in the basil EO. Timol, ɣ-terpinene, and p-cymene were the major compounds in the volatile oil extracted from oregano and menthol and methone the main components in the peppermint EO. In the first 48 h of analysis, basil EO inhibition action was the highest against Salmonella anatum (48%), followed by Aspergillus niger (26%), Bacillus cereus (21%) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (15%); this ac…

Obtaining and Characterisation of Starch-Based Edible Films Incorporating Honey, Propolis and Bee Bread

Abstract This research investigates the physical-chemical, sensorial and mechanical characteristics of starch-based edible films incorporating three types of bee hive products: honey, propolis and bee bread, in concentrations varying from 1% to 3%, reported to starch. The results indicates an increasing of films moisture, water activity, ash content and acidity, in the order: honey<propolis<bee bread, all values increasing with the increasing of hive products percentage into the control film; aw is remaining at very low values, under 0.4. Sensorial analysis indicated honey as the better suited for improving taste and flavour and bee bread for increasing colour intensity of the films; …

Influence of Physical Treatments on the Potato Starch Granules Micro- and Ultrastructure

In this research, potato starch was subjected to ph ysical treatments in order to analyse the changes at the micro- and ultrastructural levels an d finally to identify the optimal conditions for disintegrating the starch granules. For the analysi s, 10% aqueous solutions of potato starch were treated with a) microwaves; b) heat and c) heat com bined with ultrasounds. For each treatment type, the duration was 5 minutes, excepting the microwave treatment, where the time was 1 and 5 minutes; heat power varied from 180W to 900W at the tests with microwave, temperature varied between 65 o C and 100 o C in the thermal experiments and at the thermal ana lysis combined with ultrasounds temperature …

Comparative Analysis of Quality Criteria for the Control of Liquefaction at the Obtaining of Starch-Based Hydrolysates

Starch hydrolysates production converts starch to different kinds of products using enzymes in two steps, liquefaction and saccharification. This study investigated three types of analysis methods for the assessing and characterization of the liquefaction process: a rheological method (to measure yield stress), a chemical method (for the determination of Dextrose Equivalent DE) and a chromatographic method (HPLC to obtain the Degrees of Polymerization DPs).  Potato starch with 13.5% dry substance was liquefied with the enzyme Liquozyme Supra for two hours in optimal conditions of pH and temperature. A comparative analysis between the methods to describe the liquefaction process was realise…

Steady and oscillatory shear behaviour of semi-concentrated starch suspensions

The viscoelastic moduli G’ and G” of aqueous suspensions with 40% (w/v) normal corn starch (NCS) and waxy corn starch (WCS) were determined by oscillation rheometry. The oscillatory shear flow experiments at heating from 30° to 75 °C and maintaining at this temperature showed changes from a behaviour predominant viscous (G”>>G’) to predominant elastic (G’>G”) for both starches at 60.5 °C for WCS, respectively 70,85 °C for NCS, WCS having higher values of G’ and G” as NCS. After the gelatinisation temperature was attired, NCS showed no significant changes, both moduli remaining relatively constant. Peaks of both moduli G’ and G” were obtained for WCS at its maintaining at 75oC, these changes…

Green Design of Novel Starch-Based Packaging Materials Sustaining Human and Environmental Health

A critical overview of current approaches to the development of starch-containing packaging, integrating the principles of green chemistry (GC), green technology (GT) and green nanotechnology (GN) with those of green packaging (GP) to produce materials important for both us and the planet is given. First, as a relationship between GP and GC, the benefits of natural bioactive compounds are analyzed and the state-of-the-art is updated in terms of the starch packaging incorporating green chemicals that normally help us to maintain health, are environmentally friendly and are obtained via GC. Newer approaches are identified, such as the incorporation of vitamins or minerals into films and coati…

Design of the Biotechnological System for the Cultivation of a Polysaccharide-Producing Microorganism and Metabolites Separation

This paper presents a design of the biotechnological system established for the cultivation of a polysaccharide-producing microorganism and the separation of the polysaccharide together with other metabolites. The strain used is a halophilic archaeon called Haloferax mediterranei (Mironescu et al., 2003). On designing the biotechnological system, some requirements are important: The recipients and the pipes must be resistant to the corrosion action of the cultivation substrate very rich in NaCl (125 to 150 g/l); A command and control system for pH, temperature and substrate and inoculum feeding is necessary; A system for monitoring dissolved oxygen and gases evacuated from the bioreactor (O…

Modelling of Starch Gelatinisation and Liquefaction with the Enzyme Liquozyme

In this paper the influence of the enzyme Liquozyme Supra concentration (0.4-1.2 kg/t dry substance DS) and gelatinisation time (3-11 min.) on the liquefied starch quality is investigated. The composition in sugars with different Degrees of Polymerisation (DP) as DP1 (glucose), DP2 (maltose), DP3 (maltotriose), DP4 (maltotetrose) and oligosaccharides with DP≥5 is analysed by using HPLC with RI detector. The products obtained have different DP, the main components being oligosaccharides with DP≥5, followed by small amount of DP3+DP4 and much smaller concentrations of DP1; no DP2 is produced by this enzyme. Two quality criteria: the percent of oligosaccharides with DP≥5 and the percent of DP1…

Obtaining and Characterization of Volatile Oils from Aromatic Plants

Petri Net Modelling of the Starch Enzymatic Liquefaction

This paper investigates the use of the Petri Net modelling language for the description and analysis of the enzymatic reactions that are used for the starch liquefaction. The Coloured Petri Net formalism supported by the CPN Tools modelling and simulation environment is used. The pools of substrates and products are represented as the places and the possible reactions as the transition of the net. The concurrent reactions are modelled trough transitions that are enabled at the same time. The occurrence probabilities associated with each of these concurrent transitions are chosen as the model parameters. The analysis of the specific properties of the model is used to fit the model to data fr…

Design of a knowledge and management system for starch bioconversion

Abstract In this paper a knowledge acquisition and management system (KAMS) which allows the collection, analysis, ordering and storage of informations generated at starch liquefaction was developed. KAMS was structured on three levels: PostgreSQL as a backend, D2RQ as middle tier and Seaside as frontend. The system was used to store knowledge about the liquefaction process with the goal to be used as a decision support system in chosing the condition for this operation. The tests had shown that the implemented KAMS provides support for: Distributed acquisition of the scientific data generated by the researchers; Structured data storage; Support for the generation and storage of knowledge o…

Influence of the Liquefied Starch Composition and pH on the Saccharification at the Obtaining of Maltose Syrup

In this paper the influence of the composition of the liquefied starch and of pH on the quality of saccharification at the obtaining of maltose syrup is investigated. A large number of experiments (68) in various liquefaction conditions show that Dextrose Equivalent (DE) and the composition in hydrolysis products with Degree of Polymerisation higher as four (DP ≥4) in the liquefied starch have a strong influence on the saccharification products, mainly on the maltose content in the maltose syrups. The liquefied starch with DE lower as 25 has smaller amounts of DP ≥4 (40 to 60%), whereas the liquefied starch with DE between 25 and 27 has high amounts of DP ≥4 (60 to 80%). For the production …