Asian Food Science Journal

Microorganisms degrade food components in order to access nutrient available in such food and in return produce organic compounds from the breakdown of the food components. These organic compounds hold potential to be exploited as biomarkers to detect the presence of such microorganisms. This study was conducted to evaluate fungi associated with volatile organic compounds production in spoilt onion cultivars. A total of 54 onion bulbs which include 45 healthy and 9 spoilt onion bulbs belonging to three cultivars were used for this study. All laboratory investigations were carried out by standard methods. Four fungal genera were identified and these include Aspergillus, Fusarium, Mucor and Candida. The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of twenty six (26) volatile compounds in spoilt white onion bulb, (9) in yellowish-brown and (8) in the purple variety, respectively. White onion bulb had the following dominant compound; nonane (11.97%), decane (11.96%), octane (9.3%) of which ten was unknown. The compounds sulphurous acid, 2-ethylhexylisohexyl ester (18.60%), phenol 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl (7.90%) were dominant in yellowish-brown cultivar including five (5) unknown, while the predominant compounds in the spoilt purple onion variety were, phthalic acid, di-(1-hexen-5-yl)ester (69.64%) and phenol-2,6-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl, of which five were unknown. This study suggests that these unique volatile organic compounds could provide the bedrock for restraining postharvest losses and the volatile organic compounds could also form baseline knowledge for discriminating diseases associated with onion.

The present study investigates the nutritional, sensory and biological properties of colored pasta prepared from Quinoa Chenopodium quinoa grains. Four colored pasta were prepared from quinoa: White (control), red, orange and green. The sensory evaluation results indicated general acceptability of the coloured pasta compared to the white pasta (control) and commercial pasta made of durum wheat. The nutritional analysis revealed that the protein of the pasta increased by using Quinoa grains and thus the colored pasta is more nutritious than the white pasta. Orange pasta is considered a safe food for celiac patients, because it is gluten-free. Hence, the beneficial role of a Quinoa pasta diet to prevent of celiac disease was investigated in a 30 days biological study. The results revealed that the highest increase in body weight gain was noticed in rats fed orange pasta diet compared with other groups. Meanwhile, a significant increase in relative liver weight and decreased in intestine weight were observed in rats fed 10% wheat gluten. The substantial elevation of serum enzymatic activity level were significantly restored to normal in rats fed the orange pasta with10% wheat gluten compared with rat fed 10% wheat gluten. The activities of antioxidant enzymes decreased in rats fed 10% wheat gluten compared with rat fed Orange pasta. The concentrations of serum Immunoglobulin Aantibodies were significantly higher in rats fed 10% wheat gluten and restored to normal levels in rats fed orange Quinoa pasta diet with 10% wheat gluten. Histopathological studies of the intestine and liver in rats fed orange Quinoa pasta diet with 10% wheat gluten revealed minimizing changes in these organs compared with rats fed orange Quinoa pasta diet alone which showed normal histopathological structure similar to control group. It can be concluded that Quinoa pasta could be considered a safe food for celiac patients.

Mutton is expensive, especially during Muslim festivals. There is a need to increase the value of mutton into value-added products. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of different types of muscles on the physical, chemical, sensory and microbiological properties of suya.

Three different types of muscles (Semitendonisus (ST), Deltodius (DT) and Adductor (ADD)) were harvested from the carcasses of fattened Balami rams. The muscles were grouped into three treatments (ST, DT and ADD) to evaluate for physical properties of mutton and studying the changes in the chemical compositions of suya. The microbiological and sensory attributes of the mutton were measured.

The Water Holding Capacity was highest (P<0.05) in DT (78.17±9.83%) followed by ADD (77.21±9.63%) and least in ST (68.10%). The PY was highest in the DT with a value of 73.83±3.65%, and the lowest was 69.81±2.64% for ST. There were significant differences (P≤ 0.05) among the treatments  in chemical analyses; indicated that suya samples from ST muscle had the highest percentage of moisture (23.01±0.51%) compared to the lowest percentages of DT (22.46±0.42%) and ADD treatments (22.43±0.37%) and high protein contents were in ADD (50.14±0.47%) treatment, while lowest contents were in DT (49.44±1.06%) treatments. Suya samples from ST treatments contained the lowest content of cholesterol (48.67±5.40 mg/100 g), while DT treatments contained the highest content of cholesterol (53.08±3.96 mg/100 g). However, there were significant differences when compared with suya samples from the DT muscles. This study revealed significant effects of muscles on physical, chemical indices and organoleptic properties of suya due to variation in the muscle fibre.

Child malnutrition is one of the major causes of public health and social welfare problems in developing countries. It is manifested by micronutrient deficiency. Indeed, nutritional deficits are particularly severe in children from 6 to 24 months, when their nutritional needs exceed what they can get from breast milk. To help improve the nutritional quality of locally produced infant flours in Burkina Faso, we assessed the mineral content and determined the water content (moisture content) of 10 infant flours.

The principle of moisture determination is to dry a sample at a temperature between 103 and 105 degrees Celsius until a constant result is obtained. The principle of mineral determination is based on flame atomic absorption. The main flours studied are: corn, soy, millet, sorghum and wheat flour. The highest humidity is 14.09%, while the lowest is 3.23%. The concentration of minerals is unevenly distributed in our samples. Thus the concentration of iron varies between 1.30 mg / 100 g to 7.64 mg / 100 g, zinc between 0.04 to 0.50 mg / 100 g, potassium between 0.03 and 67.52 mg / 100 g, sodium between 14.24 mg / 100 g to 222.69 mg / 100 g, magnesium between 27.66 and 114 mg / 100 g, and the calcium varies between 4.29 and 538.43 mg / 100 g. Results were compared to codex standards and it appears that the concentration of minerals did not meet the standards in some samples. No samples met zinc and potassium standards. In addition, we evaluated the proportion of the main minerals in each sample. Calcium is the most common mineral in most samples against the weakly occurring zinc. The results of this work will enable the necessary organizations to make appropriate arrangements so that the flours that will end up in the shops and foodstuffs meet the international standards for the benefit of the population.

The effect of pasteurisation on the nutritional and physicochemical quality of soursop juice was investigated. Soursop juice was prepared from soursop fruit pulp and pasteurised at different temperatures (63, 71, 78, 83 and 95°C) for different durations. The effect of pasteurisation on ascorbic acid level, total phenolic content and total antioxidant capacity of the juice was analysed. Additionally, the changes in pH, total soluble solids, titratable acidity and colour (L*a*b*) were determined. The pH, total soluble solids and titratable acidity were not significantly affected by pasteurisation. Pasteurisation affected the total phenolic content and total antioxidant capacity of the juice. For the same pasteurisation temperature, an increased duration of pasteurisation resulted in a reduction of total antioxidant capacity. Ascorbic acid levels in the juice decreased with increased duration and temperature of pasteurisation. A first-order kinetic model was developed to explain the effect of pasteurisation on the degradation of ascorbic acid in soursop juice. A degradation rate constant of 0.035 min^-1 and an activation energy of 83 kJ/mol were obtained.