Abstract

Sumac (Rhus coriaria) is a flowering plant that is widely consumed for its promoting health benefits and used in food preparations as a spice in the Mediterranean region. It is a high shrub or small tree with imparipinnate leaves, villus and red fruits with one-seeded drupe, and small greenish-white flowers. The nutraceutical and pharmaceutical potential of sumac makes it a remarkable functional food. In this review, the phytochemical and nutritional properties of sumac as an under valorized functional food have been discussed. Flavonoids, anthocyanins, phenolic acids, and organic acids have been reported as dominant phytochemicals in sumac, which are well known for their pharmacological properties that attract many consumers to commonly choose sumac in their diet as well as food preparations. The remarkable volatile compounds present in sumac give it a unique aroma that increases its acceptance by consumers and potential use in the food industry. Sumac has been evaluated for a broad range of nutritional and pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, anticancer, anti-infertility, and neuroprotective potential. This review has also briefly outlined the safety concerns concerning the use of sumac in terms of toxicology and interactions.

Introduction

Today, humanity and especially most communities in developing countries depend on medicinal plants as a valuable heritage for their primary health care and substances. Functional foods (FFs) are those foods that may promote health benefits beyond their supply of essential nutrients. Owing to its basic nutritional and nutraceutical properties, a functional food can decrease the risk of the onset of many chronic diseases, and can contribute to health[[1], [2]]. FFs can be considered as whole, fortified, enriched or enhanced foods that provide health benefits beyond the provision of essential nutrients (e.g., vitamins and minerals) when they are consumed at efficacious levels as part of a varied diet regularly[3]. Rhus coriaria, also called sumac, is a high shrub or small tree (1–3 m high) with imparipinnate leaves, villus, and red fruits with one-seeded drupe, and small greenish-white flowers organized in panicles[[4], [5]]. Given its nutritional value and its phytochemical components (flavonoids, flavones, anthocyanins, tannins, organic acids, fibre, proteins, volatile oils, nitrites, and nitrates), it has been used both as a spice and gives a sour lemon taste to various foods such as vegetables, meat dishes and rice then as a medicinal herb. It contains natural pigments such as anthocyanins and is used as coloring agents in food industry[[6], [7]]. Research efforts on sumac extracts to date indicate a promising potential of the species of this genus to provide bioproducts that have desirable biological activities: antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antitumorigenic, antioxidant, antiviral, hypoglycaemic, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antitumorigenic, antioxidant, and antiviral. In traditional medicine, this plant has been used in the treatment of many diseases such as cancer, stroke, diarrhoea, hypertension, dysentery, haematemesis, ophthalmia, stomach ache, diuresis, diabetes, atherosclerosis, measles, smallpox, aconuresis, teeth and gum ailments, headaches, animals bites, dermatitis and liver diseases[8]. Sumac may also have the potential for the prevention or treatment of atherosclerosis and its clinical manifestations. The target of this study was designed to evaluate sumac (R. coriaria) as an undervalorized functional food.

Conclusion

Due to the large variation in the bioactive and phytochemical content of sumac, sumac has a broad range of nutraceutical and pharmacological benefits. This makes sumac a rich functional food that can contribute to healthy living. In addition, the health promoting benefits associated with sumac can potentially increase its applications in different commercial products. More evidence and research are needed to explore the current nutritional benefits in humans through clinical trials. In fact, the more efforts could be applied to ensure that the phytochemical content of sumac is highly bioaccessible and bioavailable for more significant bioactivity. These efforts may be through encapsulating sumac and preparing different sumac formulations through complexation with other health promoting herbs or spices.

Abstract

This review provides an overview of recent advances in the use of digital technologies in agri-food processing. With the increasing demand for food, the agri-food industry must produce more food with fewer resources while also addressing sustainability concerns. Digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotics, are transforming the way food is produced, processed, and distributed. These technologies offer several benefits, including increased efficiency, improved product quality and safety, reduced waste, and environmental sustainability. Digital technologies enable real-time monitoring of critical parameters, such as temperature, pH, and moisture, which can help prevent spoilage, reduce food waste, and ensure that safe and high-quality food reaches consumers. The review covers the challenges and opportunities for the wider adoption of digital technologies in the sector, as well as potential future developments. The industry has the potential to undergo a revolutionary transformation and tackle significant challenges by embracing digital technologies.

Introduction

The agri-food industry is a complex, integrated production chain that spans from primary agriculture to the mature food and beverage sectors. This approach, known as “field to fork” (F2F), is considered one of the world’s most important sectors, contributing significantly to the economic progress of nations and having a major social impact.

This industry is strong and complex, presenting a wide range of process and operational challenges (Panetto et al., 2020). To improve agricultural production and product quality, and to satisfy the market demands of an ever-growing population, the agri-food industry must develop innovative and sustainable solutions. As with all industries, technology plays a key role in agri-food operations and decision-making.

The agricultural sector is undergoing a digital revolution. Computers are now used in all agriculture-related processes, from machinery to decision-making systems, through the use of robots, sensors and cyber-physical systems technologies. By using integrated decision-support systems in conjunction with advanced internet networks and services, the agri-food sector has great potential for radical improvement in terms of intelligence, efficiency, sustainability and performance. This potential is particularly relevant when considering the digital agri-food approach, which accelerates and supports agriculture in terms of sustainability, land management, quality of life and competitiveness (Panetto et al., 2020).

Conclusion

In conclusion, digital technologies present a transformative opportunity for the agri-food industry, offering significant advantages in efficiency, food safety, sustainability, and transparency. The increasing integration of IoT, AI, blockchain, and robotics in agri-food processing showcases successful implementations and foreshadows a promising future. However, to realize the full potential of these technologies, addressing key challenges is imperative. Cost, technological accessibility, technical expertise, and resistance to change pose critical barriers that demand concerted efforts from all stakeholders in the agri-food sector. In perspective, targeted advancements in specific digital technology domains, such as big data and analytics, autonomous systems, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality, and blockchain, hold immense promise for the industry. Through continuous innovation and collaboration, the agri-food sector has the opportunity to cultivate sustainability, efficiency, and transparency for the benefit of farmers, food processors, and consumers.

Abstract

Demand for processed food is increasing, but at the same time, some of these products have been strongly criticised for causing non-communicable diseases. Only a few studies have analysed consumers’ perceptions of food processing and, especially, ultra-processed foods. We examined consumers’ associations with processed foods, as well as how their processing and healthiness perceptions are related to food classification systems (i.e. NOVA) and the nutritional value of foods (i.e. Nutri-Score). An online survey was conducted with 498 Swiss consumers, who indicated their associations with the term ‘foods produced by the industry’. Furthermore, the respondents indicated how they perceived the healthiness and degree of processing of 27 foods that differed in how much they had been processed. The results suggest that consumers have rather negative associations with food processing. Consumers use the perceived degree of processing as a cue in their evaluation of the healthiness of foods. The use of this heuristic may result in biased decisions. Furthermore, we found a strong agreement between laypeople’s perceived level of processing and the NOVA classification system.

Introduction

Food processing plays an important role in a safe and secure food system (Carretero et al., 2020; Forde & Decker, 2022; Knorr & Augustin, 2021). The technologies behind food processing not only reduced the incidence of food-borne diseases (Floros et al., 2010) but also contributed to more sustainable food production by reducing food waste along the supply chain (Augustin et al., 2016). Furthermore, food processing has made it possible to supply a growing world population with affordable food products (Floros et al., 2010).

However, not all processed foods have high nutritional value. The way our food products are processed by the food industry has been blamed for an increase in obesity in many countries (Monteiro, 2009). Numerous studies have examined the consumption of processed foods in various European countries including Switzerland and around the world (Bertoni Maluf et al., 2022; Mertens, Colizzi, & Penalvo, ˜ 2022) . These studies have consistently found that processed foods contribute to at least 14% of total calorie intake, although the intake varies widely across Europe (Bertoni Maluf et al., 2022; De Amicis et al., 2022; Mertens, Colizzi, & Penalvo, ˜ 2022). Some studies have found that the consumption of processed foods, particularly those that are ultraprocessed, can have negative health effects, such as overweight and obesity (Monteiro et al., 2018), cardio-vascular diseases (Rauber et al., 2018), and cancer (Chang et al., 2023). However, other studies have not found a relationship between country-level burden of high body mass index and the consumption of highly processed foods (De Amicis et al., 2022; Mertens, Colizzi, & Penalvo, ˜ 2022).

Results 

Associations with ‘foods produced by the food industry’

The associations mentioned by the respondents were classified into 16 categories according to their meaning (Table 2). The associations mentioned the most commonly were ‘convenience food’ (18.7%), ‘unhealthy’ (16.5%), and ‘additives’ (10.4%). As expected, only a very small number of participants mentioned positive associations, which were mainly categorised into the ‘unspecific positive evaluations’ (3.0%) or ‘healthy’ (0.4%) categories. Furthermore, 11.8% of the participants responded to this task with ‘I don’t know’ or left the provided spot blank. The mean affect for the term evoked by ‘foods produced by the food industry’ was somewhat negative, with M = -1.06, SD = 2.32 (scale ranging from − 5 to + 5). The mean affect for the 16 categories are also shown in Table 2.

Abstract

1 | INTRODUCTION

2 | THE EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT AND ITS EFFECTS

3 | DATA AND MODEL

4 | RESULTS

5 | DISCUSSION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

REFERENCES

Abstract

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) transferred more than $67 billion to taxpayers in 2016. We estimate changes in spending that occur following EITC disbursement. We make three key advances in identifying the effect: using estimated EITC dollar benefits to differentiate the impact of low from high benefits; estimating the impact by liquid assets; and, employing a triple-difference model around the 1993 expansion and a separate triple-difference model over the number of children. We find that the EITC acts as supplementary SNAP benefits for those with small EITC benefits, while those with larger benefits increase spending on durables, particularly automobiles.

1 | INTRODUCTION

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the largest anti‐poverty programs for working age adults with children, transferring more than $67 billion per year (IRS, 2017). In 2018, the EITC along with the Child Tax Credit lifted 5.6 million individuals out of poverty, including over 3 million children, and reduced the severity of poverty for another 16.5 million people, including 6.1 million children (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2019). The EITC transfers result in several beneficial impacts for recipients based on both the direct impact of the transfers but also through increasing earnings and employment. The greatest impacts tend to be for households with earnings up to the threshold phaseout part of the schedule ($18,340 dollars of earnings per year for a two dependent child household), which are more likely to be female‐headed single parent households, as well as for households without a member previously in the labor force (Dickert et al., 1995; Eissa & Hoynes, 2006). There is some evidence that likelihood of EITC receipt increases in economic downturns—enabling it to act as a social safety net (Bitler et al., 2017). Other benefits of the EITC include positive impacts on children’s test scores (Chetty et al., 2011; Dahl & Lochner, 2008).

Abstract

     Access to healthy drinking water is vital to human health and development. Bottled water consumption has been on the rise in recent years. As several chemical and bacteriological parameters affect bottled water quality, it is difficult to choose the highest-quality bottled water. Numerous studies have proposed the use of multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to overcome this problem. Herein, the two-stage fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method were adopted to rank different brands of bottled water. The FAHP approach allows working at the intervals of judgment rather than absolute values. TOPSIS is a technique for ordering performance based on its similarity to the ideal solution. An expert panel selected and classified the criteria and sub-criteria. A pairwise comparison questionnaire was then developed, and the weights of the criteria and sub-criteria were assigned by water quality experts. The data on the quality of different brands of water were collected from the Iranian bottled water database. The final data analysis and weight determination of each parameter were performed in Excel and R software Programs. Finally, the CCi (value of closeness coefficient) and rank of 71 bottled water brands were calculated, and the best brand was introduced. Among the selected criteria, carcinogenic chemical compounds with the weight of 0.368 were the most important compound in ranking bottled water brands, followed by bacteriologic, pathogenic chemical compounds, chemical compounds important in terms of toxicity, nutritious chemical compounds with a low toxicity level, chemical compounds related to esthetic effects, and chemical compounds without health effects, respectively.

Introduction

     A challenge currently faced by developing countries is the lack of access to healthy drinking water (Abuzerr et al. 2019; Cobbina et al. 2015). Based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) report, about 663 million people worldwide do not have access to healthy drinking water (WHO 2017). The increased population growth, a lack of healthy drinking water, and the public opinion about good taste, health, and appropriate quality have increased bottled water consumption. This rise has been considered in the past three decades, with the highest consumption being reported in developing countries of Asia and South Africa (Hu et al. 2011). The bottled water sale rate was $198.50 billion in 2017, a value which is estimated to reach $307.2 billion by 2024 (Doria 2006). Therefore, access to healthy drinking water is vital to human health and development (Fisher et al. 2015).

     Natural processes (erosion) and anthropogenic activities (electroplating, metal smelting, and chemical industries) are the main sources of pollutant entrance into the water. Although a few heavy metals are essential to human health, their excess amount can have negative efects such as anemia, renal dysfunction, cancer, and brain damage (Chowdhury et al. 2016; Gharibi et al. 2012; Qu et al. 2020; Qu et al. 2021a, b; Rezaee et al. 2015; Zhang et al. 2021). The existence of numerous parameters afecting water quality complicates bottled water quality assessment and ranking and decisionmaking about the purchase of the best and highest-quality brand. Therefore, there is a dire need for precise and logical techniques for accurate and scientifc decision-making. To this end, studies have proposed various methods for choosing the best option and making the decision, among which MCDM methods have received considerable attention owing to their numerous advantages (Kou et al. 2014; Mulliner et al. 2016).

Conclusion

     The quality assessment and selection of the best bottled water brand are difcult due to the efect of various physical (temperature and turbidity), chemical (heavy metals, anions, and cations), and bacteriological (Pseudomonas and coliforms) parameters on water quality and the existence of numerous brands in the market. Herein, by using the MCDM method (FAHP-TOPSIS), the quality of 71 bottled water brands in the Iranian market was ranked. The application of MCDM approaches in various sciences indicates these methods’ strong capability in evaluating problems that possess multiple criteria. These methods accurately assess bottled water quality and aid the customer in selecting a higher-quality brand. They can, therefore, be adopted to create competition among manufacturers to produce higher-quality products. In this study, the grouping and weighting of elements were based on the opinions of Iranian experts and by taking into account the local conditions of Iran. For global applications, a comprehensive model can be proposed for water quality assessment by considering other chemical and bacteriological parameters afecting water quality and with the participation of international experts from other countries.

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Data

3. Results

4. Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Disclosure statement

Funding

References

Abstract

     While a large number of studies have investigated seafood consumption in various markets, surprisingly little is known about the types of seafood sold in retail outlets or their product forms in the USA. This is particularly true for fresh seafood, which is generally regarded as the most valuable product form of seafood. In this article, a unique dataset on retail in-store seafood sales that includes information about three main product forms (fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable products) was analyzed. Fresh seafood is important, as it makes up 43% of sales revenue. Moreover, some species are almost exclusively sold fresh, with trout and lobster as prime examples. Fresh also includes the greatest diversity of species and, as such, is the most likely product form for new producers to succeed. National sales are dominated by a few species, with salmon and shrimp accounting for a large portion of the fresh (27%) and frozen categories (43%), respectively, and tuna dominating the shelf-stable category (75%). There are also a large number of species with mostly small market shares. There are few differences in regional sales patterns for the main species, with notable exceptions such as whitefish in New England and crawfish in Louisiana and Texas. The degree of urbanization and income level appears as the important drivers for seafood sales.

Introduction

     Seafood consumption in the USA has gradually increased for decades and includes a mixture of wild-caught and aquacultured species, from both domestic and imported sources (Shamshak et  al. 2019; Love et  al. 2020). As US fish stocks are generally well-managed at or near maximum sustainable yield and aquaculture production in the USA is limited, most of the increase in consumption originates from imports (Gephart et  al. 2019; Shamshak et  al. 2019). Readily available data on domestic landings, some aquaculture production, and trade enable estimates of availability (Shamshak et  al. 2019; Kroetz et  al. 2020); however, information on where seafood is consumed –in terms of both food sourcing and sub-national data, and in which product categories – is highly limited, particularly at the species level. Love et  al. (2020) recently found that about two-thirds of expenditures on seafood occurs away from home, primarily at restaurants, while seafood purchased for at home consumption makes up a much larger share by weight (56% at home vs 31% at restaurants and 13% at other outlets) (Love et  al. 2020). Moreover, these shares vary significantly by species and region. For instance, 52% of shrimp consumption occurs at home compared with 70% of salmon and 77% of tilapia consumption (Love et  al. 2020), and per capita consumption in Atlantic coastal regions is twice than that of the Midwest (Love et  al. 2020). The origin and product forms of purchased seafood are important to understand the growth in opportunities for the seafood industry – in particular in the specific market segments where domestic landings compete with typically lower priced imports – and how different parts of the seafood market respond to shocks or other sources of instability and natural variation.

Conclusions

     The US retail sector has a wide diversity of seafood species, product categories, brands, and regional sales, which makes it both complex and interesting to study. Purchases are highly focused on a handful of commodity products sold through mainstream supply chains with national distribution. Despite the diversity in seafood, which is a function of natural diversity in aquatic life (Metian et  al. 2020), the retail sector is fairly homogeneous and does not reflect the full diversity of species caught and farmed in US waters. Sales for fresh seafood vary by region, as well as by household income and urban population percentage. This suggests that better logistics and infrastructure in urban areas support fresh seafood distribution, and higher incomes allow consumers to purchase fresh products that are often at higher price points than frozen products. The opposite was true for frozen seafood, which was associated with lower household income and lower share of urban population. Shelf-stable seafood had no association with region, income, or urbanization. The Nielsen dataset does not provide insights into other food sources such as food service or self-caught seafood; however, other studies have done so (Love et  al. 2020).

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Materials and methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

Ethical statement

Funding

Authors’ contributions

Declaration of competing interest

Acknowledgements

Appendix A. Supplementary data

References

Abstract

Traditional food marketing stimulates adolescents’ consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods. These dietary behaviours may track into adulthood and lead to weight gain, obesity and related non-communicable diseases. While social media use in adolescents has proliferated, little is known about the content of food marketing within these platforms, and how this impacts adolescents’ dietary behaviours. This paper aimed to obtain expert insights on factors involved in the association between social media food marketing (SMFM) and adolescent dietary behaviours, and to explore their views on key priorities, challenges and strategies for future SMFM research and policies. One-on-one semi-structured interviews (n = 17) were conducted with experts from Western Europe, Australia and North America, in the fields of public health (policy), nutrition science, social media marketing, adolescent medicine, clinical psychology, behavioural sciences, communication, food industry, social influencing, and social marketing. The experts’ collective responses identified that the line between food content posted by social media users and food companies is blurred. Adolescents’ processing of SMFM may be mostly implicit, involving social comparison, emotional engagement, and attaching symbolic meanings to foods. Mediating factors and adolescent-specific and SMFM-specific moderating factors potentially influencing adolescents’ response to SMFM were summarized in a Social Ecological model.

1. Introduction

Despite several calls for action in the past three decades, adolescents have largely been overlooked in global health and social policy, which has urged academics from a range of disciplines worldwide to develop strategies to advance adolescent health (Patton et al., 2014, 2016). The WHO indicated that globally more than one in six adolescents, i.e. individuals aged 10–19 years, was overweight in 2016 (World Health Organisation, 2018). The prevalence of overweight and obesity in younger children seems to have stabilised over time, while the prevalence of overweight and obesity in adolescents aged between 11 and 19 years has increased with 10–11% between 1988-1994 and 2013–2014 (Ogden et al., 2016; van Jaarsveld & Gulliford, 2015). Compared to younger children, adolescents are less likely to consume a diet that aligns with dietary recommendations despite nutrient needs being the highest during this life stage (Tucunduva Philippi et al., 2016; World Health Organisation, 2005). Adolescents’ dietary patterns are generally characterized by frequent snacking, fast-food consumption, and meal skipping (Vaitkeviciute et al., 2015). Unhealthy dietary behaviours established in adolescence can track into adulthood and increase risk of obesity and related non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease (Kaikkonen et al., 2013; Patton et al., 2011; Singh et al., 2008; Vaitkeviciute et al., 2015). One major factor influencing dietary behaviours is food marketing (Smith et al., 2019).

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Fundamentals of nanotechnology

3. The role of nanotechnology in achieving food security

4. Nanotubes in food and agriculture

5. Nanosensors in food and agriculture

6. The challenges of nanotechnology in food and agriculture system

7. Conclusions

References

Abstract

     Ensuring food security in developing countries is highly challenging due to low productivity of the agriculture sector, degradation of natural resources, high post farming losses, less or no value addition, and high population growth. Researchers are striving to adopt newer technologies to enhance supply to narrow the food demand gap. Nanotechnology is one of the promising technologies that could improve agricultural productivity via nano fertilizers, use of efficient herbicides and pesticides, soil feature regulation, wastewater management, and pathogen detection. It is equally beneficial for industrial food processing with enhanced food production with excellent market value, elevated nutritional and sensing property, improved safety, and better antimicrobial protection. Nanotechnology can also reduce post-farming losses by increasing the shelf life with the aid of nanoparticles. However, further investigation is required to solve the safety and health risks associated with the technology.

Introduction

     The foremost universal challenge on our planet is the question of establishing food security for a rapidly increasing population in the world. Predictions show that food demand is likely to rise from 59 to 98% for the world population reaching 9 billion by 2050 (Duro et al., 2020). Despite an increase of the world population particularly in developing countries, the global food supply interrupted by the expenditure of bio-resources for production of energy, manufacturing chemicals, high post farming loss, less value addition, inefficient distribution and marketing systems, and other factors (Barrett, 2021; Sekhon, 2014). Farmers throughout the world will focus on using new innovations and technologies for enhancing the production of crops through intensive and extensive agriculture. The current efforts further boosted through the use of nano-modified stimulants and precision farming. Agricultural efficiency, soil improvement, secure water use, distribution of food in stores, and its quality are basic factors of securing food that may be improved via advances in nanotechnology research (Ashraf et al., 2021; Sastry et al., 2011).

     Newer technology that will increase the production and reduce food wastage is important to maintain sustainable living standards of the nation and improve food security. Nanotechnology can provide a path for producing foods with outstanding quality in highly improved workable form along with induction of nutrients bioavailability. Many research investigations are focusing on increasing the application of nanotechnology for the production of crop and food processing (Abobatta, 2018; Axelos and Van De Voorde, 2017; Dasgupta et al., 2015; Peters et al., 2016). Increment in articles, intellectual property, and patents in nano-agriculture-based food with fresh research tendencies in the processing of food, nutraceutical distribution, packing, quality control, and serviceable food is a highly expanding field in nanotechnology research (Dasgupta et al., 2015).

Conclusions

     Nanotechnology is a newly emerging, but highly expanding technology in many fields related to human activities and benefits worldwide. Its fascinating phenomena have been witnessed through several research findings that the nanoparticles and nanostructure improve various properties due to small size, larger surface area, and highly catalytic nature. Nanotechnology is crucial in achieving food security, especially in the agriculture sector. It can improve crop production by effective microbial, pest, and weed control with high economic value, security, and safety. It also plays a key role in food processing, food modification, stability, sensing, prolonged shelf life, minimized food losses, and provide safe food. Nanotechnology also minimizes post-harvest losses with better stability, safety, and packaging materials. Nanoparticles like Ag, Au, Zn, TiO2, ZnO, SiO2, and MgO commonly used in food processing, may also induce health risks due to easy penetration through the cell for adverse reactions within various humans, and animal organs as well as parts of plants. Such risks due to nanoparticles or nanocomposite could be controlled in future research via using greener synthesis and searching for easy and cheaper protocols for degradation and removal of existing nanomaterial from the sites of attack.

Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

List of abbreviations

1. Introduction

2. Food digestion

3. Absorption of nanoparticles

4. Intracellular fate of endocytosed particulates

5. Absorption of food colloids

6. In-vivo transportation and biodistribution

7. Dynamic formation and disassembly process of food colloids

8. Safety issue

9. Conclusions and future trends

Funding

Declaration of competing interest

References

Background: Food can be considered as a natural pool of biopolymer-based colloidal particles diverse in size, morphology, and functionalities. There remains considerable controversy on whether these particles can be absorbed from the intestinal lumen in their intact form even though numerous studies have confirmed the possibility of the absorption of intact nanoparticles across the intestinal wall. Scope and approach: In this review, we comprehensively summarize the absorption process of nanoparticles, including mucus-penetrating, cellular uptake, and intracellular transportation. We then perform a detailed study on the absorption of food colloidal particles composed of protein, lipid and carbohydrate. The in-vivo transportation and biodistribution of nanoparticles is then summarized. We also specially discuss the dynamic colloidal aspects of food components which is of great importance to the food digestion and absorption. Finally, we analyze the safety issue of food nanoparticles since an increasing concern on this arises in the past decades. Key findings and conclusions: External nanoparticles can be absorbed into cells through endocytosis, which can occur via different mechanisms. Like various fabricated nanoparticles, food colloidal particles potentially can also be absorbed in their intact form. However, previous studies rarely touch upon the absorption, biological fate, potential health effects, and safety of these colloidal particles. Their dynamic formation and disassembly process is also ignored. All these issues are of great importance to the food digestion and absorption mechanism and worth to be thoroughly studied. We attempt to coin all these relevant studies as “Colloidal Nutrition Science”, which aim to understand the food-body interaction from colloidal aspects.

1. Introduction

Many chemicals naturally found in food matrix are present in a colloidal state such as globulins a few nanometers in diameter, starch granules (~100 nm), or fatty acids several nanometers in length. Traditional processing (e.g., emulsification, heating, or cooling) can generate a variety of multiscale colloidal structures such as micelles, emulsions, foams, gels, or dispersions (Bellmann et al., 2015). There are also endogenous colloidal nanoparticles physiologically produced from ions in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract (GIT) (Powell, Faria, Thomas-McKay, & Pele, 2010). All these colloidal structures generally act as the skeleton in foods. They not only maintain the stability, processing and texture characteristics of foods before consumption but also carry the sensory, digestion, and absorption attributes of foods after ingestion (Lu, Nishinari, Matsukawa, & Fang, 2020). Hence, to understand the interaction of food with the body from a perspective of food colloids is a key to completely uncover food digestion and absorption mechanisms, and thus provide essential basis for the development of functional food products that are applicable to common and/or specific populations (Dickinson, 2015).

1- Introduction

2- The risk early warning method

3- Case study

4- Discussion

5- Conclusion

References

Abstract

Food safety risks has received great attention in all world. And the reasonable effectiveness of security warnings can reduce public panic and risk losses. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved risk early warning method for food safety detection data based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) integrating the quality control analysis method. The AHP based on the entropy weight can obtain risk values for food safety component data. And the risk matrix of the risk component is obtained by the risk probabilities of the components. Then the corresponding risk levels are calculated using the quality control analysis method to release the risk warning information. Finally, a case study of dairy product safety data from the GuiZhou province in China is conducted to verify the feasibility and reliability of the proposed method. Moreover, the proposed method can scientifically and reasonably determine the risk level information. Furthermore, the risk management is provided to effectively reduce risk losses of the country though relevant quality inspection departments.

Introduction

With the rapid development of the economy, the food safety and quality have raised a higher requirement. If making correct and timely warning of food safety, people’s fears will be alleviated, and the harm caused by the food security crisis will be reduced. Nowadays, there are more panic and unintended consequences bring by false warnings. And the food safety risk is serious. Meanwhile, more and more food safety problems involving complex food safety data are occurred (Ma, Hou, Liu, & Xue, 2016). Because the food safety risk monitoring foundation of China is weak, it is very important to customize a risk monitoring model based on the basic national conditions (Tang, 2013). Due to the superior processing characteristics of complex food safety data technology, many dig data analysis and artificial intelligence methods of food safety risk assessment and early warning were proposed (Liu, Li, Yang, & Guo, 2018a; Wang, Yang, Luo, He, & Tan, 2015). Samuel et al. (Samuel, Asogbon, Sangaiah, Fang, & Li, 2017) used the fuzzy analysis hierarchical process (AHP) technique to calculate the global weight of attributes based on their individual contributions and predicted the high frequency risk of patients by training the artificial neural network (ANN) classifier. Wang et al. (Wang & Yue, 2017) formulated an early warning strategy for the safety risks arising from food transportation in the real-time monitoring of food safety to reduce the risk of food supply chain.

Introduction

Functional foods

Importance of food texture

Impact of prebiotics

Impact of probiotics

Final considerations

References

ABSTRACT

Functional food is the trend of the future, since our current science allows the manufacturing of processed products with health benefits beyond that of the original food, which meets the demand of the modern consumers. However, many functional ingredients may affect the products characteristics, including the texture, which is very important to the consumer’s acceptance. Probiotics (Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., etc) and prebiotics (inulin, fructooligosaccharides, Galactooligosaccharides, etc) are widely studied functional ingredients and may change the texture of the food, improving it or not. Studies are then focusing on developing functional products with improved textural characteristics associating the healthy feature with the sensory one, thus, adding great value for these products.

INTRODUCTION

The feeding habits play a fundamental role in human’s health. That is why so many people are concerned about their health and wellness, being the life quality a reflex of a healthy and balanced eating plus the practice of physical exercises. An alternative to a better eating is to aggregate ingredients with functional value to the daily menu. Recently, the advances in food technology allows the manufacturing of several different products, both in relation to the nutritional point of view and the sensory pleasantness. The modern consumers had been very conscious about what they are consuming, then, there is an actual demand for the manufacturing of functional products, which provide additional health benefits beyond that of the original product. However, there is another trend nowadays by consumers, which associate a product with several ingredients with unhealthy characteristics, mainly artificial additives or unknown ingredients [1]; therefore, they look for “clean label” products, with reduced number of ingredients. In this way, the food industry needs to reduce the addition of stabilizers and thickeners without compromising the food texture and taste.