Moazzam Rafiq Khan

Recent Developments in Minimal Processing: A Tool to Retain Nutritional Quality of Food

The modernization during the last century resulted in urbanization coupled with modifications in lifestyles and dietary habits. In the same era, industrial developments made it easier to meet the requirements for processed foods. However, consumers are now interested in minimally processed foods owing to increase in their awareness to have fruits and vegetables with superior quality, and natural integrity with fewer additives. The food products deteriorate as a consequence of physiological aging, biochemical changes, high respiration rat,e and high ethylene production. These factors contribute substantially to discoloration, loss of firmness, development of off-flavors, acidification, and microbial spoilage. Simultaneously, food processors are using emerging approaches to process perishable commodities, along with enhanced nutritional and sensorial quality. The present review article is an effort to utilize the modern approaches to minimize the processing and deterioration. The techniques discussed in this paper include chlorination, ozonation, irradiation, photosensitization, edible coating, natural preservative use, high-pressure processing, microwave heating, ohmic heating, and hurdle technology. The consequences of these techniques on shelf-life stability, microbial safety, preservation of organoleptic and nutritional quality, and residue avoidance are the limelight of the paper. Moreover, the discussion has been made on the feasibility and operability of these techniques in modern-day processing.

Effect of Thermal Treatment on Meat Proteins with Special Reference to Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines (HAAs)

Meat is one of the most imperative protein sources available with respect to its production and consumption. It is the richest source of some valuable nutrients like proteins, essential amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals like iron, zinc, and selenium. Thermal treatment produces conformational changes in protein structure as well as flavor, texture, and appearance, and chemical properties of the ingredients are also changed. Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs), potent mutagens/carcinogens, are formed during the cooking of meat at high temperature. The review paper highlights the effects of various cooking methods, i.e., pan-frying, deep-frying, charcoal grilling, and roasting, on the formation of HAAs. The levels of HAAs produced in cooked meats vary depending upon the cooking method, time of cooking, and the type of meat being cooked. Metabolic behavior of HAAs is very unique, they interfere in the activity of many enzymes, modify the metabolic pathways, and lead to the adduct formation of DNA. The application of black pepper and several other spices during processing may reduce the formation of these (HAAs) mutagenic compounds.

Organogelators as a Saturated Fat Replacer for Structuring Edible Oils

Fats are among the most vital macronutrients that are needed to keep your body healthy. While eating moderate amounts is beneficial, excessive intake of fats can cause serious complications such as cancer and other cardiovascular diseases. These problems can be reduced by substituting the saturated and trans fats with mono- and poly-unsaturated fats. Unfortunately, these substitutions do not provide the desired texture and other physical properties in the final product. So to solve this issue, the concept of “organogels” was introduced. Structuring of edible oil is becoming a potential strategy to reduce/eliminate the trans/saturated fats. Researchers are working to introduce fat like properties in these liquid oils by different strategies like imparting some compounds in oil which leads to its gelation. This review provides a detailed study on the organogel’s building blocks, its structuring techniques, organogelator’s effects, problems associated with the development of organogels, and their solutions. Applications of organogels in different fields of life and particularly in the food industry are also discussed. Efforts are required to develop analytical methods for understanding the underlying mechanisms of structuring organogels and to explore more food grade organogelators.

Antimicrobial activity of Syzygium aromaticum extracts against food spoilage bacteria

In this study, the emphasis was on extraction of aqueous and methanolic extract from whole clove (Syzygium aromaticum) that can be efficiently used as an antimicrobial agent with an ultimate objective of developing replacements for the synthetic chemical additives in food products. Antimicrobial activity of extract revealed that the solvent extract of clove has a great potential for the inhibition of microbial load. The value of antimicrobial activites of solvent extract ranged from 12 to 17 mm in the disc diffusion method as compared to aqueous extract i.e ranged from 12 to 16 mm. Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations were found from 17 to 23 mm for solvent extract and 13 to 17 mm for aqueous exract. The sensory characteristics of bread showed that the treatments had a highly significant effect on volume, color of crust, symmetry of form, evenness of bake, character of crust, grain, color of crumb, taste and texture and overall acceptability of bread. Significantly lower total scores for the bread were exhibited by the bread supplemented with 2 and 2.5% clove extract. The results revealed that bread containing up to 1% clove extract is acceptable.

Immunochemical characteristics of wheat proteins

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of wheat protein characteristics and of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique for wheat quality characteristics determination. Literature review is to report the identification of low and high molecular weight subunits of glutenins with ELISA. Immunological assay has been reported to be used as an alternative method to reduce the test time and cost. ELISA is an immunological technique involving an enzyme (a protein that catalyses a biochemical reaction) to detect the presence of an antibody or an antigen in a test sample. Currently available knowledge on immunochemical characteristics of wheat proteins is insufficient. Thats why this review is unique in its comprehensive nature for immunochemical characteristics of wheat proteins.

Punicic acid: A striking health substance to combat metabolic syndromes in humans

Punicic acid, a bioactive compound of pomegranate seed oil has gained wide attention for their therapeutic potential. Different studies conducted on animal and human models have revealed that punicic acid is very effective against various chronic diseases. Substantial laboratory works has been carried out to elaborate punicic acid effectiveness and mechanism of action in animals. The intention of this review article is to explore the facts about the clinical trials of punicic acid and to discuss different future strategies that can be employed to use it in human clinical trials. Although punicic acid may represent a novel therapeutic unconventional approach for some disorders, still further experimental studies are required to demonstrate its effects in human beings.

Immunomodulatory perspectives of potential biological spices with special reference to cancer and diabetes

ABSTRACT In millennia, nutritionists are motivated to explore innovative approaches against lifestyle-related syndromes for improving public health and life span. Spices are the promising and cost-effective choice for consumer owing to their high antioxidant potential, that is, ability to entrap free radicals at cellular level to alleviate various metabolic syndromes. Besides that, spices are not only popular in developed countries, but also attaining consideration in developing world due to extensive biological activity and safe status. In this regard, contemporary nutrition regime has gained researchers’ attention on spices to mitigate various metabolic syndromes. Moreover, the promising bioactive moieties – that is, curcumin and curcuminoids (turmeric); limonene (cardamom), allicin, allyl isothiocyanate (garlic), cinnamic aldehyde, 2-hydroxycinnamaldehyde, and eugenol (cinnamon); gingerol, zingiberone, zingiberene (ginger), dipropyle disulfides, and quercetin (onion); piperidine piperine, limonene, α- and β-pinene (black pepper); crocetin, crocin, and safranal (saffron) – have been identified as chemopreventing agents against various malignancies.

Application of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the assessment of spring wheat quality

The present project was undertaken with the key objective to find out relationship of HMW and LMW glutenin sub-units and immunological test with bread making quality. The antibody response assessed through animal modelling by using rabbits as test animals showed significant variation towards high molecular weight glutenin (HMG) and low molecular weight glutenin (LMG) of different spring wheat varieties. A significant and positive relationship of bread sensory attributes with antibody response against HMG was observed. The mastication (r=0.64), texture (r=0.69), taste (r=0.72), aroma (r=0.68), grain (r=0.71) and total score (r=0.83) showed highly significant association with antibody response against HMG. The loaf volume correlated linearly with that of HMW antibody response (r=0.51). The LMG antibody response was negatively correlated with flour characteristics and sensorial attributes with non significant level.

Electrophoretic Characteristics of Gluten Proteins as Influenced by Crop Year and Variety

The glutenin and gliadin fractions in different wheat varieties produced during two different cropping years were determined through SDS-PAGE and Acid-PAGE. It was evident from the electropherograms that greater numbers of polypeptides were present in the region falling under low molecular weight glutenin subunits. The SDS-PAGE patterns of molecular weight of glutenin subunits of different wheat varieties showed the presence of glutenin subunits in the range of 28.23 to 110.89 kDa and 28.29 to 113.51 kDa during the cropping years 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively. The highest molecular weight glutenin subunit (110.89 kDa) was observed in wheat variety Lassani-08, during the crop year 2010-11, while during the cropping season 2011-12, the highest molecular weight glutenin subunit (113.51 kDa) was found in wheat variety AARI-10. It was also evident from the results that the maximum numbers of gliadin electropherograms were found in wheat variety Lassani-08. The results regarding gliadin bands revealed that total gliadin electropherograms ranged from 31.03 to 89.61 kDa and 32.91 to 92.22 kDa among different wheat varieties, during the crop years 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively. The polypeptides with molecular weight between 31.03 to 54.50 kDa and 32.91 to 55.21 kDa belongs to α-, β- and γ-subunits of gliadin, during the crop years 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively. The group of polypeptides with a molecular weight of about 54.50 to 89.61 kDa and 55.21 to 92.22 kDa was composed of subunits of ω-gliadins during the crop years 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively.

Isolation, characterization and utilization of starter cultures for the development of wheyghurt drink

Purpose – Whey products have conventionally been professed as a means of reducing ingredient costs. The authentic benefits of adding whey products are the enhanced worth resulting from flavor, texture and nutritional improvements as well as nutraceutical or health‐enhancing payback. Therefore, the present study aims to isolate and characterize suitable starter cultures for the production of wheyghurt drink.Design/methodology/approach – Keeping in view all the benefits of yoghurt technology this study was planned to isolate the starter cultures and optimize the conditions for the production of wheyghurt drink. The starter cultures (Lactobacillus delbruceckii ssp. Bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus) were isolated from the yoghurt and further characterized on the basis of their morphological and biochemical characteristics. The wheyghurt drink prepared from starter cultures with varying starter culture concentrations (1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5 percent) was analyzed for the physicochemical and sensory characte...