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Cashew is an immigrant tree from eastern Brazil and is regarded as one of the top three commercial crops of India. In general, Cashew nut shell contains 25-34% oil and was not much used earlier; however, commercial and industrial applications are being developed in the recent decade. In this present study, 100 kg of dried cashew shells yielded around 18.5 to 22.6% of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) while 58-63% of waste dark solid oil cake retained in extraction chamber. Eventually, these oil cakes were rich in fibre, protein and energy contents and offered as good alternative to traditional applications in the production of environmentally friendly organic fertilizer for vegetable crops. Also, this study investigated the safety of using CNSL cake as fertilizer for leaf & vegetable; and also noted improvised physico-chemical properties of soil which enhanced the soil fertility thereby leading to high crop yield and nutritional quality. Furthermore, CNSL was also proven to be a phytopesticide for eradication of serious pests, Odontopus varicornis, on cotton plant. Interestingly, toxicity study proved that the applications of CNSL was not only limited to biofertilizer but was also proven to be an effective biopesticide for the control of pest and insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total 66 samples of Indian indigenous milk sweets such as khoa (27), burfi (10), gulabjamun (10), kalakand (9) and peda (10) were collected from local vendors, private manufacturers and organized dairies for enumeration of total viable bacterial count, coliform count, psychotropic count, aerobic spore farmers, yeast and mould count, isolation and identification of mould species were also carried out. The total viable bacterial count, yeast and mould count of local vendor's samples were higher than private manufacturers and organized dairies. The occurrence of Aspergillus sp. isolated from Khoa samples was found to be the highest (63.08%) followed by Penicillium sp.(17.38%), Rhizopus sp.(10.86%), Fusarium sp (4.34%) andMucor sp. (4.34%). However the occurrence of Aspergillus sp. isolated from Khoa based milk sweet samples was also found to be highest (70.90%) followed by Penicillium sp.(15.11%), Rhizopus sp. (9.30%), Mucor sp.(3.48%) and Fusarium sp. (1.16%) respectively. The higher microbial load of these local vendor's products may be due to contamination at various sections of production and until marketing of the finished products. It can be concluded that regular quality assessment programme together with good manufacturing practices, would pave the way to maintain safety and quality of various indigenous milk products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was carried out to prepare synbiotic ice cream incorporating Lactobacillus acidophilus and inulin and viability of L.acidophilus was analyzed on storage. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) was incorporated in the ice cream mix to improve the textural and nutritional quality of ice cream. A faster melting rate was noticed in the probiotic and synbiotic ice cream samples. Incorporation of inulin in ice cream mix significantly (P<0.01) improved the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus. Freezing of the ice cream mix caused a reduction of 0.61 to 0.77 log counts of L. acidophilus count. A significant reduction (P<0.01) in the count of L. acidophilus was observed during storage. It is concluded that incorporation of inulin increases count of L. acidophilus and the organism could survive at therapeutic minimum probiotic level of 106 cells /ml for 15 days of storage at -18 to -23°C in ice cream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was carried out to prepare ice cream by incorporating Lactobacillus acidophilus and Saccharomyces boulardii as probiotics and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) as a prebiotic and enriched with whey protein concentrate and analyzed for the viability of probiotics during storage of ice cream and the effect FOS on survival of probiotics in human gut. The protein content and melting quality of the ice cream samples showed a significant (P<0.01) difference. The FOS in the ice cream mix significantly (P<0.01) improved the growth of probiotic cultures. A significant reduction in the count of L. acidophilus and S. boulardii was observed during storage of ice cream. Consumption of synbiotic ice cream significantly increased faecal L. acidophilus and S. boulardii counts in human volunteers. The L. acidophilus and S. boulardii count were higher in the treatments when L. acidophilus and S. boulardii were incorporated in combination than alone. On withdrawal of the synbiotic ice cream feeding, faecal samples showed lower Lactobacillus count and S. boulardii disappeared in about 7 days. It is concluded that ice cream containing FOS is an excellent medium to deliver L. acidophilus and S. boulardii, for overall improvement and maintenance of microbiota in the human gastrointestinal tract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to prepare synbiotic ice cream by incorporating prebiotic substances viz., honey, fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin along with Lactobacillus acidophilus in ice cream, to assess the survivability of L. acidophilus during storage and to evaluate the effect of prebiotics on the survival of L. acidophilus in human being. The protein content and melting quality of the ice cream samples showed a significant (P<0.01) difference. The added prebiotics in the ice cream mix significantly (P<0.01) improved the growth of L. acidophilus. A significant reduction in the count of L. acidophilus was observed after freezing the ice cream mix and during 7 and 15 day of storage. Faecal examination of human volunteers fed with synbiotic ice cream for an experimental period of 15 days carried out on 0,7,15 and 21 days post treatment showed significantly increased faecal L. acidophilus count and significantly (p<0.01) reduced pH and coliform count. It may be concluded that the ice cream can be used as an excellent medium to deliver probiotics and prebiotics, to increase the activity of the L. acidophilus thereby improving gut health of the consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to assess the microbiological and sensory properties of yoghurt incorporated with condensed coconut water by partial replacement of MSNF with or without a stabiliser gelatin. The treatments were divided in to Control, T2 (addition of condensed coconut water by replacing MSNF at 25 per cent), T3 (addition of condensed coconut water by replacing MSNF at 25 per cent with gelatin), T4 (addition of condensed coconut water by replacing MSNF at 50 per cent) and T5 (addition of condensed coconut water by replacing MSNF at 50 per cent with gelatin). The yoghurt mixes for different treatments were formulated by using computer linear programming model. No significant difference between control and treatments with regard to appearance score and body and texture scores. A significant difference (P<0.01) was noticed for the flavour score as well as total sensory scores. Condensed coconut water incorporated at 25 per cent level in partial replacement of milk solids not fat (MSNF) with or without stabiliser gelatin in yoghurt preparation had a similar sensory properties as compared to control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whey is a by-product during preparation of paneer and cheese. Almost all the quantity of whey is being wasted creating pollution to the water sources. The mango flavoured sweetened whey drink was prepared by using whey, sugar, and mango pulp. The treatments were divided into control, T1 using 4 per cent, T2 using 5 per cent and T3 using 6 per cent mango pulp. The total solids content and the total sugar content of the control and treatments showed no significant difference. Sensory analysis of the treatments showed a significant difference (P>0.01) among the treatments for colour, taste, flavour, texture and overall acceptability. Mango pulp added treatments scored a high by the sensory panel. Mango flavoured sweetened whey drink can be prepared by using 4, 5 and 6 per cent of mango pulp with highest consumer acceptability as compared to the control. Whey contains about half of the milk solids and addition of mango pulp in the preparation of whey drink increased the deliciousness and nutritional value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]