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Background Ultrasound-assisted extraction of the intermediate product from the mechanical expression of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) seed oil was investigated to improve the overall expression yield without compromising oil quality. Complementary ultrasound technology was used as an out-of-line treatment carried out at 20 kHz frequency and optimized with respect to amplitude (80 and 152 μm), sonication time (2, 10, 20 min) and to the hemp paste properties, in particular its particle size and hydration, which drive the compressibility of the press cake. Results Under the conditions evaluated, the optimal ultrasound treatment was found to be the one applied on the hydrated press cake for 2 min at 152 μm, which resulted in an oil yield of 13.4%, with an increase in extraction efficiency equal to 73% with respect to the control (untreated press cake). Sonication had a positive effect on the press cake texture and on the extracted oil antioxidant activity. Soaked samples treated for 2 min at 152 μm yielded the lowest hardness. Oil recovered from soaked samples treated at 80 μm and 152 μm ultrasound for 2 min had the highest antioxidant capacity. Conclusions The technological results gathered in the present investigation are preliminary to the design and engineering of scaled-up equipment that combines the mechanical screw expression and the in-line ultrasound unit. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

The effect of ultrasound pre-treatment (for 5, 15, and 30 min) on tomato pomace methane yield was evaluated. With respect to the control (238.0 m3CH4/tVS), no improvement was recorded for the substrates pre-treated at 80 µm (0.6 W/mL). 18.9% and 5% higher methane yields were, instead, recorded from the substrate pre-treated for 15 min with an ultrasound wave’s amplitude of 152 µm (0.9 W/mL) after 4 and 22 days of AD, respectively. However, the main achievement arising from the ultrasound application at 152 µm amplitude was the degradation kinetics speed up (89.7% faster maximum methane production rate after 15 min US). Nonetheless, the methane yield increase was not high enough as to compensate the electricity requirement of ultrasonication (between 3.3 and 19.5 MJ/kgVS) as verified through the energy assessment. The dataset that has been presented and discussed lead to preliminary considerations that may be useful in view of a possible scale-up of the process. When equipoising higher quantities of treated biomass and recovered methane, the process might turn economically convenient; however a new energy feasibility assessment and capex–opex evaluation would be required.

This work is aimed to present a method for analyzing and optimizing food production processes from the primary production until the final residue. The aim is to have a global view on the entire production chain in order to put in light, through a deep analysis, the strength and the weaknesses of the process and to propose solutions for its improvement and optimization. The solutions, of course, depend on which is the main objective of the involved production realities and consider also the location of the production. Here is reported the first case study, the citrus industry, which products are citrus juices and essential oils. In this case the authors individuated some solutions and started to develop some of them. The results will be here presented.

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is a novel concept in the agri-food system, which considers the implementation of techniques able to guarantee the nutritional value of the produce, the sustainability of the production and, at the same time, to reduce the ecological impact of agricultural practices. These principles can be also introduced in the fresh-cut market with the aim of maintaining the produce quality during shelf life. In this context, the use of bio-based products is rapidly increasing for improving economic and environmental sustainability of cropping systems during cultivation and shelf life. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of three different bacterial-based formulations (Paenibacillus pasadenensis, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Pseudomonas syringae) applied during romaine lettuce cultivation by monitoring the changes of several quality indexes at harvest and during storage. Results showed that the application of microbial inoculants during romaine lettuce cultivation contributed to the maintenance of nutritional, functional and perceived quality attributes of leaves during shelf life. The microbial inoculants prevented the development of postharvest fungal pathogen B. cinerea. Moreover, the study evidenced different modes of action of the different inoculants and, in the case of Pseudomonas syringae 260-02 application, a direct involvement of ascorbic acid-mediated antioxidant mechanisms was observed.

Texture is a quality attribute closely related to the structural properties of the apple cellular tissue and is claimed to be the most important aspect affecting consumer acceptability apart from taste. Instrumental and human-based assessment of apples crispness are presented in this paper. A commercially available acoustic AED detector, interfaced with a TA.XT.plus Texture Analyzer, was used to collect both the acoustic emissions recorded during the instrumental mechanical penetration test, and the acoustic emissions resulting from the first bite of an apple flash, which were accomplished by 10 subjects with random dental state. Seven commercial cultivars of apples with different textural characteristics (Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Renetta Canada, Royal Gala, and Stark) were analyzed. In order to measure the apple juice content, the expressible fluid released from the apple flash during compression was also quantified. Merging distinctive parameters taken from the mechanical signals and simultaneously recorded acoustic traces allowed apples to be clustered based on their crispness attributes using principal component analysis (PCA), a qualitative approach for multivariate data set. Results showed that sounds emitted during the human biting could not be assumed as a capable predictor of the sensory attribute of crispness, while apples can be efficiently distinguished for crispness by means of coupled acoustic and mechanical texture analysis. Finally, the inclusion of juiciness in the acoustic-mechanical PCA data set did not significantly increase the efficiency in cluster separation in terms of the texture crispness property.

Cooking has been addressed to influence the human species, evolution, firstly due to the impact on the energy balance related to food processing and associated with higher digestibility of many foods. Many researchers are focusing their attention to model a tool for optimizing food processes. It is not only for the energy saving and economic aspects, but also to achieve the final food products' texture, flavor, and nutritional value. Modeling is also a valid instrument for better understanding the different scales of the cooking process. Quantitative models can be used for many activities and applications. A general model for the thermal processing of food matrices based on heat and mass transfer equations and a partial differential equations (PDEs) approach have been presented, implemented on commercial finite-elements software and validated on different test cases. The macro-component approach used for the research seems to be valid for estimation of the transport properties, even with the simplification coming from the homogenization assumption.

The purpose of the present work is to highlight potentiality of chemometric interpretation of consolidated instrumental food texture evaluations. In this study, back-extrusion tests were carried out on industrial-made whipped dairy creams. Mechanical profiles were obtained from 0 up to 49 storage days and were analyzed by considering the signal as a whole using basic chemometrics tools. In order to obtain the maximum content of information related to the mechanical properties of the dairy cream samples, the texture information carried on by mechanical profiles were quantified in terms of Principal Component Analysis. A threshold in whipped creams shelf-life was identified in terms of overall textural attributes and was equal to around 28 and 35 storage days, where a relevant variation of the mechanical properties was observed. Multivariate classification furnished objective and quantitative criteria for the shelf life mapping of the product, based on mechanical signals. Multivariate statistical analysis proved to be able to handle large datasets produced by a consolidated analytical technique and consequently appeared as a promising tool for studying the entire mechanical profiles. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

COST is the longest-running European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe. It is a unique means for them to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives across all fields in science and technology, including social sciences and humanities, through panEuropean networking of nationally funded research activities. In this context, COST Action FA1001 explored the ‘‘Application of innovative fundamental food-structureproperty relationships to the design of foods for health, wellness and pleasure.’’ Food industry is constantly challenged to meet consumer demands for new food products that are safe, convenient, affordable, pleasurable and healthy. An understanding of fundamental structure–function relationships of food components is a key to the design of new foods. Ingredient formulation and production processes have a major role in commercial food development, but their impact on food structure is poorly characterized. Furthermore the influence of structure and physical properties on nutritional and health-inducing properties of foods (e.g., bioavailability/efficacy of nutrients/bioactives) has received little attention from the scientific community. This action created an interdisciplinary team to apply the fundamental structure-properties knowledge of multiphasefoods (foams, emulsions) to real food systems, with a view to designing end-products with good sensory quality and health benefits. The action resulted in an experts network able to bridge the gap between material scientists, food technologists and nutritionists. This Special Issue gathers selected contributions from experts of the action on several aspects of food structure design explored throughout the action’s activity, from basic science to applications and behavior of foods during digestion

It is well known that during the cooking process the physical and the chemical characteristics of pasta change in a sensible manner. Usually the weight, the volume, the consistence, the color and the porosity of pasta are assessed on the uncooked product and on the cooked product at the optimum cooking time, i.e. the time required for the white core in the pasta to disappear. Although this approach provides useful informations which can be utilized by food technologists to improve the cooking performance of pasta, it does not fully describe the commercial quality of the product. For this purpose it seems more appropriate to observe the physical and the chemical changes which occur during the cooking process determining the kinetics with which they evolve and expanding the observation at times longer than the optimum cooking time.