OBJECTIVES: Berries are distinct from other foods because of their unique compounds with bioprotective effects and antimicrobial/prebiotic properties. With new knowledge of how these unique phytochemicals differentially affect microbial communities, inhibit foodborne pathogens, and conserve beneficial species, the health claims associated with berries can be further substantiated. This review explores components of berries that have antimicrobial or prebiotic properties and incorporates new knowledge gained from both in vitro and in vivo experiments.

CONCLUSIONS: With the continued research efforts, antimicrobials and prebiotics derived from berries may provide an alternative to synthetic preservatives and antibiotics in addition to providing health benefits to consumers. Berries could be applied to food products or as dietary interventions through elucidating which compounds have antimicrobial properties and how pH and nutrient condition impact their efficacy. In addition, these compounds can be added to foods with beneficial microorganisms with minimal impact on their probiotic viability.

INTRODUCTION: In the recent decades, a global effort from food suppliers, industries, and governments has ensured that food production would meet the high quality required by the sanitary authorities, minimizing public health implications and economic losses caused by food-borne diseases.

BACKGROUND: Several programmes and initiatives have been developed worldwide both by government agencies and the private sector to achieve this goal. Food-borne diseases, caused by pathogens, natural toxins, and chemical contaminants, remain a global public health challenge, since new threats are continuously emerging while others are being controlled. Also, in many countries, the consumption of food prepared outside the home increases the exposure to the risks posed by poor hygiene in food service. In this context, a reliable sanitary surveillance system is urgently needed to identify potential hazards, conduct risk analysis, and control food-borne diseases outbreaks worldwide.

BRAZILIAN SAFETY POLICIES AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS: Brazil national agencies are tasked with controlling the hazards in the food chain by means of federal regulations based on a set of global sanitary authorities’ guidelines.

CONCLUSION: The occurrence of food-borne diseases, control measures, policies, and regulatory frameworks in Brazil drawn to ensure the quality and safety of food are presented in this paper.

Bioactive peptides (BP) are organic substances formed by amino acids joined by covalent bonds known as amide or peptide bonds. Although some BP exist free in its natural source, the vast majority of known BP are encrypted in the structure of the parent proteins and are released mainly by enzymatic processes. Some BP have been prepared by chemical synthesis. BP play a significant role in human health by affecting the digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular, immune, and nervous systems. BP are considered the new generation of biologically active regulators; they can prevent oxidation and microbial degradation in foods and also improve the treatment of various diseases and disorders, thus increasing the quality of life. The growing interest in BP has incentivized the scientific community and the food industry to exploring the development of new food additives and functional products based on these peptides. The present review highlights the recent findings on the identification, bioassays, and use of BP, as well as their potential use as food additives and in the development of functional products.

Over the past decades, dietary fibre (DF) has been well studied with abundant evidence on its health benefits. Advances in nutritional studies always lead the way followed by the food applications. Food scientists and technologists then explored the applications of DF in a variety of food products through examination and utilization of fibres from various conventional and uncommon sources including agro-food processing by-products. However, the current intake levels of fibre and fibre-rich foods are still far below recommended values in most nations worldwide. In addition, research is needed to substantiate different mechanistic effects of intrinsic, intact fibres presented originally in the food matrix and the isolated, refined fibre added back to the novel food products. Standardized quantification methods for DF are needed for various reasons including broad range of sources, complicated chemical structures, and ever-changing definitions from various regulatory bodies. On the other hand, there are more consumer demands for clean labels or precise information on daily values (DV%), alongside more restricted regulations for certain nutritional claims such as ‘high fibre’. It is clear that all these demands create a practical pressure on professionals working in the food industry, particularly at quality assurance (QA) positions, on how to obtain reliable data from DF analysis to meet regulatory and labelling requirements. Fortunately, with the most recent Codex definition and advanced instruments that are capable to automate the analytical procedures and produce consistent results, it is foreseeable that global harmonization on DF studies can be achieved. Meanwhile, advanced processing technologies such as dry fractionation, enzymatic conversion, and micronization present promising opportunities for R&D professionals to advance the DF utilization and applications in functional food development.

The by-products obtained from plant processing industries are the cheap source of bioactive compounds especially antioxidants. Extraction of bioactive compounds can be obtained by using conventional and non-conventional methods. Extraction efficiency of any conventional method mainly depends on the choice of solvents. The major challenges of conventional extraction are longer extraction time, requirement of costly and high purity solvent, evaporation of the huge amount of solvent, low extraction selectivity, and thermal decomposition of thermolabile compounds. To overcome these limitations of conventional extraction methods, new and promising extraction techniques are introduced. These techniques are referred as non-conventional extraction techniques. Therefore, in this review, some of the most promising techniques such as ultrasound-assisted extraction, pulsed electric field extraction, enzyme-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, pressurized liquid extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, pressurized low-polarity water extraction, and molecular distillation were discussed. The process systems along with industrial applications for non-conventional method of antioxidants extraction were discussed, and the comparative efficacies of different extraction methods were highlighted. Replacing conventional technologies by non-conventional ones for the extraction of valuable compounds from plant by-products processing industries has several advantages, which includes reduction of the processing time, energy consumption, and the uses of harmful and expensive solvents and increase in the extraction yields. Incorporation and development of hybrid methods should be investigated, while considering plant material characteristics and choice of compounds in future. Proper choice of standard methods also influences the measurement of extraction efficiency. The increasing economic significance of bioactive compounds and commodities rich in these bioactive compounds may lead to find out more sophisticated extraction methods in future.

OBJECTIVES: Proteins are the major component and play a key role in nutritious and therapeutic functions of edible bird’s nest (EBN); however, limited studies have been conducted on the protein due to difficulties in extraction, isolation as well as identification. This study aimed to provide comprehensive information for the quality evaluation of EBN peptides, which would be a valuable reference for further study on EBN proteins.

METHODS: Here, we developed a quality control method using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) peptide fingerprints deriving from EBN being digested with simulated gastric fluid. The characteristic peptide peaks were collected and identified by LC-MS/MS.

RESULTS: The characteristic peptide peaks, corresponding to the protein fragments of acidic mammalian chitinase-like, lysyl oxidase, and Mucin-5AC-like, were identified and quantified. Interestingly, the principal component analysis indicated that the fingerprints were able to discriminate colour of EBN (white/red) and production sites (cave/house) of White EBN on the same weight basis. As proposed by the model developed in this study, Muc-5AC-like and AMCaselike proteins were the markers with the highest discriminative power.

CONCLUSIONS: The overall findings suggest that HPLC peptide fingerprints were able to clearly demonstrate peptide profile differences between genuine and adulterated EBN samples; and classify EBN samples by its color and production site. In addition, the protein identification results suggested that Muc-5AC-like protein was the major protein in EBN.

Recently, the safety of low-water-activity (a_w) foods, including dried vegetables, has become a major concern. It has been realized that microorganisms may not grow in low-a_w foods but can survive for rather long period of time. But it represents significant risk especially when the low-a_w foods are added to high-a_w foods, because the inhibited microorganisms in low-a_w foods will grow in high-a_w environment. In this study, broccoli powder (a_w = 0.586) was pasteurized by radio frequency (RF) treatment using a 6 kW, 27.12 MHz pilot-scale RF system. Heating patterns and temperature profiles in broccoli powder package in a polypropylene plastic pouch (17 × 12 × 5 cm) during RF heating were studied. The non-uniform heating pattern was validated, characterized by much higher temperatures (about 17–32°C) in the interior and centre of the food powder package than that in the exterior surface. Rolling over and rotation during RF treatment were proven effective to improve the heating uniformity. Microbial reduction and change of colour of broccoli powder after RF heating for different time periods were studied, and the results showed that the level of microbial inactivation was greatly reduced by 4.2 log colony-forming units (CFU)/g with insignificant colour degradation after RF heating for 5 min. The study also indicated that cold-shock treatment [kept the treated sample at freezing temperature (-18°C) for 48 h] following RF treatment further effectively reduced the microorganisms in broccoli powder from 3.0 log CFU/g immediately after RF treatment to less than 30 CFU/g, which indicated that cold shock in conjunction with RF heating is a promising technology with a potential to reduce the strength of applied RF and thus contributing to better retention of quality of low-moisture foods.