Optimization of high protein and zinc composite flour formulation with response surface methodology

Covid-19 pandemic had limited people's movement despite the demand to remain productive and maintain good health. Therefore, it was necessary to provide foods which are easy to distribute, durable, nutritious, and easily transformable to increase immunity. This research aims to develop a composite flour (TK) formula with optimal proportion of wheat flour (TT), snakehead fish flour (TIG), pumpkin flour (TBuL), and pumpkin seed flour (TBiL) which then enriched with zinc. The resulting TK is expected to be used as an ingredient for nutritious snacks containing high protein and zinc. The research was conducted in four stages, namely the making of each constituent flour, determining the best formulation with the Response Surface Methodology using Central Composite Design model, characterizing the physicochemical properties of TK and making meatballs, biscuits, and unting-unting from the TK. The three products were tested on experimental animals for their metabolic responses. The optimization of the formula resulted in three optimal formulations, namely formula A, B, and C with the proportion of TT:TIG:TBuL:TBiL respectively as follows 55:20:15:10;56.65:20:13.35:10;57.98:20:12.02:10. The most optimal formula of composite flour was formula A with the highest protein (26.12%) and zinc (18.06 mg/kg) content among other formulas. Then, zinc was added into Formula A using microencapsulation, and TK with protein content of 26.74% and zinc of 56.8 mg/kg were obtained. The histopatology observation on experimental animals showed that the three products made from TK did not cause necrosis of the liver or cell infiltration in the kidneys.

Effects of adding different silver carp fish pastes on the quality of lion's head meatballs

To clarify the most suitable fish paste for preparing lion's head meatballs, this study investigated the effect of adding 6 different silver carp fish pastes: fresh unwashed (group 1-1), fresh washed (group 1-2), frozen unwashed without antifreeze agent (group 2-1), frozen washed without antifreeze agent (group 2-2), frozen unwashed with antifreeze agent (group 3-1), and frozen washed with antifreeze agent (group 3-2) on the basic nutrients, color, texture properties, waterholding capacity, sensory and flavor properties, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARs) value, and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content of pork/fish composite meatballs. The results showed that the contents of protein and fat in meatballs from groups 2-1 and 2-2 were lower than those in groups 3-1 and 3-2, and the contents of water, protein and fat were 61.68%, 11.32% and 19.41% for group 2-1, and 62.45%, 11.09% and 19.33% for group 2-2, respectively. The gel properties, hardness, elasticity, cohesion, and sensory quality of groups 3-1 and 3-2 were significantly higher than those of groups 2-1 and 2-2 (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference compared with groups 1-1 and 1-2. The odor response value of groups 3 was lower than that of groups 1, and groups 3 had the highest sweetness value (3 039.66) and lowest bitterness value (534.59). The TBARs value and TVB-N content in groups 1-2, 2-2, and 3-2 (with washed fish paste) were significantly lower than those in groups 1-1, 2-1 and 3-1 (with unwashed fish paste) (P < 0.05). Since fresh fish paste is not easy to store and subject to spoilage, frozen washed fish paste with antifreeze agent can be used to produce composite meatballs.

Empowering the Magersaren community: technology dissemination for ground coffee added value improvement

This paper is aimed to share the community service experiences held at Boro Sumbersari hamlet which is located at 98A UB forest plot. Boro Sumbersari hamlet is inhabited by Magersaren community. The Magersaren community are farmers and forest workers who depend on forest for their livelihoods. Magersaren has been practicing agroforestry for a long time. They grow Robusta and Arabica coffee among other forest plants. Currently coffee is a favorite beverage, the number of its consumers continues to increase. Many people are interested in the ground coffee beans made by Magersaren traditionally, but it has not been widely marketed. The purpose of this community service program is to generate an alternative source of Magersaren household income, through the added value improvement of local flavored ground coffee beans they have. The added value of magersaren's ground coffee beans can be increased through product development technologies such as attractive packaging techniques and the creation of new variants ground coffe beans by adding brown sugar and powdered ginger. The execution of community service activities that have been carried out consists of: (1) program socialization;(2) focus group discussion;(3) production, packaging and management training;(4) small-business starting up;(5) program evaluation. These community service activities are held during the social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This condition becomes an obstacle to the effectiveness of program implementation. The start-up small business needs to be continuously supported in order to survive through a critical period of business development, especially under economic pressure during the pandemic.

Biological activities of Egyptian grape and mulberry by-products and their potential use as natural sources of food additives and nutraceuticals foods

Interest in the biological role of bioactive compounds present in plant by-products has increased over the last few years. This study aimed to investigate the nutritive value and biological activities of Egyptian Grape leaves (GL), Grape seeds (GS) and Mulberry leaves (ML), as well as investigate the impact of P-irradiation for improving the utilization of these plant by-products. The dose level 5.0 kGy showed highest the content of crude protein (24.42, 19.41 and 13.50 mg/100 g), as well as crude fiber (34.26 and 21.18 mg/100 g) for ML, GL and GS, respectively. Mulberry leaves has a highest content of protein and fiber at dose 5.0 kGy compared with GL and GS. The highest total phenolic content was found in GS (9.75 mg/g DW), followed by GL (7.32 mg/g DW) and the lowest in ML (5.97 mg/g DW). While ML had a higher total flavonoids content (5.61 mg/g DW) than GS (4.88 mg/g DW) and GL (2.86 mg/g DW). Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were significantly increased at 5.0 kGy. The highest level (83.25% and 80.24%) of scavenging activity (DPPH %) and inhibition activity of HCT 116 cells was recorded at 5.0 kGy by GS. All extracts irradiated at 5.0 kGy exhibited varying degrees of antibacterial activity against (Gram+ve and Gram-ve), the GS followed by GL then ML showed strong antibacterial activity with a diameter of inhibition zone of 26.2, 24.5 and 19.7 mm, against L. monocytoganes, respectively and 24.4, 21.4 and 17.2 against S. typhimurium, respectively. This study suggests that P-irradiation is an effective technique to enhance the recovery of phenolics and flavonoids from GL, GS and ML. Also in current study, antioxidant, antibacterial and anticancer activity has been suggested to appear a clear positive relationship with the total phenolic material. This study has proved that the Egyptian GL, GS and ML are rich sources of valuable phytochemicals and nutrients that can serve as a potential source of nutraceuticals and multifunctional food additives (antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer). Phenolic compounds recovered from GL, GS and ML may have a potential role in fighting the COVID-19.

Opportunities and challenges of functional foods and nutraceuticals development during COVID-19 pandemic

Functional foods and nutraceuticals demand during the Covid-19 pandemic are increasing tremendously. This is showed that there is a shifting food consumption pattern into healthier food rather than only to satisfy hunger. Functional foods are foods that offer health benefits beyond their nutritional value, whereas nutraceuticals are commodities derived from foods, but are used in the medicinal form of pills, capsules, or liquids that demonstrated physiological benefits. Nutraceutical products consist of isolated bioactive substances such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids as well as dietary supplements such as probiotics, prebiotics, antioxidants, and enzymes. As the second-largest country with the highest biodiversity, Indonesia has some natural resources that could be developed as functional food or nutraceutical ingredients such as ginger, cinnamon, lemongrass, honey, Moringa oleifera leaves, etc. Indonesian society has indigenous knowledge of the health effect of any plants and spices such as the health effect of "jamu", a functional drink made from several parts of plants. However, the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals in Indonesia has so many challenges concerning regulation. The National Agency for Drug and Food Control of Indonesia did not regulate functional foods and nutraceuticals. However, they have some regulations about processed food with the claim, supplements, natural herbal, and food for medicinal uses. Hence, functional foods and nutraceuticals producers must adjust to the existing regulation. The research and development of functional foods and nutraceuticals consist of several steps namely identification of bioactive compounds, assessment of physiological effect, product formulation and processing, and clinical trial to meet the regulatory demand. The research activities will provide scientific evidence to prove food and nutraceutical functionality. Market demands are also important to obtain an innovative product that meets the consumer's demand. Recent methods to develop functional foods and nutraceutical are "design thinking" methods, a method that focuses problem solving on human rather than on technology or organization. The typical design thinking protocol consists of 3 steps namely observation and synthesis, visualization and rapid prototyping, as well as revising and refining. In the first step, nutraceutical developers must understand the characteristic of targeted consumers. In the second step, models or sketches as well as the early version prototypes need to be created. Gathering feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the product will lead to the necessary corrections before product commercialization. In the third step, a team from many different backgrounds and specializations can be involved to revise and refine the new product. A Penta helix collaboration between academia, industry, citizen, public authorities, and non-government organization (NGO) can be used as a model of networking in functional foods and nutraceuticals development. The use of "design thinking" methods will minimize the risk of product failure in the market. One of our experiences in functional food development is the exploration of glucomannan from Porang tubers (Amorphophalus oncophylus) as a functional ingredient. Glucomannan, a water-soluble fiber that can be fermented, is extracted from Konjac (Amorphophallus konjac) tuber or root. However, in Indonesia glucomannan can be extracted from Porang tuber that can be found in many areas. In the beginning, we collaborate with the local farmer, NGO, and governments to optimize the production of Porang tubers. After we found the method to extract the glucomannan, we develop several food products namely jelly, noodle, rice analog, etc and analyze the physical, chemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics. The jelly product containing glucomannan was tested for the clinical trial. We found that this jelly could lower the body weight and body mass index of the overweight and obese subjects as well as maintain the level