Cold Plasma Treatment of Little Millet Flour: Impact on Bioactives, Antinutritional Factors and Functional Properties.

This study delves into the transformative effects of atmospheric cold plasma (CP) treatment on little millet flour (LMF), specifically exploring alterations in bioactive compounds, antinutritional factors, and functional properties. Foaming and emulsification properties experienced noteworthy enhancements with plasma treatment, manifesting in significant increases in foaming capacity (up to 51.47 ± 0.49%), foaming stability, emulsification ability, and emulsion stability (up to 47.02 ± 0.35%). The treatment also positively influenced water absorption index and swelling power. Antinutritional factors, including tannins and saponins, exhibited substantial reductions following plasma treatment. Saponin content, for instance, decreased by an impressive 58% after exposure to 20 kV for 20 min. Conversely, bioactive compounds such as phenolic content and antioxidant activity saw significant increases. Total phenolic content (TPC) rose from 527.54 ± 8.94 to 575.82 ± 3.58 mg GAE/100 g, accompanied by a remarkable 59% boost in antioxidant activity. Interestingly, plasma treatment did not exhibit a discernible effect on pasting properties. These findings collectively underscore the potential of atmospheric CP treatment as a novel and effective method for enhancing the functional and nutritional attributes of LMF, thereby opening new avenues for its application in food science and technology.

Cold plasma: Unveiling its impact on hydration, rheology, nutritional, and anti-nutritional properties in food materials - An overview.

Non-thermal technologies, primarily employed for microbial inactivation and quality preservation in foods, have seen a surge in interest, with non-thermal plasma garnering particular attention. Cold plasma exhibits promising outcomes, including enhanced germination, improved functional and rheological properties, and microorganism destruction. This has sparked increased exploration across various domains, notably in hydration and rheological properties for creating new products. This review underscores the manifold benefits of applying cold plasma to diverse food materials, such as cereal and millet flours, and gums. Notable improvements encompass enhanced functionality, modified color parameters, altered rheological properties, and reduced anti-nutritional factors. The review delves into mechanisms like starch granule fragmentation, elucidating how these processes enhance the physical and structural properties of food materials. While promising for high-quality food development, overcoming challenges in scaling up production and addressing legal issues is essential for the technology's commercialization.

A novel approach to increase calcium and fiber content in pasta using kadamb fruit (Neolamarckia cadamba) powder and study of functional and structural characteristics.

Kadamb is a unique and underutilized fruit having rich nutritional profile. The utilization of kadamb fruit in value addition is very limited. In this study, pasta was made using kadamb fruit powder (KFP). The effect of fortification of KFP on the quality parameters (color, solid loss, percent expansion, hardness, bulk density, and overall acceptability) of pasta was studied. Pasta was prepared using semolina as the base ingredient, and various proportions of KFP (ranging from 0 to 20%) were added for fortification. Dietary fiber and calcium contents of dry pasta were increased from 5.21 ± 0.02 to 15.36 ± 0.02 and 17.57 ± 0.15 to 37.97 ± 0.03, respectively. As the proportion of KFP increased, the cooking time, hardness, and percent solid loss of the cooked pasta also increased. The highest values for overall acceptability, hardness, cooking solid loss, and bulk density were achieved with 10% KFP and 90% semolina were 7.93 ± 0.41, 19.92 ± 0.21 N, 6.30 ± 0.46%, and 331.67 ± 9.60 kg/m3 respectively. Percent expansion of the pasta was noted to be around 98.33 ± 6.5%. The optimal proportion of KFP was found to be 10% for achieving the best overall quality attributes. FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) analyses were conducted on the pasta, confirming the presence of functional groups and revealing structural changes due to fiber content of KFP. KFP can be used to create functional and nutritious food products, and further research could explore its application in other food formulations as well.

Multipin cold plasma electric discharge on hydration properties of kodo millet flour: Modelling and optimization using response surface methodology and artificial neural network - Genetic algorithm.

The effect on functional properties of kodo millet flour was studied using multipin cold plasma electric reactor. The analysis was carried out at various levels of voltage (10-20 kV) and treatment time (10-30 min) for four different parameters such as water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity (OAC), solubility index (SI) and swelling capacity (SC). Response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network - genetic algorithm (ANN - GA) were adopted for modelling and optimization of process variables. The optimized values obtained from RSM were 20 kV and 17.9 min. On the contrary, 17.5 kV and 23.3 min were the optimized values obtained from ANN - GA. The RSM optimal values of WAC, OAC, SI and SC were 1.51 g/g, 1.40 g/g, 0.06 g/g and 3.68 g/g whereas optimized ANN - GA values were 1.51 g/g, 1.50 g/g, 0.06 g/g and 4.39 g/g, respectively. Infrared spectra, peak temperature, diffractograms and micrographs of both optimized values were analyzed and showed significant differences. ANN showed a higher value of R2 and lesser values of other statistical parameters compared to RSM. Therefore, ANN - GA was treated as the best model for optimization and modelling of cold plasma treated kodo millet flour. Hence, the ANN - GA optimized values of cold plasma treated flour could be utilized for practical applications in food processing industries.