Theoretical exploration of the phenolic compounds' inhibition mechanism of heterocyclic aromatic amines in roasted beef patties by density functional theory.

The ability of spices (bay leaf, star anise, and red pepper) and their characteristic phenolic compounds (quercetin, kaempferol, and capsaicin) to inhibit Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in roasted beef patties were compared. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to reveal phenolic compounds interacting with HAAs-related intermediates and free radicals to explore possible inhibitory mechanisms for HAAs. 3 % red chili and 0.03 % capsaicin reduced the total HAAs content by 57.09 % and 68.79 %, respectively. DFT demonstrated that this was due to the stronger interaction between capsaicin and the ß-carboline HAAs intermediate (Ebind = -32.95 kcal/mol). The interaction between quercetin and phenylacetaldehyde was found to be the strongest (Ebind = -17.47 kcal/mol). Additionally, DFT indicated that capsaicin reduced the carbonyl content by transferring hydrogen atoms (HAT) to eliminate HO·, HOO·, and carbon-centered alkyl radicals. This study provided a reference for the development of DFT in the control of HAAs.

Effect of partial substitution of complex phosphates with sodium bicarbonate on aggregation, conformation and gel properties of beef-pork-chicken complex myofibrillar proteins.

BACKGROUND: Complex phosphates (CP) can improve the physicochemical properties and gelation properties of myofibrillar fibrous protein (MP) in mixed meat products, but an excessive intake of phosphates over a long period of time is harmful to health. The present study investigated the effects of partial or complete substitution of CP with sodium bicarbonate (SB) on the physicochemical properties and gel properties of beef-pork-chicken mixed myofibrillar protein (BPC-MP), aiming to evaluate the feasibility of this method in reducing the amount of phosphate in mixed meat products. RESULTS: Under the optimal substitution conditions, the turbidity of BPC-MP was reduced by 37.8%, the net negative potential was increased by 28.9% and the modulus of elasticity (G') was increased. The tertiary structure indexes of protein (including fluorescence intensity, surface hydrophobicity and active thiol content) were significantly changed, whereas the α-helix and ß-turn angle contents in the secondary structure of protein were significantly increased. In addition, the water retention ability and strength of gel were also improved, which were increased by 20.7% and 42.6%, respectively. The results of scanning electron microscopy showed that the SB substitution group had a more compact and ordered microstructure. CONCLUSION: The results showed that partial substitution of CP with SB reduced the amount of phosphate added to BPC-MP and had a positive effect on the physicochemical and gel properties of BPC-MP. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Formation and prediction of heterocyclic amines and N-nitrosamines in smoked sausages using back propagation artificial neural network.

BACKGROUND: Heterocyclic amines (HAs) and N-nitrosamines (NAs) are formed easily during the thermal processing of food, and epidemiological studies have demonstrated that consuming HAs and NAs increases the risk of cancer. However, there are few studies on the application of back propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN) models to simultaneously predict the content of HAs and NAs in sausages. This study aimed to investigate the effects of cooking time and temperature, smoking time and temperature, and fat-to-lean ratio on the formation of HAs and NAs in smoked sausages, and to predict their total content based on the BP-ANN model. RESULTS: With an increase in processing time, processing temperature and fat ratio, the content of HAs and NAs in smoked sausages increased significantly, while the content of HA precursors and nitrite residues decreased significantly. The optimal network topology of the BP-ANN model was 5-11-2, the correlation coefficient values for training, validation, testing and all datasets were 0.99228, 0.99785, 0.99520 and 0.99369, respectively, and the mean squared error value of the best validation performance was 0.11326. The bias factor and the accuracy factor were within acceptable limits, and the predicted values approximated the true values, indicating that the model has good predictive performance. CONCLUSION: The contents of HAs and NAs in smoked sausages were significantly influenced by the cooking conditions, smoking conditions and fat ratio. The BP-ANN model has high application value in predicting the contents of HAs and NAs in sausages, which provides a theoretical basis for the suppression of carcinogen formation. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Mechanism for improving the gel properties of transglutaminase-mediated porcine myofibrillar protein by ultrasonic pretreatment combined with carrageenan.

To improve the limitation of transglutaminase on the quality of myofibrillar protein (MP) gel, this study investigated the synergistic effect of ultrasonic pretreatment in combination with carrageenan on the gel properties of transglutaminase-mediated MP gels. The synergistic effect generated gel with lower surface hydrophobicity and fluorescence intensity. Combined with the secondary structure results, it can be hypothesized that the synergistic effect caused the rearrangement of the proteins and the formation of aggregates wrapping hydrophobic groups, which changed the structure and phase behavior of the proteins. The synergistic effect also improved the formation of dense and interpenetrating gel networks, which reduced cooking loss and produced composite MP gels with optimal gel strength. Moreover, FTIR spectroscopy revealed the presence of electrostatic interactions in the hybrid gel system. This study provides a theoretical basis and experimental foundation for the effective use of high-tech composite functional components to improve the quality of gel products.

Extraction of anthocyanins from haskap using cold plasma-assisted enzyme.

BACKGROUND: Haskap berries (Lonicera caerulea L.) are rich in anthocyanins. Cold plasma-assisted enzyme method (CPEM) is an innovative method for green extraction of anthocyanins, which was optimized by an artificial neural network-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA) to maximize the yield. In this study, seven factors were screened using by Plackett-Burman design based on single-factor experiments and optimized by ANN-GA. RESULTS: The results showed that the maximum total anthocyanin content (TAC, 42.45 ± 0.25 g cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalent (C3G) kg-1 dry weight, DW) was obtained under optimal pretreatment power of 192 W, pretreatment time of 29 s and liquid-to-solid ratio of 39 mL g-1 . Cleavage and porosity appeared on the surface of the treated sample. The active ingredients and antioxidant capacity of the CPEM extracts were identified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). Compared with other extraction technologies, CPEM presents the advantages of shortening the extraction time, reducing the solvent volume, and significantly increasing active ingredients and antioxidant activity. CONCLUSION: The ANN-GA has better predictive and higher accuracy than the response surface methodology (RSM) model and is more suitable for optimizing the CPEM by greatly improving the process yield and the utilization of biomass, thus contributing to the sustainability of the agri-food chain. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Heterocyclic aromatic amines in roasted chicken: Formation and prediction based on heating temperature and time.

The effects of chicken roasting temperature and time on the production of heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) were investigated and an HAA prediction model based on heating conditions was established. Generally, the HAA content was significantly affected by the heating conditions in the roast chicken. Transportation of precursors from meat to skin, exposure of skin to high temperatures, and fat oxidation in the skin may result in higher HAAs than meat. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the effect of relatively high temperatures and long roasting times on HAAs was stronger than that of lower temperatures and shorter roasting times. In the prediction of HAA production, all regression correlation coefficient (R) values were close to one. The errors of 15 samples of experimental and predictive data were close to zero. Based on the results, backpropagation-artificial neural network (BP-ANN) has a high potential for predicting the production of HAAs under heating conditions.

Effects of white ginseng on quality characteristics and volatile flavor compounds of roast chickens.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of white ginseng addition (1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5% and 3% of meat weight) on the physical and chemical properties of roast chickens. The parameters studied were basic characteristics (salting absorptivity, texture, shear force, pH and sensory evaluation), lipid and protein oxidation, volatile compounds and ginsenoside content. Headspace solid phase micro-extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to identify the flavor compounds of samples. The changes in physical and chemical properties showed that white ginseng had a positive effect on the quality of roast chickens. The oxidation rate of lipid and protein decreased with the increase of white ginseng addition. In addition, the contents of Ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1), Ginsenoside Re (Re) and Ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) in samples were 5.763 µg/g, 6.047 µg/g and 8.447 µg/g, respectively. Obtained data evidenced the possibility of improvement of the quality characteristics and enrichment of the flavor of roast chickens by adding white ginseng. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-022-05394-4.