ABSTRACT
It is a matter of common knowledge in the literature that engineered metal oxide nanoparticles have properties that are efficient for the design of innovative food/beverage packages. Although nanopackages have many benefits, there are circumstances when these materials are able to release nanoparticles into the food/beverage matrix. Once dispersed into food, engineered metal oxide nanoparticles travel through the gastrointestinal tract and subsequently enter human cells, where they display various behaviors influencing human health or wellbeing. This review article provides an insight into the antimicrobial mechanisms of metal oxide nanoparticles as essential for their benefits in food/beverage packaging and provides a discussion on the oral route of these nanoparticles from nanopackages to the human body. This contribution also highlights the potential toxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles for human health. The fact that only a small number of studies address the issue of food packaging based on engineered metal oxide nanoparticles should be particularly noted.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this work is to obtain new food products enriched with bioactive compounds from concentrated grape juice microencapsulated by freeze drying using a whey protein isolate-chitosan system. The obtained powder showed an encapsulation efficiency of (86.1±4.0) %, with an anthocyanin mass fraction (expressed as cyanidin-3-O-glucoside equivalent) of (1.4±0.2) mg/g, while the total polyphenolic (expressed as gallic acid equivalents) and flavonoid (expressed as catechin equivalents) mass fractions were (3.3±0.6) and (1.6±0.5) mg/g, respectively. The confocal laser microscopy revealed the presence of the flavonoid pigments wrapped inside the matrix, whereas the anthocyanins were grouped into large and compact clusters. The microencapsulated powder was used for jelly formulation. The new food formulations have a satisfactory anthocyanin mass fraction ranging from (0.03±0.01) to (0.12±0.02) mg/g, while no significant differences were observed in flavonoid content. All the value-added jelly showed appreciable antioxidant activity. The in vitro digestibility results confirm a slow release of anthocyanins from the food matrices during simulated gastric digestion and a significant release of the bioactive compounds into the gut. The addition of microencapsulated powder caused a significant decrease in firmness, cohesiveness and springiness, leading to the destabilization of the gel structure, while reducing the attraction forces between the matrix components. The sensorial analysis indicated that the panellists preferred the sample with grape juice the most.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this exploratory work, because of the existing bias on the size of the sample and some of the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, was to investigate the Eastern European consumers' beliefs and attitudes toward animal welfare, to perform a cross-country segmentation analysis and to observe possible differences with their Western European counterparts. For this purpose, a survey was conducted with 5508 consumers from 13 Eastern European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, North Macedonia, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine) using a questionnaire with nine statements about consumers beliefs regarding animal welfare (aspects of management, ethical issues about animals, and consequences of animal welfare on meat quality and price), one statement about the willingness to pay more for meat produced under better welfare conditions, and four statements regarding attitudes toward animal welfare. Differences between countries were detected for all the statements. Moreover, three clusters of consumers were identified: one with consumers indifferent towards animal welfare; one with consumers concerned about animal welfare, but they believe it is difficult to achieve; and one with consumers concerned about animal welfare, and they believe it is possible to achieve it.
