Impact of Modified Atmosphere Packaging Conditions on Quality of Dates: Experimental Study and Predictive Analysis Using Artificial Neural Networks.

Dates are highly perishable fruits, and maintaining their quality during storage is crucial. The current study aims to investigate the impact of storage conditions on the quality of dates (Khalas and Sukary cultivars) at the Tamer stage and predict their quality attributes during storage using artificial neural networks (ANN). The studied storage conditions were the modified atmosphere packing (MAP) gases (CO2, O2, and N), packaging materials, storage temperature, and storage time, and the evaluated quality attributes were moisture content, firmness, color parameters (L*, a*, b*, and ∆E), pH, water activity, total soluble solids, and microbial contamination. The findings demonstrated that the storage conditions significantly impacted (p < 0.05) the quality of the two stored date cultivars. The use of MAP with 20% CO2 + 80% N had a high potential to decrease the rate of color transformation and microbial growth of dates stored at 4 °C for both stored date cultivars. The developed ANN models efficiently predicted the quality changes of stored dates closely aligned with observed values under the different storage conditions, as evidenced by low Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) values. In addition, the reliability of the developed ANN models was further affirmed by the linear regression between predicted and measured values, which closely follow the 1:1 line, with R2 values ranging from 0.766 to 0.980, the ANN models demonstrate accurate estimating of fruit quality attributes. The study's findings contribute to food quality and supply chain management through the identification of optimal storage conditions and predicting the fruit quality during storage under different atmosphere conditions, thereby minimizing food waste and enhancing food safety.

Physicochemical and Sensory Properties and Shelf Life of Block-Type Processed Cheeses Fortified with Date Seeds (Phoenix dactylifera L.) as a Functional Food.

Processed cheese has rapidly been established as a commercial product in recent years. A new ingredient, a byproduct from date fruit seed (DFS), was obtained and tested as a fortified fiber from food industrial waste in block-type processed cheese. This is the first inclusive investigation to report such a test. Different concentrations of DFS (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) were added to block-type processed cheese as a partial substitution for butter. The current investigation was undertaken to estimate the impact of the partial substitution of butter by DFS and its effect on the product's quality in terms of its shelf life and physicochemical, microstructure, color, and sensory properties. Quality was assessed over a 150-day storage period. The results indicate that adding DFS to cheese increased its nutritional value due to the addition of fiber. Additionally, the texture profile of cheese was decreased in terms of hardness, adhesion, springiness, and cohesiveness. The overall structure of cheeses became less compact and had a more open cheese network, which increased with increasing DFS% and duration of storage. Moreover, DFS exhibited the darkest color with increasing ratios of supplementary DFS and duration of storage. Based on the results found in the present investigation, it was concluded that an acceptable quality of block-type processed cheese could be achieved using DFS fiber at 5% and 10% levels of fortification.

Production, separation, and antimicrobial activity assessment of pristinamycin produced using date fruit extract as substrate.

Date fruits extract was assessed as substrate for pristinamycin production in shake flasks using Streptomyces pristinaespiralis DSMZ 40338 as production organism. A process of microfiltration, concentration, and solvent extraction was used to recover the antibiotic from the fermentation broth and its antimicrobial activity was tested using a well assay method. During a fermentation period of 120 h, the bacterium consumed approximately 28.4 g/l sugars, grew from 0.4 g/l to 4.0 g/l dry weight, and produced 51.0 mg/L pristinamycin. The microfiltration, concentration, and ethyl acetate solvent extraction applied resulted in 71% pristinamycin recovery. The antibiotic showed inhibition capacity comparable to that of the pristinamycins IA and IIA standards. The inhibited bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus faecium. Clear inhibition zones of 13.3-19.6 mm diameter were formed.

Pristinamycin production using Streptomyces pristinaespiralis and date sirup as substrate-process modeling, optimization, and scale-up.

Pristinamycin biosynthesis using Streptomyces pristinaespiralis and date sirup (DS) as substrates was optimized before scale-up. DS was filter sterilized as heat sterilization primes Maillard reactions having negative effects on antibiotic production. Multilinear regression modeling (MLR) predicted optimum medium composition, specifying components with positive and negative effects on production. The MLR showed that to maximize bacterial growth, DS, arginine, CaCl2, and KH2PO4 must be fixed at the highest concentration, but to maximize antibiotic production, these factors have to be fixed at a low level. A noticeable difference in productivity was observed in a shake flask experiments with 50.4 and 43.1 mg/L pristinamycin final concentration for the DS and the glucose substrates, respectively. In the 2 L bioreactor, the DS medium resulted in a 66.6 mg/L antibiotic, while the scale-up in the 100 L resulted in 39.0 mg/L. The low yield in the 100 L bioreactor could be attributed to the relatively high stirring rate applied which was the minimum possible in the bioreactor used. This high stirring rate prevented pellet formation by the cells, which is described as necessary for antibiotic formation by the bacterium. Hence, a successful scale-up to pilot-scale should consider the effect of stirring rate.

Date fruit: chemical composition, nutritional and medicinal values, products.

Date fruit has served as a staple food in the Arab world for centuries. Worldwide production of date fruit has increased almost threefold over the last 40 years, reaching 7.68 million tons in 2010. Date fruit can provide many essential nutrients and potential health benefits to the consumer. Date fruit goes through four ripening stages named kimri, khalal, rutab and tamer. The main chemical components of date fruit include carbohydrates, dietary fibre, enzymes, protein, fat, minerals, vitamins, phenolic acids and carotenoids. The chemical composition of date fruit varies according to ripening stage, cultivar, growing environment, postharvest conditions, etc. The nutritional and medicinal activities of date fruit are related to its chemical composition. Many studies have shown that date fruit has antioxidant, antimutagenic, anti-inflammatory, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, anticancer and immunostimulant activities. Various date fruit-based products such as date syrup, date paste, date juice and their derived products are available. Date by-products can be used as raw materials for the production of value-added products such as organic acids, exopolysaccharides, antibiotics, date-flavoured probiotic-fermented dairy produce, bakery yeasts, etc. In this paper the chemical composition and nutritional and medicinal values of date fruit as well as date fruit-based products are reviewed.