Encapsulation of Active Compounds in Fruit and Vegetable Juice Processing: Current State and Perspectives.

The production of value-added and/or functional juices has increased significantly in recent years, following an increased consumer demand to promote health and/or prevent disease through diet and nutrition. Micro and nano-encapsulation are promising technologies to protect and deliver sensitive compounds, allowing a controlled release in the target sites. This paper offers an overview of current applications, limits and challenges of encapsulation technologies in the production of fruit and vegetable juices, with a particular emphasis on products derived from different botanical sources.

Use of alginate beads as carriers for lactic acid bacteria in a structured system and preliminary validation in a meat product.

This paper proposes the microencapsulation into alginate beads of 4 isolates of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus spp.), previously isolated from pork meat. First, the beads were studied in relation to the encapsulation yield (EY), kinetic of cell release in a structured system, and survival throughout bead storage at 4 °C. EY was 93-96% and the survival of the encapsulated microorganisms was variable, with two isolates showing a bacterial population of 6.1-6.9 log cfu/g after 35 days under refrigerated conditions. Thereafter, the paper addressed a preliminary validation in a meat model system, containing salt, nitrites and nitrates, lactose, pepper, and then in a commercial preparation of pork meat. For the validation in pork meat, free cells were used as controls. Cell released from beads were able to achieve a significant acidification; in particular, after 7 days they showed the same results of free cells.

Characterization and implications of Enterobacter cloacae strains, isolated from Italian table olives "Bella di Cerignola".

Enterobacter cloacae can be recovered in the spontaneous fermentations of Italian table olives. In this study, the effects of salt (20 to 100 g/L), temperature (10 to 37 degrees C), pH (4 to 5 and 8 to 10), p-coumaric and vanillic acids (0.5 to 2 g/L), and the acidification of the medium through lactic, citric, and ascorbic acids were investigated on 15 strains of E. cloacae, isolated from Italian table olives "Bella di Cerignola." Finally, a confirmatory experiment in synthetic brine was run. The strains were inhibited only by an NaCl amount of 70 to 80 g/L and by p-coumaric acid; on the other hand, they showed the ability to grow also at low temperatures (10 to 15 degrees C). The confirmatory experiment highlighted their ability to survive both at 15 degrees C and at pH 5. Enterobacter cloacae could be a real problem for the fermentation of table olives in southern Italy; some hurdles could be used (salt or brine acidification), but some environmental conditions (for example, the temperature) should be controlled carefully to maintain olive safety at acceptable levels.