Food methodology, developments

The authors would like to thank Dow Chemical Co. for the C-dioxins used in methodology development and David Firestone, Food and Drug Administration, for supplying the analytical standards. 

At a glance, the rapprochement between biochemistry and polymer chemistry seems to have played an important role in the methodological development of preparations for immobilized biocatalysts. A number of articles on the preparation and characterization of immobilized biocatalysts, together with their applications in a variety of fields besides synthetic chemical reactions - chemical and clinical analysis, medicine, and food processing, for example - have already been published. These results have been reviewed by many of the pioneers in this and related fields [1-20]. The technology for immobilizing enzymes and cells is believed to be relatively mature at this point. In addition, the nature of immobilized biocatalysts has become somewhat more transparent to us. The key now is to come up with new uses and new systems which can fulfill specific needs [21]. 

Muster-Slawitsch, B. (2014) Thermal energy efficiency and process intensification for the food industry - methodology development for Breweries, Dissertation. Technical University Graz, Graz. 

This section is based on the flow injection methodology developed for the analysis of total phosphorus in beer, reported by Fernandes et al. (2000) As those authors mentioned in their work, phosphorus-containing compounds (inorganic and organic phosphorus) from water used in the brewing process have a considerable impact on the final flavor and physical appearance of the product. The measurement of its concentration in all phases of beer production can be used to help track metabolic products of fermentation and correlate beer flavor trends. Prior to the analysis of total phosphorus, all phosphorus compounds present in the food matrix must be converted into an analyzable form such as orthophosphate (total phosphorus), and therefore, undergo a digestion procedure. 

Despite the fact that these flow approaches have never been applied to the determination of sorbitol in foods and beverages, several examples of flow methods with eventual applicability in this field will be explored and discussed in this chapter. The majority of the flow methodologies developed for sorbitol determination are based on the enzymatic conversion of the analyte to products that can be detected either spectrophotometrically [62,63] or amperometrically [64-66]. 

The food industry, following scientific and technological developments and market demands, takes into account consumer wishes to have more naturally colored foods and adapts its methodologies to safer ways of producing food. In recent decades, we experienced a shift from exclusive use of certifiable synthetic colorants to exempt colorants and to natural complex extracts. 

The determination and analysis of sensory properties plays an important role in the development of new consumer products. Particularly in the food industry sensory analysis has become an indispensable tool in research, development, marketing and quality control. The discipline of sensory analysis covers a wide spectrum of subjects physiology of sensory perception, psychology of human behaviour, flavour chemistry, physics of emulsion break-up and flavour release, testing methodology, consumer research, statistical data analysis. Not all of these aspects are of direct interest for the chemometrician. In this chapter we will cover a few topics in the analysis of sensory data. General introductory books are e.g. Refs. [1-3]. 

In this chapter, the main analytical techniques and the methods currently employed in industrial and research laboratories for the analysis of important classes of additives are reviewed. The use of both gas chromatographic and liquid chromatographic methods coupled with mass spectrometry features prominently. Such methodology enables the sensitive and specific detection of many types of organic additives in polymeric materials to parts per billion (jig/kg) levels. Much of the development of these methods has been undertaken as part of research into the migration or extraction of species from food-contact and medical materials [5-7], This chapter also includes some discussion on the analysis of residual monomers and solvents. 

Devanand LL. 2006. Significance of sample preparation in developing analytical methodologies for accurate estimation of bioactive compounds in functional foods. J Sci Food Agric 86(14) 2266—2272. 

Abstract For most mammals, the ability to detect odours and discriminate between them is necessary for survival. Information regarding the availability of food, the presence of predators and the sex, age and dominance status of conspecifics is odour mediated. Probably because of this extraordinary reliance upon odour cues, mice and rats have developed the ability to learn and remember information associated with olfactory cues as effectively as primates recall visually related cues. As a result, these rodents have become the model of choice to study the neural and cognitive processes involved in olfactory discrimination. In this paper, we describe some of the more ethologically based tasks used in assessing olfactory discrimination and the advantages and disadvantages of the different methodologies employed. 

In conclusion, NMR methodologies have already proven successful within meat science with applications in many different areas. However, many unexplored areas still exist where the potential of NMR can be expected to reveal useful and valuable information. The inspiration that can be obtained from NMR studies within other disciplines, e.g., medical areas, material science, physical/chemical sciences and food science in general, should be rewarded with great attention in future in order to continue development of the use of NMR in meat science. 

In many instances, though not normally for food additives and contaminants, the numerical value of a characteristic (or criterion) in a Standard is dependent on the procedures used to ascertain its value. This illustrates the need for the (sampling and) analysis provisions in a Standard to be developed at the same time as the numerical value of the characteristics in the Standard are negotiated to ensure that the characteristics are related to the methodological procedures prescribed. 

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