Functional food ingredients

Considering the concerns of consumers for synthetic colorants and interest in natural formulas, many food manufacturers seek alternative healthy solutions to replace colorants, even the regulated ones from positive lists (like p-carotene), with colored fruit and vegetable extracts to be used as functional food ingredients or nutraceuticals (food supplements). ... 

Carmen Socaciu was bom in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and earned a BSc in chemistry in 1976, an MSc in 1977, and a PhD in 1986 from the University Babes-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca, an important academic centre located in the Transylvania region. Dr. Socaciu worked as a researcher in medical and cellular biochemistry for more than 10 years, and became a lecturer in 1990 and full professor in 1998 in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (USAMV) in Cluj-Napoca. She extended her academic background in pure chemistry (synthesis and instrumental analysis) to the life sciences (agrifood chemistry and cellular biochemistry). Her fields of competence are directed especially toward natural bioactive phytochemicals (carotenoids, phenolics, flavonoids), looking to advanced methods of extraction and analysis and to their in vitro actions on cellular metabolism, their effects as functional food ingredients, and their impacts on health. 

A particular advantage of the compacted granules is the flexibility of the particle size. Each size between 0.5 and 5.0 mm is adjustable. A further advantage is shaped particles, colour and a combination of spray-dried flavour and additives (vitamins, minerals, functional food ingredients) can be combined in the granulated matrix. 

Currently, chitosan has been approved as a food additive in Korea and Japan since 1995 and 1983, respectively (KFDA, 1995 Weiner, 1992), and is mostly applied as a food additive or preservative and as a component of packaging material. In addition, the antimicrobial characteristics of chitosan present a profitable potential for developing functional food ingredients however, they may prove to be useful in nutraceuticals for the ability to stimulate host defenses against a variety of bacteria, fungi, and yeast (Lim and Hudson, 2003). 

Raw milk is a unique agricultural commodity. It contains emulsified globular lipids and colloidally dispersed proteins that may be easily modified, concentrated, or separated in relatively pure form from lactose and various salts that are in true solution. With these physical-chemical properties, an array of milk products and dairy-derived functional food ingredients has been developed and manufactured. Some, like cheese, butter, and certain fermented dairy foods, were developed in antiquity. Other dairy foods, like nonfat dry milk, ice cream, casein, and whey derivatives, are relatively recent products of science and technology. This chapter describes and explains the composition of traditional milk products, as well as that of some of the more recently developed or modified milk products designed to be competitive in the modern food industry. 

Evaluating Synthetic Sweeteners. Evaluation of new sweeteners, unlike that of most functional food ingredients, is not possible using totally objective means, There arc no general rules leading to structurc/function relationships for all classes of sweeteners. The principal judgments must rely on human sensory panel tests. The training and administration of sensory panels for sweeteners are beyond the scope of this volume. 

Roberfroid, M., Inulin-Type Fructans Functional Food Ingredients, CRC Series in Modem Nutrition, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2005. 

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