Protective foods

The primary appHcation for barrier polymers is food and beverage packaging. Barrier polymers protect food from environmental factors that could compromise both taste and shelf life. They also help retain desirable flavors and aroma. Barrier polymers are also used for packaging medical products, agricultural products, cosmetics, and electronic components and in moldings, pipe, and tubing. 

C22-0107. Describe how irradiation protects foods against spoilage, and describe how irradiation of foods might also produce undesirable by-products. 

Commercial sterilisation is a more severe process than pasteurisation as the temperature is higher (70-90°C). The process is used to protect food during long-term storage. The oxygen residue should be minimised before heating to reduce deterioration of antioxidants or, in some cases, antioxidants... 

ORGANIC TRACE ANALYSIS, SPECIATION Environmental protection, food inspection... 

Special optical fibres have been intensively investigated during recent years because of their potential wide-range use for on-line monitoring of material properties or processes in a number of areas of human activity (environment protection, food industry, medicine etc.) Their technology can be considered an integral part of the team-work on optical fibre sensors development. Despite special optical fibres represent a unique and often indispensable tool for a variety of sensor applications, special fibre production still represents only a small fraction of the market. Probably it is because of their low consumption (in comparison with standard telecommunication fibres), the need for much more advanced know-how and lower reproducibility. 

Many phytochemicals are regarded as protective food components because of their defensive potential against damaging reactive oxygen species within the human body. 

EQA for Food Microbiology Health Protection Food borne micro-organisms... 

Oberleas, D. In "Toxicants Occurring Naturally in Foods" Committee on Food Protection, Food and Nutrition Board, National Research Council, Ed. Natl. Acad. Sci. Washington, D.C., 1973 PP 187-207. 

Pesticides are chemical or biological substances intended to control weeds, insects, fungi, rodents, bacteria, and other pests. They protect food crops and livestock, control household pests, promote agricultural productivity, and protect public health. The importance of pesticides to modern society can be summarized by a statement made by Norman E. Borlaug, the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize winner Let s get our priorities in perspective. We must feed ourselves and protect ourselves against the health hazards of the world. To do that, we must have agricultural chemicals. Without them, the world population will starve [1]. 

Many women who have received silicone-fluid-filled breast implants have claimed to suffer from implant-related diseases, apparently caused by small leakages of the fluid into the body tissue. Successful lawsuits on those grounds in the United States have driven Dow Corning, the principal manufacturer of the implants, to file for bankruptcy protection. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler, however, has reported to a congressional subcommittee that, as of July, 1995, there was no scientific evidence that silicone implants are a significant cause of disease. See M. S. Reisch and R. L. Rawls, Silicone gel breast implants. Chem. Eng. News, December 11, 10-17 (1995). 

Pesticides are vital agricultural tools that protect food and fiber plants from damage by insects, weeds, diseases, nematodes, and rodents. U.S. agriculture spends about 8 billion annually on pesticides, representing about 70% of domestic pesticide sales. The dependence of agriculture on chemical pesticides developed over the last 60 years as the agricultural sector shifted from labor-intensive production methods to more capital- and chemical-intensive methods. 

Phenolic compounds also have important antioxidant properties, protecting food from oxidation [9]. The antioxidant properties of phenolic compounds can have an impact on human health and they are regarded as having a protective effect against low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation and cardiovascular diseases [3], Recently phenolic compounds have been widely used in cosmetic preparations to delay aging [10]. 

Cyclodienes are an important group of chlorinated pesticides. The group hep-tachlor includes insecticides such as chlordane, aldrin, dieldrin, endosulfan, and heptachlor and its epoxide. These are used for the control of a variety of plant pests in agriculture and household environments. The entry of cyclodienes to the global market has created easy management for the control of crop pests. They appeared after World War II as tools to protect food crops and control diseases from pests. In fact, humans were protected from malaria, typhus, and loss of food crops by pesticides. 

Ultimately, the ability of a packaging material to protect food quality depends not on whether an interaction has occurred but on whether or not a consumer can detect that interaction. The repeat purchase of a packaged food product is contingent on many factors, with enjoyment and positive sensory stimulation being among the most important (Kilcast, 1996). Consumer expectations associated with sensory characteristics and... 

The results of a recent survey by the Inspection Health Protection/Food Inspection Department, Utrecht, Netherlands (van Lierop, Wildervanck 1996), shown in Table 14-lb, found an average residual styrene monomer content of 224 mg/kg in 31 different polystyrene containing food contact articles and packaging. The two highest contents found were 888 and 1459 mg/kg and in 14 articles less than 150 mg/kg was found. A comparison of the results of the two studies from 1988 and 1996 supports the stated industry objective of reducing styrene monomer contents and shows an overall downward trend. 

Lierop, J. van, Wildervanck, J. 1996. Styrene in packings for food. Report No. UT/CH2/V/96-3. Health Protection/Food Inspection Department, Utrecht, Netherlands. 

PVC food packaging film (cling film) has been used for a number of years for wrapping fresh meat for food storage and for protecting food in the home. 

Plastic wrap is used to protect foods from spoiling. It is flexible because the side chains in the polymer prevent side-by-side molecules from packing together rigidly. 

The proportion of dietary iron bound by dietary fiber may be estimated by use of the coefficients (13) described in the Section Affinity of fiber for iron. Such estimates are applicable to the numerous populations that derive major portions of their diets from wheat and maize. Thus, in Central Mexico the median daily consumption of maize has been estimated to provide 14 g of NDF (63). This figure multiplied by 0.30, the coefficient for maize NDF, yields 4.2mg of iron bound by the NDF. With a daily intake of 19 mg of iron in this region of Mexico, the amount complexed is trivial, particularly since consumption of protective foods, including fruits and vegetables, is appreciable. However, in rural Iran, NDF intakes in the form... 

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