Journal of Food Processing and Preservation

The wet market poultry processing is a concern of spreading microbial pathogens into the environment or to the products. So, this study evaluated the microbiological contamination in poultry settings, i.e., slaughter and processing lines of wet market poultry shops, and the use of nonchlorine sanitizer to improve the sanitation. Swab samples from inner drum surfaces, defeathering machine inner surfaces, knife surfaces and workers’ hands, drum’s water, feather/carcass, and debris were collected, and their microbiological quality was determined. Most of the samples including workers’ hand surfaces were heavily contaminated with coliform, fecal coliform (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter spp.), E. coli, Salmonella enterica, and yeast and mold. The antibiotic sensitivity/resistivity test showed that E. coli was resistant to 9 antibiotics, K. pneumoniae to 8 antibiotics, S. enterica to 5 antibiotics, and Enterobacter spp. to 4 antibiotics, which were found common to all the bacterial isolates against 11 antibiotics. Additionally, in comparison to hot water washing, nonchlorine sanitizer (0.01% calcinated calcium from scallop or eggshell source) was found to effectively reduce pathogens from the surfaces of wet market poultry slaughter and processing lines. Hence, the use of nonchlorine sanitizer could be a novel practice to improve the hygiene and safety status of wet market poultry slaughterhouses and processing environment as well as reduce occupational hazard associated with poultry processing.

Red pepper is a valuable ingredient known for its abundance of vitamins and antioxidants. But, it usually needs to be dried for longer preservation. Hence, this research is aimed at examining the drying kinetics and quality attributes of dried red peppers utilizing various solar drying methods, in comparison with traditional open sun drying (OSD) and industrial laboratory thin layer dryers (LTLD). Analysis parameters employed include determining moisture content, measuring color properties, evaluating antioxidant capacity, analyzing capsaicinoid content, and assessing microbial presence. The drying process took place in a sunny environment with fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity as evidence of the dynamic conditions experienced within the solar dryers. It was observed that the logarithmic model was the most accurate in predicting moisture ratio over time, estimating a drying time of 25 hours to achieve 10% moisture content. The result demonstrated that direct solar dryers (DSD), indirect solar dryers (ISD), and mix mode solar dryers (MMSD) methods showed moderate changes in color parameters, with average , , and values of -5.08, -23.71, and -13.62, respectively. The average overall color difference () for these methods was 27.96. In addition, after comparing it to the LTLD method, which showed the highest content of phenolic compounds at 47.89%, MMSD displayed a slightly lower content of 44.71%. Similarly, MMSD exhibited higher levels of DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing power, measuring at 44.22% and 1163.75 μmol Fe²⁺/L, respectively. The capsaicin content remained relatively consistent across all drying methods, with MMSD, DSD, and LTLD demonstrating similar levels of approximately 31 mg/g. Although MMSD had slightly higher mold and yeast counts compared to LTLD, ISD, and DSD, it remained lower than OSD (less than 0.56 ). Furthermore, MMSD showed a lower total microbial count in comparison to other drying methods. These findings suggest that MMSD shows promise as a drying technique for preserving the phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of the dried product.

Determination of drying characteristics of ripe and unripe bitter melon in an infrared dryer at 50, 60, and 70°C with airborne ultrasonic pretreatment with a power of 20 kW for 0, 10, and 20 minutes and a frequency of 20 kHz is the purpose of this study. At the end of drying, among the five used models that fit the moisture ratio data, the Midilli and logarithmic models were selected to properly characterize the drying behavior in the infrared dryer with ultrasonic pretreatment of ripe and unripe bitter melon samples. Moisture transfer from bitter melon samples’ ripeness and early maturity was defined using Fick’s diffusion equation. Then, the Arrhenius equation was utilized to determine the effective moisture diffusivity. Also, the activation energy of unripe and ripe bitter melon slices was reduced with the enhancement in the ultrasound pretreatment time. Water activity () amounts of ripe and unripe bitter melon were achieved at various drying temperatures and ultrasound pretreatment. The trends of the experiment indicate a decrease in enthalpy () and entropy () amounts of bitter melon with enhancing temperature and ultrasonic. The Gibbs free energy () increases with enhancing drying temperature and ultrasonic pretreatment. Specific energy consumption decreased with enhancing drying temperature and ultrasound pretreatment duration for both ripe and unripe bitter melon samples.

The aim of the study was to determine the effects of oven, microwave (MW), and infrared (IR) drying technology on the drying kinetics, physicochemical properties, and β-carotene retention of the dried orange-fleshed sweet potato flour (OFSP). Fresh OFSP slices were dried in an oven (40°C), MW (80 W), IR (250 W), MW-IR (), and freeze-drying (-45°C, 100 kPa) and milled into flour. Hot air at a constant temperature was applied to all thermal drying technologies (40°C, 4.5 m/s air velocity). The drying rate of the MW-IR drying method was the fastest (45 min), followed by MW (60 min), IR (120 min), and oven (180 min). The Page model was most suitable for the oven-drying method, the Lewis model for IR drying, and Henderson and Pabis for IR and Logarithmic for the MW-IR method. The pasting and thermal properties of the flours were not significantly () affected by the different drying methods. However, IR- and MW-IR-dried flours showed a higher final viscosity when compared to other drying methods. MW-IR drying methods, IR, and MW showed a higher water solubility index, while the oven and freeze-drying methods showed a lower solubility index. MW-IR drying methods showed a higher retention of β-carotene (85.06%). MW also showed a higher retention of β-carotene (80.46%), followed by IR (66.04%), while oven and freeze-drying methods showed a lower retention of β-carotene. High β-carotene retention in the produced flour is due to the faster drying method, and these flours can be used in food-to-food fortification to address vitamin A deficiency.

Soluble sugar is one of the important characteristic metabolites contributing to the flavor quality of tea. However, little is known about the changes and metabolic pathways of sugar in summer–autumn black tea varieties during the solid-state fermentation of Ganoderma lucidum. Therefore, this study is aimed at investigating the effects of the solid-state fermentation of Ganoderma lucidum on soluble sugar metabolism in three summer–autumn black tea varieties. In this study, we combined targeted metabolomics technology, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and multivariate statistical analysis to reveal the metabolic rules of 13 different sugars in three varieties of summer–autumn black tea under the action of Ganoderma lucidum. Using multivariate statistical analysis, 8 common key sugar differential metabolites were selected from the three groups of samples: D-fructose, trehalose, lactose, maltose, D-galactose, glucose, L-rhamnose, and xylitol. The eight different sugars contributed to the quality difference between Ganoderma lucidum tea and black tea in this study. To better explore the patterns of sugar changes, the metabolic pathways of 13 different sugars were screened and analyzed. The result revealed that the solid-state fermentation of Ganoderma lucidum increased the sweet characteristics and decreased the bitter characteristics of the three summer–autumn black tea varieties. In addition, these results showed that the solid-state fermentation of Ganoderma lucidum could produce lactose in tea, reduce glucose and fructose contents, and increase xylitol content. The solid-state fermentation of Ganoderma lucidum can regulate soluble sugar metabolism in three summer–autumn black tea varieties, leading to an improvement in their quality. This study has potential practical significance for regulating the flavor quality of summer–autumn tea.

The rising demand for fiber-rich food products has fuelled the exploration of innovative approaches to enhance their dietary fiber content. Although adding dietary fiber-rich materials into pasta formula can increase the dietary fiber content, this approach counters several technological problems as the cooking and textural properties of the resulting pastas are usually negatively affected. This study is aimed at utilizing sweet corn “milk” residue (SCMR), a food by-product, and transglutaminase to develop fiber-rich pasta. Durum wheat semolina was replaced by SCMR powder at the ratio of 0 (control), 5, 10, 15, and 20% to make SCMR-fortified pasta. The chemical compositions and cooking and textural properties of the fortified pasta were then quantified. As the replacement ratio increased, the dietary fiber content, total phenolic content (TPC), and antioxidant properties of pasta were considerably improved while the cooking and textural attributes were negatively impacted. At 20% SCMR fortification, the dietary fiber content and TPC of the pasta were increased by 3.2 and 1.2 times, respectively, while the cooking loss increased by 73% as compared to those of the control pasta. Meanwhile, the chewiness, cohesiveness, tensile strength, and elongation rate at break of the 20% SCMR-fortified pasta were reduced by 19%, 26%, 21%, and 65%, respectively, compared to those of the control pasta. To improve the cooking properties and the textural properties of the fortified pasta, transglutaminase was added to the pasta dough with 20% SCMR. The effect of transglutaminase was enzyme-dose dependent. The cooking and textural qualities of pasta were improved as enzyme concentration increased 0 to 0.75 U/g protein and declined as the enzyme concentration increased from 0.75 to 1.25 g/U protein. At the optimal concentration of transglutaminase (0.75 U/g protein), the cooking loss reduced by 16% while the chewiness, cohesiveness, tensile strength, and elongation rate increased by 18%, 11%, 31%, and 32% compared to those without transglutaminase. Novelty Impact Statement. This study focuses on developing the dietary fiber-enriched pasta using sweet corn “milk” residue and transglutaminase enzyme. The results showed that replacing 20% durum wheat semolina with SCMR powder significantly enhanced the dietary fiber and total phenolic content of the pasta but negatively affect the cooking and textural properties of the pasta. Adding transglutaminase at 0.75 U/g protein to the SCMR-semolina blended dough successfully restored the adverse effects of SCMR on the cooking and textural properties. This study showed that dietary fiber-enriched pasta with improved cooking and textural properties can be prepared using the combination of SCMR and transglutaminase.