Tribhuvan University Journal of Food Science and Technology

Chemical Composition, Health Benefits and Applications of Chia seeds: A Review

Megha Shrestha, Salina Shrestha, Nabindra Kumar Shrestha — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Consumers have adjusted their dietary preferences toward better food options as public health awareness has grown, and demand for functional food with many health advantages has increased. Chia, a plant native to Mexico and Guatemala, is commonly consumed for its health advantages related to chronic disorders like obesity, diabetes, and cancer. The high content of essential fatty acids, fibre, and antioxidants in this food contributes to its health benefits. It can be eaten on its own or mixed into yoghurt, salads, fruits, pastries, and beverages. Chia seeds have both a preventative and therapeutic effect on health, since their antioxidant capabilities protect the cardiovascular system from disease, while unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids assist lower serum cholesterol levels. Chia seed gum can be used as an alternative in food as an emulsifier, additive and foam stabilizer. Therefore, it is considered as a superfood.

Meat Handling Practices Among Retail Meat Shops in Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City

Dinesh Subedi, Tanka Bhattarai, Dev Raj Acharya — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The study was conducted to assess the status of sanitation and hygienic practices among retail meat shops in Dharan Sub metropolitan city. A total of 117 retail meat shops were randomly selected and interviewed by using a self-prepared semi-structured questionnaire. 98.3% of respondents were unaware of Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act, 52.1% of the butchers didn’t wear an apron, 76.1% of butchers did not have an evisceration facility, antemortem and post mortem practices were rarely practiced and more than 80% did not use detergent-water for cleaning function. On a 21-point rating score for good hygienic practices, 41.88% of meat shop fell into the poorer category getting less than 45% score showing significant association (p<0.05) with the type of meat, sex of the worker and training received. General hygiene practices in most of the meat shop of Dharan have not been observed satisfactory. Since poorer meat handling practices are directly related to poorer meat quality, this study recommends immediate and effective intervention to ensure the quality and safety in the meat market of Dharan.

Occurrence and Antibiogram of Non-Sorbitol Fermenting Escherichia coli in Marketed Raw Meat of Dharan, Eastern Nepal

Santoshi Ghimire, Devendra Thapa, Arjun Ghimire, Prince Subba, Shiv Nandan Sah — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This study aimed to explore the distribution of non-sorbitol fermenting Escherichia coli (E. coli) from meat marketed in Dharan city and study its susceptibility to antibiotics. This study was the laboratory based cross-sectional study conducted from December 2016 to May 2017 at Microbiology laboratory of Central Campus of Technology. A total of 24 meat samples from butcher’s retail shop of Dharan were taken for study that included 6 chickens, 6 buffalo, 6 pork, and 6 goat meat sample. The bacterial isolates from meat samples were isolated by routine microbiological procedures and identified by colony characteristics on selective medium, Gram's staining and biochemical tests. The antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) of the isolated bacteria was performed by Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method. Results reported 41.66% (10/24) prevalence of non-sorbitol fermenting E. coli in meat samples. However, this distribution was not statistically significant (p=0.877). The prevalence of E. coli was 3 (50%) in chicken, 3 (50%) in buffalo, 2 (33.33%) in pork and 2 (33.33%) in goat meat. All the isolated E. coli were subjected to the antibiotic susceptibility test using 17 different antibiotics and all the strains showed 100% resistance against ampicillin, amoxicillin and ceftazidime and the highest sensitivity towards gentamycin (90%), ceftriaxone (80%), amikacin (80%) and chloramphenicol (80%). The 100% multidrug resistance was observed in all the isolates. This study concludes that the meat consumers of Dharan are at higher risk of infection by pathogenic strain of E. coli. The increasing incidence of multi drug resistance of pathogenic strains may pose serious health ailment among semi-processed meat consumers whilst the cooked meat consumers too are at risk of toxin-mediated food poisoning.

Kinetics of Lactic Acid Fermentation during Dahi Preparation

Arjun Ghimire, Nisha Raya — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Dahi with 4.15% fat and 11% solids-not-fat (SNF) was prepared from cow milk, pasteurized at 85℃ for 15 min and cooled to 25℃. Fermentation kinetics was studied to study the effects of sugar concentration (2 to 10%) and starter-level (1 to 3%) on cell growth, lactic acid production and its rate, pH, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) count which was monitored every 3 h until the total of 15 h fermentation time. The biomass growth rate was very high for 10% sugar at 2% inoculum levels i.e., lnX/X_t = 30.74. Similarly, the lactic acid production rate was maximum (0.17%) for 2% sugar at 1% inoculum level. The overall maximum growth rate was observed at 6% sugar concentration for all inoculum concentrations. The highest growth rate of 0.8 per hour was seen for 1% inoculum at 6% sugar concentration and the pH for the entire process decreased from 6.5 to 4.4 when fermented at room temperature (28℃). The decrease was steep and a gradual fall in pH was obtained at 8 h of fermentation in 2% and 8% sugar levels at all inoculum levels. From the study, inoculation and sugar levels showed a significant effect on the specific growth rate, pH, and the total lactic acid bacterial counts thereby heading one step possibility of commercialization of indigenous product dahi through optimization of the process variables.

Effect of Different Treatments on Reduction of Oxalates in Starfruit (Averrhoa carambola) Juice

Pushpa Raj Sapkota, Jyoti Acharya, Anuj Niroula — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of EDTA blanching, NaCl blanching, and barley sprouts addition on the reduction of oxalates in starfruits juice. The effect of EDTA (0-0.6%), NaCl (0-10%), and sprouts (0-3%) treatments was evaluated by response surface methodology. EDTA, NaCl, and sprouts treatments had significant effects (p<0.05) on oxalate reduction. EDTA and NaCl treatments during blanching had a quadratic effect on the reduction of oxalate content of starfruit juice, while the addition of sprouts had a linear effect. Juice treated with all three factors had the maximum reduction, which was significantly higher (p<0.05) than individual treatments. The oxalates content was reduced to 6 mg/100 ml which is comparable to carrot and grapes juices and is considered as a normal oxalates level. Amongst the two factors treatment, the combination of EDTA and NaCl treatment had a significantly high reduction (p<0.05) as compared to other combinations. No significant difference (p>0.05) was obtained between the samples treated with EDTA (0.495%) or NaCl (10%) treatment in combination with sprouts addition. The regression expression for the oxalates reduction in response to these treatments was derived and validated.

Study on the Dehydration Properties of Mushroom (Calocybe indica) under Different Pretreatment Conditions and Drying Mechanisms

Barsha Adhikari, Bijay Humagain, Mahalaxmi Pradhananga — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This research studies the effect of different pretreatment conditions on dehydration characteristic of milky white mushroom (Calocybe indica). Mushroom samples were dried using three different methods (cabinet drying, solar drying and sun drying) with different pretreatments such as blanching (85° for 1 min), sulfiting (0.3% KMS for 10 min) and blanching and sulfiting and untreated. After dehydration, differently pretreated products from each drying mechanisms were analyzed for proximate composition, drying rate, rehydration properties, and sensory qualities. Among different pretreatments in all three drying mechanisms (cabinet, sun and solar), sulfited samples showed the best result in terms of nutrients retention such as crude protein (23.17 g/100 g, 22.57 g/100 g, 21.91 g/100 g), crude fat (5.01 g/100 g, 4.47 g/100 g, 4.21 g/100 g) and crude fibre (13.62 g/100g, 13.11 g/100g, 12.04 g/100 g) respectively. Blanched and sulfited samples showed satisfactory results on drying time (8 h, 9 h, 10 h) to reach constant moisture level, rehydration ratio (3.16, 2.54, 2.81), rehydration coefficient (0.47, 0.41, 0.42), and percent water in rehydrated mushroom (69.62%, 62.45%, 65.55%) respectively. Likewise, among different drying mechanisms, cabinet dried sample was found to be superior in terms of nutrients retention (crude protein 23.17 g/100 g; crude fat 5.01 g/100 g; and crude fibre 13.62 g/100 g), drying time (8 h) and rehydration properties (rehydration ratio 3.16; rehydration coefficient 0.47; and percent water in rehydration mushroom 69.2%).

Effect of Processing Methods on Bioactive Components and Antioxidant Activity of Beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.)

Sushan Niroula, Babita Adhikari — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) is known as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hepato-protective and anticancer due to its bioactive components. The effect of processing (blanching, open pan cooking, pressure cooking, microwave oven treatment, electric oven treatment and drying) on the bioactive components (total phenolic and total betalain content) and antioxidant activity in beetroot were studied. The total betalain content (676.03 mg/100g db) included betacyanin (445.64 mg/100g db) and betaxanthin (230.39 mg/100g db). Total phenolic content, total betalain content and antioxidant activity were significantly different (p<0.05) in open pan cooked, pressure cooked and electric oven treated sample. The drying process significantly (p<0.05) decreased total phenolic and total betalain in blanched, open pan cooked, pressure cooked and electric oven treated samples. Betaxanthin was found more susceptible to heat than betacyanin. The antioxidant activity significantly (p<0.05) increased during drying of the pretreated samples. Microwave oven treatment was found to be suitable for pretreatment as it increases antioxidant activity, maximum retention in total phenolic content and betalain.

Development of Yogurt Analogue by Blending Soy-Maize Milk

Prem Kumar Limbu, Dambar Bahadur Khadka, Bunty Maskey — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of this research was to develop yogurt analogue by blending soy-maize milk and to study its sensory and keeping quality. D-optimal mixture design was employed for the formulation of soy-maize yogurt analogue. Five different formulations containing soymilk and maize milk in the ratio of 100:0, 85:15, 70:30, 55:45 and 40:60 were prepared. Sugar (6 g per 100 g milk base), xanthan gum (0.005 g per 100 g milk base) and culture (2U per 20 l) were mixed in all formulations. The prepared yogurts were subjected to sensory evaluation for consumer acceptability. The sensory analysis revealed that soymilk (85%) and maize milk (15%) was of acceptable quality. There was significant difference (p<0.05) between the formulation in terms of color and appearance, flavor, body and texture and overall acceptance. The soy and soy-maize yogurt (optimized) were evaluated for fermentation kinetics (pH, acidity, total plate count and Streptococcus thermophilus count) at the interval of 2 h for 6 h during incubation; and during storage (refrigeration temperature 4-5℃) at the interval of 3 days for 12 days. The physicochemical analysis showed that there was significant difference (p<0.05) in terms of protein, carbohydrate, acidity and syneresis and not significant (p>0.05) in regards of moisture content, fat, ash, and pH between soy and soy-maize yogurt. Also, there was significant difference (p<0.05) in pH, acidity, total plate count and Streptococcus thermophilus count with respect to incubation and storage time for soy and soy-maize yogurt. The yeast and molds count were observed at the 12th day of storage only. The syneresis of soy and soy-maize yogurt was also significantly different (p<0.05) with respect to storage time.