gboma is a leafy vegetable commonly consumed in Benin, which plays an important role in food security. This study assessed the handling and preservation practices as well as quality attributes of gboma along the supply chain in Southern Benin. A survey among 785 people (285 producers, 180 whole salers/retailers, and 326 consumers) living in four Departments of Benin was conducted to evaluate the consumption frequency, the transportation mode, the preservation methods and quality attributes of gboma during purchasing. The survey revealed that, in general, gboma sauce is consumed twice to three times a month in all the departments covered. Different practices, including humidification, were used to preserve the leaves during selling. Traditional baskets or old clothes were used for the transportation and storage of gboma. Important quality attributes mostly used by actors during purchasing were freshness and color followed by physical damage and, to a lesser extent, weight and leaf surface at different degrees. gboma is currently sold in informal markets; however, improving handling and selling practices could preserve the freshness of this leafy vegetable that could then be placed in conventional supermarkets. Thereby, the selling and consequently the production level will increase, with positive impact on the income of producers.

Maritime pine bark (Pinus pinaster Aiton subsp. atlantica) is rich in polyphenols with known bioactive properties which are beneficial for human health. However, biological activities of bark extracts depend on the type of polyphenols extracted and the characteristics of these extractives depend on several factors such as the type of solvents used. The influence of the extraction solvent on the composition and consequently on the properties of the extracts has been poorly described. Thus, in this study the influence of the extraction solvent (water, ethanol and ethanol-water (50/50 v/v%)) on the antibacterial and anticancer properties of P. pinaster bark samples were evaluated. LC-DAD-MS profiling of the different extracts was also carried out to study their polyphenol composition. Results show that extraction solvent must be carefully chosen with respect to foreseeing use of bark extracts, since ethanolic and hydroethanolic extracts displayed the greatest antibacterial activity whereas water extracts showed increased anticancer properties.

Creativity and innovation in culinary research have gained steady academic interest over the last decade. The scholastic interest in creative innovation ranges from its artistic value to culinary creations, gastronomic experiences, and food science and technology. Creative innovation is important for food enterprises to succeed in a highly competitive market. In the context of the New Nordic Cuisine, entrepreneurs and chefs are constantly challenged to bring something new to the dining table. In this context, the processes of creative innovation remain under researched, particularly in the use of seaweed. As such, using the example of seaweed, a relatively new food in the New Nordic Cuisine, the objective of this corpus based study was to explore creative innovation from a systems integral approach, in order to uncover salient themes that contribute the processes of creative innovation in culinary research, and bringing new foods to market. For a corpus driven study, we built a small corpora of interviews with chefs, and food entrepreneurs. We enquired after what inspired and motivated them when faced with a challenge of bringing a relatively new food to market, or in creating new dishes with new available food technologies. The results suggested that food technology plays a critical role in creative innovation, and the resulting new dishes that can be presented to customers. They also suggested that seaweed in the New Nordic Cuisine is an emerging food concept, and that it is embedded in a social and cultural history and familiarity of the Nordic people.

Dietary fiber intake is significantly below the recommended daily allowances worldwide, making fortification of foods with dietary fiber a vital strategy. Simultaneously, there is a trend towards increased consumption of processed meat products containing substantial amounts of fat, making processed meat products an excellent vehicle to deliver fiber. In this study, the effects of adding four types of dietary fiber (Resistant Starch (RS), Polydextrose (POD), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and Galactooligosaccharides (GOS)) to chicken nuggets were investigated. Fibers were added at three levels (5, 10 and 15%) to replace 33.33, 66.66, and 100%, respectively, of the chicken skin. The difference between the removed quantity of chicken skin and added fiber was compensated with water. Chicken nuggets were evaluated by measuring color, texture, proximate composition, yield and consumers’ acceptability. Results indicated that replacement of the chicken skin entirely with dietary fiber is possible without negatively affecting the final product quality.

The partial lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia pushed people to work from and spend more time at home. During this unprecedented time, many people pursued new hobbies in gardening, which proved to enhance physical and mental health. With anxieties regarding food insecurity, food gardens became a new urban trend. With a relatively tiny space available, it is possible to make an urban food garden in the front yard of a house using various cultivation techniques to maximize space. However, the implementation of food gardens in urban houses is quite challenging due to limited space. Then, we reflect on the practical process and personal benefits gained from developing a tiny food garden at home. The tiny food garden could produce a variety of vegetables and herbs, such as the spinach family, lettuce, Asian greens, the tomato family, eggplants, the basil family, mint, rosemary, moringas, and butterfly-pea flowers. It may support a household with few amounts of fresh emergency food in the worst scenario during the Covid-19 pandemic. Besides, developing a tiny food garden at home may also provide co-benefits such as enhanced subjective well-being, increased appreciation of food and the environment, motivating others to start gardening at home, and great personal satisfactions of consuming home-grown food. With all these socio-ecological co-benefits, home food garden must be integrated as a strategy to achieve urban sustainability and increase household food resilience.

The use of natural products in sausages has become a new trend for health reasons. A natural product that could be incorporated into sausages is an extract of the senduduk (Melastoma malabathricum L.) leaf. Senduduk is an abundant shrub herb in Indonesia. This kind of plant is mostly used as a traditional medical remedy and as an ingredient in some culinary recipes. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of an aqueous extract of senduduk leaf (SLE) on the antioxidant, antimicrobial and physicochemical properties of beef sausage. Four treatments were used: ingredients consisting of beef, vegetable oil, skim milk, tapioca, salt, phosphate, ice cubic, garlic, pepper, dan nutmeg as a Control; the Control ingredients plus 0.01% of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT); the Control ingredients plus 0.83% of SLE (SLE-1), and the Control ingredients plus 1.1% of SLE (SLE-2). All ingredients of each formula were homogenously blended and the sausage mix was cooked. The addition of BHT and SLE affected the proximate composition, with the moisture content decreasing as the duration of chilled storage increased. The addition of SLE lowered the pH and aw value and both tended to increase during chilled storage. SLE also enhanced the WHC of the sausages which increased in value during chilled storage. The addition of BHT and SLE could increase the antioxidant activity of the sausages as indicated by scavenging DPPH free radicals. SLE in sausages could inhibit microbial growth during chilled storage. It can be summarized that the addition of an aqueous extract of senduduk could improve the physicochemical, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of beef sausages.

There are many opportunities in the global food market for innovations, through the valorization of artisanal technologies based on the local raw material. In this context we were interested in the development of cookies based on a local variety of sorghum from northern Cameroon, the so-called S35 sorghum variety and a local cowpea from northern Cameroon the so called "sekem variety". During the production of flours for cookies, the extraction yields were as follows: 46.67% for sorghum flour and 55.60% for cowpea flour. It was found that it was technically possible to produce these types of cookies. Several production trials were done and submitted to a panel for sensory analysis. The results showed that amongst different produced cookies, the one with 45% sorghum, 40% wheat, and 15% cowpea was the most appreciated by the members of the test panel. 70% of panelists considered them as "very good" against 30% who considered them as "good". 60% of test panelists indicate that cookies with 50% sorghum, 40% wheat and 10% cowpea were "good", against 40% who thought they were "not too bad". Meanwhile 50% of the test panelists considered that the cookies made of 55% sorghum, 40% wheat and 5% cowpea were "good" against 50% who indicate this as "bad" and "not too bad". Proximate analysis of the cookies of trial 3 showed that it contained about 12.50% proteins, 84.10% carbohydrates, 27.34% lipids and 1.50% fiber.

Salmonella typhimurium causes symptoms resembling typhoid fever and gastroenteritis in humans. Its toxicity is due to an outer membrane consisting largely of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) which is responsible for the host immune response. The aim of this study is to evaluate the antimicrobial, anti-apoptotic ability of Lactobacillus plantarum and reduce Salmonella-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8 secretion. Adhesive tests were performed using lactobacilli co-cultured with the colon cancer cell line HCT-116 for 2 hours. The strains displaying the highest adhesion were selected for downstream 3- (4, 5- Dimethylthiazol -2-yl) -2, 5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) tests to assess cytotoxicity. The supernatants of Lactobacillus cultured with HCT-116 cells for 24 and 48 h to evaluate the inhibitory effect. To determine Interleukin 8 (IL-8) secretion in colon cancer induced by S. typhimurium, we stimulated HCT-116 cells with S. typhimurium and co-cultured with lactobacilli for 24 h. Lactobacilli had the most significant inhibitory effects on cell growth, and their inhibitory effects were time-dependent. Strain No. 03-03-026 caused cancer cell deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation, and the anti-apoptosis protein (B-cell lymphoma 2) was reduced in the HCT-116 cells as determined. IL-8 production in colon cancer cells was significantly reduced by these lactobacilli. Our results suggested that lactobacilli maybe effectively reduce the numbers of S. typhimurium, IL-8 levels and the anti-apoptotic phosphorylated-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and B-cell lymphoma 2 proteins. Lactobacillus can be added to the diet as a food additive to prevent colorectal cancer and used to be the prophylactic agent against S. typhimurium.

Three types of mills (Buhler, Quadrumat, and industry mill) have been used to determine the effect of mill type on the quality of the produced flour. Quadrumat and Buhler mills are usually used to produce flour at a laboratory level. Flour quality has been determined physically, chemically, and rheologically. Results showed that the particle size of flour produced by Buhler mill (FPB) was finer (mostly less than 132 μm) than other produced flour, while flour produced by Quadrumat mill (FPQ) had 8% particle size bigger than 50gg, which is more than Iraqi accepted limit (5%). The moisture content of FPQ exceeded the moisture content limit (14%). While, all flour produced by industry mills (FPI) was within the Iraqi standard in term of particle sizes and moisture content. Gluten content of FPB was higher than other produced flours; however, most increments were not significantly different. The results also showed that using different mills has no clear effect on the gluten index and alpha-amylase activity. Farinogram and extensogram results showed that FPQ was stronger than other produced flour followed by FPI. In conclusion, the quality of FPQ was closer to the quality of FPI, however, Quadrumat mill needs to be adjusted to produce flour with finer particle sizes and lower moisture content. The Buhler mill, on the other hand, needs to be adjusted to produce flour with bigger particle size. Both laboratory mills (Quadrumat and Buhler) need to be adjusted to produce flour that expresses FPI correctly.

Hot Smoked Spiced Catfish (HSSC) samples prepared under optimal conditions (garlic, 7.29 g/100 ml; ginger, 7.50 g/100 ml; turmeric, 2.5 g/100 ml; soaking temperature, 38.68 °C and soaking time, 7.51 min) were stored at ambient temperature (30±2 °C) for a period of 20 days to evaluate storage stability; un-spiced hot smoked catfish served as control. Moisture Content (MC), Thiobarbutric Acid (TBA), Peroxide Value (PV), Free Fatty Acid (FFA), Total Viable Counts (TVC) and Mould Counts (MoC) were monitored at two-day intervals as a measure of the storage stability indices. Sensory attributes of the Optimized Hot Smoked Spiced Catfish (OHSSC), control (unspiced) and commercial hot-smoked catfish were determined using a preference test. The storage stability indices values for HSSC were in the range of 6.64 - 7.01% (MC), 4.50 - 13.77 mg MDA/kg (TBA), 0.20 - 2.84 mEq/kg (PV), 0.72 - 9.64% (FFA), 9.50 - 57.00 cfu/g (TVC), 8.00 - 34.50 cfu/g (MoC). The control sample values were in the range of 6.97 - 7.30% (MC), 5.51 - 14.92 mg MDA/kg (TBA), 0.23 to 2.86 mEq/kg (PV), 2.24 - 11.88% (FFA), 13.50 - 113.00 cfu/g (TVC), and 10.00 - 49.00 cfu/g(MoC). The sensory evaluation indicated that OHSSC was most preferred in all the evaluated sensory parameters. This study established the synergistic effects of garlic and turmeric on the keeping quality and sensory attributes of hot-smoked catfish with the prospect of reducing post harvest losses.