A sustainable Short Food Supply Chain (SFSC) requires collaboration among all actors, which nowadays is facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICT). However, not all SFSC stakeholders network with others in this way, and it is not clear what will draw them to ICT interaction. A simple, user-friendly website, the SMARTCHAIN Innovation Platform, evolving since March 2019, may facilitate interaction and cooperation among SFSC stakeholders. This article presents the Platform's development and evaluates its efficacy and impact by analysing data from Google Analytics (GA) and other sources. Primary Platform features promote communication and information sharing: these are the 1) Innovation Hubs in 9 European countries, 2) Inventories including 150 SFSC innovations and 50 SFSC initiatives, 3) Resources databases of Publications and Weblinks, and 4) Training section. GA showed that visitors to the Platform increased slowly in the 16 months since its start, and the number of page views increased with the amount of time on the Platform. The most visited page of the Platform was the information-providing Innovation Inventory. Most Platform users were in partner countries of the SMARTCHAIN project, but not all Innovation Hubs had high numbers of users. Most users arrived at the Platform by direct link, but LinkedIn was the most important originating social network. Taken together, these data suggest growth potential for an easy-to-use website that provides useful and up-to-date information but little inclination for SFSC stakeholders to use an online Platform for communication.

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.

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.

Blended learning refers to the use of conventional face-to-face learning experiences in combination with online education resources and practices. An increase in enrolments and a more diverse student body has intensified the demand to develop first-year teaching and learning pedagogies. Food science and technology lecturers must facilitate constructive learning in order to develop student skills, including critical thinking, teamwork, and self-directed learning. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate student perceptions of collaborative and blended learning. Students were exposed to various technology-enhanced pedagogical tools and face-to-face teaching strategies such as online academic journal reflections, video screencasts, group assignments, food processing practicals, and group crossword puzzles. A mixed-method survey consisting of multiple-choice, a 5-point Likert scale, and open-ended qualitative questions was administered via Blackboard. A total of 133 students were registered for the module, and 72.1% (n = 96) completed the survey. In this study, respondents felt they were prepared to complete the online group assignments (82%), which illustrates that they could learn the course material through collaboration. Moreover, 87% of the students agreed that they could keep up with the coursework in the blended format. Students recommended that there should be more lecture designed video screencasts, and they should be offered more opportunities to do oral presentations in this module. The respondents positively received collaborative and blended learning. The findings of this study, in general, affirm the merits of incorporating blended and collaborative learning in food science and technology curricula.

Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme that can be found in all parts of pineapple plant varieties. Pineapple crown (PC) has higher bromelain activity than other pineapple wastes such as peels and leaves. This study isolated bromelain from one variety of PC, namely Honi, and determined the optimum drying temperature as well as concentration of ammonium sulphate to obtain the best bromelain characteristics such as protein content, unit activity and specific activity. Honi PC was dried at various drying temperatures (35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 °C), and then extracted and purified using ammonium sulphate in various concentrations (20, 40, 60, and 80%), in order, to get bromelain. Furthermore, the yield of isolated bromelain was calculated and the protein content, unit activity and specific activity of bromelain characterised. The highest yield of crude bromelain (CB) was achieved at 35 °C. However, the highest protein level, unit activity and specific activity of CB were achieved at 55 °C (p < 0.05). Purification of CB using concentrations of ammonium sulphate in the range 40 to 80% resulted in a higher protein level (p < 0.05). The highest unit activity and specific activity of bromelain were achieved at a 60% concentration of ammonium sulphate (p < 0.05). 55 °C and 60% were the optimum drying temperature and concentration of ammonium sulphate respectively to achieve the best characteristics (2.16% protein level, 1.61 U/mL unit activity and 0.75 U/mg specific activity) for bromelain isolated from Honi PC. Honi PC isolated bromelain was shown to inhibit the browning reaction on apple fruits. The agroindustry waste product, Honi PC, has potential as a future alternative bromelain source.

Coffee is a popular beverage, and it contains caffeine, a psychoactive substance. Consuming coffee may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the association between the reduced risk of developing AD and the consumption of coffee is controversial. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review and quantitative synthesis meta-analysis that included dose-response analysis on the relationship between the consumption of coffee and the risk of developing AD. Based on PRISMA guidelines, we analysed standard databases of journals published between January 1999 and May 2020. We included the two population-based cohort studies and one case-control study. All studies included looked at the association between consuming many cups of coffee, the amount of coffee consumed in milligrams per day and the risk of developing AD. The systematic literature review and meta-analysis had 1670 participants with follow-up years that ranged from 5 to 21. The consumption of moderate or 3-5 cups per day reduces the risk of developing AD. The pooled relative risk and 95% confidence interval of the 3 included studies were 0.63 (0.3, 1.54). Dose-response curve analysis appears to be U-shaped. The results of the forest plot showed that there is low heterogeneity between the studies. Plotting the funnel plot and the Galbraith plot demonstrated publication bias of the three included studies. More prospective and long-term studies have to be conducted in other countries to determine the exact risk of developing AD.

The effect of African Yam Bean (AYB) flour substitution on the nutritional, functional and pasting properties of yellow root cassava grits was investigated. Cassava grits were obtained by peeling, washing, cutting (5.5 cm thickness in cubes), soaking (72 h, 28±2 °C), dewatering, roasting (120 °C, 20 min), sieving and milling. Roasted AYB flour was obtained by cleaning, roasting (190 °C, 10 min), dehulling, milling and sieving (425 μm). Simple lattice design was used to generate different formulations, 100:0; 90:10; 80:20; 70:30; 60:40 and 0:100 of cassava grits and AYB flour, respectively. These were analyzed for chemical composition, amino acid profile, minerals, functional and pasting properties. Total ash, protein, β-carotene and hydrogen cyanide were in the ranges of 2.16-2.66%, 2.72-20.43%, 1.33 to 3.97 µg/g and 0.07-4.47 mg/kg, respectively. Total essential amino acids and total non-essential amino acids were in the ranges of 32.51-40.18% and 59.82-67.48%. Potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, manganese and sodium of the blends ranged from 338.00-646.75, 188.00-508.00, 358.00-532.50, 59.25-140.00, 0.12-0.19, 1.07-1.71, 7.25-38.25, 25.25-161.50 mg/100 g, respectively. Bulk density, water absorption capacity, swelling capacity and swelling index ranged from 0.67-0.81 g/ml, 151.05-503.29 g/ml, 1.67-5.68 g/g and 2.86-13.32%, respectively. The blends of yellow root cassava grits and African yam bean flour could provide nutritious food formulations and offer good potential for food security.

Brazil has a great variety of fruits which are rich in bioactive compounds, such as the genipap fruit. Both the peel and the pulp of genipap have beneficial components for health, making the study of this fruit important for the proper use of its functionalities. The objective of this work was the extraction of bioactive compounds from the peel and pulp of genipap by different techniques. Extraction processes were carried out using different devices (orbital incubator shaker, ultrasonic bath, and ultrasonic probe) and at different temperatures (40, 60, 70, 80 and 90 °C). The best process for extracting phenolic compounds from the pulp of genipap fruit was with the ultrasonic probe at 40 °C, which indicated the efficiency of applying the sound waves directly to the sample. Regarding the peel, the best method for extracting phenolic compounds was using the orbital incubator shaker at 80°C.

The coffee of Arabica Kintamani is one of the most popular coffees in the world due to its specific taste. The quality of coffee beans depends on the post-harvest and processing method. Dry processing and wet processing are the most popular methods used and each process produces different quality coffee beans. The objective of this research was to study and analyze various processing methods of coffee beans and to determine the best processing method to apply by the farmers and processors. This research consisted of three processing methods for the coffee namely dried processing (natural); wet processing; and semi-wet processing (honey). The research used a randomized complete design with one factor and five replications. The study showed that dry processing (natural) produced good quality coffee beans compared with wet or semi-wet processing, with significantly higher polyphenols content of 40.80 ± 0.053 mg GAE g−1 , approximately the same caffeine content (1.19 ± 0.016 %), significantly higher antioxidant activity (% DPPH) 89.53 ± 0.229 % with an EC50 equal to 102.44 ± 0.130 mg L−1 , similar lightness 13.63 ± 8.281 and a significantly lower moisture content of 7.54 ± 0.474 %. This indicated that dry processing could be used as an alternative processing method by farmers and processors due to it being easier, cheaper, with more efficient water use as well as giving a product contained the highest levels of polyphenols and antioxidant activity that are good for human health.

This research aimed to study the effect of sterility values on physical quality (drained weight, brown colour index, and texture) and sensory properties of canned Agaricus bisporus mushrooms processed at different retort temperatures (115, 121, and 130 °C) and processing times (2-97 minutes). Mushrooms in brine solution media packaged in 300x407 cans were heated in industrial-scale horizontal static retorts at different retort temperatures for specific processing times to reach different F0-values. The canning process was carried out following commercial production procedures in one of the mushroom canning factories. Measurement of heat penetration into the product was carried out using a protocol established by the Institute of Thermal Process Specialists (IFTPS), and the sterility values (F0) were calculated. Our results indicated that the physical and sensory properties of canned mushrooms were not only affected by sterility value but also by the combination of temperature and time used to process the product. At the same level of sterility, a higher retort temperature (130 °C) resulted in canned mushroom with a lower browning rate, an improved texture profile (decreased hardness, increased chewiness, and shear force), a sweeter taste, and increased intensity of umami taste. However, the canning process at a temperature of 130 °C resulted in a greater reduction of the drained weight as compared to that of canning at 115 °C and 121 °C.