Use of gases in dairy manufacturing: A review.

Use of gases (air, carbon dioxide and nitrogen) has been practiced in the manufacture of dairy products (i.e., ice cream, whipped cream and butter) to improve their texture, mouthfeel and shelf-life extension. Many attempts have also been made to incorporate other gases such as hydrogen, nitrous oxide, argon, xenon, and helium into the dairy systems for various product functionalities such as whipping, foaming, texture, aroma enhancement, and therapeutic properties. The gases can be dissolved in aqueous and fat phases or remain in the form of bubbles stabilized by protein or fat particles. The gas addition or infusion processes are typically simple and have been used commercially. This review focuses on the use of various gases in relation to their individually physical properties along with their specific roles in manufacturing and controlling quality of dairy products. It also recaps on how gases are included in the dairy systems. The information is important in understanding of addition of specific gas(es) into food systems, particularly dairy products, that potentially provide intervention opportunities for modifying and/or creating innovative food structures and functionalities.

Phylogenomic Approaches to DNA Barcoding of Herbal Medicines: Developing Clade-Specific Diagnostic Characters for Berberis.

DNA barcoding of herbal medicines has been mainly concerned with authentication of products in trade and has raised awareness of species substitution and adulteration. More recently DNA barcodes have been included in pharmacopoeias, providing tools for regulatory purposes. The commonly used DNA barcoding regions in plants often fail to resolve identification to species level. This can be especially challenging in evolutionarily complex groups where incipient or reticulate speciation is ongoing. In this study, we take a phylogenomic approach, analyzing whole plastid sequences from the evolutionarily complex genus Berberis in order to develop DNA barcodes for the medicinally important species Berberis aristata. The phylogeny reconstructed from an alignment of ∼160 kbp of chloroplast DNA for 57 species reveals that the pharmacopoeial species in question is polyphyletic, complicating development of a species-specific DNA barcode. Instead we propose a DNA barcode that is clade specific, using our phylogeny to define Operational Phylogenetic Units (OPUs). The plastid alignment is then reduced to small, informative DNA regions including nucleotides diagnostic for these OPUs. These DNA barcodes were tested on commercial samples, and shown to discriminate plants in trade and therefore to meet the requirement of a pharmacopoeial standard. The proposed method provides an innovative approach for inferring DNA barcodes for evolutionarily complex groups for regulatory purposes and quality control.

Comparison of nutritional properties of Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) flour with wheat and barley flours.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica. L) is a wild, unique herbaceous perennial flowering plant with Stinging hairs. It has a long history of use as a food sources as a soup or curries, and also used as a fiber as well as a medicinal herb. The current aim was to analyze the composition and bioactive compounds in Nepalese Stinging nettle. Chemical analysis showed the relatively higher level of crude protein (33.8%), crude fiber (9.1%), crude fat (3.6%), total ash (16.2%), carbohydrate (37.4%), and relatively lower energy value (307 kcal/100 g) as compared to wheat and barley flours. Analysis of nettle powder showed significantly higher level of bioactive compounds: phenolic compounds as 129 mg Gallic acid equivalent/g; carotenoid level 3497 µg/g; tannin 0.93 mg/100 g; anti-oxidant activity 66.3 DPPH inhibition (%), as compared to wheat and barley. This study further established that nettle plants as very good source of energy, proteins, high fiber, and a range of health benefitting bioactive compounds.

Challenges and prospects of food science and technology education: Nepal's perspective.

Food science and technology education has been running since four decades in Nepal. There is a very slow improvement in the profession. The job opportunities have always been threatened by insiders and outsiders. Academic institutions, government agencies, and food industries themselves are responsible for the quality of food science professionals. Novel and practical methods of teaching should be followed. The government and private organizations should facilitate the recruitment of food technologists. Constant prodding needs to be done for the establishment of a Council with more authority that could monitor all bodies associated with food science professionals.