Virtualization and digital twins of the food supply chain for enhanced food safety.

Meeting food safety requirements without jeopardizing quality attributes or sustainability involves adopting a holistic perspective of food products, their manufacturing processes and their storage and distribution practices. The virtualization of the food supply chain offers opportunities to evaluate, simulate, and predict challenges and mishaps potentially contributing to present and future food safety risks. Food systems virtualization poses several requirements: (1) a comprehensive framework composed of instrumental, digital, and computational methods to evaluate internal and external factors that impact food safety; (2) nondestructive and real-time sensing methods, such as spectroscopic-based techniques, to facilitate mapping and tracking food safety and quality indicators; (3) a dynamic platform supported by the Internet of Things (IoT) interconnectivity to integrate information, perform online data analysis and exchange information on product history, outbreaks, exposure to risky situations, etc.; and (4) comprehensive and complementary mathematical modeling techniques (including but not limited to chemical reactions and microbial inactivation and growth kinetics) based on extensive data sets to make realistic simulations and predictions possible. Despite current limitations in data integration and technical skills for virtualization to reach its full potential, its increasing adoption as an interactive and dynamic tool for food systems evaluation can improve resource utilization and rational design of products, processes and logistics for enhanced food safety. Virtualization offers affordable and reliable options to assist stakeholders in decision-making and personnel training. This chapter focuses on definitions and requirements for developing and applying virtual food systems, including digital twins, and their role and future trends in enhancing food safety.

Characterization of ulluco starch and its potential for use in edible films prepared at low drying temperature.

The aim of this work was to characterize the starch obtained from ulluco (US) and evaluate its use in edible films prepared using different US concentrations (2.0, 2.5, and 3.0%) at low temperatures (simulating the storage conditions of different foods). US exhibited a high amylose content (35.3%), low stability against thermal degradation, and a B-type crystalline structure. In regards to the edible films prepared from US, good barrier properties related to the semicrystalline region were obtained. In addition, good mechanical properties, opacity and stability against thermal degradation were obtained. The extraction and use of US in the preparation of edible films could be an alternative method for adding value to this crop. Furthermore, the films appear as a potential material for food packaging.

Effects of temperature, starch concentration, and plasticizer concentration on the physical properties of ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus Caldas)-based edible films.

Ulluco starch could be a promising renewable source for the production of biodegradable or edible films, as an alternative to plastic. This would mitigate the negative impact of plastics on the environment. The aim of this work was to study the effect of the starch concentration (SC), glycerol concentration (GC), and drying temperature (T) of ulluco starch-based films on their physical properties using stepwise regression (SR) and artificial neural network (ANN) approaches. The physical properties, such as the solubility (S), water vapour permeability (WVP), tensile strength (TS), elongation at break (EB), and transparency, of the edible films were satisfactory. The feed-forward and cascade-forward neural networks satisfactorily modelled the effect of the SC, GC, and T on the mechanical, optical, and water-affinity properties (WAP) of the edible films. ANN approach showed better results than SR in all the properties and ANN models were used in the sensitivity analysis and optimization. The global sensitivity analysis showed that the GC had the greatest influence on the physical properties. A desirability function-based optimization including WVP, EB and OP showed comparable values between experimental and estimated data. Based on the results of this study, the use of ulluco starch for the preparation of edible films has enormous potential for the replacement of non-biodegradable plastic packaging.

Characterization of chitosan edible films obtained with various polymer concentrations and drying temperatures.

Chitosan is a promising material that could be used for the development of edible coatings and films on an industrial level because of its film-forming, biodegradable, non-toxic, and antimicrobial characteristics. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of the polymer concentration (0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) and drying temperature (2°C, 25°C, and 40°C) on the physicochemical, mechanical, and thermal properties of chitosan edible films. Chitosan edible films were successfully produced using various processing conditions. The use of lower drying temperatures had a positive effect on certain properties of the films, such as the moisture content (MC), solubility (S), water vapor permeability (WVP), and optical properties. However, the use of greater drying temperatures (40°C), combined with a higher chitosan concentration, enhanced certain properties of the films, such as the tensile strength (TS), swelling power (SP), and greenness value, while diminishing their luminosity. The chitosan films developed in this study showed many desirable characteristics, which may enable their future use as packaging for food products.