Biocolorants in food: Sources, extraction, applications and future prospects.

Color of a food is one of the major factors influencing its acceptance by consumers. At presently synthetic dyes are the most commonly used food colorant in food industry by providing more esthetically appearance and as a means to quality control. However, the growing concern about health and environmental due to associated toxicity with synthetic food colorants has accelerated the global efforts to replace them with safer and healthy food colorants obtained from natural resources (plants, microorganisms, and animals). Further, many of these biocolorants not only provide myriad of colors to the food but also exert biological properties, thus they can be used as nutraceuticals in foods and beverages. In order to understand the importance of nature-derived pigments as food colorants, this review provides a thorough discussion on the natural origin of food colorants. Following this, different extraction methods for isolating biocolorants from plants and microbes were also discussed. Many of these biocolorants not only provide color, but also have many health promoting properties, for this reason their physicochemical and biological properties were also reviewed. Finally, current trends on the use of biocolorants in foods, and the challenges faced by the biocolorants in their effective utilization by food industry and possible solutions to these challenges were discussed.

Anti-obesity efficacy of the selected high altitude Himalayan herbs: in vitro studies.

Obesity is a serious health problem for all age groups and it also promotes Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and hypertension. Herbs are used for the weight reduction from ancient times, therefore, 12 herbs viz. Betula utilis, Bunium periscum, Angelica glauce, Saussurea lappa, Podophyllum hexandrum, Bergenia ciliate, Rumex acetosa, Aconitum heterophyllum, Centella asiatica, Andrographis paniculata, Dactylorhiza hatagirea and Bauhina variegate were selected as per literature. Rumex acetosa roots showed the highest extraction rate (39.5%), while C. asiatica leaf showed lowest extraction rate (1.25%) as compared to other herbs. As well, S. lappa leaf extract (396.52 mg GAE/g), R. acetosa root extract (181.5 mg QE/g), and B. ciliate leaf extract (79.19%) showed significantly higher Total Phenolic Content, Total Flavonoid Content and antioxidant activity, respectively. Furthermore, lipase and amylase inhibition activity and IC50 value of herb extract were higher in S. lappa root extract (75.75%, 75.41% and 62.47, 61.37, respectively). Bauhina variegate leaf extract showed a significantly higher glucose level, percentage of glucose movement (1.446 mg/dL and 63.85%) and (0.938 mg/dL and 76.55%). Based upon these experiments, 5 herbs were selected and different formulations were prepared and out of these, F3 herb formulation showed higher lipase and amylase inhibition activity (81.75% and 70.66%) and therefore, F3 herbal formulation was selected for treatment of obesity.

Utilization of meat industry by products: protein hydrolysate from sheep visceral mass.

Protein hydrolysate was prepared from pre-treated sheep visceral mass (including stomach, large and small intestines) by enzymatic treatment at 43+/-1 degrees C (at the in situ pH 7.1+/-0.2 of the visceral mass) using fungal protease. The enzyme readily solubilized the proteins of the visceral mass as indicated by the degree of hydrolysis (34%) and nitrogen recovery (>64%). Hydrolysis with an enzyme level of 1% (w/w of total solids) at 43+/-1 degrees C with a pH around 7.0 for 45 min was found to be the optimum condition. The yield of protein hydrolysate was about 6% (w/w). The amino acid composition of the protein hydrolysate that was very hygroscopic, was comparable to that of casein.

Quality of buffalo meat burger containing legume flours as binders.

The effect of addition of different decorticated legume flours, viz., soya bean, bengal gram, green gram and black gram, on the quality of buffalo meat burger was studied. The burgers consisted of optimized quantities of roasted or unroasted legume flour, spices and common salt. Inclusion of roasted black gram flour registered the highest yield of 95.7%, lowest shrinkage of 5% and lowest fat absorption of 26.6% on frying. Protein content of 18-20% was highest in the soya flour formulation. Free fatty acid (FFA) values (as% oleic) increased from 14.3 to 17.3 in freshly prepared samples (before frying) to 16.0-19.4 in 4 m frozen (-16±2 °C) stored samples and fried samples had about 25% lower FFA values. Formulations with roasted flours registered lower thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values (mg malonaldehyde/kg sample) of 0.6-1.5 as against 0.6-2.1 for unroasted flours before frying. The burgers prepared with any of these binders were organoleptically acceptable even after storage at -16±2 °C for 4 months., However, the burger with black gram dhal (dehulled split legume) flour had better sensory quality attributes compared to other legumes.