ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The main objective of the current study was to reduce the fat content of fried carrot slices with a hot air pre-drying step before frying. In this regard the effects of hot air drying and deep-fat-frying conditions on moisture and oil contents, breaking force and colour parameters of pre-dried and fried carrot slices were investigated. RESULTS: Statistical analysis with response surface methodology showed that there was a significant correlation between investigated responses and process variables (P ≤ 0.05). Based on the optimal conditions (63.4 °C for drying temperature, 16% for weight loss, 152 °C for frying temperature, and 207 s for frying time) produced by the optimisation of process conditions, more than 50% reduction in fat content of fried carrot slices was achieved by hot air pre-drying before frying. CONCLUSION: The results presented indicated that the proposed cooking method is useful to control final oil content of fried carrot slices, so indirectly limiting the daily calorie intake by consumers without spectacular losses in quality attributes. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.
Subject(s)
Cooking , Daucus carota/chemistry , Diet, Fat-Restricted , Dietary Fats, Unsaturated/analysis , Fast Foods/analysis , Models, Chemical , Plant Roots/chemistry , Absorption, Physicochemical , Chemical Phenomena , Daucus carota/ultrastructure , Food Handling , Food Quality , Humans , Mechanical Phenomena , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , Pigments, Biological/analysis , Pigments, Biological/chemistry , Plant Oils/analysis , Plant Oils/chemistry , Plant Roots/ultrastructure , Porosity , Statistics as Topic , Sunflower Oil , Surface Properties , Turkey , Water/analysisABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to evaluate oxidative stress in workers who formulate organophosphate, synthetic pyrethroid and carbamate pesticides. In this survey, blood erythrocytes from a group of 94 pesticide-formulating workers (at least 5-years experience in pest-control in apple and cherry production) and 45 control subjects were examined for oxidative stress parameters. The control group was composed of 45 healthy people living in the same region with no exposure to pesticides. Lipid peroxidation level, catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities in erythrocytes were analysed as biomarkers of oxidative stress. In addition, the acetylcholinesterase activity was measured as a biomarker of toxicity. Results indicated that chronic exposure to organophosphate, synthetic pyrethroid and carbamate pesticides were associated with increased activities of catalase, SOD and lipid peroxidation in erythrocytes (p < 0.05). Acetylcholinesterase activity did not show any significant differences between the two groups (p > 0.05). It is concluded that human chronic exposure to pesticides may result in stimulated antioxidant enzymes.