Comprehensive Insights into Ochratoxin A: Occurrence, Analysis, and Control Strategies.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a toxic mycotoxin produced by some mold species from genera Penicillium and Aspergillus. OTA has been detected in cereals, cereal-derived products, dried fruits, wine, grape juice, beer, tea, coffee, cocoa, nuts, spices, licorice, processed meat, cheese, and other foods. OTA can induce a wide range of health effects attributable to its toxicological properties, including teratogenicity, immunotoxicity, carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and hepatotoxicity. OTA is not only toxic to humans but also harmful to livestock like cows, goats, and poultry. This is why the European Union and various countries regulate the maximum permitted levels of OTA in foods. This review intends to summarize all the main aspects concerning OTA, starting from the chemical structure and fungi that produce it, its presence in food, its toxicity, and methods of analysis, as well as control strategies, including both fungal development and methods of inactivation of the molecule. Finally, the review provides some ideas for future approaches aimed at reducing the OTA levels in foods.

Production of Arthrospira platensis: Effects on Growth and Biochemical Composition of Long-Term Acclimatization at Different Salinities.

Arthrospira platensis is an edible cyanobacterium with high nutritional value. Even though A. platensis is not a marine species, it can be adapted to higher salinities, a strategy that could allow mass cultivation using brackish or saline water. In this work A. platensis was long-term adapted at different salinities (5-60 g/L NaCl added as natural sea salt) to evaluate the growth and biochemical composition of the biomass produced. Biomass production was enhanced in salinity up to 40 g/L NaCl, while at 60 g/L NaCl biomass production slightly decreased. However, it displayed higher values compared to the conventional Zarrouk growth medium. By increasing the salinity, carbohydrate content increases, while proteins, phycocyanin, carotenoids, and total phenolics decreased. Biomass content in lipids, and chlorophyll along with the antioxidant capacity of extracts, was not significantly affected. A. platensis tended to increase the unsaturated fatty acids, while amino acid composition was not significantly affected by the increased salinity. However, in vitro protein digestibility was negatively affected when salinity was above 20 g/L NaCl. It was macroscopically observed that trichomes were longer at higher salinities, and especially at 40 g/L NaCl. The results suggest that A. platensis when acclimated in long-term can be grown successfully at various salinities.

Effects of temperature, irradiance, and pH on the growth and biochemical composition of Haslea ostrearia batch-cultured in an airlift plan-photobioreactor.

Haslea ostrearia is a pennate diatom that produces marennine, a water-soluble blue pigment responsible for the greening phenomenon and the increase of organoleptic quality of oysters. Apart from the oyster industry, there is a growing interest in the mass cultivation of this diatom due to the biological activities of marennine. To gain knowledge about the feasibility to upscale production of this diatom, in particular, in the context of global warming, the effects of different temperatures (20, 25, and 30 °C), irradiances (100, 200, and 300 µmol photons m-2 s-1), and pH (7.0, 8.0, and 9.0) on growth and biochemical composition were studied in H. ostrearia cultured in an airlift plan-photobioreactor. The maximum growth rate of H. ostrearia (0.9 ± 0.0 day-1) was obtained at 20 °C, 200 µmol photons m-2 s-1, and pH 7.0, referred to as control conditions. The highest concentration in Chla (2.5 ± 0.1 µg 10-6 cells) and total fatty acids (71.6 ± 1.4 mg g-1 of dry weight, DW) was observed at 20 °C, 300 µmol photons m-2 s-1, and pH 7.0. The highest concentration of carotenoids (1.4 ± 0.1 µg 10-6 cells), Chlc (1.3 ± 0.1 µg 10-6 cells), and extracellular marennine (33.1 ± 0.2 µg 10-6 cells) was observed at 30 °C, 200 µmol photons m-2 s-1, and pH 7.0, and a higher protein content (309.7 ± 24.5 mg g-1 of DW) at 25 °C, 200 µmol photons m-2 s-1, and pH 7.0. The biomass of H. ostrearia was enriched with C14:0 fatty acid at 30 °C, 200 µmol photons m-2 s-1, and pH 7.0, and with C16:0 and C16:1n - 7 fatty acids at control conditions. However, DHA C22:6n - 3 (ω-3), C22:0, and C20:0 were only observed at 300 µmol photons m-2 s-1, 20 °C, and pH 7.0. A high abundance of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids C22:1n - 9 (ω-9) + C20:5n - 3 (EPA) was observed at 100 µmol photons m-2 s-1, 20 °C, and pH 7.0. It is thus possible to anticipate and tune the production of specific metabolites through the control of growth conditions of the benthic diatom H. ostrearia. KEY POINTS: • Validation of H. ostrearia culture in a new photobioreactor in batch mode • Biochemical composition variation of H. ostrearia in function of growth conditions • Growth inhibition and unbalanced metabolites induced by the treatment conditions.

Nanotechnology as a Processing and Packaging Tool to Improve Meat Quality and Safety.

Nanoparticles are gaining momentum as a smart tool towards a safer, more cost-effective and sustainable food chain. This study aimed to provide an overview of the potential uses, preparation, properties, and applications of nanoparticles to process and preserve fresh meat and processed meat products. Nanoparticles can be used to reinforce the packaging material resulting in the improvement of sensory, functional, and nutritional aspects of meat and processed meat products. Further, these particles can be used in smart packaging as biosensors to extend the shelf-life of fresh and processed meat products and also to monitor the final quality of these products during the storage period. Nanoparticles are included in product formulation as carriers of health-beneficial and/or functional ingredients. They showed great efficiency in encapsulating bioactive ingredients and preserving their properties to ensure their functionality (e.g., antioxidant and antimicrobial) in meat products. As a result, nanoparticles can efficiently contribute to ensuring product safety and quality whilst reducing wastage and costs. Nevertheless, a wider implementation of nanotechnology in meat industry is highly related to its economic value, consumers' acceptance, and the regulatory framework. Being a novel technology, concerns over the toxicity of nanoparticles are still controversial and therefore efficient analytical tools are deemed crucial for the identification and quantification of nanocomponents in meat products. Thus, migration studies about nanoparticles from the packaging into meat and meat products are still a concern as it has implications for human health associated with their toxicity. Moreover, focused economic evaluations for implementing nanoparticles in meat packaging are crucial since the current literature is still scarce and targeted studies are needed before further industrial applications.

Development of emulsion gelatin gels for food application: Physicochemical, rheological, structural and thermal characterization.

The current work aimed to prepare emulsion gels based on European eel skin gelatin (ESG). The results revealed that the ESG exhibited interesting antioxidant and functional properties in a dose-dependent manner. The ESG has a gel strength of 354.86 g and high gelling and melting temperatures of about 33 and 43 °C, respectively. Hence, based on its interesting gelling ability, the ESG-based gel was employed to stabilize European eel oil (EO) emulsions. In this context, two emulsions were prepared by homogenization or homogenization followed by sonication at EO:ESG weight ratios of 1:2 and 1:4. The physicochemical, textural, structural and thermal properties of emulsion gelatin-based gels (EGGs) were evaluated. The EGGs had a rigid and a cohesive gel network, according to the textural and microstructural analysis. Structural and thermogravimetric analyses showed the effective entrapment of EO in the ESG gel network.

Enhancement of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production in Spirulina (Arthrospira sp.) by two-step cultivation process and partial characterization of their polysaccharidic moiety.

The interactive effects of light intensity and NaCl concentration were investigated for Spirulina two-step cultivation process using Full Factorial Design. In the experiment interval, light intensity had no effect while the NaCl concentration had significant effect on the enhancement of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production. Interestingly, results revealed a significant negative interaction between light and NaCl concentration indicating that high NaCl concentration (40gL-1) and low light intensity (10µmol photons m-2s-1) enhanced the EPS production. Under these conditions, EPS production reached a maximum of 1.02gg-1 of biomass (dry weight), which is 1.67-folds greater than EPS content under optimal growth conditions (10µmol photons m-2s-1, 1gL-1, 30°C). Desalting and deproteinezation steps of EPS were efficient to obtain polysaccharides (PS) with high carbohydrate (67.3±1.1%), low soluble proteins (5.14±0.32%), ash (5.85±0.71%) and sulfate (2.42±0.12%) contents. Rheological studies of PS at different concentrations (1%, 2.5% and 5%) revealed that the viscosity of the solution increased with the increase of PS concentration. In addition, PS exhibited a non Newtonian shear-thinning nature, a predominant gel-like behavior and a good resistance to consecutive heating-cooling cycles. The adopted process could be, then, a promising and economic strategy to enhance EPS production and extract polysaccharides with interesting rheological properties.