A Comprehensive Study from Cradle-to-Grave on the Environmental Profile of Malted Legumes.

Three representative pulses from the Latium region of Italy (namely, Solco Dritto chickpeas, SDC, Gradoli Purgatory beans, GPB, and Onano lentils, OL) underwent malting to reduce their anti-nutrient content, such as phytic acid and flatulence-inducing oligosaccharides. This initiative targets the current low per capita consumption of pulses. Employing Life Cycle Analysis, their environmental impact was assessed, revealing an overall carbon footprint of 2.8 or 3.0 kg CO2e per kg of malted (M) and decorticated (D) SDCs or GPBs and OLs, respectively. The Overall Weighted Sustainability scores (OWSS) complying with the Product Environmental Footprint method ranged from 298 ± 30 to 410 ± 40 or 731 ± 113 µPt/kg for malted and decorticated SDCs, OLs, or GPBs, indicating an increase from 13% to 17% compared to untreated dry seeds. Land use impact (LU) was a dominant factor, contributing 31% or 42% to the OWSS for MDSDCs or MDOLs, respectively. In MDGPBs, LU constituted 18% of the OWSS, but it was overshadowed by the impact of water use arising from bean irrigation, accounting for approximately 52% of the OWSS. This underscores the agricultural phase's pivotal role in evaluating environmental impact. The climate change impact category (CC) was the second-largest contributor, ranging from 28% (MDSDCs) to 22% (MDOLs), and ranking as the third contributor with 12% of the OWSS for MDGPBs. Mitigation should prioritize the primary impact from the agricultural phase, emphasizing land and water utilization. Selecting drought-tolerant bean varieties could significantly reduce OWSSs. To mitigate climate change impact, actions include optimizing electricity consumption during malting, transitioning to photovoltaic electricity, upgrading transport vehicles, and optimizing pulse cooking with energy-efficient appliances. These efforts, aligning with sustainability goals, may encourage the use of malted and decorticated pulses in gluten-free, low fat, α-oligosaccharide, and phytate-specific food products for celiac, diabetic, and hyperlipidemic patients. Overall, this comprehensive approach addresses environmental concerns, supports sustainable practices, and fosters innovation in pulse utilization for improved dietary choices.

Antinutrient removal in yellow lentils by malting.

BACKGROUND: To improve the current low per capita consumption of lentils, the present study first aimed to minimize the anti-nutrient content of two yellow Moroccan and Italian lentil seeds by resorting to the malting process and then testing the resulting decorticated flours as ingredients in the formulation of gluten-free fresh egg pastas. RESULTS: The most proper operating conditions for the three malting process steps were identified in a bench-top plant. The first (water steeping) and second (germination) steps were studied at 18, 25 or 32 °C. After 2 or 3 h of steeping at 25 °C and almost 24 h of germination, 95-98.8% of the lentil seeds sprouted. By prolonging the germination process to 72 h, the raffinose or phytic acid content was reduced by about 80% or 95% or 27% or 37%, respectively. The third step (kilning) was carried out under fluent dry air at 50 °C for 24 h and at 75 °C for 3 h. The cotyledons of the resulting yellow lentil malts were cyclonically recovered, milled and chemico-physically characterized. CONCLUSION: Both flours were used to prepare fresh egg-pastas essentially devoid of oligosaccharides, and low in phytate (4.6-6.0 mg g-1 ) and in vitro glycemic index (38-41%). However, the cooking quality of the fresh egg pasta made of malted Moroccan lentil flour was higher with respect to its crude protein content and lower with respect to its water solubility index. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Assessment of the Malting Process of Purgatory Bean and Solco Dritto Chickpea Seeds.

This study was aimed at minimizing the anti-nutrient content of the Gradoli Purgatory bean (GPB: Phaseolus vulgaris) and Solco Dritto chickpea (SDC: Cicer arietinum) seeds grown in the Latium region of Italy by defining the three steps of their malting process. The water steeping and germination phases were carried out in a 1.0-kg bench-top plant at 18, 25, or 32 °C. By soaking both seeds at 25 °C for 3 h, 95 to 100% of seeds sprouted. There was no need for prolonging their germination process after 72 h, the degradation degree of raffinose in germinated GPBs or SDCs being about 63%, while that of phytic acid being ~32% or 23%, respectively. The steeping and germination kinetics of both seeds were mathematically described via the Peleg and first-order reaction models, respectively. The third step (kilning) was carried out under fluent dry air at 50 °C for 24 h and at 75 °C for 3 h, and yielded cream-colored malted seeds, the cotyledons of which were cyclonically separated from the cuticles and finally milled. Owing to their composition, the decorticated malted pulse flours might be used in the formulation of specific gluten-free food products high in raw proteins and low in phytate, α-oligosaccharides and in vitro glycemic index (GI). Even if their low GI trait was preserved after malting, only the GPB malt flour having a resistant starch-to-total starch ratio ≥ 14% has the potential to be labeled with the health claim for improving postprandial glucose metabolism according to EU Regulation 432/2012.

Characterization of Fresh Pasta Made of Common and High-Amylose Wheat Flour Mixtures.

This study aims to assess the main biochemical, technological, and nutritional properties of a few samples of fresh pasta composed of commercial common wheat flour blended with increasing percentages, ranging from 0 to 100%, of high-amylose wheat flour. Although the technological parameters of such samples remained practically constant, fresh pasta samples including 50 to 100% of high-amylose wheat flour were classifiable as foods with a low in vitro glycemic index of about 43%. However, only fresh pasta made of 100% high-amylose wheat flour exhibited a resistant starch-to-total starch ratio greater than 14% and was therefore eligible to claim a physiological effect of improved glucose metabolism after a meal, as according to EU Regulation 432/2012.

Environmental Profile of a Novel High-Amylose Bread Wheat Fresh Pasta with Low Glycemic Index.

To improve glycemic health, a high-amylose bread wheat flour fresh pasta characterized by a low in vitro glycemic index (GI) and improved post-prandial glucose metabolism was previously developed. In this study, well-known life cycle analysis software was used in accordance with the PAS 2050 and mid- and end-point ReCiPe 2016 standard methods to assess, respectively, its carbon footprint and overall environmental profile, as weighted by a hierarchical perspective. Even if both eco-indicators allowed the identification of the same hotspots (i.e., high-amylose bread wheat cultivation and consumer use of fresh pasta), the potential consumer of low-GI foods should be conscious that the novel low-GI fresh pasta had a greater environmental impact than the conventional counterpart made of common wheat flour, their corresponding carbon footprint or overall weighted damage score being 3.88 and 2.51 kg CO2e/kg or 184 and 93 mPt/kg, respectively. This was mainly due to the smaller high-amylose bread wheat yield per hectare. Provided that its crop yield was near to that typical for common wheat in Central Italy, the difference between both eco-indicators would be not greater than 9%. This confirmed the paramount impact of the agricultural phase. Finally, use of smart kitchen appliances would help to relieve further the environmental impact of both fresh pasta products.

Effect of cooking temperature on cooked pasta quality and sustainability.

BACKGROUND: Everyday pasta cooking has a large environmental impact. The aims of this work were to assess the effect of cooking temperatures (TC ) that were lower than the water boiling point (TBW ) on the main chemico-physical quality parameters of two pasta shapes (i.e., ziti and spaghetti) cooked at the conventional and minimum water-to-pasta ratios, as well as their optimum cooking time (OCT), cooking energy consumption, and carbon footprint, by using a novel eco-sustainable pasta cooker. RESULTS: Once the effect of TC on OCT had been modeled in accordance with the Bigelow model, it was possible to estimate that the energy saved to heat the cooking water from ambient temperature to a lower temperature than TBW was smaller than the extra energy needed to complete the pasta cooking phase. After several cooking trials, the water uptake, cooking loss, textural properties, and thickness of the central nerve (as observed with a scanning electronic microscope) of cooked pasta were found to be independent of TC in the range of 85-98 °C. CONCLUSIONS: By using smaller amounts of water (~3 L kg-1 ) and cooking at 85 °C with the eco-sustainable pasta cooker, the energy consumption reduced from the default value of 2.8 kWh kg-1 to ~0.45 kWh kg-1 and GHG emissions to about one sixth of those resulting from the use of the average European home appliances. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Innovative Rough Beer Conditioning Process Free from Diatomaceous Earth and Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone.

In large-sized breweries, rough beer clarification is still carried out using Kieselguhr filters notwithstanding their environmental and safety implications. The main aim of this work was to test an innovative rough beer clarification and stabilization process involving enzymatic treating with Brewers Clarex®, centrifuging, rough filtering across 1.4-µm ceramic hollow-fiber membrane at 30 °C, and fine filtering through 0.45-µm cartridge filter. When feeding an enzymatically-pretreated and centrifuged rough beer with permanent haze (HP) of 2 or 14 European Brewery Convention unit (EBC-U), its primary clarification under periodic CO2 backflushing yielded a permeate with turbidity of 1.0-1.5 EBC-U at a high permeation flux (2.173 ± 51 or 593 ± 100 L m-2 h-1), much greater than that typical of powder filters. The final beer was brilliant (HP = 0.57 ± 0.08 EBC-U) with almost the same colloidal stability of the industrial control and an overall log reduction value (~5.0 for the selected beer spoilage bacterium or 7.6 for the brewing yeast) in line with the microbial effectiveness of current sterilizing membranes. It was perceived as significantly different in flavor and body from the industrial control at a probability level of 10% by a triangle sensory test, as more likely related to the several lab-scale beer-racking steps used than to the novel process itself.

Cradle-to-grave carbon footprint of dried organic pasta: assessment and potential mitigation measures.

BACKGROUND: In several Environmental Product Declarations, the business-to-business carbon footprint (CFCDC ) of durum wheat semolina dried pasta ranged from 0.57 to 1.72 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e ) kg-1 . In this work, the business-to-consumer carbon footprint (CFCG ) of 1 kg of dry decorticated organic durum wheat semolina pasta, as packed in 0.5 kg polypropylene bags by a South Italian medium-sized pasta factory in the years 2016 and 2017, was assessed in compliance with the Publicly Available Specification 2050 standard method. RESULTS: Whereas CFCDC was mostly conditioned by the greenhouse gases emitted throughout durum wheat cultivation (0.67 vs 1.12 kg CO2e kg-1 ), CFCG was mainly dependent on the use and post-consume phases (0.68 vs 1.81 kg CO2e kg-1 ). CFCG was more or less affected by the pasta types and packing formats used, since it varied from +0.3 to +14.8% with respect to the minimum score estimated (1.74 kg CO2e kg-1 ), which corresponded to long goods packed in 3 kg bags for catering service. Once the main hotspots had been identified, CFCG was stepwise reduced by resorting to a series of mitigation actions. CONCLUSION: Use of more eco-sustainable cooking practices, organic durum wheat kernels resulting from less impacting cultivation techniques, and renewable resources to generate the thermal and electric energy needs reduced CFCG by about 58% with respect to the above reference case. Finally, by shifting from road to rail freight transport and shortening the supply logistics of dry pasta and grains, a further 5% reduction in CFCG was achieved. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Reducing the cooking water-to-dried pasta ratio and environmental impact of pasta cooking.

BACKGROUND: During daily pasta cooking, the general consumer pays little attention to water and energy issues. The present study aimed to measure the cooking quality and environmental impact of a standard format of dry pasta by varying the water-to-dried pasta ratio (WPR) from 12 to 2 L kg-1 . RESULTS: In the above WPR range, the cooked pasta water uptake (1.3 ± 0.1 g g-1 ), cooking loss (0.037 ± 0.009 g g-1 ) and degree of starch gelatinization (11.2 ± 0.8%) were approximately constant, whereas the main Texture Analysis parameters (eg, cooked pasta hardness at 30% and 90% deformation, and resilience) showed no statistically significant difference. As the WPR was reduced from 12 to 2 L kg-1 , the specific electric energy consumption linearly decreased from 1.93 to 0.39 Wh g-1 and the carbon footprint and eutrophication potential of pasta cooking lessened by approximately 80% and 50%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Cooking dry pasta in a large excess of water (ie, 10 L kg-1 ), as commonly suggested by the great majority of pasta manufacturers, might be pointless. Such a great mitigation with respect to the environmental impact of pasta cooking should be checked further for other commercial pasta formats and would highlight the need for novel and more suitable pasta cookers than those currently in use. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Towards a Kieselguhr- and PVPP-Free Clarification and Stabilization Process of Rough Beer at Room-Temperature Conditions.

In this work, the main constraint (that is, beer chilling and chill haze removing) of the current beer conditioning techniques using Kieselguhr filtration and Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) treatment was overcome by developing a novel higher-throughput conditioning process, operating at room temperatures with no use of filter aids. The effect of filtration temperature (TF ) in the range of 0 to 40 °C on the hydraulic permeability of ceramic hollow-fiber (HF) membranes with nominal pore size of 0.2 to 1.4 µm, as well as on their limiting permeation flux (J* ) when feeding precentrifuged rough beer, was preliminarily assessed. When using the 1.4-µm HF membrane operating at TF ≥ 20 °C, it was possible to enhance the average permeation flux at values (676 to 1844 L/m2 /h), noticeably higher than those (250 to 500 L/m2 /h) characteristics of conventional powder filtration. Despite its acceptable permanent haze, the resulting beer permeate still exhibited colloidal instability. By resorting to the commercial enzyme preparation Brewers Clarex® before beer clarification, it was possible to significantly improve its colloidal stability as measured using a number of European Brewing Convention forcing tests, especially with respect to that of precentrifuged rough beer by itself. By combining the above enzymatic treatment with membrane clarification at 30 °C across the ceramic 1.4-µm HF membrane module, it was possible to limit the haze development due to chilling, sensitive proteins, and alcohol addition to as low as 0.78, 4.1, and 4.0 EBC-U, respectively, the enzymatic treatment being by far more effective than that using PVPP. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: A novel Kieselguhr- and PVPP-free rough beer conditioning process at room temperatures was set up. By submitting precentrifuged rough beer to commercial preparation Brewers Clarex ® and then to membrane clarification at 30 °C across a ceramic 1.4-µm hollow-fiber membrane module, it was possible to obtain a clear and stable beer with a throughput (1306 ± 72 L/m2 /h) by far higher than that (250 to 500 L/m2 /h) characterizing the current powder filters. The haze development due to chilling, sensitive proteins, and alcohol adding was by far lower than that observed when microfiltering PVPP-pretreated rough beer.

Beer Clarification by Novel Ceramic Hollow-Fiber Membranes: Effect of Pore Size on Product Quality.

In this work, the crossflow microfiltration performance of rough beer samples was assessed using ceramic hollow-fiber (HF) membrane modules with a nominal pore size ranging from 0.2 to 1.4 µm. Under constant operating conditions (that is, transmembrane pressure difference, TMP = 2.35 bar; feed superficial velocity, vS = 2.5 m/s; temperature, T = 10 °C), quite small steady-state permeation fluxes (J* ) of 32 or 37 L/m2 /h were achieved using the 0.2- or 0.5-µm symmetric membrane modules. Both permeates exhibited turbidity <1 EBC unit, but a significant reduction in density, viscosity, color, extract, and foam half-life with respect to their corresponding retentates. The 0.8-µm asymmetric membrane module might be selected, its corresponding permeate having quite a good turbidity and medium reduction in the aforementioned beer quality parameters. Moreover, it exhibited J* values of the same order of magnitude of those claimed for the polyethersulfone HF membrane modules currently commercialized. The 1.4-µm asymmetric membrane module yielded quite a high steady-state permeation flux (196 ± 38 L/m2 /h), and a minimum decline in permeate quality parameters, except for the high levels of turbidity at room temperature and chill haze. In the circumstances, such a membrane module might be regarded as a real valid alternative to conventional powder filters on condition that the resulting permeate were submitted to a final finishing step using 0.45- or 0.65-µm microbially rated membrane cartridges prior to aseptic bottling. A novel combined beer clarification process was thus outlined.