Ionizing and nonionizing radiations can change physicochemical, technofunctional, and nutritional attributes of starch.

Challenges for the food/non-food applications of starch mostly arise from its low stability against severe processing conditions (i.e. elevated temperatures, pH variations, intense shear forces), inordinate retrogradability, as well as restricted applicability. These drawbacks have been addressed through the modification of starch. The escalating awareness of individuals toward the presumptive side effects of chemical modification approaches has engrossed the attention of scientists to the development of physical modification procedures. In this regard, starch treatment via ionizing (i.e. gamma, electron beam, and X-rays) and non-ionizing (microwave, radiofrequency, infrared, ultraviolet) radiations has been introduced as a potent physical strategy offering new outstanding attributes to the modified product. Ionizing radiations, through dose-dependent pathways, are able to provoke depolymerization or cross-linking/grafting reactions to the starch medium. While non-ionizing radiations could modify the starch attributes by changing the morphology/architecture of granules and inducing reorientation/rearrangement in the molecular order of starch amorphous/crystalline fractions.

Phycocyanin, a super functional ingredient from algae; properties, purification characterization, and applications.

Phycocyanins (PCYs) are a group of luxuriant bioactive compounds found in blue-green algae with an estimated global market of about US$250 million within this decade. The multifarious markets of PCYs noted by form (e.g. powder or aqueous forms), by grade (e.g. analytical, cosmetic, or food grades), and by application (such as biomedical, diagnostics, beverages, foods, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals), show that the importance of PCYs cannot be undermined. In this comprehensive study, an overview on PCY, its structure, and health-promoting features are diligently discussed. Methods of purification including chromatography, ammonium sulfate precipitation and membrane filtration, as well as characterization and measurement of PCYs are described. PCYs could have many applications in food colorants, fluorescent markers, nanotechnology, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. It is concluded that PCYs offer significant potentials, although more investigations regarding its purity and safety are encouraged.

The impact of UV-C irradiation on spoilage microorganisms and colour of orange juice.

The effect of UV-C irradiation on inactivation of spoilage microorganisms and colour of freshly squeezed orange juice were investigated. Orange juice samples were intentionally fermented in order to increase the natural microflora which were mostly composed of yeasts and then exposed to UV-C irradiation at an intensity level of 1.32 mW/cm(2) and sample depth of 0.153 cm for several exposure times by using a collimated beam apparatus. Applied UV dose was in the range of 0 and 108.42 mJ/cm(2). Resistance of yeast to UV light and existence of suspended particles limited the effectiveness of the process. Survival data obtained for yeasts was either described by the Weibull or traditional first-order model and goodness-of-fit of these models was investigated. Weibull model produced a better fit to the data with higher adjusted determination coefficient (R(2) adj) and lower mean square error (MSE) values which were 0.99 and 0.003, respectively. Time and UV dose of first decimal reduction were obtained as 5.7 min and 31 mJ/cm(2), respectively. The data suggests that biodosimetric studies performed by using inoculated microorganisms for assesment of the efficiency of UV irradiation treatment in the shelf life extension of juices must be carefully evaluated. UV-C irradiation had no influence on the colour of orange juice.