Reduction of “bad” carbohydrates in sweets is a complex issue, because carbohydrates provide important sensory, physical and textural properties of food. This research illustrated the possible use of the colorant Brown 7 (0.6...1.0%) in combination with sucralose and isomalt for alerting the functional quality of toffee candies. Sensory and physicochemical properties, microbiological indicators and color parameters were analyzed for four samples of toffee. The combination of sweetener with anti-crystallizer and Brown 7 significantly improves the color of toffees. It was established by HPLC that during thermal processing the Casuarictin from Brown 7 transforms into Ellagic acid. These transformations lead to an increase in the intensity of the brown color in the toffee. The addition of Brown 7 contributes to the decrease of titratable acidity from 0.28 ± 0.08 in the control to 0.21 ± 0.06 degrees of acidity in the sample which contain 1.0% dye. The chromatic parameters L*, a*, b* of the toffee sample with 0.6% Brown 7 content are the closest to the classic toffee parameters. Use of colorant in combination with sweetener illustrates a potential synergy of sensorial properties. This help to increase the intake of natural bioactive compounds and to decrease carbohydrates in sweets, promising health benefits.

Potential functional ingredients, resulting after partial oil extraction by cold pressing, present a promising direction with perspective for the nutritional improvement of traditional bakery products and may enhance their health-promoting properties. The current study sought to determine the effect of wheat flour substitution with walnut (Juglans regia L.) meal by 0, 2, 4, and 6% of the total amount. The influence of partially defatted walnut meal (BWF) incorporation on dough physicochemical, and rheological properties, as well as the final sensory properties of the bread was investigated. Mixolab test results indicated an increase in dough development time and stability, a reduction of hydration capacity, free water content, enzymatic activity as well as a reduction of the shelf life of the enriched bread. Physical and sensory analyses showed that substitution of wheat flour with partially defatted walnut meal below 6% (on a flour basis) in bread manufacturing recipes yielded products with an enhanced porosity (72.2 to 74.5%), titratable acidity (1.4 to 2.3 degrees), freshness (2.0 to 7.8%) and polyphenol content (0.09 to 2.20 μg GAE/100 g product). All samples show specific positive characteristics, well defined, without defects, with a total acceptability of 4.54 - 4.88. The samples with 2% and 4% BWF show better quality indicators, therefore they can be recommended to consumers as products with high nutritional value.

The article contains a review of methods and procedures of the municipal wastewater treatment, with the discussion of their specifics. A new concept is proposed related to the selection of municipal sewerage and wastewater treatment systems, considering the local/decentralized, semicentralized or centralized systems, especially those suitable to rural and suburban localities, in dependence on the advantages and disadvantages of these systems and local specifics. The concept of phytofilters is proposed for the biological treatment of wastewater in small towns. This technology is simple, inexpensive and requires relatively little maintenance. Biological ponds in the Republic of Moldova have proven to be very suitable for advanced wastewater treatment, being a cheap and natural purification system with a good potential for implementation. When choosing a sewer system, priority must be given to its functionality and practical considerations.

Rope spoilage of bread is produced by bacteria belonging to Bacillus genus. Insufficient cleaning of the wheat before the milling operation contributes to obtaining flour with a high degree of contamination with these bacteria which produce thermoresistant endospores and further maintain their viability in the baking process. After baking, thermoresistant endospores can pass into the vegetative form and can multiply, causing spoilage of bread, which is manifested by the occurrence of an unpleasant odour, and the core of the bread becomes sticky. In this study, samples of bread from second-grade wheat flour were obtained. The kinetics of bacterial growth in the core of the thermostated bread at 37 °C for 84 hours was determined. It was found that immediately after baking the degree of contamination of the bread core was 1.28·104 cfu/g, and after 40 hours of thermostating the degree of contamination of the bread core increased by 2.85 logarithmic cycles, at this bread sample were observed the first signs of the rope spoilage (unpleasant odour). Thus, bread obtained from highly contaminated flour can contain a very large number of bacteria belonging to Bacillus genus, having no signs of rope spoilage, and thus the consumption of this bread may be dangerous to the consumer’s health.

Grape seed oil (GSO) consists mostly of triglycerides of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are sensitive to oxidation and to the high temperatures. The aim of this research was to study the effect of GSO fortification with hydroalcoholic extracts of antioxidants from grape seeds, up to and after 12 months. It was established that the immediate effect of the oil fortification was the increase of the total polyphenol content (TPC) in the oil, by up to 141.34 mg GAE/kg of oil, and the increase of the DPPH• antioxidant activity by up to 0.580 mmol TE/kg (in the control sample, refined grape oil, these values were 1.57 mg GAE/kg and 0.003 mmol TE/kg, respectively). After 12 months, TPC and DPPH• antioxidant activity decreased nearly 10-fold in all of the fortified oil samples. The difference between the oxidative status of the oil was assessed (UV-Vis). In the case of the GSO sample, treated with n-octyl gallate, the absorbances remained unchanged after 12 months. When compared to the synthetic antioxidant n-octyl gallate, grape seed polyphenolic extracts were found to have a less protective effect on the oil during storage under environmental conditions.

In our country, there is a large variety of foundation soils, some of them having inferior characteristics to those necessary for the proper support of a communication path. This raises some of the most common problems in the field of road infrastructures, namely the sliding of slopes in the area related to road construction. This phenomenon appears more and more frequently, especially after some periods with accentuated atmospheric instability, sometimes leading to the partial inability to use the affected infrastructure sector. In some cases, the development of this phenomenon can lead to the traffic blockage and the isolation of the communities in the area, to the destruction of a well-defined road sector and even to the loss of human lives. In order to maintain the quality requirements imposed by the law and to limit the risk of reaching the limit state of normal operation, respectively of compromising the structure, the administrators and the staff who are directly involved in the maintenance and the expertise of the affected area, achieve direct examination works or investigation by means of specific observation and measurement. In the current practice, these works are part of the technical expertise of the affected area, being made by a specialized team, led by an authorized technical expert in the field.

Reducing the content of nitrites and nitrates in food, including meat and meat products is a current issue. More and more studies are being done to reduce these synthetic food additives by using vegetative additives. This paper examines the issue of reducing nitrite content in meat products. The role of the basil, thyme and tarragon on nitrites and nitrates content in meat products is presented. The study showed the possibility of reducing the content of nitrites and nitrates in Lacta sausages, by using basil extract (BE 0,1%) by 0.4-0.94%, (BE 0.2%) by 0.80-1.88%. (BE 0.3%) by 1.20-2.82%; by thyme extract (ThE 0.1%) by 0.56-071%, (ThE 0.2%) by 1.12-1.42%, (ThE 0.3%) by 1.68-2.13%; by tarragon extract (TE 0.1%) by 0,08-0.66%, (TE 0.2%) by 1.16-1.32. (TE 0.3%) by 0.24-1.98%, maintaining the quality and safety of meat products.

Climate change, drought and high temperatures lately have led to the need to increase the adaptation capacities of plants to these changes. The purpose of the research is to gain knowledge regarding the influence of the biologically active substances Reglalg (compound of algal nature) and Biovit (compound of humic nature) on plant development, productivity and adaptation of plants to new climatic conditions. The research was based on decision support systems, machine learning and graph databases. These systems allow in-depth processing of unstructured data and making the necessary decisions. In this sense, an intelligent model was developed for the processing of biological data as part of a Decision Support System. For data analysis and knowledge generation, a graph database was developed to determine relationships and connections between entities, phenomena or events. Graphs allow the representation of complex information in a simple and intuitive way, which makes it easier to perform and analyze them. The use of Machine Learning methods allows the highlighting of laws and interactions between different elements, which can lead to the discovery of patterns and trends that can be easily identified. The paper presents the structure and functions of some components of the decision support system for the study of nitrogen content in soybean.

One of the biggest problem encountered in drying area of food processing are the losses in food quality. While drying process is held, there is an important damage done to vitamins, polyphenols and other important nutriments. Being easily affected by high temperature and oxygen exposure, our concern was to find out what will be the effect of convective drying in air flow and CO2 modified atmosphere upon pears, “Conference” variety quality. Testing took place with temperatures between 60 and 100°C for both drying methods, one also used three different CO2 concentration regimes for the modified atmosphere approach, namely 30, 60, and 80%. The usage of carbon dioxide instead of air inside the drying chamber is expected to reduce oxygen exposure of the product during drying process, thus reducing oxidative reactions. Using CO2 as air substituent for convective drying showed good results from the organoleptic point of view by preserving a more natural pear color closer to the row material one, reduced damage done to ascorbic acid and total polyphenols concentration presumably thanks to reducing oxygen concentration and a slight drying duration reduction. There was deducted and established a mathematical model for the convective modified CO2 drying atmosphere as well as a pilot drying installation was designed for combined dying methods equipped with a CO2 recycling system.

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of adding aronia (Aronia melenocarpa), raspberry (Rubus idaeus), and strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) in the form of 10% puree to a mixture of cow's and goat's milk in order to reduce the risk of spoilage caused by activity of Bacillus cereus in yoghurt made from a mixture of cow's and goat's milk. During the fermentation process (360 min.), changes in water activity, pH, moisture content, bacterial growth curve were monitored. The results showed a decrease in water activity, pH, and moisture content. Adding aronia puree to yoghurt yielded the most significant results for water activity modification (0.971-0.868), pH (5.31-4.28), moisture content (85.12-81.55 %), and optical density (0.19-0.34). Also, the investigation of the kinetics of the Bacillus cereus grows indicated that the stationary phase was reached at 360 minutes, resulting in a total population of 5.5·1013 c.f.u./g. Microscopic examination revealed Gram-positive strains of lactic acid bacteria, arranged in chains of varying lengths, in an amount of 139·102 c.f.u./g. Antimicrobial activity showed a zone of inhibition with a diameter of 18.5±0.1 mm in aronia yoghurt, a zone of inhibition with a diameter of 16.2±0.2 mm in raspberry yoghurt and a zone of inhibition with a diameter of 15.2±0.1 mm in strawberry yoghurt compared to classic yoghurt which showed a zone of inhibition with a diameter of 12.1±0.2 mm.