The structured food systems (i.e. cellular tissues) are dissipative structures whose functionality mainly concerns their properties (physico-chemical properties, chemical and biochemical reactions), external interactions with surroundings (interactions with micro-organisms, heat and mass transport pathway) and especially, their interactions with consumers (nutritional value, quality, taste and flavour, texture, appearance: size, shape, colour). Dehydration or rehydration processes concern heat and mass transport phenomena (water, solutes) coupled with micro and macrostructure changes both producing important effects on food functionality. Control of these changes is the major concern in food product development. This control must be applied not only to the changes in physico-chemical properties but also to those related with consumers' issues. Food matrixengineering is a branch of food engineering which aims to apply the knowledge of the food matrixcomposition, structure and properties to promote and control adequate changes which can improve some sensorial and/or functional properties in the food. These changes, which are caused by some basic operations, are related to the phenomena of heat and mass transfer, vaporization-condensation, internal gas or liquid release, structure deformation-relaxation and phase transitions in matrixcomponents, and are usually coupled throughout the operation's progress. The final product may be a new product with improved composition and sensorial properties and/or more stability. All these concepts are discussed in this paper using several examples related to the application of combined food dehydration techniques.

Protein resynthesis catalyzed by alpha-chymotrypsin was studied to modify the nutritive quality and physical properties of albumin. The increase in substrate concentration produced an increase in enzyme synthetic action. At low substrate concentration, several water activity depressing additives (salts or polyols) in the reaction media enhanced plastein synthesis. Polyols enhanced the synthetic reaction proportionally to an increase in their molecular size. The positive effect of alkali halides was related to an increase in cation size and decrease in anion size. All plastein products showed a clear increase in nutritional value with respect to the substrate.

Many countries are exposed to malnutrition within their population, either in the form of undernutrition or obesity leading to dire affects for human health. As a consequence, a ‘Decade of Action’ was certified by the UN in 2016 to promote the need to end all types of malnutrition. Within food security objectives, this study evaluates the possibility to maximise the nutritional value of agricultural output through the optimal allocation of water and energy resources. Using a hypothetical case study in Qatar, two complementary multi-objective mathematical models are developed to solve various scenarios. Firstly, the goal programming minimises the expected value of negative deviation from the desired target in food groups and nutrients. Secondly, the linear programming model increases the expected value of self-sufficiency percentage in food groups and nutrients. The results indicate the specific dependency of increasing the self-sufficiency of different nutrients on the increased production of dates group and fish group, implying that dates and fish can be considered strategic crops in terms of their contribution towards food security, owing to the fact that they require the least quantity of water and energy resources for production. As poultry and meat groups require the largest quantities of water and energy resources, optimal results do not favour their production. The optimal production mix that increases the satisfaction of nutrients at 40% of the food groups self-sufficiency satisfaction with the same amount of energy and water are as follows: 52378, 47085, 111303 tonnes of dates, milk and dairy products and fish groups respectively. This production mix will achieve 29.18%, 100%, 90.8%, and 2.5% satisfaction percentage of carbohydrates, protein, fats, and fibres respectively.

Ein beachtlicher Teil unserer Lebensmittel wird in der Lebensmittelindustrie, in Gross- und Kleinkuechen mit heisser Luft waermebehandelt. Nahrungsmittel sind oft hitzeempfindlich und veraendern ihre physikalischen, chemischen, stukturellen oder mikrobiologischen Eigenschaften waehrend der Hitzebehandlung. Dies beeinflusst sowohl die Qualitaet als auch den Naehrwert der entsprechenden Lebensmittel. Ferner ergibt sich oft ein Verlust an Wasser oder anderen Lebensmittelinhaltsstoffen. So betraegt der Wasserverlust beim Backen von Brot 15 bis 20 % und beim Kochen von Fleisch bis zu 30 %. Es werden die Mechanismen des Stoff-Transports, die Eigenschaften des Lebensmittels, die in diesem Zusammenhang von Bedeutung sind, sowie einige Beispiele fuer Qualitaets- und Naehrwertveraenderungen, die waehrend der Verarbeitung auftreten, diskutiert.

In this study, Sea Water Bread (SWB), made with food grade sea water was compared with control bread made with Tap Water (TWB). Sea water’s influence on chemical-nutritional properties of bread was investigated. Contents of salt, macro/micro-elements, basic nutrients, polyphenols, antioxidant activity, olfactory characteristics, and volatile components were analyzed. Chlorides’ analysis showed SWB had a lower salt content than TWB and it was confirmed by ICP-OES investigation. An electronic nose confirmed differences between the groups of aromatic molecules of the bread typologies, as well as the profiles of the volatile molecules by GC-MS.

The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus approach should be promoted as a tool for sustainable management of resources through the interconnection of these three fundamental pillars. Particularly, food security must ensure healthy and balanced diets for everyone, but selecting individual indicators to assess all slants covered by this element is not an easy task. Hence, the objective of this paper is two-fold, to review nutrient profiling (NP) models that allow to categorize foods and evaluate diets based on their nutritional quality, and to choose the most appropriate model to be used within a WEF nexus index. To address this issue, a total of 159 documents were assessed, appraising the geographic distribution, and time evolution of the publications, as well as the characteristics and potential applications of the NP systems. The review concludes that the NRF9.3. model is the most liable option to be used in a WEF nexus index, presenting the best characteristics by means of the definition of scores and thresholds, and the use of an ‘across-the-board’ criteria and a reference quantity of 100 kcal, alongside offering higher ability to assess diets and foods than the other competitive model (HEI) through the evaluation of nutrients to encourage instead of foods. A secondary outcome of the review is the identification of the NP models as a useful tool to enable institutions with information to establish policies in the field of public health and facilitating the decision-making process according to the current healthy claims.

The effects of withholding food and/or water supply on the quality of meat from rex rabbits were investigated. Thirty-two rabbits were maintained under four different conditions: food and water respectively withheld 16-18 h and 6-8 h before slaughter (group 1); food withheld for 16-18 h, but water available ad libitum (group 2); food available ad libitum, but water withheld for 6-8 h (group 3); food and water available ad libitum (group 4). The pH₂₄ h (pH of meat at 24 h postmortem) increased following fasting. Withholding food or water decreased the lightness (L*-value) of meat after storage for 24 h. Group 2 had the highest redness value (a*-value). Drip loss, ripe meat ratio and tenderness were more affected by withholding water than by withholding food. Water content and intramuscular fat content were not affected by the treatment conditions (P < 0.05). Group 2 had the lowest drip loss and Warner-Bratzler shear force value, and the highest ripe meat ratio. Therefore, the best-quality rabbit meat can be obtained by withholding food for 16-18 h before slaughter, but allowing access to water ad libitum. Rabbit meat has become increasingly popular because of its high nutritional value. However, relatively little is known about the factors that affect the quality of rabbit meat, as especially few investigations have considered the effects of pre-slaughter conditions on rabbit meat quality. We were interested in knowing the effects of withholding food and/or water on rabbit meat quality, and have done some research in this field. We found that the best-quality rabbit meat can be obtained by withholding food for 16-18 h before slaughter, but allowing access to water ad libitum. This finding could be a reference value for rabbit meat production.

In recent years, the incidence of dental erosion caused by the ingestion of acidic foods and drinks, including sports drinks, has been increasing in Japan and elsewhere. Therefore, the problems associated with this injury can no longer be ignored in dental clinical practice. The ingestion of these foods and drinks is important from the viewpoint of overall health and disease prevention. For example, fermented foods, such as Japanese pickles, enhance the nutritional value of foodstuffs and promote the absorption of nutrients into the body, and sports drinks are useful for preventing heat stroke and dehydration. Therefore, eliminating these intakes is not a viable solution. In this paper, we outline the mechanism of dental erosion caused by acidic beverages and also describe the effectiveness of alkaline ionized water (AIW) at preventing acid erosion. Given the fact that the complete elimination of acidic beverage consumption is highly unlikely, remedies such as the use of alkaline ionized water (AIW) may be helpful.