The main objective of the present study was to produce crispy deep fried chips from lotus rhizome with acceptable organoleptic qualities. Effects of three different frying temperatures (180, 190 and 200°C, for 15-20 sec) on the overall qualities (proximate composition, texture and sensory) of lotus rhizome chips were determined. Prior to frying, freshly procured rhizomes were sliced uniformly (thickness of ~2.5 mm, diameter ~ 5.2mm), blanched in hot water (85°C for 3.5 min) and dried in a hot air vacuum oven (60°C, 24 h). Results on textural studies showed force required to break the chips to be dependent on temperature. Sensory quality results revealed high acceptability for chips produced by frying at 200°C. This reported work being a preliminary study, further research works is warranted to standardize the protocols for industrial scale production of lotus rhizome chips, with improved taste and flavour, keeping in mind the safety and quality issues.
In this study, physicochemical and sensory qualities of substituting jering seed flour into wheat chapatis (unleavened Indian flat bread) were evaluated at different proportions (5, 10, 15, 20 and 100% of jering seed flour). Chapati prepared with 100% of wheat flour was served as control. Results showed wheat-jering composite chapatis had significantly higher protein (12.68-15.55%), ash (1.78-2.32%) and carbohydrate contents (50.78-54.50%) than that of wheat chapatis which served as control (11.49, 1.77% and 51.62%, respectively). As for the fat content, this ranged from 1.19% to 1.03%, corresponding to the levels of jering seed flour substitution. In terms of physical characteristics, the puffed height and extensibility of the composite chapatis decreased progressively as the level of jering seed flour substitution increased. On the other hand, the peak load required to rupture chapatis showed an inverse trend. It increased significantly from 3.26 to 15.96 N. Further, the colour values of composite chapatis showed significant changes when the level of jering seed flour substitution was increased. The L* and b* values decreased while a* value increased. Regarding sensory properties, control wheat chapatis had better acceptability than the composite chapatis. However, all the composite chapatis had significantly higher nutritional values. Based on the generated results, novel chapatis could be formulated by substituting wheat with jering seed flour.
The banana pseudo-stem is not currently utilised in the food industry. The aim of this research was to investigate the chemical and pasting profile of banana pseudo-stem flour (BPF). Wheat flour were substituted with BPF (0, 5, 15 and 30%) and the pasting profile were determined. Results from mineral analysis showed that the levels of sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and phosphorus (P) were higher than those of iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn). The BPF had a 0.04% total titratable acidity (TTA) and a total soluble solid (TSS) of 1.30⁰ Brix with pH 5.41. BPF contained 28.26% total starch, 12.81% resistant starch and a total digestible starch value of 15.45%. An increased substitution level of BPF into wheat flour significantly (p
Microbiological qualities of fresh goat milk collected from two selected, popular dairy farms in Penang Island, Malaysia were evaluated, as a measure of food safety. Milk samples were screened for total plate counts, yeast and mould counts, psychrotrophic counts, Staphylococcus aureus, presumptive Escherichia coli, Coliforms and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which were in the range of (mean values) 4.2- 4.5, 4.2- 4.6, 3.1- 4.3, 2.7- 3.2, < 2- 4.6, 2.2- 4.0 and 4.1- 4.8 log CFU/ml, respectively in the two farms. Milk samples were also screened for the presence of selected foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella sp. Results
showed the presence of only Salmonella sp. (at 2.9 log CFU/ml) with the absence of Listeria monocytogenes. The outcome of this study assumes importance as the presence of microbial contaminants amounts indicates poor milk quality, which requires immediate consideration as it can pose serious health risk to consumers.
In this study, we evaluated and characterized microbial cellulose produced from Kombucha after eighth day of fermentation by employing SEM, FTIR, X-ray diffractometry, adsorption isotherm, and by measuring the swelling properties. Results on SEM revealed microbial cellulose layer to be composed of a compact cellulose ultrafine network like structure. FTIR spectra showed the presence of a characteristic region of anomeric carbons (960 – 730 cm-1), wherein a band at 891.59 cm-1 confirmed the presence of β, 1-4 linkages. Results of FTIR spectra also showed microbial cellulose to be free from contaminants such as lignin or hemicellulose, which are often present in plant cellulose. X-ray diffraction studies exhibited the overall degree of crystallinity index for MCC to be slightly lower than that of microbial cellulose. Results on swelling properties indicated microbial cellulose to possess higher fiber liquid retention values (10-160%) compared to commercial MCC (5-70%). The adsorption isotherm curves showed similarities between microbial cellulose with that of pure crystalline substance. Overall, results obtained in this study were comparable with the commercial microcrystalline cellulose, indicating that the process developed by us can be explored industrially on a pilot scale.
The yield and properties of cellulose produced from bacterial fermentation of black tea broth (known as Kombucha) were investigated in this study. The tea broth was fermented naturally over a period of up to 8 days in the presence of sucrose. Tea broth with a sucrose concentration of 90 g/l produced highest yield of bacterial cellulose (66.9%). The thickness and yield of bacterial cellulose increased with fermentation time. The bacterial cellulose production increased correspondingly with increased surface area:depth ratio. Changes in pH were related to the symbiotic metabolic activities of yeasts and acetic acid bacteria, and the counts of both of these in the tea broths were relatively higher than those in the cellulose layer. Findings from this study suggest that the yield of cellulose depends on many factors that need to be optimized to achieve maximum yield.