Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 940 in total

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. Rosnah Shamsudin, Zulkifli, N. A., ?Amanina Amani Kamarul Zaman?
    MyJurnal
    Blending or mixing two or more of fruit juices is able to improve the quality of juices as
    compared to single flavour. Pineapple and mango are among the popular tropical fruits in
    Malaysia. Despite the massive production of pineapple in Malaysia, utilisation of pineapple as
    a juice remains unpopular due to its exotic and strong flavour. Blending of pineapple with
    mango is believed to overcome this issue. Nevertheless, suitable blending ratios play important role in the end product quality. The present work aims to determine the physicochemical
    and nutritional quality of fresh blended pineapple-mango juice at different blending ratios for
    25 days of refrigerated storage (4 ± 2°C). Physicochemical (colour, pH, titratable acidity, and
    total soluble solid) and nutritional (vitamin C, total phenolic content, and total antioxidant
    content) properties of fresh pineapple-mango juice blends of ratio 80% pineapple with 20%
    mango (R80:20) and 50% pineapple with 50% mango (50:50) were determined throughout 25
    days of storage. Pineapple-mango juice blends at blending ratio of R80:20 exhibited better
    qualities in term of colour (lightness, chroma, hue, and browning index), chemical composition, and nutritional content.
  2. Ahmad Hanis, I.A.H., Mad Nasir, S., Jinap, S., Alias, R., Ab Karim, M.S.
    MyJurnal
    As Malaysian economies grow, Malaysian per capita income is likely to increase. From economics point of view, it is expected that better-off consumers will move to better quality of food attributes such as freshness, food safety, quality and healthfulness in their food intake. This study aimed to investigate the demand for eggs attributes by Malaysian consumers. The study considers the conjoint analysis technique as a method for acquiring insights into preferences for eggs product. The technique was applied to establish the trade-offs that Malaysian consumers make between size, colour, size of packaging, functional attribute and price in the purchasing of eggs for 202 respondents. Least squares regression was utilized to estimate the relative importance of attributes for eggs. The results revealed that the ideal characteristic of egg was one with large size (grade A), omega eggs, brown, and ten per packs. We also found that consumers were also willing to pay more for their preferred attributes. The results found in the study provide valuable inputs to producers or marketers to improve their marketing efforts as well as market positioning, in line with the demanded eggs attributes.
  3. Zuraini Mat Issa, Ab Rahim, N. F.
    MyJurnal
    Plastic packaging is widely used by hawkers to pack food items within the foodservice industry. Despite of the various benefits brought about by plastics within the foodservice industry, concerns associated to food safety and solid waste disposal have been raised. Therefore, a study that involved 131 food hawkers at night markets in Kuala Selangor, Selangor, had been carried out to evaluate their perceptions pertaining to the use of plastic packaging to pack hot food items. As such, this study investigated the correlations between perceptions of food hawkers towards awareness, health hazards, environmental hazards, regulations, and the practice of using plastic packaging to pack hot edible food items. In addition, this study determined the most relevant predictor that influences the practice of using plastic packaging. A cross-sectional survey that integrated a self-administered structured questionnaire was employed for the purpose of this study. The retrieved data were analysed by using SPSS version 21. The study outcomes revealed that the food hawkers appeared to have good perceptions towards environmental hazard (3.52 ± 0.48) and regulation (3.51 ± 0.38), but poor perceptions on awareness (2.73 ± 0.66) and health hazard (2.55 ± 0.64). Nevertheless, significantly positive and moderate correlations were observed between health hazard (r = 0.45, p < 0.05), environmental hazard (r = 0.43, p < 0.05), regulations (r = 0.42, p < 0.05) and plastic packaging practices. The study reveals that health hazard emerges to be the main predictor of the plastic packaging practices. Hence, future studies may incorporate larger sample size and various locations in Malaysia as this study only serves as a platform to comprehend the practice of packing hot food items using plastic packaging from the stance of food hawkers.
  4. Noor Hashim, N.H., Maulidiani, M., Mediani, A., Abas, F.
    MyJurnal
    Persicaria hydropiper, locally known as kesum, is an herb belongs to the family Polygonaceae. It has been used widely in many countries as food flavoring and possesses a wide range of medicinal values. The total phenolic content and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity of the methanolic extract of P. hydropiper and fractions were determined spectrophotometrically. The butanol fraction was found to contain high phenolic content and was able to inhibit xanthine oxidase activity. Online profiling using liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionisation spectrometry (LC-ESIMS/MS) has revealed ten constituents in this active fraction. The major components were flavonoid derivatives and flavonoid sulphates, which were confirmed by comparison with an authentic standards as well as their MS/MS fragmentation patterns and UV spectra.
  5. Rukayadi, Y., Lau, K.Y., Zainin, N.S., Zakaria, M., Abas, F.
    MyJurnal
    Edible medicinal plants are often used in the treatment of various ailments and spice in traditional food preparation. In this study, 45 of tropical edible medicinal plants extracts from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand were screened for their antimicrobial activity against five standard microorganisms for food preservative namely Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The methanol extracts of Piper nigrum L. seed, Piper cubeba L. seed, and the root of Ligusticum acutilobum Siebold and Zucc. showed antimicrobial activity against five species of standard microorganisms. Among them, P. cubeba L. extract demonstrated the most susceptible against all tested microorganisms. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal or fungicidal concentration (MBC or MFC) were performed by the broth microdilution techniques as described by the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute. MIC values of P. cubeba L. extract to A. niger, C. albicans, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were 12.8, 1.6, 3.2, 6.4, and 1.6 mg/ml, respectively. P. cubeba extract killed A. niger, C. albicans, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus with MBC values of 25.6, 3.2, 6.4, 12.8, and 3.2 mg/ml, respectively. The potent antimicrobial activity of P. cubeba L. extract may support its use for natural food preservative.
  6. Lee, S.Y., Ismail, I.S., Ang, E.L., Abas, F.
    MyJurnal
    Neptunia oleracea Lour. is a tropical plant cultivated in Southeast Asia. It is consumed as vegetable and traditional herb for the treatment of several disorders. The objective of the present work was to isolate the phenolic compounds from N. oleracea, followed by their bioactivity evaluation and quantitative analysis. The ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and methanol (MeOH) fractions of N. oleracea were subjected to various chromatographic techniques to isolate the phenolic compounds. The isolated phenolic compounds were characterised by several spectroscopic methods, including mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Then, these compounds were subjected to DPPH free radical scavenging as α-glucosidase inhibitory assays for the evaluation of their activities. Their contents in the fractions were analysed via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantitative analysis. Five phenolic compounds including quercetin-3-O-β-D-xylopyranoside (1), quercetin-3-O-α-Larabinopyranoside (2), quercetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside (3), methylgallate (4) and rutin (5) were isolated from N. oleracea for the first time. Evaluation on the DPPH free radical scavenging and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of these compounds showed that methylgallate (4) was the most potent antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitors among them, with IC50 values of 17.25 and 50.76 μM, respectively. The HPLC quantitative analysis revealed the high content of the quercetin derivatives (compounds 1, 2 and 3) in the EtOAc fraction (ranging from 125.68 to 157.55 μg/mg) and methylgallate (4) in the MeOH fraction (75.25 μg/mg). Comparison of the bioactivities of the isolated phenolic compounds with the fractions indicated their significant contribution for the DPPH free radical scavenging of N. oleracea; while they might be working synergistically for the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. The results of the present work could help to validate the contribution of phenolic compounds for the studied bioactivities of N. oleracea.
  7. Murugesu, S., Khatib, A., Ibrahim, Z., Ahmed, Q. U., Uzir, B.F., Nik-Yusoff, N.I., et al.
    MyJurnal
    Clinacanthus nutans (Acanthaceae) is a local plant consumed as tisane in Indonesia and ‘ulam’ in Malaysia. This plant has been claimed for its ability to prevent many diseases including diabetes. However, the scientific proof on this claim is still lacking. Therefore, the present work study was designed to evaluate the antidiabetic potential and antioxidant capacity of C. nutans leaves extracts using in vitro bioassay tests. The 80% methanolic crude extract of this plant was further partitioned using different polarity solvents namely hexane, hexane:ethyl acetate (1:1, v/v), ethyl acetate, ethyl acetate:methanol (1:1, v/v), and methanol. All the sub-fractions were analysed for antioxidant effect via 2, 2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) scavenging activity, ferric reducing power (FRAP) and xanthine oxidase (XO) assays followed by antidiabetic evaluation via α-glucosidase and dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) inhibitory assays and glucose uptake experiment. The ethyl acetate fraction showed a good antioxidant potential while the hexane fraction exhibited high α-glucosidase and DPP-IV enzyme inhibition. The hexane fraction also improved glucose uptake in a dose-dependent manner. The present work thus provides an informative data on the potential of C. nutans to be developed as a functional food in preventing diabetes.
  8. Siti Zulaikha, A.G., Mediani, A., Khoo, L.W., Lee, S.Y., Leong, S.W., Abas, F.
    MyJurnal
    The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitory
    activities of Phyllanthus acidus. The P. acidus fruits were dried using three different methods,
    namely oven (OD), air (AD) and freeze (FD) dryings and extracted with ethanol at different
    ratios (50 and 100%). The proximate analysis and total phenolic content (TPC) as well as
    free radical scavenging and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities were determined. The proximate
    analysis of P. acidus fruit indicated that all the dried samples contained potential nutrient
    contents. The highest TPC value, α-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities were
    observed for 50% ethanolic extract from OD method with TPC value of 28.39 mg GAE/g dried
    extract, IC50 value of 12.394 μg/mL and 64.17% inhibition, respectively. The study revealed
    that phenolic compounds could be the main contributors to the antioxidant and α-glucosidase
    inhibitory activities based on the Pearson correlation coefficients with R values of 95.0 and
    73.8%, respectively. The study could provide scientific evidence for some folk uses in the
    treatment of diseases related to the production of reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress.
  9. Abbas Ali, Hadi Mesran, M., Nik Mahmood, N.A., Abd Latip, R.
    MyJurnal
    In the present work, the influence of microwave power and heating times on the quality
    degradation of corn oil was evaluated. Microwave heating test was carried out using a domestic
    microwave oven for different periods at low- and medium-power settings for the corn oil sample.
    The changes in physicochemical characteristics related to oil degradation of the samples during
    heating were determined by standard methods. In this study, refractive index, free fatty acid
    content, peroxide value, p-anisidine value, TOTOX value, viscosity and total polar compound
    of the oils all increased with increasing heating power and time of exposure. In GLC analysis,
    the percentage of linoleic acid tended to decrease, whereas the percentage of palmitic, stearic
    and oleic acids increased. The C18:2/C16:0 ratio decreased in all oil samples with increasing
    heating times. Exposing the corn oil to various microwave power settings and heating periods
    caused the formation of hydroperoxides and secondary oxidation products. The heating reduced
    the various tocopherol isomers in corn oil and highest reduction was detected in γ-tocopherol.
    Longer microwave heating times resulted in a greater degree of oil deterioration. Microwave
    heating caused the formation of comparatively lower amounts of some degradative products in
    the oil samples heated at low-power setting compared to medium-power setting. The present
    analysis indicated that oil quality was affected by both microwave power and heating time.
  10. Easa, M.N., Yusof, F., Abd. Halim, A.
    MyJurnal
    Cross-Linked Enzyme Aggregates (CLEA) is known as one of the best enzyme immobilization technique nowadays. In this study, amylase extract from Zophobas morio (super mealworm) larvae was immobilized using acetone as the precipitant, glutaraldehyde as the cross-linker and bovine serum albumin as the additive. The characteristics of the produced CLEA were compared to the free soluble amylase, in terms of pH and temperature optimum and stabilities. The results displayed that CLEAand free amylase achieved an optimum temperature at 55°C and 45°C, respectively. CLEA-amylase also had showed greater stability against high temperature as compared to a free enzyme which had lost most of its activity when the temperature was set beyond 45°C. In comparison, at 65°C, CLEA-amylase still retained 73.2% of its activity. Results also revealed that CLEA-amylase has a pH optimum at 11, while it is pH 7 for free enzyme. Similarly, CLEA-amylase was more stable than the free form, over a wider range of pH, particularly at higher pH of 9, 10 and 11. Recyclability study showed that CLEA-amylase could retain 14.9% of its residual activity after 6 times of repeated uses. Since it is reusable, future works might include the evaluations of using CLEA-amylase at the industrial level, remarkably in detergent applications.
  11. Easa M.N., Yusof, F., Abd. Halim, A.
    MyJurnal
    Many studies have been done on various species of insects to investigate their potential use in industries. This is because insects have high protein content which could be further manipulated. Due to its eating habit, Zophobas morio larvae, also known as super mealworm has been shown to have high amylase activity. In this study, amylase from super mealworm has been immobilized via Cross-Linked Enzyme Aggregates (CLEA) technique and its kinetic performance, evaluated. CLEA is one of the best immobilization method with respect to enzyme stability and reusability. Kinetic performance of both free and CLEA-amylase were evaluated based on the Michaelis-Menten model. Results obtained based on Hanes-Woolf, LineweaverBurk, Eadie-Hofstee and Hyperbolic Regression plots showed that the kinetic parameters, Vmax and KM, changed upon immobilization. For CLEA-amylase, Hanes-Woolf plot showed the bestfitted model based on R2 with Vmax= 1.068 mM/min and KM= 0.182 mM, however, LineweaverBurk plot was used to obtain the kinetic parameters for free amylase, with Vmax and KM of 17.230 mM/min and 2.470 mM, respectively. Thus it is observed that upon immobilization, Vmax for amylase dropped appreciably, however, much lower substrate concentration is needed to saturate the enzymatic sites to reach its maximum catalytic efficiency. The result from this study might open the new path in discovering the potential use of insects in industrial applications, for example, making use of the recovered enzymes in the detergent industry.
  12. Ismail, N. A., Ab. Karim, M. S., Othman, M., Abd. Halim, N.
    MyJurnal
    The central question to be examined in this study is associated with the value of the Malays traditional culinary practices of Malay chef in preparing the traditional food in Malaysian hotels. Present understanding highlighted that hotels are giving high priority on their superior services, such as luxury accommodations and intimate hospitalities. As such, promoting local foods in their dining establishment has taken a back seat. Research from past scholars indicated that hotel in Malaysia can be the one stop center for the local and international tourists to get the first hand information about local food specialities. On the hindsight, very limited efforts have been put into practice on the promotions of local food especially Malay cuisines in hotels. Main issue such as mass-produced Malay cuisines in the commercial kitchens, for example, should be highlighted to ensure that hotels are not jeopardizing the originality of traditional food preparations. Therefore, a qualitative reasearch focusing in in-depth interview with 10 Malay chefs was conducted in hotels around the Klang Valley. The results are so profound that majority of the Malay chefs under study shared similar understandings on technology advancements and modernizations that have taken place in their daily food preparations. Another finding revealed that one of the most challenging factors in preventing the Malay chefs to prepare the Malay food as it has been done traditionally is the attitude and awareness of the young generations to understand the values in traditional culinary practices. This study concludes with suggestion that aggressive knowledge sharing and information dissemination among the Malay chefs in hotels are needed to effectively market the traditional Malay food.
  13. Onwude, D. I., Hashim, N., Janius, R. B., Nawi, N., Abdan, K.
    MyJurnal
    The thin layer drying kinetics of pumpkin slices (Cucurbita moschata) were experimentally
    investigated in a convective hot air dryer. In order to select the appropriate model for predicting
    the drying kinetics of pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata), twelve thin layer semi theoretical,
    theoretical and empirical models, widely used in describing the drying behaviour of agricultural
    products were fitted to the experimental data. The Page and Two term exponential models
    showed the best fit under certain drying conditions. The Hii et al. (2009) model, which was
    adopted from a combination of the Page and Two term models was compared to the other 11
    selected thin layer models based on the coefficient of determination (R2
    ) and sum of squares
    error (SSE). Comparison was made between the experimental and model predicted moisture
    ratio by non-linear regression analysis. Furthermore, the effect of drying temperature and slice
    thickness on the best model constants was evaluated. Consequently, the Hii et al. (2009) model
    showed an excellent fit with the experimental data (R2 > 0.99 and SSE < 0.012) for the drying
    temperatures of 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C and at different sample thicknesses of 3 mm, 5 mm and
    7 mm respectively. Thus, the Hii et al. (2009) model can adequately predict the drying kinetics
    of pumpkin.
  14. Onwude, D. I., Hashim, N., Janius, R. B., Nawi, N., Abdan, K.
    MyJurnal
    This study investigated the drying kinetic of pumpkin under different drying temperatures (50,
    60, 70 and 80°C), samples thickness (3, 4, 5 and 7mm), air velocity (1.2m/s) and relative
    humidity (40 - 50%). Kinetic models were developed using semi-theoretical thin layer models
    and multi-layer feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN) method. The Hii et al. (2009)
    semi-theoretical model was found to be the most suitable thin layer model while two hidden
    layers with 20 neurons was the best for the ANN method. The selections were based on the
    statistical indicators of coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and
    sum of squares error (SSE). Results indicated that the ANN demonstrated better prediction
    than those of the theoretical models with R2, RMSE and SSE values of 0.992, 0.036 and 0.207
    as compared to the Hii et al. (2009) model values of 0.902, 0.088 and 1.734 respectively. The
    validation result also showed good agreement between the predicted values obtained from
    the ANN model and the experimental moisture ratio data. This indicates that an ANN can
    effectively describe the drying process of pumpkin.
  15. Rukayadi, Y., Abdulkarim, S.M., Sulaiman, R., Abdelkarim, H.
    MyJurnal
    Plants have been used recently to eliminate bacterial growth in food products. This study was undertaken to test the in vitro sanitizing effect of crude extract from bitter gourd (BG) fruit on the growth of native microorganisms in raw chicken leg meat. Hot air dried BG and extrudate extracts at 1% concentration and exposure times of (5, 10 and 15 min) were used to treat the samples using dilution method. Results showed that BG extrudate had a slightly stronger bactericidal activity against the microflora than the B.G. hot air drying treatment, especially, on E. coli at all exposure time. Overall, there is no significant difference between the treatments; Total Plate Count (TPC), Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus. The best reduction time of microflora by hot air dried extract was at (15 min) except for B. cereus was at (5 min) and for extrudate extract was at (5 min) except for E. coli was at (10 min). In conclusion, bitter gourd extract could be used as an important natural sanitizer for rinsing raw food matrials such chicken meat.
  16. Tey, Y.S., Mad Nasir, S., Zainalabidin, M., Jinap, S., Abdul Gariff, R.
    MyJurnal
    The objective of this study is to investigate the demand for quality vegetables in Malaysia. This study estimates quality elasticities from the difference between expenditure and quantity elasticities in order to show the demand for quality vegetables in Malaysia. By using the Household Expenditure Survey 2004/2005, expenditure and quantity Engel equations are estimated via two stage least square. The positive estimated quality elasticities (except root and tuberous vegetable) show that Malaysian consumers tend to increase their demand for quality vegetables in response to their incomes rise. To be more specific, urban consumers are expected to demand more of higher quality vegetables (except root and tuberous vegetable) than rural consumers.
  17. Mohd Adzim Khalili, R., Norhayati, A.H, Rokiah, M.Y., Asmah, R., Siti Muskinah, M., Abdul Manaf, A.
    MyJurnal
    This study was carried out to evaluate the total phenolic content and anti-oxidant activity of methanolic extract of red pitaya, and hypocholesterolemic effect of red pitaya (Hylocereus sp.) on lipid profiles status on hypercholesterolemia induced rats. From the analysis, total phenolic content in red pitaya is 46.06 ± 1.77 mg GAE/100 g fresh weight and antioxidant activity is 76.10% using FTC method. TBA analysis also showed red pitaya extract had high antioxidant effect (72.90%). An in-vivo study also showed red pitaya has hypocholesterolemic effect on induced hypercholesterolemia rats. After 11 weeks of study, total blood cholesterol significant decrease (p
  18. Mohd Adzim Khalili, R.,, Norhayati, A.H., Rokiah,M. Y., Asmah, R., Siti Muskinah, M., Abdul Manaf, A.
    MyJurnal
    This study was conducted to determine radical scavenging activity and vitamin antioxidant composition in red pitaya from organic plantation. For antioxidant vitamins analysis, a reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography was used and radical scavenging activity of methanolic and water extract were determined using 1,1-diphenyl-2-pircrylhydrazyl assay. Results for radical scavenging activity, red pitaya methanolic extract achieved the highest percentage 70.13% compared with water extract (47.13%). Antioxidant vitamins composition in red pitaya showed that the concentration of vitamin A is 120.13 ± 0.69 μg/100 g freeze-dried sample, vitamin C is 540.27 ± 0.59 μg/100 g fresh samples and vitamin E is 105.67 ± 0.56 μg/100 g freeze-dried samples. This shows that red pitaya may become an alternative and potential source of natural antioxidant.
  19. Ahmed, H.O., Hassan, Z., Abdul Manap, M.N.
    MyJurnal
    Slaughtering is the first step in meat processing. It involves killing an animal for the production of meat. Effectiveness of slaughter is determined by the amount of blood removed from the animal. This study aimed to compare the chemical changes and microbiological quality of broiler chicken meat slaughtered by Halal and Non-Halal slaughter methods during refrigerated storage. A total of sixty (60) broiler chickens were slaughtered by: i) Neck cutting (NC) - by severing the jugular veins, carotid arteries, trachea and the oesophagus according to the Islamic ritual method of slaughter and (ii) Neck poking (NP) - by poking the neck of the bird with a sharp object. Residual blood was quantified by measuring the haem iron content in the breast meat samples. Storage stability of chicken meat was evaluated by measuring the extent of lipid oxidation determined by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and by assessing the microbiological quality of the meat. Haem iron content decreased significantly (P0.05) on chicken meat lipid oxidation at 1, 3, and 9 day of storage at 4oC. However, at 5 and 7 day of storage, significant differences (P
  20. Agbaje, R., Hassan, C. Z., Norlelawati, A., Huda-Faujan, N., Abdul Rahman, A.
    MyJurnal
    The need for nutritional and functional foods has increased. Consumers, these days, do not
    eat snacks only to provide satisfaction for their hunger, but also to supply essential nutrients
    to body. The objective of this study was to develop six formulations of granolas/cereal bars
    using different combination of Sunnah fruits such as dates (Phoenix dactylifera), raisins (Vitis
    vinifera L.) and figs (Ficus carica). The cereal bars were formulated using dry raw materials
    (glutinous rice, black Cummins, etc.) and binding agents (honey and glucose syrup). The cereal
    bars were assessed for water activity and proximate composition. It was observed that the
    sample B, made with 70 g of glucose syrup, 100 g honey and 450 g of total fruits had the
    highest value of moisture (18.73%) as compared to other formulations (P˂ 0.05). There were no
    differences in protein contents of the cereal bars formulated. Ash contents of the formulations
    were significantly different (P˂ 0.05) in samples B and F; the values ranged between 0.97%
    and 1.88%. The fat contents were significantly different with formulation B having the highest
    fat content (10.72%) and carbohydrate contents were affected by fibre contents; samples with
    lower crude fibres had higher carbohydrate contents which also reflect in the energy contents
    of the granola/cereal bar samples. Lowest aw (water activity) was observed in the samples with
    lower fruit contents which could be as a result of their lower moisture contents. According to
    the results, incorporation of glutinous rice flakes with different composition Sunnah foods and
    binding agents; honey and glucose syrup can be used to formulate cereal bars with appreciable
    proximate and energy contents.
Filters
Contact Us

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links