Megabiodiversity of Malaysian’s flora and fauna which include microorganism could be conserved and served as alternative source indigenous yeast, the leavening agent of commercial bread making. This study was conducted in attempt to exploit the potential of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from 30 different local fruits and plant parts as a leavening agent in bread making. The enrichment was carried out by fermenting the plant samples in medium containing Grape Must at 25°C for 10 days following by isolation of tentative yeasts at 30°C for 3 to 5 days. 20 out of 30 samples tested showed the presence of yeasts was then selected for identification of S. cerevisiae strains through biochemical and physiological tests. Of the 20 yeast strains examined, 13 strains were identified as S. cerevisiae and potentially used as leavening agent in bread making where 5 strains namely SN3, SMK9, SDB10, SRB11 and SS12 showed better fermentative performance compared to commercial strains. Thus, indicated that the local fruits and plant parts could be the potential source of indigenous S. cerevisiae strains for leavening agent in bread making.
Chicken skin gelatin hydrolysates and peptides with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory (ACEI) activity were produced enzymatically using alcalase, pronase E, and collagenase before fractionation into
Bee pollen is considered as one of the functional foods due to its complex biochemical
properties. Bee pollen which is collected from pollen grains from various botanical sources
contains almost a complete nutrition such as carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, vitamins
and minerals. Its beneficial effect on health is thought to be due to the presence of phenolic
compounds with its antioxidant activity. Antioxidant activities of ethanolic bee pollen extract
(BPE) from three species of Malaysian stingless bee; Trigona thoracica, Trigona itama and
Trigona apicalis in this study were measured using DPPH-HPLC method and gallic acid (GA)
as a standard reference. The percentage of DPPH inhibition by T. apicalis BPE at 1 mg/mL
showed the highest inhibition (39%, GA equivalent to 0.3 mg/mL) compared with T. itama
(14.3%, GA equivalent to 0.1 mg/mL) and T. thoracica (6.7%, GA equivalent to 0.05 mg/mL).
Our result was the first in reporting antioxidant activity of BPE measured using DPPH-HPLC
method from three different species of Malaysian stingless bee.
Rambutan seed waste has become a noteworthy problem in rambutan canning industry that
need to be solved. Previous finding showed that rambutan seed could be utilized by extracting
the fat that could be utilized as confectionery fat with improved characteristic by fermentation
and roasting treatment. The study to evaluate the cocoa-like flavor compounds development
as the effect of these process was carried out. The rambutan seed was fermented for 3, 6, and
9 days followed/unfollowed by roasting process at 150°C for 30 min. The browning index of
the powder, the Maillard Reaction Products (MRPs) and the volatile flavor compounds of the
rambutan seed fat were analysed. The study found that the fermentation treatment followed by
roasting treatment significantly increase the browning index and melanoidin content in powder
and fat, respectively. Six and 9 days fermentation followed by roasting possessed highest value
of browning index (1.4875 and 1.5485 AU, respectively) and melanoidin content (0.318 and
0.295 AU, respectively). The result also showed that fermentation of rambutan seed followed
by roasting process could successfully developed desired pyrazine compounds, in which the
contribution of the pyrazine content could be as much as 42.69% of total flavor compound of
rambutan seed fat.
It is well known that there is a significant increased in the quantity of Municipal Solid Waste
(MSW) generated every year. Therefore, the management of MSW must be handled carefully
by experts. Malaysia as one of the developing country with population nearly 30 millions
also facing problems related to MSW management and this issue is quite critical. Even though
various programmes were established and few model technologies were introduced by the
government to manage MSW effectively, but the impact remain unsatisfaction. For example,
the energy facility recovery project which use MSW gathered around Kajang as an alternative
fuel still not successful to provide energy according to the design capacity of that particular
facility. This failure was observed due to the impact composition of MSW collected which
consists huge amount of food waste (57%), 16% plastic, 15% diaper, 9% mixed papers and
the remaining 3% textile. The existing process technology at Refused Derived Fuel (RDF)
facility is no designed to create a new economic benefit from abundant incoming food waste
to the facility. Therefore in this paper, the analysis and suggestion of technology on existing
RDF recovery energy facility will be discussed especially on how to overcome the abundant
composition of food waste.
This study was done to determine the effects of different thermal drying methods (sun drying, microwave drying and hot air oven drying) on the total phenolic content (TPC), total anthocyanin content and the antioxidant properties of Vitex negundo (VN) tea. Significant decline (P < 0.05) in antioxidant properties of hot air oven drying shows that this method is not the best method to preserve antioxidant compounds in VN tea. As a conclusion, microwave drying has been found to be a good method for maintain the TPC, anthocyanin content and AEAC in dried sample of VN tea.
The whole plant extract of plant Sceletium tortuosum, plant native to South Africa, has been known
traditionally to have mood enhancing and stimulant properties. These properties have been confirmed before by proving serotonin-uptake inhibition activity. A further confirmation by using CB1 receptor binding assay has been performed in this study. The unfermented alkaloid extract was proved to posses a higher activity to bind CB1 receptor compared to that of the fermented one. GC-MS analysis confirmed that unfermented alkoloid extract contain more alkaloids than the fermented one. The ethanol extract was also more active than the fermented one, suggesting that non-alkaloid compounds in this extract could posses this activity. An additional test to check wether this extract can improve cognitive function and memory was performed by acetylcholinesterase inhibitory assay. Both fermented and unfermented alkaloid extracts could inhibit acetylcholinesterase with IC50 being 0.303 mg/ml and 0.330 mg/ml, respectively. However, the major alkaloid in the extract, mesembrine, did not show inhibition of the enzyme. A TLC based test proved that other alkaloids in the extract were responsible to the activity.
Microwave assisted extraction treatments showed the higher pectin yields of 10.07% and 8.83% in pretreated samples by microwave and 9.4% and 8% in the extraction of dried after microwave treatment in lemon peel and apple pomace samples, respectively. Lemon peel pectin in pretreated samples by microwave and extraction of dried after microwave treatment showed the higher degree of esterification 71.8% and 70%, respectively, while apple pomace revealed 68% and 65.4% in same treatments. Furthermore, lemon peel pectin exhibited the highest galacturonic content of 74.5% in extraction of pretreated samples by microwave, while apple pomace pectin indicated the higher galacturonic acid content of 70.5% and 70% in both extraction of dried after microwave treatment and extraction of dried samples. Texture analysis of jellies prepared by various extracted pectin indicated the highest fracturability in the microwave-assisted drying treatment of 33 N and 32.5 N for apple pomace and lemon peel pectin, respectively.
About 60% of world’s commercial enzyme products are proteases, giving promising opportunity
to derive such enzymes sustainably from waste sources. Bromelain is a crude protease occurring
naturally in pineapple, and it possesses properties of benefit for pharmaceutical, medical and food products. The production of bromelain involves a purification stage, normally performed by small-scale conventional operations which lead to high operating cost and low product recovery, while being difficult to scale up and produce polluting by-products. Membrane-based technology offers an alternative to produce high quality purified bromelain in a more efficient and sustainable process. This review identified the current state and future needs for utilising membrane processes for sustainable bromelain production at larger scales. It was found that declining membrane flux due to fouling have been reported, but may be effectively overcome with more appropriate (and advanced) membrane types and/or processing conditions. For example, interactions between macromolecules present in the pineapple derived bromelain mixture (particularly polysaccharides) and the membrane may cause performance limiting fouling, but can be overcome by enzymatic pre-treatment. Membrane fouling can be further reduced by the employment of ceramic membrane filters operating at optimised trans-membrane pressure, cross-flow velocity, feed pH and temperature. Two-stage ultrafiltration together with diafiltration or gas sparging was suggested as a means to reduce fouling and improve enzyme purity. Despite these promising technical findings, the review identified the need for a valid economic assessment to properly guide further work towards purifying bromelain from pineapple waste for sustainable production of commercial proteases.
In the present work, the physicochemical properties namely fatty acid composition (FAC), iodine value (IV), acylglycerol content and thermal profiles of palm-based diacylglycerol (PDAG) in blend with soybean oil (SBO) at different concentrations (0-100 wt %) were evaluated. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra were determined at mid-infrared region to assign the functional groups. SBO exhibited the same absorption bands as PDAG except at wavelength of 1711, 1450, 1359, 850 and 779 cm-1. This phenomenon indicated that the absorption frequency of the binary mixtures greatly depended on the composition of oil samples. IV of the oil blends was found to decrease from 131.09 ± 0.88 I2/100 g to 51.55 ± 0.60 I2/100 g with increasing PDAG concentrations due to the reduced degree of unsaturation. Generally, binary blends with an increasing PDAG concentration showed a decrease in linoleic acid (C18:2) as well as increase in oleic acid (C18:1) and palmitic acid (C16:0) contents. The DAG content for all the blends increased from 5.15 ± 1.40% to 87.80 ± 0.33% and TAG content decreased from 94.85 ± 1.40% to 12.20 ± 0.33% in tandem with increasing PDAG content. Incorporation of PDAG into SBO significantly affected the crystallisation and melting profiles of SBO.
The prevalence of Salmonella in chicken and beef sold in retails outlets in Malaysia was
determined by analysing 312 raw beef and chicken meat samples including their processed
products. Samples purchased from supermarkets, butcher shops and wet market, which being
classified into raw, minced and processed chicken and beef. A total of 86 (27.6%) samples were
found positive for Salmonella spp., with chicken meat samples (40.4%) showed greater presence
compared to beef (15.4%). Highest presence of Salmonella were detected from wet market
samples (35.4%), followed by supermarket (26.9%) and butcher shop (21.3%). The prevalence
of Salmonella were higher in unpacked chicken meat (84.8%), followed by unpacked beef
(27.8%). Salmonella serovars were identified as S. Enteritidis, S. Hadar, S. Dublin, S. Anatum,
S. Stanley, S. Gallinarum, S. Choleraesuis and S. Typhimurium. Detection of 8 Salmonella
serovars showed possibilities of cross contamination in various sources either at slaughtering
house, processing plant or until storage at retails level. Improper cooking method on meats and
hygiene practices prior to consume should be avoided in order to ensure food safety before
ingestion.
Fish can live healthier in aquarium with good water quality than they do in the wild. Maintaining
the quality of the water in fish facility is needed to avoid fluctuation of physicochemical
parameter values and contamination with pathogenic microorganisms that may cause serious
illness or even death among the fish. Contamination of the water, especially with animal
pathogens which are also pathogenic to human may pose health risk to those who are handling
or in direct contact with the water and fish in the facility. Therefore, there is a need to assess the
water quality and the risk associated with microorganisms in the water and the cultured animals.
The aim of this study was to determine the water quality with regard to the physicochemical
and microbiological parameters as well as the risk associated with bacteria in the water of the
fish facility. Samples of water from the water source and also from aquariums in the fish facility
were collected and analyzed. The water samples were plated on nutrient agar for bacterial
enumeration then bacterial colonies growing on the agar plates were randomly picked and
purified. (GTG)5
-PCR analysis was carried out to analyse the heterogeneity of the genome of the
bacterial isolated and a dendrogram was constructed from the (GTG)5
-PCR profile to determine
the genotypic group of the bacterial isolates. The risk associated with the bacteria from the
water was analyzed with respect to their antibiotic resitance. The result of this study revealed
that the (GTG)5
-PCR analysis was able to group the bacteria into 2 main genotypic clusters
which were further grouped into several sub-clusters. From the dengrogram, 12 representative
isolates were selected and identified using 16S rRNA sequencing. The identification confirmed
the presence of Aeromonas veronii (8 isolates), Aeromonas jandaei (2 isolates), Plesiomonas
shigelloides (1 isolate) and Pseudomonas alcaligene (1 isolate) from the water samples. All
of the isolates exhibited resistant towards ampicillin, penicillin and gentamicin. This study
revealed that the water from the fish facility harboured genetically diverse antibiotic resistance
bacteria which may pose health risk to the fish and also to those who are in direct contact
with the contaminated water and fish in the facility. Therefore, water in fish facility should be
monitored regularly and handled with caution.
Fifty five (n=55) isolates of Escherichia coli isolated from ducks in Penang, Malaysia were examined for their susceptibility to eleven different antibiotics and assayed for the presence of plasmid DNAs. All the 55 Escherichia coli isolates were resistant (100%) to vancomycin. Higher resistance (= 60) occurred for tetracycline 51 (92.7%), ampicillin 40 (72.7%), streptomycin 37 (67.3%), and sulfamethoxazole-trimethophrim 37 (67.3%). No and low resistance was observed for nitrofurantoin (0%) and gentamicin (1.8%), respectively. The isolates also showed some intermediate resistances to all antibiotics examined except for vancomycin. The 55 Escherichia coli isolates exhibited 23 different antibiotic resistant patterns with MAR index ranging from 0.09-0.82. Majority of the Escherichia coli isolates exhibited resistant pattern of VA-C-OFX-SXT-TE-AMP-NA-KF and VA-S-C-OFX-SXT-TE-AMP-NA-KF with MAR index of 0.73 and 0.82, respectively. The smallest plasmid DNA size was 1.2 kb and the largest plasmid DNA size was 81.5 kb. 51 (93%) of the duck Escherichia coli isolates harbored plasmids. The was no direct correlation between plasmid DNA sizes and antibiotic resistant among the duck Escherichia coli isolates. Thus, the antibiotic resistant of the Escherichia coli isolates could mostly be mediated by chromosomes instead of plasmids. This study also suggests that the use of antibiotics in duck farming in Penang, Malaysia needs to be controlled to prevent the spread of multiple antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli isolates.
In the present study, evaluation of antimicrobial activities of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis
CF4MRS bacteriocin-like substances (BLIS) against various fish pathogens was performed
using an agar well diffusion assay. The cell-free supernatant (CFS) was first pre-treated using
four different bioassays. In the first treatment T1, CFS was treated with catalase, and the pH
was adjusted to 6.5 with NaOH to eliminate the inhibitory effect of H2
O2
and/or lactic acid.
In T2, CFS was treated with only 1 mg/mL catalase. In T3, only the pH was modified and
adjusted (6.5). For T4, no pretreatment was done on the CFS. Our results showed all tested
pathogens: Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC 13525, P. aeruginosa ATCC 10145, Klebsiella
pneumonia ATCC 10031, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Aeromonas hydrophila ATCC 49140,
Edwardsiella tarda BCRC 16703 and Serratia marcescens (Monash culture collection), were
susceptible to L. lactis CFS (T4). This bacterial inhibition activity was presumably due to
BLIS present in CFS. However, the CFS lost its antimicrobial activity when pH was adjusted
and treated with enzyme catalase (T1 and T3). This inhibitory effect would be attributed to
either organic acid or H2
O2
produced by the bacterium. On the other hand, CFS treated with
only catalase (T2) exerted similar inhibitory effect against the pathogens as showed by the
untreated CFS (T4). BLIS in CFS were subsequently determined using HPLC method. Our
results revealed that lactic acid in BLIS indeed plays the important role in bacterial inhibition,
suggesting the bacteria could be potentially used in managing and controlling fish diseases.
As a staple food, the availability of rice is essential for Indonesian people. It is undoubtable that Green Revolution (GR) has a significant contribution to rice production. However, GR also emerges the detrimental impact, mainly on the environment. The expectation is that organic farming is an appropriate solution for dealing with this issue. On one side, the increased in demand for healthy food implies the organic farming has a good prospect. However, the adoption rate of organic farming is still low among farmers. This study aims at examining the perceptions of paddy farmer and factor affecting attitude and behavioral intention to adopt organic rice farming. This study involved 600 paddy farmers as respondents in Sragen District, Central Java, Indonesia. The study grouped the respondents into two categories, i.e., semi-organic and conventional farmers. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire. The results showed that the perceived usefulness, perceived ease, and environmental concern affected positive and significantly on attitude. Meanwhile, the behavioral intention was influenced significantly by attitude, subjective norm, moral obligation and perceived behavioral control. Conclusively, the perceptions on technology characteristic, environmental concern, moral obligation have a positive impact on attitude and intention to adopt organic rice farming. Therefore, the dissemination of organic rice technology should be accelerated to take the advantages of positive attitudes by changing their mindset toward adopting organic rice farming.
This study was carried out as a move to increase Malaysia’s fruit exports. The purpose of this
study was to identify factors that influence the consumption decision of foreign nationals in
Malaysia as move to understand their behavior and pattern in purchasing fresh fruits from
Malaysia. This study was carried out in Malaysia among foreign nationals and it was found
to be the first of its nature to be carried out in Malaysia. A total of eighty three respondents
participated in six focus group discussions. Data was analyzed via exploratory factor analysis
which is commonly used in examining consumer preferences and behavior. The three factors
identified in influencing the consumption decision of Malaysian fresh fruits among foreign
nationals were (1) price and fruit intrinsic attributes; (2) fruit physical aspects and uniqueness;
and (3) occasion, familiarity and user status.
Seaweeds are marine macro algae that can be found attach to the bottom shallow coastal waters.
There are three major groups of seaweeds namely brown (Phaeophyta), red (Rhodophyta) and
green (Chlorophyta). One of the edible red seaweeds is Eucheuma cottonii. Red seaweeds have
been found of consisted several potential pharmaceutical uses such as antitumor, antiviral,
anticoagulant and immunomodulation functions. In This study, heavy metals content of E.
cottonii was determined by ICP-OES. Methanol was used as solvent for extraction. The
phenolic content of the extract was determined by Follin-Ciocalteau method and results were
expressed as gallic acid equivalents. The antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH assay.
Besides, anti-tyrosinase activity was investigated tyrosinase and L-DOPA with kojic acid as
positive control. For element test, three elements were detected (Ar, Fe and Zn). The phenolic
contents (3.40±0.013 mg GAE/g extract) and antioxidant activity (38.82±0.99 mg/mL) were
lower compared to other plants but E. cottonii shows a good tyrosinase enzyme inhibition
which achieved average 234.33μg/mL in 50% inhibition tyrosinase concentration (IC50). E.
cottonii could be the potential source of natural anti-tyrosinase.
This study described the antibiotic and heavy metal resistance pattern of 17 isolates of Edwardsiella tarda obtained from Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer). E.tarda isolates were resistant to oleandomycin, lincomycin, novobiocin and spiramycin. In contrast, most of the isolates showed high level of susceptibility to tetracycline, doxycycline, florfenicol, chloramplenicol, nitrofurantoin, fosfomycin, kanamycin, oxolinic acid and flumequine. MAR value was 0.35 which indicated that the cultured Asian seabass have received high exposure to those tested antibiotics. Besides, very high level of heavy metal resistance among these isolates was observed. Genotypic profile of DNA fingerprintings generated by RAPD-PCR using M13 universal primer and M13 wild type phage primer showed high degree of genetic diversity with percentages similarity and genetic distance among the isolates were ranging from 10.5% to 100% and 0 to 0.895, respectively. This result indicates that strains that belong to the same origin were not always closely related genetically.
Cocoa pod borer (Conopomorpha cramerella (Snellen)) is the main fatal pest that destroys cocoa plantations in South East Asia, mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia. Infested cocoa beans stick to each other, the pulp become hard and normal fermentation process to produce flavour precursors cannot be done. This research aimed to utilize the infested cocoa beans as a source of phenolic compounds. Extraction of phenolic compounds was carried out for three infestation levels regarded as low, medium and heavy. Parameters of study were bean size, shell content, fat content, total polyphenol and antioxidant activity. Results of the study showed that the increase in cocoa pod borer infestation significantly decreased cocoa bean size, fat content and total polyphenol; but shell content was increased. Antioxidant activity of the extracted polyphenol was not significantly affected by the infestation. The results clearly indicate that cocoa beans infested by cocoa pod borer can potentially to be used as a source of phenolic compounds for natural antioxidant uses.
The increasing amount of food waste in Malaysia in recent years has brought many environmental
issues in the country where it affects the nation’s solid waste management framework. At the
moment, the government is limited to other alternatives of food waste disposal besides the
conventional landfill and incineration methods. This paper provides information on the current
status of food waste handling, management, regulations, and policies in Malaysia. It helps
to draw the problem and challenge to a clearer view in efforts of achieving sustainable and
integrative food waste handling in the country.