Food products contamination has become a huge global issue, mostly related to foodborne diseases. Morbidity and mortality are on the increase worldwide due to the increasing incidence of foodborne diseases. Peanut-based products are reported to contribute significantly to food contamination issues. It needs to be addressed well to make sure consumers are safe from these hazards. Besides, all of the scientific knowledge of food products contaminations symptoms needs to be known not only among scientists but also among consumers. Thus, the objectives of this study are to examine consumers’ knowledge level towards contaminated peanut-based products and to determine factors influencing consumers’ knowledge towards consuming contaminated peanut-based products. A survey using a structured questionnaire was carried out among 1,263 respondents who consumed peanut and peanut-based products in daily, weekly or monthly diet at Klang Valley area. The results from this study showed that about 73.9% of total respondents have inadequate knowledge and only 26.1% have adequate knowledge towards the issue of contaminated peanut-based products. The results also indicated that there are five factors (mass media, practicing standard, packaging information, experience, and official government website) that greatly influenced consumers’ knowledge towards the issue of contaminated peanut-based products. Consumers who have lack knowledge of the danger in consuming contaminated peanuts-based products are at risk of adverse health effects if consumed in a long term. Hence, the government and NGOs need to carry out campaigns that would increase awareness among consumers towards the risks of consuming contaminated peanut-based products.
Halal is an important aspect of food selection as it is one’s part to obey religious obligations and commandments. Since the halal food industry covers the farm-to-table operations, therefore unwanted practices which culminate to halal food fraud along food supply chain has become a major concern among Muslim consumers. This is because food fraud is a subjective concept, hence objective verification of fraudulent activities and the extent of fraud could be difficult to verify. The current study was therefore carried out to determine Muslim consumers’ awareness and perceptions towards halal food fraud. A total of 352 respondents from Klang Valley areas were randomly selected to be the target respondents in this study. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi-square analysis, and factor analysis. The results indicated that most of the respondents (96.9%) in Klang Valley areas were aware of halal food fraud issues. The findings also showed that gender, age, education level, and occupation had significant relationships with awareness of halal food fraud. Three factors were classified as influential to Muslim consumers’ perception towards halal food fraud namely halal logo, labeling and packaging, authorities’ exposure and enforcement as well as consumer attitude. The study recommended that Islamic authorities should continuously seek ways to improve and educate consumers towards halal food fraud while the government should further strengthen their important role of enforcing law and penalties to irresponsible industry players.
Ethyl lactate was demonstrated as a green and efficient agrochemical solvent to concentrate phytonutrients such as carotenes and tocols in palm oil. However, the removal of this solvent from the extract is difficult and expensive due to its very high boiling point and low volatility. Heating at high temperature in an effort to evaporate the solvent is undesirable even under reduced pressure as the extracted phytonutrients are heat-sensitive compounds. In this paper, a non-evaporative method using only water was proposed for the first time to remove the solvent at atmospheric conditions based on its solubility difference instead of the vapour pressure difference. The proposed method was proved to be more effective, faster and cheaper as compared to conventional approaches such as rotary evaporation, freeze drying and vacuum drying.
Banana is one of the most important food crops after rice, wheat and corn around the world. It is susceptible to a wide spectrum of non-infectious problems such as abiotic stresses resulting in restricting growth and production. Studies were conducted to determine the effects of four salinity levels (0.17 (control), 3.0, 6.0, and 9.0 dS m-1) on morphological characteristics of four banana cultivars at vegetative growth stage. Banana cultivars from the Cavendish group (Williams, Malindi) and plantains group (FHIA18 and Diwan) were grown in 61 x 76 cm polyethylene bags filled with soil mixture comprising of top soil, sand and peat moss (3:1:2 v/v), with pH ranging from 6 - 6.5 and EC 0.02 mScm-1. The experiment was carried out under a rain-shelter in split-plot design with three replicates. Plants were irrigated manually. Data were collected at 3, 6 and 9 months after transplanting. The results revealed that, the number of leaves, stem height, stem girth and total leaf area were significantly affected by salinity, variety and plant age. Significant interaction was also found between salinity and variety, salinity and plant age, as well as variety and plant age. The morphological characteristics of banana were negatively affected by higher salinity levels (6.0 and 9.0 dS m-1). Under similar salinity level, cultivar Malindi had higher number of leaves, stem height, stem girth and total leaf area as compared to cultivar Williams. Among plantains banana, cultivar FHIA18 was more tolerance to high salinity levels than Diwan cultivar, while Malindi from Cavendish group shows high salt tolerant than Williams. Therefore cultivars Malindi and FHIA18 could be grown in arid and semiarid environment depend on their tolerance to high salinity level above 1.0 dS m-1.
Tomatoes require appropriate environment to stay sturdy due to earlier decay process. Deterioration causes short shelf life of tomatoes with unfavourable quality, resulting in potential rejection by customers. The objective of the study is to observe the effect of combined coatings of chitosan (Ch) and cinnamic acid (CA) in extending the tomato shelf life. Layer by layer coating of chitosan prior to the cinnamic acid (single coating for each) were applied on fresh graded tomato at two maturity stages; breaker and turning. Twelve days observations at ambient temperature with three-day intervals were recorded. Combined coating of chitosan and cinnamic acid were expected to influence firmness, TSS value, hue angle and weight loss. Results showed that a combined coating of 1.0% Ch + 3 mM CA has significant increament at breaker stage to firmness (8.26 N), hue angle (60.42%) and weight loss value (6.51%) compared to untreated tomato whereas for turning stage, the results showed there were no significant different in all parameters observed except the changes of fruit sweetness (TSS). 1.0% Ch + 4 mM CA show highest TSS value, 3.48% indicating 21% difference than untreated tomato (3.27%). Cinnamic acid helped chitosan in improving coating ability by serving better barrier from pathogen and oxidative gas penetration to prevent earlier spoilage problem.
The application of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in agricultural sector has become popular in recent years. LEDs can even be used in total absence of natural sunlight in raising indoor vegetables and ornamental plants. Appropriate light spectral regions must be studied according to crop species or varieties, especially for plants with high commercial values. The present experiment was conducted to determine the effects of monochromic LED of Red (R) and Blue (B), and their combinations at 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1,at 18 W and 240 V, on production of Lactuca sativa cv. Fire Red in controlled laboratory environment in total absence of natural light. Each LED irradiation treatment was assigned as sub plot with photoperiods (PPs) ranging from 12 h to 18 has main plots in a split plot design to study their combined effects on growth, pigment and ascorbic acid (AA) contents of this attractive red colour vegetable. Seedlings in moist jiffy blocks at one week after sowing were transferred to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) troughs of 5 cm diameter containing quarter strength Hoagland solution at electrical conductivity ranging from 1,100 to 1,300 μS/cm and pH 6-7. Plants were grown with nutrient film technique at a distance of approximately 8 cm below LED. Results obtained showed that R was not appropriate for growing this vegetable while analysis of variance indicated that plants irradiated with B gained the greatest plant height at five weeks at harvest, but these plants had the lowest number of leaves. Highest fresh weight (FW) as marketing attribute of this vegetable was obtained with 18 h PP. When combined 18 h PP with BR or 2BR, it was the best for production of L. sativa cv. Fire Red with the highest anthocyanin content.
Hydrocolloid has long been utilized as a thickener to increase the consistency such as fruit jam. In this study, the optimum type (xanthan gum/XG, Arabic gum/AG, guar gum/GG, locust bean gum/LBG, pectin/ PC and carboxymethylcellulose/ CMC) and concentrations (0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%, and 1% (w/v)) of the hydrocolloid as thickening agents in ‘Chok Anan’ mango filling was determined using Full Factorial design (108 trials). Physicochemical analyses, including total soluble solid (TSS), pH (acidity), moisture content, and viscosity (Power Law) were conducted. The predicted values for 1.0% PC, and 0.2% XG with the response as TSS (44.9ºBrix), acidity (3.4), moisture content (47.48%) and pseudoplastic behavior (shear thinning) value of n = 0.2917 were similar to experimental optimum values. The optimum type (PC) and concentration of hydrocolloids (1%) of experimental values (TSS= 45.3ºBrix, pH= 3.41) show insignificant different with predicted values. The concentrations (0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1.0%) and type of the hydrocolloids (XG, AG, GG, LBG, PC and CMC applied in this study had significantly (p
Mud clam (Polymesoda erosa) hydrolysate (AH) was produced by hydrolysis for 2 hrs using alcalase 2.4L at pH 8.5, 60°C and 3% enzyme-substrate ratio. D-xylose and L-cysteine or D-xylose were added into the hydrolysate and heated at 120°C for 2 hrs to produce the Maillard reaction products (MRPs) labelled as AH-mx or AH-x, respectively. Amino acids, volatile compounds and sensory characteristics of AH and MRPs were evaluated. Amino acids analysis showed that monosodium glutamate (MSG)-like amino acids amount was higher while 2-piperidinone volatile compound that contributes to bitterness was lower in MRPs than AH. Furthermore, sensory results showed that MRPs had more intense umami and less fishy taste compared to AH. Therefore, it was discovered that Maillard reaction improved the flavor of mud clam hydrolysate.
This study aimed to determine the best parameters (types of buffer, hydrolysis time and enzyme concentration) used to produce good quality of liquid protein hydrolysate from Yellowstripe scad in terms of high yield, protein content and concentration. The choice of buffer (sodium or potassium buffer), hydrolysis time (1 h, 2 h, 3 h or 4 h) and enzymes concentrations (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0%) were investigated. The results obtained from two way ANOVA showed that these parameters had significant difference (p
Freshwater microalgae that contained high starch, carbohydrates and lipids contents are beneficial to human being in many industrial especially in food and food packing industries. There are a few freshwater microalgae that contained high starch and carbohydrates content such as Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorella emersonii, Chlorella sorokiniana, Nannochloropsis salina and Spirulina sp. Spirulina sp. is chosen in this research because of its strong adaptation to the environment changes, short life cycle and able to produce high intracellular starch. In this project, results have shown that microalgae at late exponential phase contained the highest starch and carbohydrate yield of 0.491±0.046 mg/L and 0.090±0.046 mg/L, respectively. Thus, the harvesting time for microalgae with high starch production and yield is phase dependent rather than time dependent. Under optimized cultivation conditions of aeration at 5 L/min, using white wavelength and 32ºC, Spirulina sp. produced the highest starch and carbohydrate yield of 0.664±0.03 mg/L, and 1.019±0.025 mg/L, respectively. In conclusion, compared to before optimization, starch and carbohydrate yield after optimizations were increased. In conclusion, compared to before optimization, starch and carbohydrate yield after optimization were 435% and 221% increased, respectively.
Functional property changes in Phaleria macrocarpa fruit during ripening on tree were studied. Results showed that juice extracted from fruit flesh had low acidity and soluble solid content. Fruit acidity decreased but soluble solids increased as the fruit ripened. In terms of antioxidant content, ascorbic acid, DPPH free radical scavenging activities and total phenolic content were, however, the lowest in fully ripe fruit flesh while the unripe fruit flesh had the highest. High percentage of these antioxidants was water soluble. This study suggests that the unripe fruits should be harvested for valuable medicinal product development instead of the fully ripe fruits.
Mentha piperita has been well known for its hypolipidemic activity. This prompted the present study to be carried out on a selected 12 phyto-constituents of Mentha piperita which are naringin, eriodictyol, eriodictyol 7-glucuronide, eriocitrin, hesperidin, isorohifolin, luteolin 7-glucoside, diosmin, rosmarinic acid, piperitoside, menthoside and caffeic acid. These phyto-constituents were evaluated on the docking behaviour of HMG CoA reductase (HMGR) and Squalene synthase (SQS) using Discovery Studio Version 3.1. In addition, molecular physicochemical, drug-likeness, ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity) and TOPKAT (Toxicity Prediction by Komputer Assisted Technology) analyses were done. The molecular physicochemical analysis revealed that eriodictyol, rosmarinic acid and caffeic acid (3 ligands) complied with Lipinski’s rule of five. ADMET analysis showed that eriodictyol and caffeic acid exhibited good intestinal absorption property. Docking studies and binding free energy calculations revealed that menthoside (-70.0 kcal/mol) and piperitoside (-65.32 kcal/ mol) exhibited the maximum interaction energy with HMGR and SQS respectively. Caffeic acid exhibited very least binding energy irrespective of its target protein. Caffeic acid showed interaction with Leu546 and Gln212 amino acid residue of HMGR and SQS. Hence, the results of this present study exhibited the potential of these twelve ligands as hypolipidemic agents.
Grinding is an important factor in espresso coffee preparation and the optimal grinding level is needed to improve its characteristics. However, a problem arises where ground cocoa nibs change from solid to fluid mass at finer level due to high fat content (52%) in the cocoa bean. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of fat in Ivory Coast cocoa nibs and grinding level on particle size and the physicochemical characteristics including viscosity (mPa), pH, foam index (%), density (g/mL), total solid (mg/mL) and extraction (%) of espresso cocoa (ECOC). Solvent extraction was used to produce defatted cocoa nibs (40%, 34% and 20%) and was ground at four different grinding levels (i.e., 10, 30, 50 and 70) to extract a cup of ECOC using espresso machine. The grinding level 70 (1665.0±28.30 μm) contributed to significantly (p
Clinacanthus nutans is the native medicinal herbs that grow in tropical climate, mainly can be found in Malaysia and Thailand. Clinacanthus nutans is used to boost immunity and for detoxification. It is claiming to promote bowel movement and other health promotions, such as skin care, diuresis and cancer (such as lung, ovary, uterine, prostate, nasopharyngeal and breast). This study focused on the effects of solvents towards antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of C. nutans (Belalai Gajah/ Sabah Snake Grass) leaves and stems. Freeze-dried leaves and stems were homogenized before testing its antimicrobial properties. The 70% acetone (Merck, Germany) was prepared by dissolving fine powder of C. nutans in 1:10 solvent ratio with 70% acetone using ultrasonic extraction for 1 h in an ultrasonic bath (Soniclean, Thebarton, Australia). Ten bacteria (Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aureginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella boydii, Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidemidis) and four fungi (Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Rhizopus stolonifer and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were used in the antimicrobial study employing minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal microcidal concentration (MMC) methods. The data obtained were statistically analysed using SPSS Inc. Version 22 (Chicago, USA). The MIC values of acetone extracts for the selected bacteria and fungi ranged between 6.25 – 100.00 mg/ mL while the MMC values of acetone extracts for the selected bacteria and fungi were between 25.00 - >100.00 mg/ mL. Recommendation on phytochemicals investigation should be conducted to determine the potential of compounds toward antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.
Resistant starch is the non-digestible portion of starch that reaches the colon and act as a prebiotic to stimulate the activity and growth of beneficial gut microbiota. In the present study, resistant starch content of native (lemantak), commercialized and retrograded sago and starch was analysed, and the in vitro fermentability with known probiotics were investigated. Retrograded starch was produced through two cycles of autoclaving and cooling steps. The resistant starch content of each modified starch were measured based on the method approved by AOAC 2002.02. The in vitro batch fermentation was carried out with inoculation of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium animalis at 37°C for 24 hours in anaerobic condition. Total bacteria was enumerated at 0, 6, 12 and 24 hours. Highest resistant starch content was shown in lemantak (native sago starch) at 62.61%. Lemantak was also shown to be the most preferred fermentation substrate with the highest number of total bacterial count at all sampling hours. These findings suggest the potential of lemantak as a prebiotic.
Edible bird nests (EBNs) are highly demanded globally. The industry was recently affected by an import ban to China due to high nitrite levels.Subsequently, many concerns have been raised. In this study, the microbial composition of both raw and commercial EBNs was investigated. The raw EBNs were purchased from swiftlet farms: Kuala Sanglang (Perlis), Pantai Remis (Perak), Kluang (Johor), Kajang (Selangor) and Kota Bharu (Kelantan). The commercial nests were purchased from five different Chinese traditional medicinal shops (Companies A-E) in Malaysia and one from Indonesia (Medan). A total of 123 and 34 isolates were successfully identified from unboiled raw and commercial EBNs respectively. The highest average CFU (1.77 x 104) was associated with raw EBNs obtained from Kluang, while for the commercial EBNs, those obtained from Company M1 had the highest CFU (5.50 x 104). Bacillus sp. accounted for the highest isolated species from both unboiled raw and commercial EBNs. Bacillus sp. and Brevibacillus sp. were mainly isolated from the boiled EBNs. Bacillus spp. were the dominant bacterial groups in all the raw EBNs except for those obtained from Kajang. The average number of bacteria isolated from the raw EBNs (average = 7) was higher compared with those isolated from the commercial EBNs (average = 4). The highest average number of bacterial isolates was reported in the raw EBNs obtained from Kota Bharu. Among the commercial EBNs, one EBN sample each from Companies A and M1 showed the highest number of isolates (n = 10). In general, there was a significant reduction in the number of bacteria isolated after boiling the EBNs. Raw EBNs obtained from Kajang had a distinct pool of bacterial species where the majority of the isolated species belonged to Staphylococcus species. The associated health impacts of these microorganisms to the consumers and public need to be addressed.
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
Recently, there has been an increasing demand and interest in developing plant extracts as natural food sanitizer, owing to their antimicrobial properties. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of salam (Syzygium polyanthum L.) leaves methanolics extract on the number of microflora on chicken meat and shrimp. Salam leaves extract at different concentrations (0.0%, 0.1%, 1.00%) and exposure times (5, and 10 min) used to treat chicken meat and shrimp by using dilution method. Result showed that the total plate count and Staphylococcus aureus had been detected in untreated chicken and shrimp samples with 6.66 ± 0.12, 8.66 ± 0.15 and 7.25 ± 0.21, 6.54 ± 0.21, respectively. However, there was no Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Vibrio cholerae detected in both samples. The number of total plate count (TPC) and S. aureus in chicken meat and shrimp were starting to reduce significantly at 0.01% concentration of salam leaves extract for 5 minutes of exposure time compared to initial count. There was no significantly different between exposure times. The highest reduction in number of microorganism population was at treatment with 1.0% extract for 10 min where TPC was reduced from 6.66 ± 0.12 to 0.00 ± 0.00 log10 CFU/ml, and from 8.66 ± 0.15 to 4.88 ± 0.00 log10 CFU/ml in shrimp while S. aureus reduced from 7.25 ± 0.21 to 3.88 ± 0.01 and from 6.54 ± 0.21 to 4.92 ± 0.04 in chicken and shrimp, respectively. For the sensory acceptability, overall acceptability were accepted by panellists until treatment 0.10% for 5 min and 10 min of soaking time. In conclusion, salam leaves extract might be developed as natural sanitizer for rinsing raw food materials such as chicken meat and shrimp.
Sugarcane juice deteriorates rapidly as enzymatic browning and microbial spoilage take place soon after juice extraction. Therefore, the effects of pasteurization treatment (70ºC for 10 minutes) and addition of calamansi juice at different concentrations (0, 1.0, 1.5, and 3.0%, v/v) on the physicochemical (color, pH, total soluble solid, titratable acidity, and peroxidase enzymatic activity), microbiological (total plate count, yeast and mold), and sensory characteristics of black stem sugarcane juice were investigated. Quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA®) was conducted by eight trained panelists to determine the intensity of the sensory attributes of sugarcane juice, such as brownish color, grassy aroma, citrus aroma, sweetness, sourness, sweet aftertaste, and overall acceptability using a 15 cm unstructured line scale. The results showed that the pasteurization treatment significantly (p ˂ 0.05) increased the L* value (lightness) of sugarcane juice at 0% (v/v) of calamansi juice. Increasing the concentration of calamansi juice decreased the pH value and increased the titratable acidity of the sugarcane juice at 5% significance level. The relative effectiveness in reducing the peroxidase (POD) enzymatic activity and microbial load of sugarcane juice was shown after the addition of calamansi juice and pasteurization treatment, respectively. Significant (p ˂ 0.05) changes in the intensity of brownish color, grassy aroma, and sweet aftertaste of sugarcane juice were observed after the pasteurization treatment at 0% (v/v) calamansi juice; whereas, the addition of calamansi juice at different concentrations increased the intensity of citrus aroma and sourness, but decreased the intensity of grassy aroma and sweet aftertaste of sugarcane juice at 5% significance level. Hence, pasteurization treatment coupled with the addition of 1.5% (v/v) calamansi juice was effective in achieving microbial stability and consumer’s acceptability on sugarcane juice.
In recent years, consumers’ demand increases for healthier foods with nutritional benefits and similar taste to the origin. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate the physicochemical properties and proximate composition as well as consumer preference of imitation chicken nuggets or ICNs formulated with different percentage of chickpea flour and textured vegetable protein (TVP). A commercial brand of chicken nugget was chosen as control experiment to compare its characteristics with ICNs. Five formulation of ICNs were prepared with the percentage of chickpea flour to TVP of ICNs were: A (30:10), B (25:15), C (20:20), D (15:25), and E (10:30). Results found that all ICNs were found significantly lower (P