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Mango (Mangifera indica) is a fruit that grows in tropical regions. The aim of this work was to isolate the starch from two varieties of mango highly consumed in Mexico ("criollo" and "manila"), and to evaluate its chemical composition, along with some morphological, physicochemical and functional properties. Mango starch had an amylose content of about 13%, the fat content of "criollo" variety starch (0.1-0.12%), was similar to that of commercial corn starch used as control (0.2%); both mango starches had higher ash amount (0.2-0.4%) than corn starch. Mango starches presented a smaller granule size (10 microm) than corn starch (15 microm), along with an A-type X-ray diffraction pattern with slight tendency to a C-type. All values of water retention capacity (WRC) increased with the temperature. When the temperature increased, solubility and swelling values increased and in general, mango starches had higher values than corn starch. Both mango starches had gelatinization temperatures lower than the control, but "criollo" variety starch presented higher enthalpy values than "manila" variety and corn starches. Overall, it was concluded that due to its morphological, physicochemical and functional properties, mango starches could be a feasible starch source with adequate properties, suitable for using in the food industry.

The effect of moisture content and film composition on biodegradability is the focus of this study. Flexible films were first characterized for the effect on water sorption isotherms of relative humidity, temperature, zein content, and the addition of the plasticizers stearic acid, poly(ethylene glycol), or etoxylated ricine oil. Zein/ethylcellulose (EC) mixture films had a behavior between that for pure zein and EC films, which had the lowest water sorption. For films with plasticizer, the lowest water sorption at 25 degrees C was observed for those with stearic acid. Biodegradability of zein/EC films, evaluated using bacterial cultures selected for their zein proteolytic activity and isolated from a local solid waste landfill and a lagoon, showed no plasticizer effect even though its effect on moisture content was significant. Large differences were observed at different film zein concentration with the highest biodegradability for 100% zein. However, biodegradability did not mimic the water sorption behavior of zein/EC mixture films.

In México, the banana (Musa paradisiaca) is cooked (boiling or deep frying) before being eaten, but the consumption is not very popular and a big quantity of the product is lost after harvesting. The unripe plantain has a high level of starch and due to this the use of banana can be diversified as raw material for starch isolation. The objective of this work was to study the starch yield at pilot plant scale. Experiments at laboratory scale were carried out using the pulp with citric acid to 0,3 % (antioxidant), in order to evaluate the different unitary operations of the process. The starch yield, based on starch presence in the pulp that can be isolated, were between 76 and 86 %, and the values at pilot plant scale were between 63 and 71 %, in different lots of banana fruit. Starch yield values were similar among the diverse lots, showing that the process is reproducible. The lower values of starch recovery at pilot plant scale are due to the loss during sieving operations; however, the amount of starch recovery is good.