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Red pepper is one of the most important spices in the Republic of Korea, and fraudulent practices during manufacturing of red pepper products can cause social concerns. In this study we conducted the regulatory survey to verify the labeling compliance of red pepper products sold on the South Korea commercial market. We designed species-specific primer sets for five common ingredients (red pepper, garlic, onion, spring onion, and ginger) and developed reliable real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods using SYBR Green I dye to identify the ingredients used in red pepper products. Sixty-six commercial red pepper products were analyzed using our real-time PCR methods for the presence of potential mislabeling. The results of fifty-one samples were consistent with their labeling information, whereas the results for fifteen samples, described as red pepper powder and seasoned red pepper sauce, did not satisfy their manufacturing criteria. Our findings demonstrated that the developed real-time PCR methods could be efficiently utilized for rapid monitoring of commercial red pepper products.

Aquaponics is the integration of farming fish with plants where the excreted nutrients from fish are taken up by plants. Thus, aquaponics may enhance aquaculture sustainability and productivity. In this study, largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides juveniles were cultured in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) or aquaponic system for two months. Each system was identical, but within the aquaponic system, lemongrass and spring onion were cultured with or without gravel in a 2x2x2 factorial design. After 2 months, there was no difference in the survival, growth, feeding efficiencies or condition indicator of fish in either system, despite nitrate-N being consistently higher in RAS, particularly from day 48 onwards. Water iron and total phosphorus were similar among each system. Bacterial diversity was lower in RAS, but Streptomyces was only detected in RAS which contributes to off-flavors. Spring onion wet weight and leaf width values were significantly greater when cultured with media but had significantly shorter roots. Lemongrass leaf length and width values were also significantly greater when cultured with media, but had significantly shorter roots. There were various significant main effects on the mineral composition, particularly for iron. Generally, both zinc and iron accumulated in the roots of both plant while potassium was higher in the leaves. Spring onions were a richer source of potassium and calcium than lemongrass. Magnesium and iron were generally higher in the leaves and roots when cultured without media and might be due to the roots having a greater surface area for nutrient uptake. Overall, M. salmoides is a suitable high value fish species to grow with aquaponics while using media enhanced the productivity of both plant species as well as their magnesium and iron contents. The absence of Steptomyces in the aquaponic system may have implications to post-harvest fish quality that should receive additional attention.

The shelf life of green (spring) onions was short (from 3 to 4 weeks). Therefore, the aim of this investigation is to elongate green onion shelf life by freezing at −18 °C with slight changes in antioxidant activities and pungency for each spring onion Allium cepa L. varieties (Giza 6 and Photon) which cultivated in Egypt. This study included leaves and bulbs in each varieties of spring onion. Results showed high contents of total phenols and flavonoids in leaves compared with bulbs either of Giza 6 or Photon types, therefore Giza 6 had high content of total phenols and flavonoids than Photon variety, in parallel the results were obtained of total chlorophyll and total carotenoids contents. While, chlorophyll a content showed higher than chlorophyll b in leaves than in bulbs for each variety. Results indicated that the diversity in kind of polyphenolic and flavonoids components either leaves or bulbs in each spring onion types. Benzoic acid showed the major polyphenolic compounds in the bulbs of either Giza 6 or Photon spring onions varieties (11.92% and 27.43%), while salicylic acid (8.37%) and ellagic acid (9.10%) were major ones of the leaves of Giza 6 and Photon variety. The major components of flavonoids were myricetin, quercitin and rutin in leaves and bulbs for each variety. Myricetin which was the highest flavonoids components was the major; it also showed higher percentage in the leaves than bulbs of two varieties (Giza 6 and Photon). It also was higher in Photon leaves than Giza 6 leaves. Giza 6 bulbs was highest content of pungency, then Photon bulbs followed by Giza leaves and Photon leaves at zero time till 3 months of storage at freezing. Also, results of pungency and antioxidants activity by DPPH method in leaves and bulbs for each variety indicated that there were slightly decrease during storage (3 months). Results indicated that export onion spring can be stored under freezing at −18 °C during 3 months without high changes in pungency.

Production of food crops on metal contaminated agricultural soils is of concern because consumers are potentially exposed to hazardous metals via dietary intake of such crops or crop derived products. Therefore, the current study was conducted to develop management protocols for crop cultivation to allow safer food production. Metal uptake, as influenced by pH change-induced immobilizing agents (dolomite, steel slag, and agricultural lime) and sorption agents (zeolite and compost), was monitored in three common plants representative of leafy (Chinese cabbage), root (spring onion) and fruit (red pepper) vegetables, in a field experiment. The efficiency of the immobilizing agents was assessed by their ability to decrease the phytoavailability of metals (Cd, Pb, and Zn). The fruit vegetable (red pepper) showed the least accumulation of Cd (0.16-0.29 mg kg−1 DW) and Pb (0.2-0.9 mg kg−1 DW) in edible parts regardless of treatment, indicating selection of low metal accumulating crops was a reasonable strategy for safer food production. However, safer food production was more likely to be achievable by combining crop selection with immobilizing agent amendment of soils. Among the immobilizing agents, pH change-induced immobilizers were more effective than sorption agents, showing decreases in Cd and Pb concentrations in each plant well below standard limits. The efficiency of pH change-induced immobilizers was also comparable to reductions obtained by 'clean soil cover' where the total metal concentrations of the plow layer was reduced via capping the surface with uncontaminated soil, implying that pH change-induced immobilizers can be practically applied to metal contaminated agricultural soils for safer food production. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In this study, the antimicrobial effects of both traditional and commercial pomegranate sour sauce samples on some green vegetables and also on "kısır" which is a popular and traditional appetizer in Turkey were investigated. The inhibitory effect of the pomegranate products on the naturally existing bacterial microflora of lettuce, spring onion, parsley and kısır were analyzed. Also, all these food samples were inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC-25923) and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (ATCC-43895) and antimicrobial effect of the pomegranate products on the inoculated microflora was detected. All the food samples were treated with pomegranate products for different time periods and the effect of treatment time was investigated. pH and titratable acidity values of the traditional and commercial pomegranate sour sauce samples were detected. The results showed that although the pomegranate products had an antimicrobial effect on the natural bacterial microflora of the food samples, the effect on inoculated food samples was more prominent and additionally the application time was found to be a crucial parameter for both cases.

It is well recognized that many adverse changes occur to a food product during drying. Various pretreatment methods have thus been introduced to maintain the quality of the product. Among the various qualities, or properties, of a food product surface characteristics are one of the most important as these affect directly the consumer acceptance of the product. In terms of food safety surface characteristics may also be related to the attachment and hence thermal resistance of pathogenic microorganisms on the product surface. In this study attempt was made to investigate changes of the surface topographical features of vegetables as affected by pretreatment (blanching in hot water or soaking in 0.5–1.5% v/v acetic acid solution) and hot air drying (60 °C); cabbage and spring onion were selected as model vegetables to represent different natural topographical features of vegetables. An image analysis technique was used to monitor the changes of vegetable surfaces after pretreatment and during drying. The surface characteristic changes of vegetables were described quantitatively in terms of the relative roughness factor ( R ). It was observed that the surface characteristic changes, as affected by both pretreatment and drying processes, could be well monitored by the evolution of the R value.

Effects of N and S supply on the growth and pungency (estimated as pyruvic acid levels) of Chinese spring onion ( Allium fistulosum L. var. giganteum Makino) were investigated in two pot experiments using soilless growing media. In the first experiment the effects of S supply (0.01 and 4.00 mmol L −1 SO 4 2− ) on the growth and pungency of Chinese spring onion were investigated among four cultivars with fleshy root type or long pseudostem type. In the second experiment the effects of different S (0.01 and 4.00 mmol L −1 SO 4 2− ) and N (1.5, 3.0, 6.0, 12.0 and 24.0 mmol L −1 N) supply levels on the growth and pungency of Chinese spring onion were studied. Fleshy root spring onion had stronger pungency and larger pseudostem diameter than long pseudostem spring onion, and the pungency of fleshy root spring onion was regulated to a greater extent by N and S supply compared with long pseudostem spring onion. Increasing S supply level significantly increased the biomass, N and S uptake and pungency of all cultivars tested. The biomass of Chinese spring onion of fleshy root type (cv Longyao) and long root type (cv Zhangqiu) was more influenced by N supply than it was by cultivar or S supply. Low S supply decreased the pungency of the two cultivars with increasing N supply. No significant differences in N or S uptake or pungency were observed in the two cultivars with different S supply at the N supply level of 1.5 mmol L −1 N, however, cultivar differences in N and S uptake and pungency were investigated at high N supply (12.0 mmol L −1 N) and S supply (4.0 mmol L −1 SO 4 2− ). Excessive N supply (24.0 mmol L −1 ) significantly inhibited plant growth, retarded S assimilation, and decreased pungency. It is therefore essential to apply the optimum recommended rate of N fertilizer in Chinese spring onion production.