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Tilapia is a freshwater fish group with a sustainable prospect but suffers off-notes appearing during cooking processes. To promote pleasant odorants by thermal cooking processes, tilapia fillets were cooked in different ways (roasting, microwave-heating, boiling and steaming). Their aroma profiles were analysed with special focus on off-notes and umami-enhancing odorants by principal component analysis, and correlated with the heating time, colour, moisture and water activity by partial least squares regression analysis. Results showed that the “green” and “earthy” off-notes were highly correlated with the boiling process (excess of water, short heating time), while most of the umami-enhancing odorants had a high association with the roasting process (low water content, long heating time, better Maillard reaction). This study indicated that roasting is the most adapted cooking process promoting Maillard-derived aromas, umami-enhancing aromas and meanwhile, reducing off-notes. This research helps in understanding the off-note generation in tilapia and promoting desirable umami-enhancing odorants.

A long experiment has been established since 2000 at CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center), Turrialba, Costa Rica. Twenty agro-forestry systems with different shade types and managements (organic and non-organic) consisting of an incomplete randomized block-design with shade tree as main effect and subplots represented by management were set up. The effects of different managements and shade types on the aroma and color generation of roasted coffee beans were investigated. The total protein content was significantly higher (P < 0.05) under the intensive conventional (IC) (168 g/Kg) and intensive organic (IO) (167 g/Kg) managements than under the moderate conventional (MC) (153 g/Kg in IC vs. MC group, 157 g/Kg in MC vs. IO group). Comparing with the moderate conventional (MC) management, the intensive organic (IO) management had a stronger ability to generate more flavor and color. The total protein content was significantly higher (P < 0.05) under the full sun system (172 g/Kg) than under the shaded (159 g/Kg) and Erythrina system (155 g/Kg), under the service system (165 g/Kg) than under the timber system (146 g/Kg), under the legume timber system (170 g/Kg) than under the non-legume timber system (152 g/Kg). The full sun system had a greater flavor generation and color after roasting. Comparing with the timber system, the service system produced roasted beans with the more flavor and color. Comparing with the non-legume shade tree, the legume shade tree improved the performance of flavor and color in the roasted coffee beans.

Human space exploration cannot occur without reliable provision of nutritious and palatable food to sustain physical and mental well-being. This ultimately will depend upon efficient production of food in space, with on-site manufacturing on space stations or the future human colonies on celestial bodies. Extraterrestrial environments are by their nature foreign, and exposure to various kinds of plant stressors likely cannot be avoided. But this also offers opportunities to rethink food production as a whole. We are used to the boundaries of the Earth ecosystem such as its standard temperature range, oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations, plus diel cycles of light, and we are unfamiliar with liberating ourselves from those boundaries. However, space research, performed both in true outer space and with mimicked space conditions on Earth, can help explore plant growth from its ‘first principles’. In this sense, this perspective paper aims to highlight fundamental opportunities for plant growth in space, with a new perspective on the subject. Conditions in space are evidently demanding for plant growth, and this produces “stress”. Yet, this stress can be seen as positive or negative. With the positive view, we discuss whether plant production systems could proactively leverage stresses instead of always combatting against them. With an engineering view, we focus, in particular, on the opportunities associated with radiation exposure (visible light, UV, gamma, cosmic). Rather than adapting Earth conditions into space, we advocate on rethinking the whole issue; we propose there are opportunities to exploit space conditions, commonly seen as threats, to benefit space farming.

Takifugu rubripes is well-known for its unique flavour but can also develop a putrid off-note. To eliminate off-note and promote desirable flavour, four cooking processes (boiling, steaming, microwave-heating and roasting) were explored to determine their effects on cooked T. rubripes. The temperature and water dynamics, physico-chemical properties were analysed and correlated with sensory qualities. The changes of centre temperature dynamics during cooking decreased the water mobility and led to varied sensory properties. Six out of ten orthonasal aroma attributes and four out of five mouthfeel attributes were significantly different among samples (p < 0.05). Based on partial least squares regression analysis, orthonasal aroma attributes “roasted” and “earthy/putrid fish” highly correlated with the volatile compounds generated from Maillard reaction and lipid oxidation, respectively; meanwhile mouthfeel attributes of chewy/fibre and tender/juicy were highly associated with water loss and moisture, respectively. This study provides insights for optimising cooking conditions to create desirable fish flavour.

Due to unique characteristics, umami substances have gained much attention in the food industry during the past decade as potential replacers to sodium or fat to increase food palatability. Umami is not only known to increase appetite, but also to increase satiety, and hence could be used to control food intake. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanism(s) involved in umami taste perception. This review discusses current knowledge of the mechanism(s) of umami perception from receptor level to human brain imaging. New findings regarding the molecular mechanisms for detecting umami tastes and their pathway(s), and the peripheral and central coding to umami taste are reviewed. The representation of umami in the human brain and the individual variation in detecting umami taste and associations with genotype are discussed. The presence of umami taste receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, and the interactions between the brain and gut are highlighted. The review concludes that more research is required into umami taste perception to include not only oral umami taste perception, but also the wider “whole body” signaling mechanisms, to explore the interaction between the brain and gut in response to umami perception and ingestion.

Successful salt (NaCl) reduction strategies are required to reduce the salt content of snacks while maintaining saltiness perception and consumer acceptance. Previous research suggests that particle physicochemical design rules (small particle size, low density, low hydrophobicity, optimised particle shape) can be leveraged to produce salt particles that enhance saltiness perception. This study aimed to validate these design rules by applying optimised model salts to unsalted potato crisps at a 30% reduced salt content to produce prototype products. A selection of commercial products were also chosen to represent the salt content and crisp style of the broader market, with the aim to investigate the potential of other salt reduction strategies including; direct salt removal without compensation for loss of salt content and increasing time in mouth, while exploring the impact of consumer mouth behaviour type on consumer product preference. Nine products varying in salt content (6 standard, 1 crinkle-cut, 1 thick-cut batch-fried, 1 baked reconstituted potato) were subject to descriptive sensory analysis with a trained panel (n = 11). A subset (seven products) were assessed for consumer acceptance (n = 93). A salt reduction of 30% was achieved while maintaining saltiness perception and consumer acceptance using model salts, while direct removal of salt without perceptual impact was only achievable by 15%. To investigate key drivers of liking, consumers were segmented based on product liking and mouth behaviour. Results suggested that whilst salt content was the primary driver, specific texture profiles were polarising. However, mouth behaviour had minimal influence on preference. These results validate previously described physicochemical design rules for developing novel salt particles for salt reduction and inform ingredient design for the food and flavour industries.

The mechanism on how capsaicin could affect salt release in the mouth and its saltiness perception was unknown. This is the first study designed to investigate the impact of capsaicin on salt release in the tongue and correlate with its perception during and after consumption. A simple 1% NaCl solution was used without or with 5 ppm capsaicin as CTR or CAP solution, respectively. Thirty panellists were recruited and trained to score salt and spicy intensity when holding the sample in the mouth for 10 s, then for every 10 s after swallowing till 60 s. Swab analysis was used to investigate the level of salt released after consumption of CTR or CAP solution every 10 s till 60 s. The results indicated that the saltiness rating was significantly reduced by 13% as the result of capsaicin (P < 0.05), which could be due to the dilution effect by extra capsaicin-stimulated saliva. Individual panellists varied on their saltiness and spiciness scores, but there was a positive Pearson’s correlation between saltiness and spiciness scores (P < 0.05), that is, the higher the spiciness ratings, the higher the saltiness ratings. This indicated a potential multimodal interaction between trigeminal and taste sensation.

Dee are a unique and rapidly growing part of the global snack food market and are recognised as having distinct sensory properties (taste and texture). In this study, the development of important volatile aroma compounds over storage was evaluated and their chemical origin explained. Sweet potatoes were batch fried in high oleic sunflower oil (HOSO) and subjected to accelerated shelf life testing. Headspace volatiles were analysed using SPME GC-MS and correlated with sensory perception. All the components (sweet potatoes, oil and β-carotene) showed significant degradation after 3 weeks of storage at accelerated conditions (equivalent to 12 weeks in real-time at 25 °C). Marker volatiles associated with lipid oxidation such as hexanal, octanal, pentanal were identified, in addition to norisoprenoids from β-carotene degradation such as β-ionon, 5,6-epoxy-β-ionone, dihydroactinidiolide (DHA) and β-cyclocitral. The most prominent marker of lipid oxidation (hexanal) rapidly increased at week 1, whereas the carotene degradation makers did not rapidly increase until week 3 suggesting a delayed response. The frying temperature during the batch frying process of SPC was also shown to play a significant role in the sensory perception of the product over the shelf life. Overall, the results suggest that tight control of process variables and raw material design may enable extended shelf life and potentially enhanced health credentials for the product. These findings are unique to SPC, but also of value to the wider food industry.

Space medicine and space health is a prerequisite for human space exploration. In space, drug properties are different comparing to Earth. Drugs being carried on space missions have been noticed to have a shorter shelf life relatively compare to Earth counterpart (Zwart et al., 2009). Cosmic radiation is one of the underlying causes of the pharmaceutical instability of space medicine. In this research, we are studying the impact of Earth-simulated ‘space radiation’ on medicines, which are formulated to have higher stability under cosmic radiation. We study the stability of Ibuprofen as a function of its formulation environment, i.e., the pharmaceutical excipients which form a tablet. Ibuprofen is probably the best-studied medicine for its decomposition by irradiation; mostly concerning UV (Caviglioli et al., 2002). Our research is flanked by two running ISS-NASA experiments on a long-duration study of those space medicines under real cosmic irradiation; inside ISS and outside as well. 60 tablet samples were compounded and sent to the International Space Station (ISS) for 6-12 months for experimenting in the real space conditions.We used varying combinations of pharmaceutical excipient ingredients, which are found abundantly on the moon, such as dicalcium phosphate (CaHPO4), talcum/magnesium silicate (Mg₃Si₄O₁₀(OH)₂), silica (SiO2), titania (TiO2), and iron oxide (Fe2O3). One of our shielding concepts is to coat the tablet with an excipient containing heavy-elemental weight atoms.First thing is to ensure homogeneity of the distribution of formulation components in our tablet, as the space experiments forced us to work with small specimen sizes and weights (scale of scrutiny). We deliberately formulated each tablet and managed to reduce the Ibuprofen standard deviation from 20% to 5%. For the UV-C radiation investigation, we used a UV lamp with a wavelength of 254 nm. The mild UV-C source does not create detectable damage in about 5.5 hours of exposure. For beta radiation investigation, we used Strontium-90 at effective energy levels ranging from 0.059 to 5.486 MeV. The low linear energy transfer (LET) beta source at 0.1 Gy to 50 Gy does not cause notable damage as well. For alpha particle

β-Glycosidases enhance wine aroma by releasing volatile aglycones from non-volatile glycosides. Commercial preparations contain primarily pectinases, with β-glycosidase as a secondary activity, which limits their potential. Here, the extremophilic β-glucosidase A from Halothermothix orenii, (BglA) has been compared with Rapidase® for the production of aromatic wines and in the remediation of smoke-tainted wines. Model systems, real juices and wines have been enriched with geranyl glucoside, typical of white varieties, and guaiacyl glucoside, commonly found in red wines exposed to oak and wines made from grapes exposed to smoke. The hydrolytic capacity of BglA was evaluated by measuring the released volatiles in the gas phase with solid-phase microextraction and GC–MS. BglA, despite an apparent instability at low pH, is twice as effective in releasing volatiles in sweeter wines and in grape juices, offering an excellent alternative for the early stages of the winemaking process and in the juice industry.

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd During storage of coffee, the key aroma 2-furfurylthiol becomes less active, the mechanisms of this loss and ways to mitigate it were investigated. Aroma profiles were analyzed using GC–MS and sensory properties were evaluated by Quantitative Descriptive Analysis. Quinones, as the oxidation products of hydroxydroquinone, was found to actively bind 2-furfurylthiol, which accounted for the loss of 2-furfurylthiol. To mitigate this loss, ingredients were screened for their ability to prevent 2-furfurylthiol from loss. Cysteine had the highest 2-furfurylthiol releasing efficiency and ascorbic acid was also selected due to its 2-furfurylthiol releasing ability in Fenton reaction system. Concentrations were optimized and the addition of 0.045 g/L cysteine and 0.05 g/L ascorbic acid directly protected aroma during storage, these included 2-furfurylthiol, dimethyltrisulfide, methyl furfuryl disulfide, 4-ethylguaiacol and 4-vinylguaiacol. Ultimately, sensory testing showed a direct enhancement in nutty, sulfurous and roasted aroma attributes, an increase in flavour intensity and preference over shelf life.

Flavoured potato crisps is the UK's most consumed snack food product. Addition of N2 gas flushing extended shelf life by 2 weeks and the addition of seasoning further enhanced the shelf life of the base crisps by 2 weeks under accelerated conditions., The impact of natural cheese and onion seasoning on the sensory perception and shelf life stability of potato crisps was studied. This study was carried out to evaluate the impact of nitrogen (N2) gas flushing on the shelf-life stability and sensory attributes of cheese & onion seasoned potato crisps. Markers of lipid oxidation and flavour volatile compounds were evaluated in sliced, unwashed, batch fried potato crisps during accelerated storage at 45 °C for 10 weeks. Volatile flavour compounds were evaluated by headspace gas analysis using solid phase microextraction (SPME) GC-MS and correlated with sensory perception. Gas flushing significantly increases the shelf life of both unsalted and cheese & onion seasoned potato crisps in terms of the stability of volatile compounds and sensory perception. Further to this, the addition of the cheese & onion seasoning increased the shelf life of the base potato crisp; this is proposed to be explained by the antioxidant properties of milk proteins in the seasoning. Sensory evaluation indicated that the key negative sensory attributes reported were rancidity and stale attributes, which were correlated to the progression of lipid oxidation and loss of flavour over storage time irrespective of the packaging environment (with/without gas flushing).