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Three juices obtained respectively from pomegranate, prickly pear and orange fruit were separately concentrated using an innovative technique, that allow to obtain a final product with high content of bioactive compounds and elevate antioxidant activity. The concentrated juices were employed in the formulation of a soft drink to improve its bioactive properties. Despite a low amount of each concentrated juice was used, the experimental soft drink obtained evidenced a high content of total polyphenols. The antioxidant activity detected was similar to that of tea commonly considered a healthy beverage with strong radical scavenging activity. The sensory analysis of the soft drink showed a consumers' liking score potentially promising for market acceptance. In addition, the experimental drink produced was evaluated for its stability by simulating domestic storage and from the results obtained is possible to assess that a good antioxidant activity was maintained even after 5 days of conservation. Therefore, the present work, stimulates the use of high-quality concentrated juices as food ingredient in order to improve the functional properties of soft drinks.

Citrus fruits processing is one of the foremost industrial activities in Sicily and the main residual by-product consists in peels and seeds (known as "pastazzo"). Traditionally this by-product has been used for different purposes, and only most recently, it has been described as source of a wide range of healthy bioactive compounds and dietary fibers. In the present work, a debittered food grade orange fiber (DOF), extracted from orange juice by-product, was experimentally obtained and tested as fat-replacer at different percentages (30, 50, and 70%) in bakery confectionery products (brioches). The DOF showed high total fiber content, low water activity and a high water binding capacity. The obtained bakery products were characterized for nutritional, technological and microbiological parameters through storage at room temperature. Results highlighted that the addition of DOF results in final products with increased moisture content, mainly after 1 day of storage, and good textural proprieties. Furthermore, the fat-replacing strategy, at different levels of DOF, resulted in final products with, besides a constant content of carbohydrates, showed lowered fat content, increased content of dietary fiber and protein. In particular, the 50% fat replacement allowed to obtain brioches with improved technological properties and with desirable microbiological traits, mostly within the first 24 h from production and up to 5 days of storage.

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hollow fibre membranes, loaded with triacetyl-β-CD, were prepared according to the dry–wet spinning technique by non-solvent induced phase inversion a. The resulting membranes were tested for the reduction of pesticides from citrus essential oils. Results concerning the selection of the polymeric membrane material, the treatment of citrus essential oils with the prepared membranes and their selectivity towards specific pesticides (imazalil, thiabendazole and o-phenylphenol) were analyzed and discussed. In selected operating conditions average permeate fluxes between 15 and 30 kg/m 2 h were obtained for the analyzed essential oils (orange, lemon and mandarin). The removal of imazalil from these essential oils was in the range 49.7–53%. For the orange essential oil a 48.9% removal of thiabendazole was observed. On the contrary, no significant reduction of o-phenylphenol (lower than 5%) was detected in the permeate fractions coming from the treatment of all the investigated essential oils. The volatile fraction composition in the permeate of lemon essential oil treated with the prepared membranes remained unchanged if compared with that of the initial feed. Therefore, PAN membranes loaded with triacetyl-β-CDs did not modify the organoleptic and physicochemical characteristics of the essential oil. On the contrary, the treatment of orange essential oil with ceramic membranes having MWCO of 750 and 1000 Da produced a removal of the volatile fraction of 5–10%, a removal of non-volatile fraction in the range of 10–50% (especially in terms of cumarines) and a removal of carotenoids higher than 90%.