Fat content in fermented milk beverages: determination by the Gerber method

Fermented milk beverage is a product containing milk, whey and/or other ingredients, fermented by specific microorganisms and/or added with fermented milks. Fat determination in this product is important to quality control and inspection. The Gerber method is used worldwide as a simple and rapid method for fat content analysis in raw and processed milks. In Brazil, Roese-Gottlieb is the official method for analysis of fat content in milk beverages. However, the use of Gerber method for fat content determination in fermented milk beverages is widespread throughout the industry in the country. Several authors have tested the use of Gerber method for some dairy products, but there is no report on this evaluation for fermented milk beverages. In this context, the objectives of this work were to determine the fat content of fermented milk beverages by the Gerber method and evaluate the performance of this test, using Roese-Gottlieb as a reference method. Thirty samples of fermented milk beverages were analyzed by both methods. The fat contents ranged from 1.25 to 2.40% by the Gerber method and from 1.24 to 2.50% by the Roese-Gottlieb method. There was no difference (p > 0.05) between the methods. The Gerber method can be used to determine the fat content of fermented milk beverages, without prejudice to the results obtained.

Production and characterization of bio-oil from algae using pyrolysis

Pyrolysis of the algae (chlorophyceac) was carried out using fixed bed reactor at 4500C. The mass balance of the pyrolysed algae were liquid fraction (oil) (10%), gaseous product (11%), solid product (char) (79%) and extent of conversion (21%. The proximate analysis of powdered sample was carried out in accordance with the official method of analytical chemistry (AOAC). The moisture content, ash content, volatile matter and fixed carbon determined were 3 + 0.33, 70.3 + 0.5, 6.3 + 0.3 and 20.2 + 0.07 respectively. The result obtained indicate that algae (chlorophyceae) could be used as feedstock for generation of pyrolysed oil which could probably be upgraded to fuel for both domestic and industrial purposes.

Determination of moxifloxacin hydrochloride in AVELOX pharmacological formulations using modified potentiometer sensors

Three different carbon paste (CP), silk-screen (SP) and poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) modified electrodes were obtained to verify the reliability of AVELOX, the generic name of which is Moxifloxacin HCl (AV-MOXH). The sensing membranes were containing AVELOX ion associated complexes with sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB), phosphomolybdic acid (PMA), phosphotungstic acid (PTA), and ammonium reineckate (RN) as electroactive materials. All three electrodes gave fast, viable, and near-Nernstian linear responses over a relative wide concentration range that ranged from 1.010-6 to 1.010-2 mol / L AV-MOXH at 25° C with a monovalent cationic decrease. The sensors demonstrated a good discernment of AV-MOXH from numerous inorganic and organic compounds such as glucose, sucrose, Na+, Ca+, etc. Additionally, the isothermal coefficients along with selectivity coefficients were calculated. The modified Screen Printed Electrode sensor appeared to be highly sensitive for the determination of AV-MOXH. The electrode response was observed in pH range 2--6 for ISPE electrodes and IPVC electrodes and 3--7 for ICPE electrodes under various temperature conditions. The short response time, lifetime validity, recovery, and all the methods of validation such as limit of detection and limit of quantification were estimated. The potentiometric method turned out to be suitable for determining AV-MOXH in pharmacological formulations, and the findings obtained are comparable to the “HPLC official method” in terms of the agreement. As a result, the postulated potentiometric approach was verified in accordance with IUPAC guidelines.

A Novel Spectrophotometric Determination and Kinetic Study of Sulfamethoxazole in Pure and Tablet Formulation using 9-chloroacridine Reagent

A spectrophotometric method has been developed for analysis of Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) in pure and dosage forms. The method is based on the reaction of the SMX with 9-chloroacridine (9-CA) reagent in organic and acidic medium, to produce a yellow product having maximum absorption at 448 nm. Beer’s law was obeyed in the concentration range 1-30 μg.ml-1 with molar absorptivity of 1.63x104 L.mol-1.cm-1 with good detection and quantification limits. Accuracy (Average recovery %) and precision are 98.43% and 0.651, respectively. The proposed method was applied successfully for determination of Sulfamethoxazole in its commercial dosage form as tablet and agree well with the official method. The equilibrium constant and the thermodynamic functions (ΔHo, ΔGº and ΔSº) of the complex formation were estimated. The study revealed that the complex formation could occur spontaneously, the type of interacting forces between SMX and 9-CA are physical is nature and association increases the order of the studied systems. The results of kinetic parameters indicated that, the reaction is pseudo first order with respect to SMX. The rate constant at various temperatures and the thermodynamic functions of activation were determined. Theoretical parameters were calculated by applying the semi-empirical Austin method (AM1). These parameters are helped to suggest reaction mechanism and supporting other results.

Bromatological characterization of fruit waste

In Colombia, a high amount of fruit waste is currently generated. These causes a negative environmental impact due to its high organic load. However, this type of waste has compounds in its structure that can be used in order to reduce the environmental impact and to obtain added value. The main of this study was to characterize bromatologically sixteen residues of fruit processing in Colombia, in order to propose a possible use in the food industry. The bromatological characterization of the waste was carried out by means of the quantification of dry matter (ASTM E1756-08), ash (ASTM E1755-01), proteins (Kjeldahl method), crude fats (AOAC Official Method), total dietary fiber (AOAC 993.21) and carbohydrates. It was found that grape and soursop seeds, lulo peel and tree tomato stem presents the highest total dietary fiber with content percentages above 50 %. Also, tree tomato, soursop, tangerine and orange seeds are an important source of protein and crude fats, with values highest than 12 and 27 %, respectively. It was also found that pineapple, mango, soursop and grape peel have a carbohydrate content greater than 50%. As a conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate that fruit waste have a potential use in the food industry, due to their protein, crude fat, total dietary fiber and carbohydrates content.

Modelling the disappearance of coarse woody debris, following a land clearing event

Background Land clearing generates coarse woody debris (CWD), much of which ultimately becomes atmospheric CO2. Schemes for greenhouse gas accounting must consider the contribution from land clearing, but the timing of the contribution will have large uncertainty, due to a paucity of knowledge about the rate of CWD disappearance. To better understand above-ground CWD disappearance following a land clearing event—through the actions of microorganisms, invertebrates, wildfire, or deliberate burning—we combined statistical modelling with an archive of semi-quantitative observations (units of CWD %), made within Queensland, Australia. Results Using a generalised additive mixed-effects model (median absolute error = 14.7%), we found that CWD disappearance was strongly influenced by the: (i) number of years elapsed since clearing; (ii) clearing method; (iii) bioregion (effectively a climate-by-tree species interaction); and (iv) the number of times burned. Years-since-clearing had a strongly non-linear effect on the rate of CWD disappearance. The data suggested that disappearance was reverse-sigmoidal, with little change in CWD apparent for the first three years after clearing. In typical conditions for Queensland, the model predicted that it will take 38 years for 95% of CWD to disappear, following a land clearing event; however, accounting for uncertainty in the data and model, this value could be as few as 5 years, or > 100 years. In contrast, due to an assumption about the propensity of land managers to burn CWD, the official method used to assess Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions predicted that 95% of CWD will disappear in < 1 year. Conclusions In Queensland, the CWD generated by land clearing typically takes 38 years to disappear. This ultimately implies that a key assumption of Australia’s official greenhouse gas reporting—i.e. that 98% of CWD is burned soon after a clearing event—does not adequately account for delayed CO2 emissions.

Updates on the Mobile Divider and Its Use in Calabria Region to Monitor and Control Aethina tumida Infestation

The small hive beetle (SHB), Aethina tumida was first detected in the Calabria and Sicily region (Southern Italy) in 2014. In this regard, a more effective and faster inspection method than the Official one (Ministry of Health) was tested to detect the beetle in the hive. In collaboration with Calabria beekeepers’ association, a “mobile divider”-based method was tested, in order to facilitate the detection of A. tumida and save time during hive inspection. In this short communication, we provide an update on the mobile divider technique and its related inspection procedure, which was first proposed and used in Calabria (Southern Italy) from 2014 to 2016. We report preliminary data concerning the number of detected SHBs and the time spent for their detection, based on the inspection of two apiaries in Calabria region, using both methods (official method and mobile divider method). The preliminary data presented here show that, on average, the mobile divider method seems to be able to recover a slightly higher number of beetles (0.9 adults) per inspected hive, in a shorter time (25 s).

The Performance of Turmeric Paper as an Indicator of The Borax Content in Crackers

Borax is one of food additives that has been prohibited from being used by the Indonesian Government because it is dangerous to health. However, the fact is that borax has been widely added to several food products, such as skewered meatballs, school children’s snacks, bread, meatballs, tofu and crackers. Crackers containing borax is easily found in traditional markets. Short-term consumption of borax can cause various symptoms such as headache, fever, malaise, nausea or vomiting, pain in the upper abdomen and diarrhea. While long-term exposure to borax will have a more dangerous effect, which can cause stomach disorders, seizures to acute kidney failure which can lead to death. This paper reports a simple, easy and inexpensive test of borax content using a home-made turmeric paper on ten types of crackers purchased randomly in traditional market. The aim is that the borax content test can be carried out by anyone only by buying a few ingredients from the local market and pharmacy, and without the need to involve laboratory tests, but with accurate results when compared to laboratory tests. As a comparison, a flame test and a colour test on the borax content carried out in the laboratorium using the AOAC 18 ed. 2005 Official Method Boric Acid & Borates in Food 970.33 and the FI ed. V of 2014 General Identification Test <291> Borat method A on Page 1423 was also completed. Among the 10 crackers tested, six of them were detected to contain borax. These results are very consistent with the laboratory test results. The performance of the home made turmeric paper is therefore reliable.

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) in Mussels from the Eastern Cantabrian Sea: Toxicity, Toxin Profile, and Co-Occurrence with Cyclic Imines

In the late autumn of 2018 and 2019, some samples taken by the official monitoring systems of Cantabria and the Basque Country were found to be paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)-positive using a mouse bioassay. To confirm the presence of PSP toxins and to obtain their profile, these samples were analyzed using an optimized version of the Official Method AOAC 2005.06 and using LC–MS/MS (HILIC). The presence of some PSP toxins (PSTs) in that geographical area (~600 km of coast) was confirmed for the first time. The estimated toxicities ranged from 170 to 983 µg STXdiHCl eq.·kg−1 for the AOAC 2005.06 method and from 150 to 1094 µg STXdiHCl eq.·kg−1 for the LC–MS/MS method, with a good correlation between both methods (r2 = 0.94). Most samples contained STX, GTX2,3, and GTX1,4, and some also had NEO and dcGTX2. All of the PSP-positive samples also contained gymnodimine A, with the concentrations of the two groups of toxins being significantly correlated. The PSP toxin profiles suggest that a species of the genus Alexandrium was likely the causative agent. The presence of gymnodimine A suggests that A. ostenfeldii could be involved, but the contribution of a mixture of Alexandrium species cannot be ruled out.

Detection of Carrageenan in Cheese Using Lectin Histochemistry

Carrageenan is a substance widely used as an additive in the food industry. Among other things, it is often added to processed cheese, where it has a positive effect on texture. Processing of such cheese involves grinding, melting and emulsifying the cheese. There is currently no official method by which carrageenan can be detected in foodstuffs, but there are several studies describing its negative health impact on consumers. Lectin histochemistry is a method that is used mainly in medical fields, but it has great potential to be used in food analysis as well. It has been demonstrated that lectin histochemistry can be used to detect carrageenan in processed cheese by Human Inspection and Computer-Assisted Analysis (CIE L*a*b*). The limit of detection (LoD) was established at 100 mg kg−1 for Human Inspection and 43.64 for CIE L*a*b*. The CIE L*a*b* results indicate that Computer-Assisted Analysis may be an appropriate alternative to Human Inspection. The most suitable parameter for Computer-Assisted Analysis was the b* parameter in the CIE L*a*b* color space.