Reference on Mycotoxins Occurrence, Prevalence, and Risk Assessment in Food Systems

Mycotoxins are a group of naturally occurring toxins that are produced by different filamentous fungi genera such as Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, etc. The word mycotoxin literally is derived from Greek word “myke” meaning fungus and “toxicum” meaning toxin. These contaminants can develop on different food and feed commodities during different stages including pre-harvest, harvest, and storage. Mycotoxins are of concern because their outbreak result in animal and human diseases and economic losses. It has been estimated that global post-harvest losses are approximately at 50%. Human exposure to mycotoxins is typically through consumption of contaminated agricultural products or indirectly by consumption of animal products containing mycotoxins or their metabolites. The chapter provides the latest information on mycotoxin issues and challenges related to food and feed safety.

Reference on Rice Quality and Safety

Over the last decade, there have been massive investments and research to improve rice yield per hectare. Alongside successful stories of improved rice yields are corresponding concerns stemming from pre- and post-harvest rice quality- and safety-related issues. Such concerns in rice production, handling, and storage systems present public health and economic problems. To consumers and producers, a serious concern is the potential growth of toxigenic fungi on rice during storage leading to contamination of the rice with mycotoxins. That withstanding, diminished functional, sensory, and nutritional attributes hugely impact the investment returns. The author understands that discourse on rice storage is incomplete without reflections on nutritional related losses. In rendering a strong chapter to meet a wider readership, the above issues are discussed with deliberate effort to highlight technological advances making headway in the rice industry; these are outlined in the introduction, at first, and then expounded on in subsequent sections.

Pinus Pinaster Bark Composition and Applications

The food market is demanding natural antioxidants either to be applied to food or cosmetic and nutraceutical purposes. Plants are very rich in polyphenols that have diverse biological functions, such as defending plants against microbiological attacks, becoming essential to plant life. The bark of Pinus pinaster Aiton subsp. atlantica is known to have a great amount of polyphenols with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. P. pinaster has a large area of distribution in the northwest of Portugal, making this source a biomass feedstock of great interest for the food industry in Portugal. Therefore, embarking on the trend of circular economy, polyphenols are being extracted aiming for the exploitation of their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties as a food additive in a variety of food matrices. This chapter aims to provide a more insightful view of the chemical composition, extraction methods, and food applications of pine bark of Pinus pinaster Aiton subsp. atlantica polyphenols.

Frost Measuring and Prediction Systems for Demand Defrost Control

It is widely known that the defrosting operation of evaporators of commercial refrigeration equipment is one of the main causes of inefficiency on these systems. Several defrosting methods are used nowadays, but the most commonly used are still time-controlled defrosting systems, usually by either electric resistive heating or reverse cycle. This happens because most demand defrost methods are still considered complex, expensive, or unreliable. Demand defrost can work by either predicting frost formation by processing measured conditions (fin surface temperature, air humidity, and air velocity), operative symptoms of frost accumulation (pressure drop and refrigerant properties), or directly measuring the frost formation using sensors (photoelectric, piezoelectric, capacitive, resistive, etc.). The data measured by the sensors can be directly used by the system but can also be processed either by simple algorithms or more complex systems that use artificial intelligence and predictive methods. This chapter approaches frost sensing and prediction for command of demand defrost systems.

Closed Refrigerated Display Cabinets

The use of closed refrigerated display cabinets in supermarkets is in progression because of the potential energy saving compared to the open ones with an air infiltration at the front. However, the influence of the presence of doors on product temperatures (determining factor of product quality) is much less studied. For better understanding the interest of the use of closed display cabinets, this chapter presents the state of the art of field studies, the airflow and temperature profile in the closed display cabinet, the influence of the presence of doors/the frequency of door openings and the room temperature. Finally, a literature review of studies on food quality in the closed display cabinet is presented.

Food Quality and Safety Regulation Systems at a Glance

The quality and safety of all food products are the essential parameter for both ends manufactures and end consumers. This parameter of the food products we cannot overlook or liberalize in any situation. More than two-thirds of diseases are spread through the contaminated or spoiled food source. Looking at the importance of quality and safety management issue, the various governments made a series of rules and regulations for the assessment of food products. This chapter explains the role of various assessment agencies and their rights and workflows.

Uses of Non-Thermal Treatment Technologies in Liquid Foodstuff

Heat treatments are the most basic methods used to provide microbiological and enzymatic inactivation of food. However, the applied high temperature affects important parameters such as color, nutritional value, taste, and sensory characteristics of foods in the negative direction. Therefore, in recent years, producers and consumers have sought to obtain healthy food with little deviation in quality parameters, and new techniques of non-thermal emerged from this point. In this chapter, non-thermal food such as accented electric fields, ultrasonic waves, high-pressure application, microfiltration, X-rays, ionizing radiation, high voltage electrical discharge, pulsed light, ultrasound, magnetic field heating, and information on conservation methods are given.

Processes and Technological Systems for Thawing of Fish

This chapter describes the principles and methods of the fish thawing process, as well as the thawing systems' structure, functioning, and development. A new method for calculating the duration of food thawing is introduced. The author shares best practices from the refrigeration industry of Russia and developed countries as well as his own experience. He hopes it may help scientists to choose research topics in the field of food freezing. The chapter is meant for students, post-graduate students, and experts working in the field of refrigeration production.

Technologies for Monitoring the Safety of Perishable Food Products

Food safety and eradication of food waste are current concerns of society and governments due to health, ethics, and sustainable economics. There are multiple technologies for monitoring food safety at different chain stages, among them, time-temperature integrators (TTI). Temperature is a major factor affecting food quality and safety during its life cycle. This parameter can be monitored using TTI devices on food packages, allowing users to know the thermal exposure. This chapter addresses food safety issues, namely factors related to microbial growth responsible for food deterioration. Moreover, TTI monitoring technologies are also described, focusing on features, advantages, disadvantages, applicability, and product examples. Analysis of the current state of TTI and technological evolution, a prediction is provided for future TTI devices designed for more assertive, traceable, safe, and quality food products.

Thermal Technologies and Systems for Food Preservation

Thermal technologies for food preservation prevent the degradation of desired properties of the perishable food items for a longer duration to fulfill the needs of the consumers in the aspects of nutrition, safety, and price. Each freezing method has its distinct characteristics on quality of frozen food products. The major physical and chemical changes observed during the freezing process were freezer burns, recrystallization, protein denaturation, color, flavor, release of enzymes, etc. These will be detailed with appropriate examples. The comparative analysis of the aforementioned thermal technologies based on the quality of food products will be discussed with the recommendations for the selection of appropriate thermal technologies. It will guide the practicing engineers and researchers to understand the drawbacks of conventional thermal technologies and how they affect food qualities along with the advancements made to overcome the drawbacks.