Food Chemistry Commons^™

Development Of An Intact Mass Spectrometry Method For The Detection And Differentiation Of Major Bovine Milk Proteins, Emily F. Harley-Dowell

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The authentication of products with claims regarding protein sources or compositions is a challenge for traditional analytical methods, which generally lack the required specificity whole protein analysis can provide. For example, the establishment of milk as “A2” is achieved through genetic testing of cows before milk production, with no methods to authenticate milk products themselves. Establishment of A2 milk is completed through genetic testing of the cows before milk production, but with no methods to authenticate the milk products themselves. Intact protein mass spectrometry (MS) has the potential to directly authenticate protein products, including specific proteoform claims. The development of …

Influence Of Overcooking On Food Digestibility And In Vitro Fermentation, Wensheng Ding

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Areas of char or overcooking commonly appear in foods people consume. It has been reported that overcooked food is harmful to human health. However, little research exists on the effect of overcooking on in vitro protein and starch digestibility and gut microbial fermentation. This study aimed to reveal the connection between overcooking and in vitro protein and starch digestibility and gut microbial fermentation. In vitro protein digestibility of an overcooked ground beef patty was almost half that of a standard cooked sample (27 ± 2% versus 48 ± 6%, respectively; p = 0.02). Whole wheat bread protein digestibility was also …

Evaluating Salmonella Cross Contamination In Raw Chicken Thighs In Simulated Post-Chill Tanks, Raziya Sadat

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Salmonella contamination poses a significant risk to food safety, particularly in poultry products and public health. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of peracetic acid (PAA) treatment in mitigating Salmonella cross-contamination in chicken thighs within simulated post-chill tanks, considering different inoculum concentrations and organic matter (OM) levels.

The experiment involved the use of five distinct Salmonella serovars to inoculate chicken thighs, which were categorized into two groups: higher inoculation level (ca. 7 log CFU/mL) and lower inoculation level (ca, 4 log CFU/mL). These groups underwent treatment with four different solutions, including 540 ppm PAA with 1.5% OM, 540 ppm …

Optimizing Soil Nutrient Management To Improve Dry Edible Bean Yield And Protein Quality, Emily Jundt

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Soil nutrient management is of the utmost importance to ensure crop yields are maximized to feed the world’s growing population. Micro and macronutrient deficiencies can be detrimental to plant growth and cause a drastic reduction in yield. Optimization of nutrient management needs extensive research. Nutrients such as nitrogen increase crop yield, even in legumes capable of using a large amount of nitrogen (N) via biological N fixation. Iron (Fe) fertilizers are also crucial for legumes as they are susceptible to Fe deficiency induced chlorosis.

Dry edible beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are leguminous plants and excellent dietary protein sources. Great …

Antimicrobial Efficacy Of A Citric Acid/Hydrochloric Acid Blend, Peroxyacetic Acid, And Sulfuric Acid Against Salmonella On Inoculated Non-Conventional Raw Chicken Products, Emma Nakimera

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The utilization of non-conventional chicken parts as human food varies widely across countries. The high prevalence of Salmonella, especially in the giblets, poses a high risk to public health. Poultry processors have implemented multiple hurdle technology to reduce this gram-negative pathogen in chicken parts. This study was conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of a commercial blend of citric acid/ hydrochloric acid (CP), peroxyacetic acid (PAA), and sulfuric acid (SA) in reducing Salmonella inoculated on two chicken giblets: livers and hearts. Chicken hearts and livers were inoculated (6 log CFU/ml of rinsate) by individually immersing them in a cocktail …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of Germination And Fermentation In Producing Biologically Active Peptides From Pulses, Ashley Newton

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recently, there has been a profound increase in demand of plant-based proteins, especially pulse proteins. However, pulses contain high concentrations of antinutritional factors that hinder the digestibility of proteins. Processing techniques such as enzymatic hydrolysis, microbial fermentation, and physical processing modulate nutritional quality and functionality of pulses. Processing also releases peptides from parent proteins that exhibit health-beneficial bioactivity against various disease risk factors. In this study, germination, gastrointestinal digestion, and microbial fermentation were evaluated to determine the nutritional quality and release of bioactive peptides during and after processing.

Germination of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) modulated the protein profile, and …

Occurrence Of Hydroxyproline In Proteomes Of Higher Plants, Olivia Huffman

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Food allergies affect millions of individuals across the United States and worldwide. Peanut allergies are among the most severe food allergies because of their potentially life-threatening symptoms and lifelong persistence. Potent peanut allergen, Ara h 2, is known to contain an amino acid motif containing the posttranslational modification, hydroxyproline (HyP). HyP is associated with immunogenic response when present both in Ara h 2 and in timothy grass pollen allergen, Phl p 1. To further explore the presence of HyP in higher plants and specifically to investigate its potential presence in commonly allergenic plants, a study of 26 plant seeds was …

Safety Assessment Of Novel Foods And Food Proteins, Niloofar Moghadam Maragheh

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The global food market needs to grow and supply food demand to feed the growing world population. Alternative food proteins, including novel sources of safe foods and ingredients, are the candidates that could provide more environmentally sustainable choices, animal welfare, and consumers health. Novel foods and food proteins must undergo premarket safety evaluations including allergenicity assessment to reduce the risk of cross-reactivity with known allergens and uncharacterized risk to food allergic individuals. This research addressed the safety assessment of some novel foods and food ingredients using the study of stability of proteins in pepsin and sequence identity analysis in the …

Comparative Assessment Of Human Exposure To Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella Due To The Consumption Of Various Food Products In The United States, Yifan Wu

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Antibiotic resistance (AR) was increasingly recognized as a global and national problem. Prevention efforts are hampered by a lack of complete understanding of how transmission pathways contribute to human AR exposure. Many reports have indicated the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in foods at retail, suggesting that food consumption, animal-derived foods in particular, can represent a significant source of AR exposure among consumers. The presence of Salmonella, including antibiotic-resistant Salmonella, has been frequently reported in terrestrial animal-derived foods such as meat, poultry, and dairy products, as well as in aquaculture products. Identification of the significant food sources that harbor …

High Pressure Processing Of Cashew Milk, Rachel Coggins

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Plant-based foods are becoming increasingly popular because of changing consumer preferences. Most plant-based milks are not a direct replacement for cow’s milk because they do not have the same nutritional value and physicochemical properties. However, these properties could be modified and enhanced through processing. For example, high pressure processing (HPP) can affect irreversibly protein structure and functionality and potentially enhance enzymatic hydrolysis. HPP is used widely in the beverage industry for cold pasteurization. In this study, the effects of HPP treatment on (a) the inactivation of Listeria innocua, a commonly used surrogate for Listeria monocytogenes in HPP research, in …

Evaluation Of Human Microbiota-Associated (Hma) Porcine Models To Study The Human Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Nirosh D. Aluthge

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Research conducted in the past couple of decades has showcased the importance of the gut microbiota in human health and well-being. While many studies have reported on the differences in community membership between a disease state and a healthy state, few have investigated the mechanisms through which an aberrant microbiota contributes to a disease phenotype. One of the primary reasons for this are the many technical and ethical barriers to conducting the necessary studies directly in human individuals. Human microbiota-associated (HMA) porcine models have the potential to become important research tools which can enable the testing of hypotheses regarding host-microbiota …

Food Sensitivity In Individuals With Altered And Unaltered Digestive Tracts, Walker Carson

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) against food proteins has become the subject of much discussion with regards to its role in adverse food reactions. An estimated 20% of the population suffers from some type of food intolerance. Food sensitivity can present with a vast range of symptoms and severities. Diet can have a substantial impact on the wellbeing of individuals with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Incidentally, these diseases have been associated with elevated levels of food-specific IgG as well an increased likelihood of food sensitivity. The presence of food-specific IgG and food sensitivity in …

Assessment Of Grain Safety In Developing Nations, Jose R. Mendoza

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Grains are the most widely consumed foods worldwide, with maize (Zea mays) being frequently consumed in developing countries where it feeds approximately 900 million people under the poverty line of 2 USD per day. While grain handling practices are acceptable in most developed nations, many developing nations still face challenges such as inadequate field management, drying, and storage. Faulty grain handling along with unavoidably humid climates result in recurrent fungal growth and spoilage, which compromises both the end-quality and safety of the harvest. This becomes particularly problematic where there is little awareness about health risks associated with poor …

Whole Grain Processing And Effects On Carbohydrate Digestion And Fermentation, Sandrayee Brahma

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Whole grains are a major source of dietary fibers in the human diet that provide specific nutrients to the gut microbiota and thereby plays a major role in modulating microbiota composition and increasing diversity of the gut ecosystem. A common approach of consuming whole grains is in the form of ready-to-eat extruded breakfast cereals. Studies reported herein established that extrusion conditions not only affected the physicochemical properties but also in vitro starch digestibility, β-glucan extractability and in vitro fermentation characteristics of whole grain oats. Moderate screw speed (300 rpm) led to higher slowly digestible starch (SDS) with an accompanying decrease …

Increasing Cis-Lycopene Content Of The Oleoresin From Tomato Processing Byproducts Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide And Assessment Of Its Bioaccessibility, Lisbeth Vallecilla Yepez

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In recent years, health- and wellness-promoting foods have been one of the major focus of consumers; therefore, the food industry is increasing its efforts in developing these food products. Tomatoes, tomato-food products and their byproducts have gained special attention in virtue of the carotenoids-rich source that they represent, especially lycopene (~90%). The role of lycopene in human diet has been highlighted as a result of its direct relationship with the decrease of chronic diseases. Nevertheless, lycopene is water-insoluble making its extraction simple with organic-toxic solvents; in addition, lycopene degrades easily with light, time, and storage. Lycopene exist in nature mostly …

Edible Insects As A Source Of Food Allergens, Lee Palmer

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increasing global population increasingly limited by resources has spurred interest in novel food sources. Insects may be an alternative food source in the near future, but consideration of insects as a food requires scrutiny due to risk of allergens. Currently, the insect Dactylopius coccus, known as cochineal, is used to produce carmine, a natural red pigment used in food, which has caused allergic reactions. This study investigated allergens of cochineal focusing on purification from the pigment. Mass spectrometry identified a previously described major allergen of cochineal and a tropomyosin, although further work is required.

Tropomyosin is a major cross-reactive allergen …