Other Food Science Commons^™

Getting To The Root Cause: The Genetic Underpinnings Of Root System Architecture And Rhizodeposition In Sorghum, Farren Smith

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Plants are some of the most diverse organisms on earth, consisting of more than 350,000 different species. To understand the underlying processes that contributed to plant diversification, it is fundamental to identify the genetic and genomic components that facilitated various adaptations over evolutionary history. Most studies to date have focused on the underlying controls of above-ground traits such as grain and vegetation; however, little is known about the “hidden half” of plants. Root systems comprise half of the total plant structure and provide vital functions such as anchorage, resource acquisition, and storage of energy reserves. The execution of these key …

Don’T Forget To Wash! Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene Among Zambian Students, Katie Schmitz

NUTR/GLST 498b: Global Research Experiences in Nutrition & Health

Introduction: Water, sanitation, and hygiene practices in sub-Saharan Africa, including Zambia, have not met the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and remain inadequate to improve the overall health and wellbeing of most populations.

Methods: Survey research, interviews, WASH observations, and anthropometric assessment were conducted between May-June 2022 on 6-7th grade students within 6 Zambian schools.

Results: While hygiene knowledge was prominent, and handwashing stations and pit latrines were available, schools rarely supplied soap or toilet paper. Diarrheal and respiratory diseases were common and water shortages remain problematic with some students traveling long distances to reach a water source.

Discussion: As in …

Implementing Food Science-Based Instruction In Career Technical Education Courses, Jasmine D. Hendrix

Theses and Dissertations

Students are exposed to food concepts in agriculture-based career technical education (CTE) courses which provide a gateway for students to become more aware of food science career pathways. Professional development for Mississippi (MS) CTE teachers is needed to effectively implement food science-based instruction since there is not a food science curriculum framework adopted in MS. The objective of this study was to assess a food science professional development training for MS CTE teachers that would increase their self-perceived knowledge of food science, self-perceived ability to conduct food science skills, and their self-efficacy to implement food science-based instruction. Thirty-one teachers participated …

Identification Of Tuna Species In Raw And Processed Products Using Dna Mini-Barcoding Of The Mitochondrial Control Region, Jiahleen Roungchun, Amanda M. Tabb, Rosalee S. Hellberg

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

Accurate species identification methods are needed to combat tuna fraud, improve tuna stock regulation, and mitigate health risks associated with mislabeled tuna products. The objective of this study was to conduct a market survey of raw and processed tuna products using a DNA mini-barcoding system based on the mitochondrial control region (CR). A total of 80 samples of raw, dried, and canned tuna products were collected at the retail level for CR mini-barcoding analysis. The samples underwent DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and DNA sequencing of the 236-bp CR mini-barcode. The resulting sequences were searched against GenBank using the …

Evaluating Consumers’ Perception Of Gluten-Free/Clean-Label Muffins, Vanesa Chicaiza

LSU Master's Theses

The gluten-free-natural-ingredient (GF/NCL) product demand is globally increasing and driven by the growing prevalence of celiac-diseases. Nevertheless, the quality of GF product is often inferior compared to wheat-flour counterparts due to the removing of gluten, which, compromises the appearance, structure, and nutritional value. The addition of fiber into GF/NCL products has been considered to improve nutritional values while maintaining quality attributes. According to the US-FDA, a product containing ≥2.5 grams of fiber/serving can be claimed as a “good-source-of-fiber.” However, adding dietary fiber to baked products affects their qualities, and hence possibly lowering product acceptability.

The main objective of this research …

Simulated Annealing-Based Hyperspectral Data Optimization For Fish Species Classification: Can The Number Of Measured Wavelengths Be Reduced?, John Chauvin, Ray Duran, Kouhyar Tavakolian, Alireza Akhbardeh, Nicholas Mackinnon, Jianwei Qin, Diane E. Chan, Chansong Hwang, Insuck Baek, Moon S. Kim, Rachel B. Isaacs, Ayse Gamze Yilmaz, Jiahleen Roungchun, Rosalee S. Hellberg, Fartash Vasefi

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

Relative to standard red/green/blue (RGB) imaging systems, hyperspectral imaging systems offer superior capabilities but tend to be expensive and complex, requiring either a mechanically complex push-broom line scanning method, a tunable filter, or a large set of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to collect images in multiple wavelengths. This paper proposes a new methodology to support the design of a hypothesized system that uses three imaging modes—fluorescence, visible/near-infrared (VNIR) reflectance, and shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance—to capture narrow-band spectral data at only three to seven narrow wavelengths. Simulated annealing is applied to identify the optimal wavelengths for sparse spectral measurement with a …

Consumers' Perception Of Food Containing Insect Protein Affected By Serving Condition And Questionnaire Protocol, Yupeng Gao

LSU Master's Theses

Edible insects are a new sustainable protein source compared to meat. Western consumers show aversion to the prospect of insects as food due to unfamiliarity, food neophobia, and negative emotions. This dissertation research explored consumers’ emotional perception of insect-based food products presented under different testing conditions and examined the influence of other people’s emotional expressions towards consumers’ purchase decisions. To identify and rate emotion intensities, tests were conducted using three presenting formats including text, image, and an actual product; all of which were applied for both cookies containing insects and without insects. In addition to these presenting formats, news of …

Dietary Fiber Utilization In The Gut: The Role Of Human Gut Microbes In The Degradation And Consumption Of Xylose-Based Carbohydrates, Elizabeth Drey

Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research in Food Science and Technology

Xylans are a family of xylose-based polysaccharides naturally present in fruits, vegetables, and cereal grains. Resistant to digestion by host enzymes, xylans reach the large intestine intact, where they are utilized by members of the gut microbiome. They are initially hydrolyzed by primary degraders that utilize extracellular xylanases to cleave xylan into smaller oligomers. These xylooligosaccharides (XOS) can then either be further hydrolyzed by primary degraders or can cross-feed secondary consumers, including Bifidobacterium. While several Bifidobacterium species have metabolic systems for XOS, studies have shown these species grow poorly on longer XOS and xylan substrates. In this thesis, …

Optimization In The Application Of Varnishes Barrier On Cartonboard Packaging, Andre Ramalheiro De Andrade, Maria Isabel Rodrigues Phd, Eduardo Luiz Machado Phd

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

In this work adjustments in the rotogravure printing process are proposed to the varnish water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) aiming to obtain results smaller than 20g/m²/24h. One case study was used for the propositions for improvements, where focused on varnish application process in a gravure printer for an eight-printing unit cartonboard packaging, maximum printing speed of 175 m/min and a 285 g/m² weight cartonboard. The possible variables that influenced the WVTR result were selected from the technical expertise of the people involved in the project, the analysis in the printing process with the application of directed trials using experimental designs …

Factors Affecting Sensory Acceptance Of Thickened Liquids Used In Dysphagia Management, Allison N. Cox

Masters Theses

Between 4-16% of adults in the United States have experienced difficulty swallowing at some point during their lives. Difficulty swallowing, or clinically referred to as dysphagia, poses increased concern when drinking beverages. While no treatment is currently available, it is often recommended that liquids be thickened to improve the safety of swallowing and prevent liquids from being aspirated in the lungs. However, thickened liquids are poorly accepted by individuals with dysphagia. Taste and flavor suppression has been shown in various thickened liquid matrices, but the mechanisms for understanding these changes in perception are quite complex. Additionally, literature focused on dysphagic …

Novel Pilot Development Of A Closed-Loop Sustainable System Between Biogas Renewable Energy, Distilling, And Aquaculture By Vermiculture Of Stillage Wastes, Samuel C. Kessler

The Cardinal Edge

This study provides a mixed-methods approach in analyzing a potential closed-loop system between renewable biogas production from anaerobic digestion, vermiculture production, aquaculture production, and organic wastes with a particular focus on stillage wastes. Such system may hold significant promise for significantly reducing organic carbon and methane emissions from its components, and should be assessed for such. The 2021 IPCC report essentially identified methane reduction as the single fastest way to slow global warming (IPCC, 2021), making the study and implementation of methane-reducing systems and supportive policy for them critical. Knowledge gaps to implementing this system were qualitatively identified as disconnect …

In Silico Identification Of A Streptococcus Phage From An Unpasteurized Dairy Product

Symposium of Student Scholars

This study aimed to identify novel phages from a West African dairy product, nunu, to better understand the uncharacterized virosphere of a food microbiome. Nunu is a yogurt-like product from spontaneous fermentation of unpasteurized cow milk without a standardized starter culture. Phages and their bacterial hosts make up a microbiome, where their collective metagenome can be studied in silico, or computationally, after next generation sequencing (NGS). The targeted dataset for our study can be found in the Sequence Read Archives under the accession number of ERX2041567. This study utilized several bioinformatics software tools with customized settings: Kraken2, MetaVelvet, Edena, NCBI-BLAST, …

Measuring Palatability As A Linear Combination Of Nutrient Levels In Food Items, Jeffrey S. Young

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

It well known that palatability and nutritional quality of foods and/or diets are viewed as being in tension with one another. While there exist multiple measures of healthiness, there are no such measures for tastiness. This gap limits the degree to which researchers can investigate this tension and its implications for dietary behavior and hence public health and nutrition policy. The scope of future work concerning the dietary behavior of Americans would expand greatly if researchers better understood consumers’ willingness to eat certain foods, which matters as much as recommending those foods for them to eat in the first place. …

A Life Cycle Assessment Of Hospital Food Waste: A Model For Large Scale Commercial Impact Reduction, Demeri E. Amodeo, Christie Klimas

DePaul Discoveries

Current commercial landfill diversion techniques typically focus on recycling, but this method can be environmentally costly when compared scenarios involving the implementation of composting or waste reduction within large facilites. A life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to provide better information on the environmental impact of different landfill diversion strategies. In this LCA, the impacts of individiual products were quantified in terms of global warming potential, which provides comparable impact categories for analysis. This study gathered information from previous literature about plant-based and omnivorous diets to simulate what the possible impact would be for a city, like Chicago, to …

Re-Conceptualizing Food Consumption And Its Educational Values, Chi Hong Nguyen, Toan Quoc Tran, Hay Ngoc Huynh, Linh Thuy Pham, Chi Thien Huu Le

Essays in Education

Food consumption has been largely researched in many areas. Most extant studies have highlighted the influences of socio-economic and cultural factors on people’s eating habits. These studies inform policy strategies by proposing campaigns and methods to improve nutritional intake among people of diverse socio-economic and geographical backgrounds. At the same time, they implicitly point out that food consumption may carry educational values that are co-constructed through food eaters’ engagement with the world. This requires researchers to go beyond the current methodological approaches that epistemologically focus on the factors that influence nutritional intake and eating habits. While little is known about …

The Impact Of Processing On The Content And Composition Of Bovine Milk Extracellular Vesicles, Anna Colella

Food Science (MS) Theses

Bovine milk (BM)-based formula is an alternative for many newborns who do not consume human milk. BM contains extracellular vesicles (EVs), bioactive compounds involved in intercellular communication which regulate critical developmental processes in early life. It was hypothesized that the industrial processing of raw BM affected the content and composition of BM EVs. It is critical to understand how industrial processing affects EVs in BM since changes in the content and composition may attenuate the functions of these bioactive compounds in human health. EVs from raw BM were isolated and characterized in accordance with the Minimal Information for Studies of …

Anti-Inflammatory And Chemopreventive Activity Of Lunasin From Tofu Whey For The Management Of Gastrointestinal Diseases, Cindy Andrea Nieto Veloza

Doctoral Dissertations

Gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC) are pathological conditions associated with chronic inflammation, characterized by intestinal damage, debilitating symptoms, and detrimental health consequences. The increased risk of CRC in IBD patients, and the adverse effects associated with current therapeutic strategies, point out the need for safer alternatives to reduce chronic inflammation in the bowel. Lunasin is a bioactive peptide naturally occurring in soybeans, with chemopreventive and anti-inflammatory properties demonstrated in several extra-intestinal diseases. However, to date, there is no evidence of the biological activity of lunasin on the gastrointestinal tract as a target site. …

Optimizing The Application Of Plasma Functionalised Water (Pfw) For Microbial Safety In Fresh-Cut Endive Processing, Uta Schnabel, Martina Balazinski, Robert Wagner, Daniela Boehm, Paula Bourke

Articles

The microbiological profiles and responses of native microflora of endive were investigated using a model process line, to establish where a defined PFW should be optimally applied to retain or improve produce microbiological quality. The PFW processes were compared with tap water and ClO₂. The antimicrobial efficacy of PFW was quantified by determining the reduction in microbial load, the microbial viability and vitality. Depending on the stage of application of PFW, up to 5 log₁₀-cycles reduction was achieved, accompanied by a reduction of metabolic activity, but not necessarily with a decrease in metabolic vitality. Multiple application …

Fat Lowering Effects Of Fisetin In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Nikolas J. Rodriguez

Masters Theses

Fisetin, a flavanol with anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-aging properties, has shown promise for reducing fat accumulation in tissue culture and animal models. This plant sourced compound has limited studies supporting its effects on fat accumulation. Therefore, this study was completed to determine fisetin’s role in fat reduction along with its mechanism of action using Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans is a small roundworm with roughly 65% of its genes being conserved in humans related to disease. In this study, 100 and 200 µM fisetin has shown to reduce fat accumulation in wild-type worms. Body size, locomotion, and pumping rate were …

Improvement Of Solubility, Stability, And Bioaccessibility Of Curcumin Using Colloidal Delivery Systems, Bingjing Zheng

Doctoral Dissertations

Curcumin is a yellow-orange crystalline substance found in certain foods (turmeric) that is claimed to exhibit a broad range of biological activities. Its application as a nutraceutical in functional foods and beverages is often limited by its relatively low solubility in aqueous media, its chemical instability, and its low bioavailability. Recent research suggests that colloidal delivery systems can overcome these hurdles and improve the efficacy and commercial value of curcumin in the food, supplement, and pharmaceutical fields. The purpose of this research was to develop colloidal delivery systems to improve the application of curcumin as a nutraceutical in foods.

First, …