Food ingredients and materials derived from novel food sources have been increasingly developed using innovative technologies and production processes. Therefore, understanding the diverse regulations and approval procedures in different countries is crucial before importing foreign ingredients; this is especially crucial for importing materials without a prior consumption history and exporting domestically produced food ingredients, for example, in Korea. This review discusses the procedures, from the temporary recognition of food ingredients to their registration in the Korean Food Code, as well as the regulatory frameworks and current status of novel food approval in the European Union (EU), Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) recognition by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and novel food approval by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).
Maintaining probiotic viability during storage, freeze-drying, and gastrointestinal transit is essential to ensure efficacy. The present study evaluated VitaShield Coating® (VSC), an innovative stabilization technology incorporating vitamins A, C, and E, for enhancing the viability of Bifidobacterium strains. VSC-coated B. bifidum BGN4 exhibited a significantly higher freeze-drying recovery rate (43.91±4.69%) compared to that of the uncoated group (15.31±6.53%, p<0.0001), with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirming preservation of structural integrity. Gastrointestinal stability also improved, as coated cells retained 26.21±2.41% viability in simulated gastric fluid, significantly outperforming uncoated cells (3.20±2.30%, p<0.0001). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed a significant increase in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in coated cells, indicating enhanced membrane stability. Furthermore, storage stability of four Bifidobacterium strains (AD011, BORI, BGN4, and RAPO) was evaluated over 16 weeks at 25℃ and 30℃. The findings indicate that the VSC coating effectively protects probiotic strains under harsh storage conditions, mitigating viability loss over time. Overall, this study showed that the VSC coating serves as a multifunctional stabilization technology that provides mechanical, osmotic, and oxidative stress protection. Its ability to improve probiotic survival under harsh conditions enables its practical and scalable use in formulations and enhances stability.
In this study, conjugates were prepared via dry heat-induced glycosylation with maltodextrin (MD) to enhance the functional properties of sesame meal protein extract (SMPE). With the progress of conjugation, the specific protein bands of SMPE decreased and new bands appeared in the higher molecular weight range (approximately 170 kDa). The FT-IR spectra confirmed the structural modifications resulting from Maillard reaction-driven covalent bonding between SMPE and MD. The solubility and emulsifying properties—emulsifying activity index (EAI) and emulsifying stability index (ESI)—of the conjugates showed little variation with dry-heat treatment time, but they were significantly influenced by the dextrose equivalent (DE) of MD. Solubility was highest when SMPE was conjugated with MD of DE 4–7 at both 12 h (19.38%) and 24 h (20.54%) and decreased as DE increased. Notably, the three-way ANOVA results showed that the emulsifying properties improved significantly with higher DE of MD. The EAI and ESI of SMPE conjugated with MD of DE 16.5–19.5 increased by 1.52- and 1.41-fold, respectively, when compared with the control SMPE. These findings suggest that the SMPE-MD conjugates have promising potential for applications in food systems that require enhanced emulsifying properties.
In this study, proteins were extracted from sesame and perilla meals (agricultural by-products) by using hot-water defatting and acid precipitation, and their functional properties were compared with those of a commercial soy protein isolate (SPI). According to the SDS-PAGE results, the sesame meal protein extract (SMPE) exhibited a higher content of hydrophobic amino acids than the perilla meal protein extract (PMPE), alongside a relatively lower intensity of the 7S globulin band. SMPE showed 1.41-fold higher solubility than SPI at pH 10 and 1.72- and 1.66-fold higher emulsifying activity indices (EAIs) at pH 8 and 10, respectively. PMPE exhibited similar trends in solubility and EAI as SPI at the corresponding pH values. However, the emulsifying stability indices of SMPE and PMPE were lower than that of SPI. In particular, the fat absorption capacity of SMPE was significantly higher than those of SPI and PMPE, likely because of its higher content of hydrophobic or nonpolar amino acid residues. These results suggest that SMPE and PMPE are promising alternative protein sources for food applications and may promote value-added utilization of plant-derived by-products in the food industry.
This study developed a deep learning-based software module for classifying the ripeness of bananas in real time as they move along a conveyor belt. A total of 5,286 images annotated with three ripeness stages, namely unripe, ripe, and overripe, were divided into training, validation, and test datasets at a ratio of 88:8:4. The datasets were used to train YOLOv5s and YOLOv5l object detection models over 50 epochs. The model performance was evaluated using box loss, object loss, class loss, and mean average precision (mAP). Both models exhibited decreasing loss values approaching zero and achieved mAP, precision, and recall scores exceeding 90%, thus indicating a robust classification performance without overfitting. The software module integrated with the trained YOLOv5l model accurately identified the ripeness stage of bananas in motion on the conveyor system without misclassification. Collectively, these findings indicate that the proposed system can be effectively applied to banana-processing lines for automated and accurate ripeness-based sorting.
This study has investigated the physicochemical and sensory characteristics of muffins supplemented with 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% roasted safflower seed powder (SSP) in order to assess its applicability as a functional ingredient in baked goods. As the SSP content increased, the pH of both the batter and the muffins significantly decreased, whereas the height, volume, and specific volume of the muffins increased. Moisture content and baking loss rate were not significantly affected. Color analysis revealed that the L* and b* values decreased, whereas the a* values and total color difference (ΔE) significantly increased with higher SSP levels. Texture profile analysis showed that the hardness, gumminess, chewiness, and resilience decreased as SSP increased, whereas springiness improved. In the sensory evaluation, the overall preference was highest for the control (7.30), followed by the SSP 15 group (5.77), thus indicating that excessive SSP addition negatively affected consumer acceptance due to a darker color and rougher texture. However, the SSP 15 formulation achieved a favorable balance between health functionality and sensory quality. These results suggest that up to 15% SSP can be effectively incorporated into muffins in order to improve their functional value without compromising product quality or consumer satisfaction.