Cooked rice stickiness is one of the critical quality factors. A new data processing method from a simple experiment detaching after compressing cooked rice on a platform of texture analyzer was developed to create a new instrumental parameter which represents a true stickiness from sensory evaluation. The proposed idea was that the contact area produced by compressing with a fixed magnitude of force should vary with the sample’s consistency, ending up distorting the stickiness simply measured as the detaching force. Therefore, a corrected stickiness was defined by considering the contact area and converting to a stress (force/area) from just a force. The contact area could be estimated from the volume, density and thickness of samples. Even the compression force was converted to a corrected compression force by dividing by the contact area. The new corrected parameters turned out well to show a much better agreement with the sensorial stickiness than the uncorrected stickiness.

A self-powered time-temperature indicator (TTI) was optimized to enhance the performance of the TTI by modifying a biofuel cell using different immobilization, redox mediators, and status of electrode. The performance of the TTI was measured by output voltage of the TTI. The enzymes and combinations of lacasse mediators (HBT (1-hydroxybenzotriazole), Rupy (Bis-(bipyridine)-(5-aminophenanthroline) ruthenium bis (hexafluorophosphate)), MB (Methylene blue), SDP (4,4- sulfonyldiphenol)) and glucose oxidase mediators (FA (Ferroceneboxaldehyde), DBQ(2,5-dihydroxybenzoquinone), HQS (8-hydroxyquinoline-5sulfonic acid hydrate), FHFP (Ferrocenium hexafluorophosphate)) were immobilized with stabilizers (pyrrole) on a glassy carbon electrode by electrodeposition by applying a square wave, cross-linking and physical immobilization. MWCNTs were used to modify glassy carbon electrodes. MWCNTs coated electrodes produced higher output voltage than uncoated electrodes. The optimum and stable performance of the self-powered TTI was that the output voltage of 64 mV and duration time was 3hr at 25°C, when the combination of Rupy, MB for laccase mediators and HQS, FHFP for glucose oxidase mediators were immobilized on MWCNTs coated electrodes by applying a square wave method. In the application, the concentrations of enzyme and glucose were adjusted to prolong the shelf-life of TTI at much lower output voltage.

The pasteurization is employed for extending shelf-life and keeping the quality of products constant. However the pasteurization undesirably accelerates the oxidation of beer which renders volatile compounds concerning off-flavor. The pasteurization conditions was optimized to avoid off-flavor of beer during pasteurization. Under the isothermal condition, thermal destruction kinetics such as D and Z value of Lactobacillus brevis which is reported the most common beer spoilage, was determined. The binomial data (detected or non-detected of off-flavor) was treated with logistic regression to estimate off-flavor development (OFD) times. The temperature dependence of OFD times was established in terms of Arrhenius relationships. Optimized pasteurization temperature and time were found at which OFD times was not detected. The constraint for optimization was that the pasteurization degree should be larger than 5 decimal reduction time. The optimization was conducted through mathematical simulation using kinetics and temperature-dependent models for microbial death and OFD times. The optimized results were validated by the corresponding experimentations, which met the requirements that the concentration of Lactobacillus brevis was 5-Log reduction and the OFD times not detected.

Makgeolli is rich in nutrients such as beneficial microbial species, essential amino acids, oligosaccharides, and organic acids. The lactic acid bacteria contained in Makgeolli provides a healthy function as probiotics for customers. The purpose of this study was to enhance the nutritional properties, lactic acid bacteria propagation and alcohol contents of makgeolli by controlling redox potential balance. An automatic control system was created using ORP sensor, Labview control kit, and air supplier, in which air concentration was controlled by on & off mode. Makgeolli was fermented at three different redox potentials -50 mV, -100 mV, -150 mV. Regulating of aeration according to the redox potentials could give prominence to nutritional benefits of Makgeolli. The profiles of redox potential appeared bathtub curves, and related to lactic acid bacteria growth curve and byproducts. We could find the optimum redox potential balance that affects the factors such as LAB’s, alcohol contents and byproducts. In conclusion it was essential to control redox potential balance in order to produce nutrients rich Makgeolli.

A novel nanocomposite LDPE film with UV protective properties was developed for active packaging applications. Initially, undoped and Mn-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by the sol-gel method and the resulting particles were characterized. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images revealed an agglomerated nature and spherical morphology. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies indicated that all products were crystalline and in the form of rutile. The reflectance spectrum of undoped TiO2 NPs demonstrated a characteristic sharp edge at 410 nm. Subsequently, nanocomposite (NC) LDPE samples were prepared with the NPs by solvent precipitation followed by film casting. The optical and thermal properties of the NC samples were investigated. Incremental increases in Mn concentration from 0.25 mol % to 1.00 mol % were associated with progressive decreases in light transmission in the UV region. The melting and maximum decomposition temperatures of all NCs were 107 and 442-449 °C, respectively. The UV protective LDPE-based NC films exhibited superior photostability. Absorption in the FTIR spectra at 1716 and 1734 cm-1 changed after 4-wk exposure to UV for all film samples as a consequence of photodegradation. Finally, the photooxidation of perilla oil was assessed as an example of a UV protective packaging application. After 12 days, protection with 1.00 mol% Mn-doped TiO2-LDPE was associated with a gradual increase in PV, while protection with TiO2-LDPE was associated with a significant increase and protection with the control treatment was associated with a dramatic increase in PV. Hence, a 1.00 mol% Mn-doped TiO2-LDPE NC showed promise for UV shielding packaging applications.

Time-temperature indicators or integrators (TTIs) indicate food quality changes based on time-temperature history. Whilst many types of TTIs have been developed and commercialized, educated consumers often refuse to purchase food products with attached TTI labels showing even a slight color change. In this study, a novel on-off diffusion-based TTI coupled with polydiacetylene/silica nanocomposites has been proposed. The prototype TTI tag has a multilayer structure comprised of a self-adhesive base layer, a middle microporous sheet, and an upper opaque white layer coupled with a square reservoir of Tween 20 attached to an activation stripe. At the end of the diffusion path, polydiacetylene/silica nanocomposites were injected into a loading site as a fine blue stripe. After activation, Tween 20 diffused and reached the loading site, where it rapidly changed from blue-to-red via solvatochromism. This alternative and innovative TTI continuously showed a blue color until reaching the end point, at which stage a red color rapidly appeared, indicating product rejection. Thus, this novel TTI it is of great benefit to the brand owner. The developed prototype was characterized and evaluated for its ability to monitor microbial quality based on published, isothermal, microbial growth data of modified-atmosphere packaged minced beef, Mediterranean fish, and ground pork. The diffusion of Tween 20 in the TTI system was measured under various isothermal conditions and a kinetic model, based on the association between diffusion and time-temperature, was investigated. The Gaussian-estimated activation energy value was 51.082kJ mol-1. Tween 20 diffusion of 6.10, 5.15 and 6.15mm along the TTI systems were considered to be end points and the 95% confidence interval between the times taken for TTI to display OFF and for the foods to reach their deterioration thresholds were 23.30-23.70, 23.00-23.50 and 23.44-24.05h for total aerobic bacteria, Shewanella putrefaciens, and Pseudomonas spp. respectively. The TTI performance test for reproducibility and accuracy revealed a normal frequency distribution with 35004.90, 1200.254.82 and 549.811.09min at 0, 11 and 25C, respectively in accordance with the investigation of diffusion in the TTI.