The study was conducted to assess effect of drying methods and pre-treatments on shelf-life, micro-nutrients, Hg level and sensory quality of dried fish.

Concentrations of six toxic heavy metals in meat samples (four items like beef, mutton, chicken, and duck) were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP–MS) followed by microwave digestion. The ranges of Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb) in the investigated items of meat were 0.533–6.55, 0.005–7.70, 0.581–15.99, 0.080–11.34, 0.001–0.22 and 0.061–13.52 mg/kg (on fresh weigh basis), respectively. The estimated levels of most of the heavy metals were higher than the maximum allowable concentration (MAC) for dietary foods. The target hazard quotients (THQ) and carcinogenic risk (TR) of As for both the adults and children suggest that the consumers are exposed chronically to metal pollution with carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health consequences.

Drying behavior of fat-free yoghurt was studied and modeled at various microwave powers (MWP), absolute pressures, and thicknesses in a microwave–vacuum drier (MVD). Then some quality properties of powders were compared with one prepared by commercial freeze drier (FD). The results showed the drying time of MVD was 80% shorter than FD, while in terms of properties, except for color and bulk density, no significant differences were seen. Furthermore, any change of absolute pressure at constant MWP did not affect the drying time whilst any variation in MWP and thickness showed a significant impact on drying time. Moreover, Logistic and Midilli et al. models showed the highest fitting which can be used for prediction purposes. Effective moisture diffusivity of yoghurt was over the range of 4.426×10-10 – 2.831×10-9 m2/s. The activation energy for drying at the absolute pressures of 600 and 800 mbar was about 2.908 and 2.934 W/g, respectively. Keywords: Yoghurt; Microwave; Freeze drying; Thin layer drying; Modeling

The main objective of the present study was to develop a microwave-assisted low pressure cold plasma (LPCP) generator to be used for decontamination purposes. After the successful designing of the generator and production of cold plasma, optimum operating conditions were experimentally determined. Then, its efficacy on decontamination of egg shell and aluminum foil (inoculated by Salmonella enterica subspp. enterica PTCC: 1709) under various LPCP exposure and storage times was investigated. LPCP exposure for 5 min diminished the bacterial counts by 1.92 and 3.2 logs on the egg shell and aluminum foil, respectively. Moreover, the LPCP exposure up to 10 min showed no significant effect (p>0.05) on various qualitative characteristics, while prolonged LPCP treatment accelerated pH increment in albumen. The achievements of the present study represented the potential of LPCP generator for the partial decontamination of various food and packaging items as an appropriate alternative to the thermal or chemical methods. Keywords: Cold Plasma, Microwave, Salmonella, Minimal Processing.

Background: Polyphenols are plant metabolites that have been largely studied for their beneficial effect on human health. Potato is one of the most important crops worldwide and is a relevant source of human dietary nutrients and antioxidants. Particularly, pigmented potatoes contain the highest levels of polyphenolic compounds. Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most frequent types of cancers worldwide and despite the existence of treatments; it is yet associated with a high mortality rate. Thus, new drugs are needed, and polyphenols are a potential source of anti-hepatocellular carcinoma compounds. The objectives of this study were to determine the content of different groups of polyphenols (phenolic acids, anthocyanins and flavan-3-ols) in five potato polyphenolic extracts, and to study their antioxidant and cytotoxic activities on a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. Methods: four Andean varieties and one industrial potato variety were selected for this study. Polyphenolic quantification and composition were determined by spectrophotometric assays and HPLC-DAD analysis. The antioxidant and cytotoxic activities were evaluated through DPPH and MTS assays respectively. Results showed that pigmented varieties possessed higher levels of the analyzed phenolic compounds. HPLC analysis showed that chlorogenic acid was the main phenolic acid in all the potato polyphenolic extracts. Also, pigmented potatoes presented higher levels of antioxidant activity compared to non-pigmented ones, showing a positive correlation with the total phenolic content. Finally, treatment with three of the studied potato polyphenolic extracts reduced the viability of Hep3B. Furthermore, one extract from a non-pigmented variety affected cell viability to a similar extent as extracts from pigmented potatoes, suggesting that other compounds, besides anthocyanins, may be responsible of the cytotoxic effect of this polyphenolic extracts. Conclusion: These results suggested that polyphenolic compounds present in the Andean potato varieties could be used as a potential source of anti-hepatocarcinoma drugs. Keywords: potato, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols, antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity.