One of the major changes in dietary habits of the last half-century has been the increase of meat-based products consumption. This increase has contributed to a diet rich in saturated fats, which can result in adverse health effects. A recent trend in food industry is the development of new meat products based on traditional ones, though having less saturated fats and adding healthy ingredients. In this work, t...
The effect of the process parameters involved in the production of bigels was investigated through the study of structural, mechanical and rheological properties. Four level (24) Central Composite Rotational Design (CCRD) configuration was applied in order to study the organogelator concentration, hydrocolloid concentration, organogel:hydrogel ratio and shear of mixing. Gellan gum and high oleic sunflower oil w...
The aim of this study was to produce antimicrobial coatings and films based on the mixture of chitosan and galactomannan from Adenanthera pavonina L., with the incorporation of sodium acetate. The antimicrobial activity of the coatings was evaluated against L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and S. enteritidis. Then the films produced, based on the coating formulations, were characterized in terms of wa...
Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) processing allows the production of micro and nano structures with high surface-area-to-volume ratio from biopolymers and environmentally friendly solvents. Such structures hold a very significant potential for application in the food area. The aim of this work was to assess the role of solution parameters in the formation of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)-based micro and nanostr...
Wildfires affect vast areas of Mediterranean forests, thereby triggering changes in hydrological and geomorphological processes that can negatively affect both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Although several studies have evaluated the post-fire hydrological and erosive response in burnt forest areas, an important knowledge gap remains with respect to nutrient mobilization by overland flow. To address this ...
Essential oils are plants secondary metabolites, which are widely used in the perfumery, food and pharmaceutical industries. In general, volatile oils or essential oils are predominantly constituted by two or three components, mostly terpenic hydrocarbons and terpenoids. Thymus vulgaris L. (Lamiaceae) is native from the southern Europe and the Mediterranean, where it has been used since ancient times as a flavo...
The proposed work aims to functionalize leathers for footwear industry with antimicrobial properties based on AgTiO2 nanoparticles. The synthesis of nanoparticles was carried out by the hydrothermal method with significant advantages in terms of time, energy savings and low cost. Anatase TiO2 nanoparticles with dimensions below 10nm were obtained as observed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron micros...
[Excerpt] The proposed work aims to functionalize leathers for footwear industry with antimicrobial properties based on Ag-TiO2 nanoparticles. The synthesis of nanoparticles was carried out through an innovative and optimized method. This hydrothermal method is simple and inexpensive and prepares well crystalline materials. The structural characteristics were evaluated by X-ray powder diffraction and the result...
The layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition method was used to build up alternating layers (five) of different polyelectrolyte solutions (alginate, zein-carvacrol nanocapsules, chitosan and chitosan-carvacrol emulsions) on an aminolysed/charged polyethylene terephthalate (A/C PET) film. These nanolaminated films were characterised by contact angle measurements and through the determination of water vapour (WVTR) and ox...
Aloe vera processing leaves generates a liquid and bagasse fraction. The resulting bagasse is mostly discarded as waste. Both the bagasse and liquid fraction can have interesting metabolites with biological activities for pharmaceutical and agro-food industries. The main objectives of the present work were: (1) to characterize the gel, liquid fraction and bagasse of A. vera; (2) to obtain extracts from bagasse ...