Papers by Maria cristina Nicoli
Food & Function, 2021
This research was conducted to evaluate the potential use of saturated monoglyceride (MG)-based g... more This research was conducted to evaluate the potential use of saturated monoglyceride (MG)-based gels in the protection of probiotics uponin vitrodigestion.
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Foods, 2020
In packed low-moisture foods such as crackers, oxidation is generally the main cause of quality d... more In packed low-moisture foods such as crackers, oxidation is generally the main cause of quality depletion during storage. It is commonly believed, but scarcely investigated, that product shelf life depends on the oxidative status of the lipid ingredients. In this study, the influence of oxidation degree of the ingredient sunflower oil on cracker oxidative stability and hence shelf life was investigated. To this aim, oil with increasing peroxide values (PVs) (5, 11, and 25 mEqO2/kgoil) was used to prepare crackers. Just after production, crackers presented similar peroxide and rancid odor intensity, probably due to the interactive pathways of oxidative and Maillard reactions. Crackers were packed and analyzed for PV and rancid odor during storage at 20, 40, and 60 °C. Rancid odor well discriminated cracker oxidative status. Relevant oxidation rates were used to develop a shelf life predictive model based on the peroxide value of the ingredient oil. It was estimated that an oil PV fro...
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Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2020
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LWT, 2017
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Food and Bioprocess Technology, 2015
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Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2015
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LWT - Food Science and Technology, 2015
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Food Biophysics, 2013
ABSTRACT Oil sources characterized of increasing viscosity and polarity (flax-seed oil, sunflower... more ABSTRACT Oil sources characterized of increasing viscosity and polarity (flax-seed oil, sunflower oil, extra virgin olive oil, triolein, castor oil) were gelled by using mixtures of β-sitosterol and γ-oryzanol (5, 10 and 20 % w/w). The gelling time, thermal properties as well as structure characteristics were determined. As the oil viscosity increased the gelling time increased. The effect of oil type resulted more evident as the structurant concentration decreased. Samples containing 5 % of the most viscous and polar castor oil did not gelled over the entire experiment. When gels were formed, the firmness of samples decreased in concomitance with modifications of thermal data as the oil viscosity increased. During storage at 20 °C the gels became stronger as consequence of the progression of the aggregation among sterol-sterol ester assemblages. Once again, less structurants were in the mixture more evident was the influence of oil type. These results were attributed to the increase of the difficulty of β-sitosterol and γ-oryzanol molecules to pack together as the oil viscosity increased.
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Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2015
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The Italian law allows the use of ethanol as a preservative agent in pre-packed bread at a maximu... more The Italian law allows the use of ethanol as a preservative agent in pre-packed bread at a maximum concentration of 2% on dry weight basis. In this research the effect of the water activity (a w ) and water content on the ethanol vapour pressure of sliced white bread-previously equilibrated at various a w values and added with 2% of ethanol, was studied. Different a w values were obtained by both rehydration from previously freeze-dried bread and dehydration from fresh product. Results evidenced that both a w value and moisture affected the vapour pressure of ethanol as a consequence of interactions between water-solute and ethanol-solute in the matrix. The presence of a hysteresis in the water sorption isotherm of bread indicates an important role of the modality of reaching the a w value (desorption or absorption) in the water content and, thus, on the ethanol liquid-vapour partition. Results are discussed in terms of ethanol activity (a e ), computed as ratio between ethanol vapour pressure of bread and vapour pressure of pure ethanol, at the same temperature. This index, analogue to the a w ' resulted useful to evaluate the "freedom" of the ethanol present in a food matrix to partition in the vapour phase.
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Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2000
Browning reactions represent an interesting research area for the implications in food technology... more Browning reactions represent an interesting research area for the implications in food technology, nutrition and health. The development of some non-enzymatic browning reactions, such as Maillard reaction, has been recently associated to the formation of ...
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Dietary Anticarcinogens and Antimutagens, 2000
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Food and Beverage Stability and Shelf Life, 2011
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Trends in Food Science & Technology, 1999
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Journal of Food Science, 2013
This research was addressed to study the effect of lipid physical state on bleaching kinetics of ... more This research was addressed to study the effect of lipid physical state on bleaching kinetics of β‐carotene. To this aim, β‐carotene was added to palm oil and palm stearin and the samples were stored at increasing temperatures allowing different degree of crystallization. Phase transition properties of palm derivatives were studied by differential scanning calorimetry and synchrotron X‐ray diffraction, whereas β‐carotene bleaching kinetics were followed by measuring color changes. Bleaching proceeded at comparable rate in palm oil and palm stearin containing systems stored at 20 and −18 °C, whereas the color changes showed a maximum rate at 4 °C in palm stearin samples and at −7 °C in palm oil systems. Arrhenius plot clearly highlighted deviations from the linearity underlining the crucial role of lipid physical properties in determining the bleaching rate. The location and the compartmentalization of β‐carotene in the fat lattice could affect its chemical stability.
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Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2000
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Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2008
A new approach to shelf life modeling of photosensitive foods was developed taking into considera... more A new approach to shelf life modeling of photosensitive foods was developed taking into consideration the example of a saffron-containing yellow beverage highly prone to oxidative photobleaching. The beverage was exposed to different light levels at increasing temperatures. During exposure, samples were analyzed for bleaching rate, pigment content, and pigment degradation products. The results obtained clearly showed that shelf life testing of light-sensitive foods must take into proper account the effect of light. In addition, for these foods, shelf life models based on the sole accelerating effect of temperature may be misleading. By contrast, the concomitant exploitation of the accelerating effects of both light and temperature was used to develop and validate a simple model correctly predicting the shelf life of the beverage under actual storage conditions. The methodology proposed may allow solving of the difficult task of predicting shelf life of photosensitive foods usually marketed in the presence of light.
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Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2006
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Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2006
This work was addressed to obtain a predictive model of the rate of bleaching in tomato derivativ... more This work was addressed to obtain a predictive model of the rate of bleaching in tomato derivatives at subzero temperatures. To this aim, a tomato puree was freeze-dried and equilibrated at increasing solid fractions. The bleaching rate was assessed by measuring tomato color during storage for up to 18 months at temperatures from -30 to 0 degrees C. The temperature dependence of the tomato-bleaching rate was neither predictable using the Arrhenius equation nor simply related to tomato physical state. The lack of a clear Arrhenius relation was attributed to the occurrence of temperature-dependent phenomena, such as ice crystallization and oxygen solubility modifications, which strongly changed the local concentration of reactants. A modified Arrhenius equation predicting the tomato-bleaching rate in the entire temperature range was proposed. Tomato concentration, and hence its physical state, affected the temperature dependence of bleaching, modifying apparent activation energy and frequency factor of the modified Arrhenius equation. In light of these considerations, a mathematical model was set up and validated to accurately predict the tomato-bleaching rate on the basis of only its concentration and storage temperature.
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Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2007
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Papers by Maria cristina Nicoli