Czech Journal of Food Sciences - In Press
Preparing and Investigating the Impact of Iron and Zinc Fortified Parboiled Puffed Rice Bars on the Nutritional Status of School-Aged Children (9-12 years)Original Paper
Ghazala Kausar, Waqas Tariq, Muhammad Azeem, Khuram Ashfaq, Mian Kamran Sharif, Umair Afzal, Sheraz Ahmed, Doha M. Al-Nouri, Isam A. Mohamed Ahmed, Muhammad Abuzar Ghaffari, Muhammad Tauseef Azam, Rai Muhammad Amir, Saleem Muhammad
Parboiled rice are golden grains steamed, soaked and dried for goodness. The parboiled rice has more nutrients and wholesome grains as compared to white (polished) rice. Parboiled rice has more nutrients than that of white (polished) rice and can be used as nutritional intervention in communities with nutrient discrepancies. The current project was designed to study the effect of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) parboiled fortified puffed rice bars on nutritional status of school aged children. Iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content of parboiled fortified rice were increased by adding salts in soaking water. Three treatments i.e. T0-puffed rice bars made from parboiled white rice, T1-puffed rice bars made from brown rice fortified with 200 mg Na-FeEDTA and 100 mg ZnSO4 per liter and T2-puffed rice bars made from white rice fortified with 200 mg Na-FeEDTA and 100 mg ZnSO4 per. Highest energy (391.1kcal), Fe (71.8mg/kg), Zn (64.8mg/kg) and water activity (0.65aw) value was observed in T1. Three hundred children were randomly assigned in three groups with control group G0 given T0 treatment containing 32.5% and 29.5% RDA of iron and zinc respectively, group G1 given T1 treatment made from fortified brown puffed rice containing 89.8% and 81.1% RDA of iron and zinc, respectively whereas group G3 served with T2 treatment made from white rice containing 77.8 and 56.8% RDA value of iron and zinc respectively. After 45 days of intervention highest change in Hb (8.9%), serum ferritin (7.7%) and serum zinc (13.9%) was observed in G1 and lower values of Hb (4.6%), serum ferritin (4.1%) and serum zinc (8%) was observed in control group G0. Means of Hb, serum ferritin and zinc increased from 12.4 to 13.3 g/dL, 33.5 to 35.1 µg/L and 10.2 to 10.8µmol/L, respectively that showed a positive effect of iron and zinc fortified bar on health. The consumption of 100g puffed rice bar fortified with 100mg/Kg Fe and 200mg/Zn can fulfill approximately 89 % RDA of iron and 81.1% RDA of zinc in school aged children.
Comparative Assessment of Blaufränkisch Wines from Central Europe: Antioxidant Activity and Polyphenolic StudyOriginal Paper
Silvia Jakabová, Martina Fikselova, Lucia Zeleòáková, Daniel Bajèan, Natália Szárazová, Andrea Mendelová, ©tefan Ailer, Imrich Jakab, Jozef Golian
This model comparative study evaluated 16 monovarietal Blaufränkisch red wines from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia focused on five parameters related to their antioxidant properties: total polyphenol content (TPC), total anthocyanin content (TAC), antioxidant activity assessed by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, and wine colour intensity. Multivariate statistics were applied. The FRAP assay showed a very strong positive correlation with TPC (r = 0.968), supporting the central role of polyphenols in wine antioxidant activity. The highest TAC (285.6 mg.L-1) was observed in the Czech sample, while the lowest value (48.0 mg.L-1) was found in the Hungarian sample (overall mean 159.61 mg.L-1). FRAP results ranged from 13.6 to 21.53 mmol TE.L-1, with the highest value in the Austrian wine and the lowest in the Hungarian wine. DPPH activity showed a strong negative correlation with wine colour (r = -0.924) and a moderate negative correlation with TPC (r = -0.606). Statistically significant differences among countries were found for DPPH, FRAP and colour (Austria and Czech Republic for colour, P = 0.003226). FRAP method, which aligns with TPC, appears to be better suited for characterising Blaufränkisch antioxidant activity than DPPH.
SW-NIR Spectroscopy and PLSR for Predicting Cocoa Nibs Quality Across Processing StagesOriginal Paper
Riana Listanti, Rudiati Evi Masithoh, Arifin Dwi Saputro, Hanim Zuhrotul Amanah, Sonny Ilham Wicaksono
The quality of cocoa beans is determined by key biochemical parameters, including moisture content, reducing sugars, fat, protein, and total phenolic content (TPC), which undergo significant changes during the postharvest process. Conventional analytical methods are destructive, time-consuming, and unsuitable for real-time industrial monitoring. This study proposes a rapid, non-destructive alternative using short-wavelength near-infrared (SW-NIR) spectroscopy (954–1700 nm) combined with chemometric modeling to predict these parameters in fresh, fermented, dried, and roasted Forastero cocoa beans. A total of 400 samples were analyzed using a portable Flame-NIR+ Spectrometer. Various spectral preprocessing techniques, including Savitzky–Golay derivatives, multiple scatter correction (MSC), standard normal variate (SNV), and normalization methods, were evaluated prior to Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) modeling. Spectral regions corresponding to O–H, C–H, and N–H overtones effectively captured the biochemical changes induced by processing. The best-performing models demonstrated excellent predictive performance for moisture content (R²P = 0.984, RPD = 7.998), reducing sugars (R²P = 0.958, RPD = 4.860), protein (R²P = 0.992, RPD = 10.992), and total phenolic content (TPC) (R²P = 0.954, RPD = 4.646), while fat prediction showed moderate accuracy. These findings highlight the potential of low-cost SW-NIR spectroscopy as a reliable tool for real-time cocoa quality monitoring in industrial processing systems.
Environment of cheesemaking - Potential source of antimicrobial resistance in the family Enterobacteriaceae?Original Paper
Zuzana Hanzelová, Eva Dudriková, Franti¹ek Zigo, Viera Lovayová
The family Enterobacteriaceae is a group of undesirable bacteria in dairy plants. Their presence in the food-making environment could consequently affect the principle of One Health. The objective of this study was to detect and identify representatives of the family of cheesemaking environments. The susceptibility of the identified isolates was tested using the disc diffusion method. Genes that can confer antimicrobial resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics were detected by PCR using gene-specific primers. Enterobacter spp. was the isolate most frequently identified (72.09%) followed by Klebsiella spp. (8.14%) and Leclercia spp. (8.14%). The most of isolates 67 (77.91%) were resistant to cefazolin, followed by the resistant isolates 66 (76.74%) to cefoxitin according to the CLSI. According to EUCAST, the highest resistance was against cefoxitin in 73 (84.88%) isolates and ampicillin in 57 (66.28%) isolates. The presence of resistance genes was investigated in all isolates, the blaTEM gene was confirmed in 42 (48.84%) Enterobacteriaceae isolates, the AmpC gene in 9 (10.47%) and the blaCTX-M gene in 6 (6.98%). Our findings highlight the problems of the presence of undesirable bacteria in the environment of food manufacturing with a high level of resistance against beta-lactam antibiotics and the presence of resistance genes.