Food

  2010 AUG 26 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from Zlin, Czech Republic, "The aim of the present work is to evaluate the impacts of four different sterilising modes (110 degrees C 100 min, 115 degrees C 32 min, 120 degrees C 10 min, and 125 degrees C 3.2 min - with a constant lethal effect on microorganisms) on some chemical (pH, total and bio-available lysine, and ammonia content), microbiological, and sensory (shade and acceptability) properties of processed cheese depending on the lactose additions (0.0-2.0% w/w). All sterilising modes used were sufficient to inactivate the microorganism groups observed (total number of microorganisms, colony forming units of yeasts and/or moulds, number of spore-forming microorganisms). ...read more

  2010 AUG 26 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research published in the Czech Journal of Food Sciences, "Total number of 104 canned soft drinks collected from several regions in Turkey were analysed. The purpose of this study was to determine the levels of heavy metals in the drinks commonly consumed in Turkey."

  "Quantitative determination of heavy metals: arsenic, copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead in all samples was carried out by ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry) method. The mean levels (+/- SE) of arsenic, copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead were found to be 0.037 +/- 0.002 mg/kg, 0.070 +/- 0.009 mg/kg, 0.143 +/- 0.012 mg/kg, 0.005 +/- 0.0003 mg/kg, and 0.029 +/- 0.002 mg/kg, respectively, in soft drinks," wrote M. Bingol and colleagues, Gazi University ...read more

  2010 AUG 26 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "The consumption of healthy and nutritive food (rich in proteins and low in cholesterol and lipid contents) is a preferred factor with the contemporary consumers. In addition, natural alternatives are requested to replace the additives used up to now but recently banned," scientists in Kosice, Slovakia report.

  "To reach the above given condition, phyto-additives represent a good alternative. The aim of this study was to examine the physicochemical properties and amino acid composition of rabbit meat after the enrichment of rabbit diet with oregano, sage, and Eleutherococcus senticosus extracts, and to make a comparison with the commercial product XTRACT and control samples (without plant extracts). The addition of oregano and sage extracts as well as El. senticosus in the rabbit diet positively influenced the physicochemical properties of rabbit meat by increasing its energy value (P < 0.05 - sage). Supplementing rabbits feed with oregano and sage extracts led to an improvement on the amino acid composition (P < 0.01; P< 0.001 - serine). These findings are also supported by the good health state of rabbits," wrote M.P. Simonova and colleagues ...read more