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The increased consumption of reduced-fat or non-fat products leads to a reduced intake of fat-soluble bioactive substances, such as fat-soluble vitamins. Due to their natural role as transport systems for hydrophobic substances, casein micelles (CM) might depict a viable system. The structure of CM is characterized by a lipophilic core stabilized by an electric double layer-like structure. Modification allows accessibility of the core and, therefore, the inclusion of fat-soluble bioactive substances. Well-known modifications are pH reduction and use of rennet enzyme. A completely new procedure to modify CM structure is offered by pulsed electrical fields (PEF). The principle behind PEF is called electroporation and affects the electric double layer of CM so that it is interrupted. In this way, lipophilic substances can be incorporated into CM. In this work, we evaluated integration of β-carotene into native CM by an industry-compatible process to overcome disadvantages associated with the use of Na-caseinate and avoid great technical effort, e.g., due to treatment with high hydrostatic pressure. Our research has shown that PEF can be used for disintegration of CM and that significant amounts of β-carotene can be incorporated in CM. Furthermore, after disintegration using PEF, a combination of another PEF and thermal treatment was applied to restructure CM and trap significant amounts of β-carotene, permanently, ending up with an encapsulation efficiency of 78%.
Ohmic heating (OH) is an alternative sustainable heating technology that has demonstrated its potential to modify protein structures and aggregates. Furthermore, certain protein aggregates, namely amyloid fibrils (AF), are associated with an enhanced protein functionality, such as gelation. This study evaluates how Ohmic heating (OH) influences the formation of AF structures from ovalbumin source under two electric field strength levels, 8.5 to 10.5 and 24.0–31.0 V/cm, respectively. Hence, AF aggregate formation was assessed over holding times ranging from 30 to 1200 sunder various environmental conditions (3.45 and 67.95 mM NaCl, 80, 85 and 90 °C, pH = 7). AF were formed under all conditions. SDS-PAGE revealed that OH had a higher tendency to preserve native ovalbumin molecules. Furthermore, Congo Red and Thioflavin T stainings indicated that OH reduces the amount of AF structures. This finding was supported by FTIR measurements, which showed OH samples to contain lower amounts of beta-sheets. Field flow fractioning revealed smaller-sized aggregates or aggregate clusters occurred after OH treatment. In contrast, prolonged holding time or higher treatment temperatures increased ThT fluorescence, beta-sheet structures and aggregate as well as cluster sizes. Ionic strength was found to dominate the effects of electric field strength under different environmental conditions.
High levels of meat consumption are increasingly being criticised for ethical, environmental, and social reasons. Plant-based meat substitutes have been with reservations identified as healthy sources of protein in comparison to meat. This alternative offers several social, environmental, and probably health benefits, and it may play a role in reducing meat consumption. However, there has been a lack of research on how specific meat substitute attributes can influence consumers to replace or partially replace meat in their diets. Research has demonstrated that, in many countries, consumers are highly attached to meat. They consider it to be an essential and integral element of their daily diet. For the consumers that are not interested in vegan or vegetarian alternatives to meat, so-called meathybrids could be a low-threshold option for a more sustainable food consumption behaviour. In meathybrids, only a fraction of the meat product (e.g., 20% to 50%) is replaced with plant-based proteins. In this paper, the results of an online survey with 500 German consumers are presented with a focus on preferences and attitudes relating to meathyrids. The results show that more than fifty percent of consumers substitute meat at least occasionally. Thus, approximately half of the respondents reveal an eligible consumption behaviour with respect to sustainability and healthiness to a certain degree. Regarding the determinants of choosing either meathybrid or meat, it becomes evident that the highest effect is exerted by the health perception. The healthier meathybrids are perceived, the higher is the choice probability. Thus, this egoistic motive seems to outperform altruistic motives, like animal welfare or environmental concerns, when it comes to choice for this new product category.
Current discussions about the concept of nutritional sustainability show a high complexity of this topic leading to many different definitions. Regarding communication issues of nutritional sustainability between actors of food chains this complexity should be reduced. One opportunity to tackle these challenges of reducing complexity might be the concept of ingredient branding. Therefore, the aim of this mini-review is the identification of conditions for ingredient branding application as a communication strategy for nutritional sustainability which might overcome challenges in communicating the complexity between the different stakeholders of supply chains. In doing so, the specific case of agrifood chains is discussed based on the selected characteristics of globalization, increasing consumer demands, foods incorporating credence attributes and price. Along the agrifood chain, a sourcing strategy reflecting nutritional and sustainable aspects might lead to an ingredient branding strategy implying a brand policy for a special ingredient within the final product which is an important component but cannot be clearly recognized by the user. A “nutritional sustainability inside” strategy should reflect the multifaceted information along the agrifood chain and should be based on standardized criteria for nutritional sustainability.
Integration of nutritional and sustainable aspects is a complex task tackled by a few scientific concepts. They include multiple dimensions and functions of food systems trying to provide solutions for harmonic co-evolution of humanity and planet Earth. “Nutritional Sustainability” is differentiated from other concepts which combine nutrition and sustainability as it not only sets environmental sustaining capacity as a baseline level for balanced nutrition, but also aims for the search of food system driving nodes. It does not aim for the support of solutions of producing enough or more food for increasing population (sustainable nutrition), neither does it contradict other similar concepts [sustainable nutrition security, nutritional life cycle assessment (LCA)]. However, it calls for more definite estimation of the carrying capacity of the environment on personal, local, and national levels for the development of more efficient solutions of nutrition balanced in the limits of environmental carrying capacity. The review is providing a few examples of advances in nutritional science (personalized nutrition, nutrigenetics), food technology (personalized food processing, food ecodesign), and food complex systems (artificial intelligence and gut microbiome), which have a great potential to progress sustainable food systems with Nutritional Sustainability set as a guiding concept.