The yield and quality of cheese are associated with the composition, physicochemical, sensory, rheological, and microbiological properties of milk and with the technology applied to the milk before and/or during cheese processing. This review describes the most important research on cheeses obtained from processing mixtures of different milk species and discusses the effect of milk mixtures (i.e., species and mixture ratios) on composition, physicochemical, sensory, rheological, and microbiological properties of cheeses. More specifically, the present review paper will gather and focus only on studies that have provided a clear comparison between cheeses produced from a mixture of two milk species to cheeses produced from only one species.

Among developed countries, bovine milk production makes a major contribution towards the economy. Elevating consumer demand for functional foods has triggered a niche for non-bovine milk-based products. Mixing milks from different species can be a strategy to increase the consumption of non-bovine milk and enable consumers and dairy companies to benefit from their nutritional and technological advantages. Thus, this review aimed to gather the most important research on yoghurts derived from processing mixtures of milks of different species. We discuss the impact of milk mixtures (i.e., species and milk ratio) on nutritional, physicochemical, sensory, rheological and microbiological properties of yoghurts. More specifically, this paper only highlights studies that have provided a clear comparison between yoghurts processed from a mixture of two milk species and yoghurts processed from a single species of milk. Finally, certain limitations and future trends are discussed, and some recommendations are suggested for future research.

Starch-based biodegradable films have been studied for a long time. To improve starch properties and to increase film characteristics, starch is commonly modified. Amongst different types of starch modifications, oxidation and heat moisture treatment are interesting to explore. Unfortunately, review on these modifications for film application is rarely found, although these starch modifications provide interesting results regarding the starch and film properties. This paper aims to discuss the progress of research on oxidized and heat moisture-treated-starch for edible film application. In general, both HMT and oxidation modification on starch lead to an increase in film’s tensile strength and Young’s modulus, suggesting an improvement in film mechanical properties. The elongation, however, tends to decrease in oxidized starch-based film, hence more brittle film. Meanwhile, HMT tends to result in a more ductile film. The drawback of HMT film is its lower transparency, while the opposite is observed in oxidized films. The observation on WVP (water vapor permeability) of HMT starch-based film shows that the trend of WVP is not consistent. Similarly, an inconsistent trend of WVP is also found in oxidized starch films. This suggests that the WVP parameter is very sensitive to intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Starch source and its concentration in film, film thickness, RH (relative humidity) of film storage, oxidation method and its severity, plasticizer type and its concentration in film, and crystallinity value may partly play roles in determining film properties.

Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy (SFS) coupled with two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS) was employed to monitor, at the molecular level, the coagulation of five mixture ratios of camel’s milk (CaM) and cow’s milk (CM) (100% CaM, 75% CaM:25% CM, 50% CaM:50% CM, 25% CaM:75% CM and 100% CM). The dissimilarities among the different formulations are highlighted on the synchronous 2DCOS-SFS. In addition, according to the cross-peak symbols in synchronous and asynchronous spectra, the rate of response modification in riboflavin, protein and vitamin A matched with common coagulation phenomena usually reported during chymosin coagulation (hydrolysis of κ-casein, destabilization of casein micelles and aggregation). This study demonstrated that 2DCOS-SFS is a successful strategy to discriminate milk mixtures and to monitor molecular structure modifications during coagulation process.

The article discusses a new vacuum infrared equipment for drying fruits of rose hips with preservation of ascorbic acid. We have studied the drying process of rose hips in various ways (solar, convective and vacuum IR drying), to determine the rational version of the drying process to check the preservation of the vitamin composition of the fruit, mainly ascorbic acid. Special plants designed and manufactured for the production of dry powders from rose hips using low-vacuum and low-temperature infrared drying have been developed and manufactured. The vacuum drying unit consists of: a vacuum chamber, an electrical system for IR irradiation and instrumentation. During the drying process, the operating temperature was maintained at 65 ° C, the pressure inside the chamber was -0.8 atm and the drying time was 4 hours. With these parameters, the dogrose is dried effectively and vitamins are well preserved in its composition. In appearance, you can determine that the color and taste have not changed. Laboratory experiments were also carried out aimed at chopping and separating rose hips. Continue drying, setting the operating parameters depending on the parameters of the object. After setting the parameters of drying and its implementation, wild fruits rose hips is dehydrated to a moisture content of 12%, while the preservation of vitamins is provided in the fruit composition. As a result of an experimental study of the influence of vibration on the drying process, it has been established that the efficiency of dehydration increases to 4-5% under continuous heating conditions – at a certain frequency and amplitude. It is shown that the preservation of ascorbic acid in the composition of the pulp of the fruits rose hips with vacuum infrared drying is up to 0.77 mg%. The optimum thickness of the product layer is about 1-1.5 cm, the optimal wavelength is 3 microns, while the dehydration time of the products is an acceptable value, and the temperature of the fruits does not exceed 65 °C, the vacuum is -0.8 atm.