Ochratoxin A (OTA) produced by mycotoxigenic fungi (Aspergillus and Penicillium spp.) is an extremely toxic and carcinogenic metabolite. The use of cold plasma to inhibit toxin-producing microorganisms in coffee could be an important alternative to avoid proliferation of mycotoxigenic fungi. Roasted coffee samples were artificially inoculated with A. westerdijikiae, A. steynii, A. versicolor, and A. niger, and incubated at 27 °C over 21 days for OTA production. Samples were cold plasma treated at 30 W input power and 850 V output voltage with helium at 1.5 L/min flow. OTA production in coffee was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS). After 6 min of treatment with cold plasma, fungi were completely inhibited (4 log reduction). Cold plasma reduces 50% of OTA content after 30 min of treatment. Toxicity was estimated for extracts of artificially contaminated roasted coffee samples using the brine shrimp (Artemia salina) lethality assay. Toxicity for untreated roasted coffee was shown to be “toxic”, while toxicity for cold plasma treated coffee was reduced to “slightly toxic”. These results suggested that cold plasma may be considered as an alternative method for the degradation and reduction of toxin production by mycotoxigenic fungi in the processing of foods and feedstuffs.

Introduction: breast milk is the first fundamental food of newborns and it provides all the sources of energy, nutrients and the immunological protection they need during their first months of life. Unfortunately, there are specific circumstances that imply that the mother cannot feed her baby correctly, since the mother's nutritional needs differ to a certain extent during different periods of life. Especially in breastfeeding, since nutritional needs are increased, due to the loss of nutrients, first by colostrum and then by breast milk. Objective: to demonstrate the influence of the diet of Mexican women on the nutritional quality and the presence of beneficial microorganisms in human milk. Methods: seventy descriptive surveys of nutrition and sampling of milk to women in nursing state were carried out. The milks were subjected to various bromatological and microbiological analyzes to evaluate their nutritional quality and possible probiotic activity. Results: it was shown that the mother's food intake influences the nutritional quality of the milk. Likewise, it affects the development and growth of lactic acid bacteria. Several strains were isolated and identified in human milk of the genus Lactobacillus, as well as pathogenic bacteria such as Lodderomyces elongisporus among others. Conclusions: the mothers' nutrition is directly reflected in the nutritional quality of the milk. It was observed that the amount of essential nutrients of milk such as carbohydrates, lipids and proteins vary according to the diet and life rhythm of the mothers, as well as the significant decrease of lactic bacteria with probiotic potential.

The yeast cell wall (YCW) is composed mainly of β-glucans, mannoproteins, and chitin. β-Glucans are well known immunomodulators, recognized by Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) and inducing the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) signaling pathway, which is implicated in the synthesis of pro-inflammatory mediators such as interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and nitric oxide (NO). Here we evaluated the immunomodulating effect of the YCW extracts from three different strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (AR5, MG, and L013) obtained from Tequila and bread-making processes by challenging intraperitoneal macrophages from BALB/c mice with YCW extract and/or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endotoxin from Escherichia coli. Only the extract from AR5, which had a high glucan-to-mannan ratio, exhibited an antagonistic effect upon LPS stimulation: The IL-1β and TNF-α concentrations in plasma increased slightly by 24% and 4%, respectively, and the NO level increased moderately by 200% compared with the control. When the YCW extracts had less glucan, as found for MG and L013, the LPS stimulus had more of a synergistic effect on the plasma IL-1β concentration, which increased about 175%, and on the NO level, which rose 330–470%. These results indicated that under certain conditions, YCW extracts have an immune-attenuating effect; that is, the mice liberated much less IL-1β or nearly equal amounts of TNF-α or NO compared with the LPS stimulus alone.

Human milk banks pasteurize and freeze the milk in order to conserve it, but thawing and prolonged storage cause loss of nutritional components. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of pasteurization, high hydrostatic pressures, UV radiation, and spray drying in human milk packed and stored at 25 to 40°C by a period of 14 weeks, using an accelerated shelf life method with Arrhenius model. Effectiveness of packaging, microbiological viability, and deterioration of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins was evaluated. The results showed that proteins and carbohydrates in powdered human milk with different treatments did not show significant changes during storage at 25 to 40°C and without the growth of microorganisms. However, 33.3% deterioration of lipid oxidation was observed up at 40°C. We predict with the applied model that, at 18°C, the human milk powder will be preserved for approximately one year without significant changes in its composition.

Assessment of the Content of Immunoglobulins in Human Milk Subjected to Different Preservation Treatments. The human milk is the ideal food for children. However, not all children can be breastfed by their mothers for different reasons.