The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different concentrations of inulin and pectin as fat substitutes on the chemical composition, texture, and sensory acceptance of frankfurter sausages. Six treatments were evaluated to test fat replacement: control (T0); low fat control (T1); low fat with 15% inulin (T2); low fat with 30% inulin (T3); low fat with 7.5% inulin and 7.5% pectin (T4); and low fat with 15% inulin and 15% pectin (T5). The addition of fibers increased the yield (T3 and T5; 98.96%), and the color parameters were slightly reduced (T3). Moisture (61.14%) and ashes (6.96%) of sausages with inulin and pectin were higher (T5), while shear force, hardness, fracturability, gumminess, and chewiness (T3 and T5) were slightly lower than those of the control. The addition of inulin (T2) increased the sensory acceptance of the sausages (5.75). Fat can be replaced with inulin and pectin in frankfurter sausages to produce healthy and functional products.

Milk and dairy products have a major role in human nutrition, as they contribute essential nutrients for child development. The nutritional properties of dairy products are maintained despite applying traditional processing techniques. Nowadays, so-called emerging technologies have also been implemented for food manufacture and preservation purposes. Low- and high-intensity ultrasounds are among these technologies. Low-intensity ultrasounds have been used to determine, analyze and characterize the physical characteristics of foods, while high-intensity ultrasounds are applied to accelerate particular biological, physical and chemical processes during food product handling and transformation. The objective of this review is to explain the phenomenology of ultrasounds and to detail the differences between low and high-intensity ultrasounds, as well as to present the advantages and disadvantages of each one in terms of the processing, quality and preservation of milk and dairy products. Additionally, it reviews the rheological, physicochemical and microbiological applications in dairy products, such as raw milk, cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream and cheese. Finally, it explains some methodologies for the generation of emulsions, homogenates, crystallization, etc. Currently, low and high-intensity ultrasounds are an active field of study, and they might be promising tools in the dairy industry.

The inclusion of natural ingredients to preserve meat and meat products has increased in recent years. This study evaluated rosemary (REO) and garlic essential oils (GEO) as well as chipotle pepper oleoresin (CPO), alone or in combination, as preservatives on beef hamburgers (BH). Six treatments were evaluated: T1 (control, without additives), T2 (GEO 1%), T3 (REO 1%), T4 (CPO 0.5%), T5 (GEO 1% + CPO 0.5%) and T6 (REO 1% + CPO 0.5%). The microbiological quality, physicochemical characteristics, sensory evaluation, and lipid oxidation of hamburgers were evaluated. REO, GEO and CPO limited the growth of aerobic microorganisms, S. aureus, Salmonella spp., B. thermosphacta, moulds and yeasts, lactic acid bacteria and coliforms (p < 0.05); however, this effect depended on time. Furthermore, lipid oxidation decreased significantly (p < 0.5) in all treatments, except for T5 (GEO 1% + CPO 0.5%). Regarding sensory acceptance, consumers preferred BH with GEO in terms of colour, odour, flavour and overall appearance (p < 0.05). It is concluded that REO, GEO and CPO, alone or in combination, improve microbiological quality and inhibit the lipid oxidation of BH.

Beet has been used as an ingredient for functional foods due to its high antioxidant activity, thanks to the betalains it contains. The effects of the addition of beet extract (liquid and lyophilized) on the physicochemical characteristics, color, antioxidant activity (AA), total betalains (TB), total polyphenols (TP), and total protein concentration (TPC) were evaluated on stirred yogurt. The treatments (T1-yogurt natural, T2-yogurt added with beet juice, T3-added extract of beet encapsulated with maltodextrin, and T4-yogurt added with extract of beet encapsulated with inulin) exhibited results with significant differences (p < 0.05). The highest TB content was observed in T2 (209.49 ± 14.91), followed by T3 (18.65 ± 1.01) and later T4 (12.96 ± 0.55). The highest AA was observed on T2 after 14 days (ABTS˙ 0.819 mM TE/100 g and DPPH˙ 0.343 mM TE/100 g), and the lowest was found on T1 at day 14 (ABTS˙ 0.526 mM TE/100 g and DPPH˙ 0.094 mM TE/100 g). A high content of TP was observed (7.13 to 9.79 mg GAE/g). The TPC varied between 11.38 to 12.56 µg/mL. The addition of beet extract significantly increased AA in yogurt, betalains being the main compounds responsible for that bioactivity.

Betalains are powerful antioxidants contained in beets. These are divided into betacyanins (red-violet) and betaxanthins (yellow-orange), and they can be used as natural colorants in the food industry. The effects of freeze-drying pure beet juice (B) and the encapsulation of beet juice with a dextrose equivalent (DE) 10 maltodextrin (M) and agave inulin (I) as carrier agents were evaluated. The powders showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in all the variables analyzed: water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), glass transition temperature (T_g), total betalains (TB), betacyanins (BC), betaxanthins (BX), total polyphenols (TP), antioxidant activity (AA, via 2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) (ABTS), and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)) and total protein concentration (TPC). The highest values of antioxidant activity were found in the non-encapsulated beet powder, followed by the powder encapsulated with maltodextrin and, to a lesser extent, the powder encapsulated with inulin. The glass transition temperature was 61.63 °C for M and 27.59 °C for I. However, for B it was less than 18.34 °C, which makes handling difficult. Encapsulation of beet extract with maltodextrin and inulin by lyophilization turned out to be an efficient method to increase solubility and diminish hygroscopicity.

• High-intensity ultrasound (HIU) before freezing produced intense and bright yellow-orange tones. • The post-freezing application of HIU produced pale red tones with little brightness. • HIU before freezing accelerates rigor mortis resolution. • HIU before freezing improve the tenderness of rabbit meat. • HIU after freezing decreased the WHC and yield (weigh loss) of the meat.