Sustainable food supply has gained considerable consumer concern due to the high percentage of spoilage microorganisms. Food industries need to expand advanced technologies that can maintain the nutritive content of foods, enhance the bio-availability of bioactive compounds, provide environmental and economic sustainability, and fulfill consumers’ requirements of sensory characteristics. Heat treatment negatively affects food samples’ nutritional and sensory properties as bioactives are sensitive to high-temperature processing. The need arises for non-thermal processes to reduce food losses, and sustainable developments in preservation, nutritional security, and food safety are crucial parameters for the upcoming era. Non-thermal processes have been successfully approved because they increase food quality, reduce water utilization, decrease emissions, improve energy efficiency, assure clean labeling, and utilize by-products from waste food. These processes include pulsed electric field (PEF), sonication, high-pressure processing (HPP), cold plasma, and pulsed light. This review describes the use of HPP in various processes for sustainable food processing. The influence of this technique on microbial, physicochemical, and nutritional properties of foods for sustainable food supply is discussed. This approach also emphasizes the limitations of this emerging technique. HPP has been successfully analyzed to meet the global requirements. A limited global food source must have a balanced approach to the raw content, water, energy, and nutrient content. HPP showed positive results in reducing microbial spoilage and, at the same time, retains the nutritional value. HPP technology meets the essential requirements for sustainable and clean labeled food production. It requires limited resources to produce nutritionally suitable foods for consumers’ health.

Garlic, Allium sativum, has long been utilized for a number of medicinal purposes around the world, and its medical benefits have been well documented. The health benefits of garlic likely arise from a wide variety of components, possibly working synergistically. Garlic and garlic extracts, especially aged garlic extracts (AGEs), are rich in bioactive compounds, with potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and neuroprotective activities. In light of these effects, garlic and its components have been examined in experimental models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia without therapy, and a growing health concern in aging societies. With the aim of offering an updated overview, this paper reviews the chemical composition, metabolism and bioavailability of garlic bioactive compounds. In addition, it provides an overview of signaling mechanisms triggered by garlic derivatives, with a focus on allicin and AGE, to improve learning and memory.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is an edible plant, well-known for its nutritional and nutraceutical properties. Stinging nettle leaves are typically rich in fibers, minerals and vitamins, as well as antioxidant compounds, i.e., polyphenols and carotenoids. Due to these reasons, since ancient times stinging nettle has been widely used in Italy as an ingredient in foods and beverages as a therapeutic agent. This work provides an investigation focused on bread enrichment with nettle leaves and the improvement of bread proximate composition in minerals, fibers and antioxidant compounds during product preparation. The comparison between plain and nettle enriched white bread shows a significant increase in fibers and nutrients, i.e., calcium and copper levels. Nettle enrichment also provides an increase in lutein and β-carotene, as well as in total phenols and antioxidant activity. These last two nutritional elements are remarkably high in enriched bread and it has been found that phenolic concentration increases during breadmaking steps, from kneading to primary dough fermentation and from secondary fermentation of shaped loaves to baking.

Carotenoids are a widespread group of fat-soluble pigments, and their major nutritional importance comes from their pro-vitamin A activity and their antioxidant capacity. In this study, two different pumpkin cultivars (Cucurbita maxima, also named ‘Delica’ and Cucurbita moschata, also known as ‘Violina’) from the southern Po Delta area were investigated in terms of carotenoid content and the influence of food processing on compositional changes and carotenoid bioaccessibility. Quali- and quantitative determination of carotenoids in sample extracts were performed on a C30 column by means of an online coupled HPLC-UV/Vis-APCI-MS/MS technique. The identification of separated compounds was tentatively achieved by merging (i) chromatographic data, (ii) UV-Vis spectra, and (iii) MS/MS fragmentation spectra. The chromatographic profiles for the two cultivars showed qualitative differences. Two major carotenoids were considered for quantification purposes and further investigations: lutein and $\beta$ -carotene. Quantification of target carotenoids was performed with external calibration through analytical standards. The concentration of lutein and $\beta$ -carotene was higher in C. maxima than in the other variety, C. moschata. Carotenoids are susceptible to degradation (isomerization and oxidation) during food processing (i.e., cooking), and the concentration of lutein and $\beta$ -carotene were monitored in oven-cooked and steam-cooked pumpkins. The steam-cooking process was superior in terms of limiting carotenoid loss. A complete functional profile of pumpkins as a source of carotenoids was gained with the evaluation of their in vitro bioaccessibility and their bioavailability after intake during human digestion. Bioaccessibility of lutein and $\beta$ -carotene were estimated by an in vitro static digestion model that involved salivary, gastric, and duodenal phases. Bioaccessibility values progressively increased from the salivary to the duodenal phase for both pumpkin varieties and cooking methods. Bioaccessibility of lutein was always lower than $\beta$ -carotene for both cultivars and for both cooking methods. Bioaccessibility values for lutein and $\beta$ -carotene changed from 1.93% to 2.34% vs. 4.94% and 8.83% in the salivary phase, from 2.7% to 4.63% vs. 7.83% and 15.60% in the gastric phase, and from 10.04% to 13.42% vs. 25.81% and 35.32% in the duodenal phase. For both target compounds, bioaccessibility in the duodenal phase was more than twice the gastric values, and it underlined that the type of cooking did not influence release from the initial matrix.

The aim of the present research was to obtain antioxidant compounds through the fermentation of fish byproducts by bacteria isolated from sea bass viscera. To that purpose, bacteria from sea bass stomach, intestine, and colon were isolated. With the selected bacteria, growing research was undertaken, fermenting different broths prepared with sea bass meat or byproducts. After the fermentation, the antioxidant activity, phenolic acids, and some proteins were evaluated. The main phenolic acids obtained were DL-3-phenyl-lactic acid and benzoic acid at a maximum concentration of 466 and 314 ppb, respectively. The best antioxidant activity was found in the extracts obtained after the fermentation of fish byproducts broth by bacteria isolated from the colon (6502 μM TE) and stomach (4797 μM TE). Moreover, a positive correlation was found between phenolic acids obtained after the fermentation process and the antioxidant activity of the samples. It was also concluded that the lactic acid bacteria isolated from sea bass had an important proteolytic capacity and were able to synthesize phenolic acids with antioxidant capacity. This work has shown the relevance of fermentation as a useful tool to valorize fish byproducts, giving them an added economic value and reducing their environmental impact.

Nettle ( Urtica dioica L.) is a well-known plant with a wide historical background use of stems, roots and leaves.