Fermented-chopped pepper is a traditional-fermented vegetable in China. Chopped pepper is generally made with pepper, garlic, and ginger. In present study, the volatile compounds, obtained from chopped peppers during spontaneous fermentation, were analyzed by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). One hundred and forty volatile compounds were identified by solvent-assisted flavor evaporation, including 42 hydrocarbons, 34 esters, 16 alcohols, 21 aldehydes, 8 acids, 4 ketones, 4 ethers, and 9 other compounds. Alcohols, esters, and ketones were the dominant volatile fractions. The terpenes were found to be the main contributors to chopped pepper samples. It is important to note that among terpenes, such as β-phellandrene, α-curcumene, elemene, geraniol and nerolidol may originated from ginger. In addition, diallyl disulfide and diallyl sulfide, the two major sulfur components, may originated from garlic volatile oils. The results indicated that the ginger and garlic as raw materials played an important role in the flavor of chopped pepper. The contents of esters significantly increased during the fermentation process, the ethyl palmitate and ethyl linoleate were the main esters. The content of β-ionone as an degradation compound of carotenoids increased significantly with the fermentation period. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to discriminate the fermented-chopped peppers samples according to different times, and the fermented-chopped pepper samples were clearly differentiated on PCA plots. The fermentation stage was mainly affected by esters, alcohols, aldehydes and terpenes.

Previous studies have shown that emulsions with higher solid fat content (SFC) are related to a higher in-mouth coalescence level and fat-related perception. However, the effect of SFC in fat droplets on the fat-related attributes of emulsion-filled gels has not been fully elucidated. In this study, the effect of SFC on the creamy mouthfeel of acid milk gel was investigated. Five kinds of blended milk fats with SFC values ranging from 10.61% to 85.87% were prepared. All crystals in the blended milk fats were needle-like, but the onset melting temperature varied widely. Blended milk fats were then mixed with skim milk to prepare acid milk gels (EG10–EG85, fat content 3.0%). After simulated oral processing, the particle size distribution and confocal images of the gel bolus showed that the degree of droplet coalescence in descending order was EG40 > EG20 > EG60 > EG10 ≥ EG85. There was no significant difference in apparent viscosity measured at a shear rate of 50/s between bolus gels, but the friction coefficients measured at 20 mm/s by a tribological method were negatively correlated with the coalescence result. Furthermore, quantitative descriptive analysis and temporal dominance of sensations analysis showed that SFC significantly affected the ratings of melting, mouth coating, smoothness and overall creaminess, as well as the perceived sequence and the duration of melting, smoothness and mouth coating of acid milk gels. Overall, our study highlights the role of intermediate SFC in fat droplets on the creamy mouthfeel of acid milk gels, which may contribute to the development of low-fat foods with desirable sensory perception.

Glycyrrhiza polysaccharide extract 1 (GPS-1) is a bioactive component isolated from Glycyrrhiza uralensis, also known as Chinese licorice. It appears to be pharmacologically active as an antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-tumor agent. GPS-1 has also been shown to buffer liver health and regulate the immune system. Moreover, GPS-1 is low cost and easy to extract. More study was needed to elucidate the biochemical pathways underlying the immunomodulatory and antioxidant benefits observed in Glycyrrhiza polysaccharide extract 1 (GPS-1). in vitro experiments on chicken lymphocytes and dendritic cells (DCs) show that GPS-1 significantly promotes the proliferation of immune cells and is linked to lymphocytes' secretion of IL-12, IFN-γ, and TNF-α by. DC secretion of NO, IL-2, IL-1β, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-12p70 was also increased significantly. Additionally, GPS-1 also displayed a significant antioxidant effect in vitro, able to scavenge DPPH, hydrogen peroxide, ABTS, and other free radicals like superoxide anions. Separately, GPS-1 was tested in vivo in combination with the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) – attenuated vaccine. 120 Lohmann Brown chickens were vaccinated, while another 30 became the unvaccinated blank control (BC) group. For three consecutive days 1 mL of GPS-1 was administered at doses of 19.53 μg/mL, 9.77 μg/mL, or 4.88 μg/mL to the ND-vaccinated birds, except for the vaccine control (VC), where n = 30 per group. In vivo results show that GPS-1 combined with Newcastle disease (ND) vaccine had the best efficacy at significantly increasing chickens' body weight and ND serum antibody titer, enhancing their secretion of IL-2 and IFN- γ, and promoting the development of immune organs. The results also indicate that GPS-1 was able increase the proliferation of in vitro immune cells and elevate their cytokine secretion, which enhances the body's immune response. GPS-1 also clearly has the potential to be used as an immune adjuvant alongside ND vaccination.

To investigate the gelation process of direct ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk, a pilot-scale steam infusion heat treatment was used to process milk samples over a wide temperature of 142–157 °C for 0.116–6 s, followed by storage at 4 °C, 25 °C, and 37 °C. The results of the physicochemical properties of milk showed that the particle sizes and plasmin activities of all milk samples increased during storage at 25 °C, but age gelation only occurred in three treated samples, 147 °C/6 s, 142 °C/6 s, and 142 °C/3 s, which all had lower plasmin activities. Furthermore, the properties of formed gels were further compared and analyzed by the measures of structure and intermolecular interaction. The results showed that the gel formed in the 147 °C/6 s-treated milk with a higher C* value had a denser network structure and higher gel strength, while the 142 °C/6 s-treated milk had the highest porosity. Furthermore, disulfide bonds were the largest contributor to the gel structure, and there were significant differences in disulfide bonds, hydrophobic interaction forces, hydrogen bonds, and electrostatic force among the gels. Our results showed that the occurrence of gel was not related to the thermal load, and the different direct UHT treatments produced different age gels in the milk.