Recently, the demand for food proteins in the market has increased due to a rise in degenerative illnesses that are associated with the excessive production of free radicals and the unwanted side effects of various drugs, for which researchers have suggested diets rich in bioactive compounds. Some of the functional compounds present in foods are antioxidant and antimicrobial peptides, which are used to produce foods that promote health and to reduce the consumption of antibiotics. These peptides have been obtained from various sources of proteins, such as foods and agri-food by-products, via enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation. Peptides with antioxidant properties exert effective metal ion (Fe²⁺/Cu²⁺) chelating activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition, which may lead to notably beneficial effects in promoting human health and food processing. Antimicrobial peptides are small oligo-peptides generally containing from 10 to 100 amino acids, with a net positive charge and an amphipathic structure; they are the most important components of the antibacterial defense of organisms at almost all levels of life—bacteria, fungi, plants, amphibians, insects, birds and mammals—and have been suggested as natural compounds that neutralize the toxicity of reactive oxygen species generated by antibiotics and the stress generated by various exogenous sources. This review discusses what antioxidant and antimicrobial peptides are, their source, production, some bioinformatics tools used for their obtainment, emerging technologies, and health benefits.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of the concentration of gelatin (G) (3–6 g), whey protein (W) (2.5–7.5 g) and chitosan (C) (0.5–2.5 g) on the physical, optical and mechanical properties of composite edible films (CEFs) using the response surface methodology (RSM), as well as optimizing the formulation for the packaging of foods. The results of the study were evaluated via first- and second-order multiple regression analysis to obtain the determination coefficient values with a good fit (R ˃ 0.90) for each of the response variables, except for the values of solubility and b*. The individual linear effect of the independent variables (the concentrations of gelatin, whey protein and chitosan) significantly affected (p ≤ 0.05) the water vapor permeability (WVP), strength and solubility of the edible films. The WVP of the edible films varied from 0.90 to 1.62 × 10⁻¹¹ g.m/Pa.s.m², the resistance to traction varied from 0.47 MPa to 3.03 MPa and the solubility varied from 51.06% to 87%. The optimized values indicated that the CEF prepared with a quantity of 4 g, 5 g and 3 g of gelatin, whey protein and chitosan, respectively, provided the CEF with a smooth, continuous and transparent surface, with L values that resulted in a light-yellow hue, a lower WVP, a maximum strength (resistance to traction) and a lower solubility. The results revealed that the optimized formulation of the CEF of G–W–C allowed a good validation of the prediction model and could be applied, in an effective manner, to the food packaging industry, which could help in mitigating the environmental issues associated with synthetic packaging materials.

El chorizo rojo tradicional que se comercializa en Toluca es un producto cárnico con gran fama pero, poco se sabe sobre su calidad. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar la calidad sanitaria de este embutido en diversos puntos de venta. A partir de tres muestreos, se analizaron 75 muestras de los cuatro principales mercados de la ciudad de Toluca y 10 carnicerías especializadas. Con base en normas oficiales mexicanas se determinaron: aw, humedad, pH, acidez y contenido de nitritos. Se realizó el conteo de bacterias mesófilas aerobias (BMA), bacterias ácido lácticas (BAL), coliformes totales y coliformes fecales; así como la detección de Salmonella spp. y Escherichia coli. El chorizo rojo tradicional no presentó diferencias significativas (P>0.05) en la mayoría de las variables fisicoquímicas y microbiológicas analizadas. Mostró un aw superior a 0.95; humedad entre 40 y 50 %; pH inferior a 5 y nitritos por debajo de los límites máximos (156 mg/kg) permitidos según normas oficiales mexicanas. El recuento de BMA fue entre 7.3 a 7.8 Log10 UFC/g y 7.8 a 8.1 Log10 UFC/g para BAL; coliformes totales entre 11.1 a 48.6 número más probable, NMP/g y coliformes fecales entre 4.9 a 9.7 NMP/g. La presencia de Salmonella spp. y E.coli spp. se detectó tanto en mercados como en carnicerías especializadas, independientemente de su naturaleza; y el porcentaje de incidencia varió entre 11.1 a 60 % y 16.7 a 43.3 %, respectivamente. El chorizo rojo tradicional de Toluca presenta características distintivas, pero es imperativo implementar programas de manejo higiénico-sanitario durante su producción, almacenamiento y comercialización, que garanticen la obtención de un embutido no sólo típico de la región, sino inocuo.