The biological function of bioactive compounds found in plant by-products has triggered expanded interest in recent years. This study aims to produce balady bread enriched with dietary fiber, mineral, and phenolic compounds by the addition of grape seeds powder (GSP) at different levels (5%, 10%, and 15% as a partial substitute for wheat flour). The results show that balady bread (Bb) and grape seed powder have ash contents of about 1.97% and 3.04%, lipid contents of 3.22% and 17.15%, protein contents of 11.16% and 12.10%, fiber contents of 1.06% and 44.90%, and carbohydrates contents of 56.52% and 29%, respectively. Moreover, grape seed powder contains a higher level of iron and zinc about 30.02 and 9.43 mg/kg than the Bb control sample which contains about 8.19 and 7.25 mg/kg respectively. The findings revealed that balady bread fortified with grape seed powder contains a high amount of total polyphenols content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TF), and antioxidant capacity. The farinograph test results showed that increasing the GSP concentration in the flour above 10% reduced dough development, stability, and farinograph quality number. The addition of GSP to wheat flour accelerated the dough’s water absorption and mixing tolerance. Grape seed incorporation levels up to 10% (w/w) had no negative effect on dough rheological performance. The sensory evaluation of bread showed that samples that were enriched with grape seeds powder at up to 10% had good quality. Based on these findings, it is recommended to replace up to 10% GSP in the manufacturing of fortified balady bread with satisfactory physical and sensory characteristics and high TPC and antioxidant activity.

Prickly pear peel makes up around half of the fruit and is typically thrown away, creating an environmental issue. Due to its high bioactive chemical content, prickly pear peel can easily be used as a functional and nutraceutical ingredient in several food recipes, such as baked products. This study’s objective was to determine whether prickly pear peel flour (PPPF) could successfully be combined (5, 10, and 15%) with wheat flour to make cakes, by analyzing the physical and chemical characteristics of the cakes and performing a descriptive sensory analysis. Prickly pear peel flour contains high amounts of fiber, ash, carbohydrate, phenolic, flavonoid compounds, or antioxidant activity. In addition, PPPF contains high amounts of magnesium, calcium, sodium and potassium. The ethanolic extract of prickly pear peel revealed the presence of 11 phenolic compounds using UPLC-MS/MS. The main constituents in the peel extract were isorhamnetin (27.1%), eucomic acid (19.6%), kaempferol (14.07%), 3-O-Methylquercetin (13.7%), Feruloyl-D-glucose (10.01%) and piscidic acid (8.89%). Results showed that adding PPPF significantly enhanced the amount of fibers, total polyphenols, flavonoids and minerals in the cakes prepared by the addition of 5, 10 and 15% PPPF as compared to the control cake. Moreover, the addition of different levels of PPPF increased antioxidant activity (DPPH and ABTS%) and decreased thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in cakes as compared to the control cake. The descriptive sensory analysis ultimately revealed that cakes made with 10% prickly pear flour received a higher score for their smell, taste or color. In conclusion, prickly pear peel has antioxidant potential and contains biochemical compounds that can be utilized in the enhancement of functional foods and also help to reduce the waste accumulation that causes environmental issues.

Date press cake (DPC) is a by-product of the date syrup industry with a high content of dietary fibers, minerals, and antioxidant compounds. Accordingly, the present study aimed to evaluate the inclusion of DPC on the color parameters, texture profile, sensory evaluation, microstructure properties, total phenolics, and antioxidant capacity of date jam. The DPC was included in the preparation of date jam in an increasing level of 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12% (w/w). The results revealed that increasing DPC levels significantly increased the hardness, cohesiveness, adhesiveness, and chewiness properties of date jam. The increase in DPC inclusion levels significantly decreased the L* values and increased the a*, b*, and ΔE values of the jam. The DPC addition significantly increased the phenolics content and antioxidant capacity in a dose-dependent manner and the highest value reported in the jam contained 12% DPC by 40.02 and 11.50% compared to the control, respectively. The scanning electron microscopy results revealed that the addition of DPC up to 9% resulted in a jam surface with a denser network, homogeneous structure, and without cracks and pores, indicating improvement in the morphological properties. The sensory evaluation results showed that date jam prepared with 9% DPC had the highest overall acceptability score. This study revealed the potential use of DPC in date jam formulation up to 9% as a natural, functional, and low-cost ingredient to improve the jam’s textural properties, antioxidant capacity, and overall acceptability.

Dates are highly perishable fruits, and maintaining their quality during storage is crucial. The current study aims to investigate the impact of storage conditions on the quality of dates (Khalas and Sukary cultivars) at the Tamer stage and predict their quality attributes during storage using artificial neural networks (ANN). The studied storage conditions were the modified atmosphere packing (MAP) gases (CO₂, O₂, and N), packaging materials, storage temperature, and storage time, and the evaluated quality attributes were moisture content, firmness, color parameters (L*, a*, b*, and ∆E), pH, water activity, total soluble solids, and microbial contamination. The findings demonstrated that the storage conditions significantly impacted (p < 0.05) the quality of the two stored date cultivars. The use of MAP with 20% CO₂ + 80% N had a high potential to decrease the rate of color transformation and microbial growth of dates stored at 4 °C for both stored date cultivars. The developed ANN models efficiently predicted the quality changes of stored dates closely aligned with observed values under the different storage conditions, as evidenced by low Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) values. In addition, the reliability of the developed ANN models was further affirmed by the linear regression between predicted and measured values, which closely follow the 1:1 line, with R² values ranging from 0.766 to 0.980, the ANN models demonstrate accurate estimating of fruit quality attributes. The study’s findings contribute to food quality and supply chain management through the identification of optimal storage conditions and predicting the fruit quality during storage under different atmosphere conditions, thereby minimizing food waste and enhancing food safety.

The study aimed to evaluate the potential use of spent coffee powder (SCP) and spent tea powder (STP) as bioactive supplements for sponge cake. To achieve this aim, we initially compared the chemical properties of spent tea and coffee powders with those of their raw forms. Subsequently, three supplemented cake blends were prepared (1, 2, and 3% of SCP and STP) to test the effect of their addition on the chemophysical characteristics, sensory attributes, and shelf life of the final products. Our results indicated that spent tea and coffee are prospective materials for polyphenols. Spent tea powder could retain up to 72% (theaflavin trigallate), while spent coffee powder could retain up to 63.9% (1-caffeoylquinic acid) of the identified compounds compared to the raw materials. Furthermore, spent tea and coffee powders contained high levels of dietary fiber (18.95 and 31.65 g/100 g dry weight) and the elements potassium (254.6 and 1218.2 mg/100 g of DW), phosphorus (189.8 and 161.3 mg/100 g of DW), calcium (904.1 and 237.8 mg/100 g of DW), and magnesium (158.8 and 199.6 mg/100 g of DW). In addition, the fortified samples with SCP and STP significantly enhanced the nutritional values while retaining good sensory qualities compared to those of the control sample. Moreover, cakes fortified with the highest concentrations of SCP and STP (3%) showed a significant decrease in malondialdehyde content (MDA; 17.7 and 18.0 μg/g) and microbiological counts (2.4 and 2.5 log cfu/g) compared to the control cake after 14 days of storage. These findings suggest that incorporating SCP and STP into cakes not only enhances their nutritional value but also extends their shelf life. By utilizing these waste products, we can contribute to a more sustainable and ecofriendly food industry.

The current study investigates the feasibility of preparing Arabic bread from wheat flour, sweet potato flour, or peeled sweet potatoes based on the nutritional values, technological characteristics, and sensory properties of the final products. First, we analyzed the proximate, elemental, total and individual phytochemical compositions of the raw materials and bread samples. The analysis showed that potassium, calcium, and phosphorus were higher in peels than pulp, in the same manner to the total phenolics, flavonoids, and anti-radical scavenging activities. Phenolic acids and flavonols were quantified, where p-coumaric, feruloyl-D-glucose, eucomic, gallic, and ferulic acids were measured as major phenolic acids in either peels or pulp flours, and their quantities were higher in the peels. Furthermore, we evaluated the effects of wheat substitution on the properties of the dough blends and their final bakery. The results indicated that the fortified samples’ nutritional and rheological properties were significantly improved, while their sensory qualities were comparable to those of the control. Thereby, the fortified dough blends presented higher dough stabilities, indicating a wider range of applications. Additionally, after the heat treatment, the fortified breads maintained significantly higher total phenolic, flavonoid, anthocyanin, and carotenoid contents, and total antioxidant activities, implying their accessibility for humans upon consumption.