Confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic can influence dietary profiles, especially those of adolescents, who are highly susceptible to acquiring bad eating habits. Adolescents’ poor dietary habits increase their subsequent risk of degenerative diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular pathologies, etc. Our aim was to study nutritional modifications during COVID-19 confinement in adolescents aged 10 to 19 years, compare them with their usual diet and dietary guidelines, and identify variables that may have influenced changes. Data were collected by an anonymous online questionnaire on food intake among 820 adolescents from Spain, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, and Chile. The results show that COVID-19 confinement did influence their dietary habits. In particular, we recorded modified consumption of fried food, sweet food, legumes, vegetables, and fruits. Moreover, gender, family members at home, watching TV during mealtime, country of residence, and maternal education were diversely correlated with adequate nutrition during COVID-19 confinement. Understanding the adolescents’ nutrition behavior during COVID-19 lockdown will help public health authorities reshape future policies on their nutritional recommendations, in preparation for future pandemics.

La gestión de desperdicios alimentarios es un problema global, cobra cada vez mayor importancia. La generación de estos representa pérdidas económicas e impacta el ambiente y los ecosistemas, con esto, impacta directamente la salud pública y su enfoque se centra en mejorar la calidad de vida de la sociedad. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo describir la gestión de desperdicios alimentarios desde la política pública colombiana, para lo cual se realizó un abordaje bibliográfico y una investigación de corte documental. En Colombia existe un marco jurídico que impulsa un grupo de decisiones y acciones gubernamentales o medidas públicas como el fomento del compostaje, la financiación de proyectos, la promoción de la educación en la materia, la recolección selectiva de residuos, el impulso de la economía circular y la separación de residuos. Se destaca que producto del desconocimiento generalizado de la sociedad en torno al problema, la escasa inversión y la precaria infraestructura, la ejecución de dichas políticas se vuelve cuesta arriba para el país. Se concluye que la gestión en el área requiere mayor control y seguimiento sobre la aplicación de las regulaciones, así como, el esfuerzo conjunto de gobierno, empresa y sociedad civil.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the kinetics of moisture and oil uptake during chorizo deep-fat frying as compared to atmospheric and vacuum conditions. The conditions in the process were 90, 120, and 150°C for vacuum frying and 160, 170, and 180°C for atmospheric frying. The kinetics of moisture loss during atmospheric and vacuum frying was studied from the analytical solution of Fick’s second law for cylinder geometry. Oil absorption was also determined using a first-order kinetic model. The moisture content decreased by 33.72% at the maximum process temperature and time during vacuum frying (150°C, 360 s), as compared to the atmospheric frying, which was 28.61% (180°C). The oil content at the end of the process (360 s) was 27.79% (90°C), 27.31% (120°C), and 24.82% (150°C) for vacuum-fried chorizos, and higher values were obtained in the atmospheric frying, obtaining values of 34.45% (160°C), 31.36% (170°C), and 28.47% (180°C) ( ). In summary, the vacuum frying yielded sausages with a lower final oil percentage and higher moisture content; these results are promising because they may influence consumer preference for sensory parameters.

Muchos alimentos cárnicos procesados, como los chorizos, poseen elevados niveles de nitritos y algunos países han avanzado en el desarrollo de programas para reducir, significativamente, el contenido de estos en los alimentos procesados y el fomento de una disminución en su uso indiscriminado, ya que su consumo se asocia a enfermedades, como el cáncer, la diabetes, Parkinson y el Alzheimer. El presente estudio evaluó la calidad microbiológica, fisicoquímica, contenido de nitritos y textura en chorizos comercializados, en la ciudad de Cartagena (Colombia). El análisis proximal, se determinó mediante A.O.A.C. y la calidad microbiológica, según Norma Técnica Colombiana 1325. Se tomaron diez muestras al azar de chorizos de cerdo tipo coctel, comercialización en Supermercados, Mercado de Bazurto y venta callejera. El producto comercializado en supermercado presentó mayor contenido de proteína y menor de carbohidrato y almidón, que los obtenidos en las ventas callejeras y el mercado de Bazurto. Los comercializados en ventas callejeras y Mercado Bazurto revelaron valores de nitritos superiores a los permitidos por la Norma Técnica Colombiana. Los chorizos evaluados poseen un perfil de textura similar a los reportados por otros autores, para este tipo de productos. Los chorizos comercializados en supermercado son los únicos que cumplen con los requisitos microbiológicos expuestos en la Norma Técnica Colombiana, indicando mejor calidad nutricional, microbiológica y de textura.

The objective of this research was to study the effect of edible coatings on the physicochemical properties of cassava chips. The oil and moisture absorption in fried cassava chips that were not coated and in chips that were coated with pectin and whey protein films were determined using a completely randomized experiment design with a 3³ factorial arrangement. The multifactorial ANOVA analysis of variance showed that all factors had significant statistical differences for moisture loss and oil absorption (p < 0.05). The coating type, the control, and the whey protein-coated chips presented a 321% greater oil content on average at 180 °C and 180 s than the pectin-coated chips. The density, heat capacity, and thermal diffusivity had statistical differences at all temperatures (p < 0.05). The sensory analysis showed that the coating type affected all sensory parameters, except crispness, as indicated by significant statistical differences (p < 0.05). The temperature only influenced the color of the control chips, with statistical differences (p < 0.05) at all temperatures.

Katherine Paternina-Sierra, Piedad Montero-Castillo, Diofanor Acevedo-Correa, Marlene Duran-Lengua, and Barbara Arroyo-Salgado. Prev Nutr Food Sci 2024;29:522-32. https://doi.org/10.3746/pnf.2024.29.4.522