Acrylamide formation in bread products poses health concerns, necessitating strategies to reduce its presence while maintaining nutritional value. This study investigated how different concentrations of pumpkin flour (Cucurbita maxima Plomo) and prolonged proofing times affect acrylamide content and bread characteristics. Composite bread samples were prepared with varying pumpkin flour shares (0–20%) to soft wheat flour using two proofing times (60 and 120 min). The study analyzed quality features, crust and crumb color, antioxidant activity, total polyphenolic content, reducing sugars, and acrylamide content of the resulting breads. Extended proofing (120 min) reduced acrylamide levels in the crust from 220 to 150 units in 20% pumpkin flour bread compared to 60 min proofing. Control bread showed the highest specific volume (2.40 ± 0.01 cm³/g) after 2 h of proofing, while 20% pumpkin flour addition decreased it to 1.69 ± 0.02 cm³/g. Initial hardness increased from 6.8 ± 1.5 N in the control to 14.3 ± 1.5 N in 20% pumpkin flour bread after 1-h of proofing. Water activity decreased from 0.966 ± 0.002 in the control to 0.945 ± 0.004 in 20% pumpkin flour samples with 2 h proofing. Optimal results were achieved with 5–10% pumpkin flour substitution combined with two-hour proofing, balancing improved nutritional properties and reduced acrylamide formation while maintaining acceptable bread quality parameters.

The apples of Red Delicious are round fruits that have red colour when ripe according to which they are named. They can be eaten fresh, but also can be processed into a variety of processed products including apple juice. In order to grow or obtain better yield of a good quality apples, pesticides are usually used to protect apple trees, but they can adversely affect human health, therefore, some precautions should be taken when these chemicals are used as food contact materials. This study summarizes the presence of chlorpyrifos pesticide residues in apples that are prepared by different methods including mechanical treatments, fresh, washed, peeled as well as heat treatment of apples when prepared into an apple juice. For this purpose, the QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe) method was used for residue extraction in apple samples after different methods of preparation, and their analyses were performed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The concentration of the pesticide chlorpyrifos in different samples of apples was in the range of less than 0.0005 mg.kg ⁻¹ to 0.00348 mg.kg ⁻¹ . This study provides a conclusion that all samples of apples are safe for consumption while the peeling method and heat treatment are the most efficient in reduction of chlorpyrifos content in the final products.

The quality and authenticity of honey are of crucial importance for food safety and consumer confidence. Given the increasing interest in enriched honey and potential fraud, rapid and non-destructive analytical methods for quality assessment, such as Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), are needed. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the applicability of NIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometric methods to assess the quality change in honey from three different countries, after addition of five different aromatic plants (lavender, rosemary, oregano, sage, and white pine oil) in three different concentrations (0.5%, 0.8% and 1%). Measurements of basic physicochemical properties, color, antioxidant activity, and NIR spectra were performed for all samples (pure honey and honey with added aromatic plants). Chemometric models, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression, were applied to analyze spectral data, correlate spectra with physicochemical properties, color and antioxidant activity measurements, and develop classification and prediction models. Spectral changes in the NIR region, as expected, showed the ability to distinguish samples depending on the type and concentration of added aromatic plants. Chemometric models enabled efficient discrimination between pure and enriched honey samples, as well as assessment of the influence of different additives on antioxidant activity and color. The results highlight the potential of NIRS as a rapid, non-destructive and environmentally friendly method for quality monitoring and detection of specific additives in honey, offering technical support for quality control and food safety regulation.

People’s way of life is being formed under influence of the geographical, ecological, political, culturaland religious environment and it is about the characteristics of the population in certain region, place and time. Thehealth of one’s person, the physical, social and mental well - being are under influenced by the lifestyle. The way ofliving, working and functioning can be a reason for development of a certain conditions called illness of thelifestyle. They include: obesity, heart diseases, diabetes, cancer etc. These illnesses usually develop slowly and iftimely intervention is made, through changing the habits that decrease the exposure of potential risk factors, canprevent or delay the beginning of the disease. Main risk factors for development of insulin resistance and diabetesare nutrition and lifestyle habits. On the other hand, they are also main tools that can help in prevention andimprovement of the condition.This research assesses the influence of certain risk factors and quality of the lifestyle in people with insulinresistance that have increased body mass. It is chosen a group of 175 people, from which 103 are women and 73men, aged above 25 years, and have increased body mass index (BMI) (BMI>25 kg/m2) and have hyperinsulinemia.A statistically significant difference was determined (p˂0,028), between BMI and HOMA-IR. Most of them have asedentary lifestyle. From the group that is in employment (69 people), the work isn’t related to physical activity.Most often, they practice walking as an additional physical activity, once or twice a week, in duration of 30 to 45minutes. Biggest part of the people in the selected group (118 people), have regular sleep-in duration of one day.Professional support with instructions for a hygienic-diet regimen that would reduce body mass, education fornutrition and changing of lifestyle habits are needed, to achieve timely prevention and decrease of the insulinresistance, and with that to stop or to delay its progression towards diabetes.

The aim of this paper is to study consumer dietary habits regarding the consumption of functional foods, with a particular focus on functional dairy products as one of the elements of sustainable development. Functional foods, enriched with additional nutritional components (probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins), positively influence human health and well-being, the preservation and stability of biodiversity, climate change, and environmental protection. The research was conducted on 373 respondents who varied by gender, age, and educational level. They answered an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 48 questions regarding the demographic characteristics of the respondent, the frequency, and habits of consuming functional dairy products. The questionnaire was created using Google Forms and distributed electronically. For statistical processing and analysis of the data, tools from Microsoft Office Excel and SPSS 21 statistical software were used.According to the results, women prefer functional food more frequently than men (4.5 vs. 4.1 points). By age: the category of individuals aged 14-18 years are the most frequent consumers of functional food (4.7 points); those aged 19-34 years consume it the least (4.11 points), while among individuals aged 35-50 years and over 51 years, no significant differences were observed, with an average of 4.2 points (on a scale of 1-6). Regarding education level, respondents with higher education consume functional food more than those with secondary education (4.36 vs. 4 points).From the results obtained, it can be concluded that dietary habits and the consumption of functional foods differ among various categories of respondents, depending on their demographic characteristics, but an upward trend in the consumption of functional dairy products is expected with the application of ecological and economically sustainable practices.

Background/Objectives: Translating medical nutrition therapy guidance into practical meal plans requires consistent application of clinical and dietetic rules while accommodating different therapeutic regimens. This study developed and computationally evaluated a transparent Python-based decision-support prototype for diabetic menu planning. Methods: The prototype combines procedural decision rules, food-exchange patterns, nutritional checks, and mixed-integer linear programming (MILP). Two meal-frequency pathways were represented: a conventional multi-meal pathway and a three-main-meal pathway for people treated with modern basal–bolus insulin regimens. For the multi-meal pathway, a structured dataset containing 42 candidate meals (seven alternatives in each of six meal categories) was used for objective-specific optimization and exhaustive evaluation of all 117,649 possible daily combinations under predefined nutritional constraints. Sensitivity to the allowable energy deviation and trade-offs among nutritional objectives were also examined. Results: The prototype produced deterministic pathway selection, exchange allocation, nutritional summaries, and explicit warnings when required information was unavailable. Under the baseline ±6.5% energy tolerance, 5628 of 117,649 six-meal combinations (4.78%) satisfied all nutritional constraints. Objective-specific optimization identified feasible solutions for minimizing energy, carbohydrate, and saturated fat and maximizing dietary fiber. The proportion of feasible combinations ranged from 2.71% at ±5% energy tolerance to 9.47% at ±10%, while comparison of objective-specific solutions demonstrated measurable nutritional trade-offs. The three-meal basal–bolus pathway generated predefined exchange allocation and clinical-review warnings but was not subjected to the same exhaustive combinatorial optimization. Conclusions: The prototype demonstrates the computational feasibility of integrating explicit dietetic rules, regimen-related meal-pattern selection, food-exchange allocation, and mathematical optimization within an inspectable decision-support framework. The findings establish technical feasibility within the evaluated datasets rather than clinical effectiveness. Independent software testing, expert usability assessment, evaluation using larger and version-controlled meal datasets, and prospective clinical validation are required before routine clinical implementation.