An important factor in consumers’ acceptability, beyond visual appearance and taste, is food texture. The elderly and people with dysphagia are more likely to present malnourishment due to visually and texturally unappealing food. Three-dimensional Printing is an additive manufacturing technology that can aid the food industry in developing novel and more complex food products and has the potential to produce tailored foods for specific needs. As a technology that builds food products layer by layer, 3D Printing can present a new methodology to design realistic food textures by the precise placement of texturing elements in the food, printing of multi-material products, and design of complex internal structures. This paper intends to review the existing work on 3D food printing and discuss the recent developments concerning food texture design. Advantages and limitations of 3D Printing in the food industry, the material-based printability and model-based texture, and the future trends in 3D Printing, including numerical simulations, incorporation of cooking technology to the printing, and 4D modifications are discussed. Key challenges for the mainstream adoption of 3D Printing are also elaborated on.
Fish is a very perishable food and therefore several storage strategies need to be employed to increase its shelf-life, guaranteeing its safety and quality from catch to consumption. Despite the advances in modern fish storage technologies, chilling and freezing are still the most common preservation methods used onboard. The present review aims to summarize strategies to increase the shelf-life of fresh (chilled) and frozen fish, as whole, gutted, or fillet, involving the assessment of different traditional cooling and freezing conditions of different fish species caught in different locations. Although there are other factors that influence the fish shelf-life, such as the fish species and the stress suffered during catch, storage time and temperature and the amount of ice are some of the most important. In addition, the way that fish is stored (whole, fillet, or gutted) also contributes to the final quality of the product. In most studies, whole chilled and frozen fish present longer shelf-life than those preserved as gutted and filleted. However, it should be noted that other factors related to the organism, capture method, and transport to the preparation/processing industry should be considered for shelf-life extension.
In this study, nutritional composition (protein, lipids, carbohydrates, ash, and moisture), physicochemical properties (soluble solid content, titratable acidity, texture and instrumental colour on surface, and internal section), phytochemicals (total phenolic content and anthocyanin content), and antioxidant capacity (DPPH—2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity and ferric-reducing antioxidant power) of three strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cultivars (cv. “Primoris”, cv. “Endurance”, and cv. “Portola”) produced in the western region of Portugal (Caldas da Rainha) were evaluated. From the obtained, results no significant differences (P > 0.05) in nutritional composition were detected in all of the cultivars; with the exception of lower protein content observed in cv. “Portola” (0.57 g/100 g ± 0.04; P < 0.05). Regarding the a* value of whole strawberry fruits, no significant differences (P > 0.05) were found in any of the cultivars, which revealed a similar redness. The cv. “Endurance” revealed the highest bioactivity content compared to the other cultivars. Overall, these results provide important information about the high quality of strawberry produced in the western region of Portugal and may be used as a tool for adding value to a functional food in the Mediterranean diet due to the phytochemical composition and nutritional value of strawberry fruits
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disease which corresponds to 90% of the worldwide cases of diabetes, mainly due to epigenetic factors such as unhealthy lifestyles. First line therapeutic approaches are based on lifestyle changes, most of the time complemented with medication mostly associated with several side effects and high costs. As a result, the scientific community is constantly working for the discovery and development of natural therapeutic strategies that provide lower financial impact and minimize side effects. This review focus on these nature-based therapeutic strategies for prevention and control of T2DM, with a special emphasis on natural compounds that present pharmacological activity as dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4), alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, lipase, and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibitors.