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  • EditorialNatural Strategies to Improve Quality in Food Protection

    Flora V. Romeo ,1 Juliana Alves Macedo,2 and Antonino Malacrinò 3

    1Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Olivicoltura,Frutticoltura e Agrumicoltura (CREA-OFA), Acireale (CT), Italy2Food and Nutrition Dept. (DEPAN), Universidade Estadual de Campinas, FEA-UNICAMP, Brazil3Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden

    Correspondence should be addressed to Flora V. Romeo; [email protected]

    Received 3 September 2018; Accepted 29 November 2018; Published 26 December 2018

    Copyright © 2018 Flora V. Romeo et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work isproperly cited.

    In a world of climatic and social challenges and relatedchanging eating habits, the health and environmentalconsequences of the persevered use of synthetic chemicalsand overprocessed foods are triggering radical changes in theway we approach food protection. erefore, new foodprocessing methods based on natural products could rep-resent an alternative way to guarantee both food security andsafety while preserving health and environment. Postharvestlosses are mainly caused by microorganisms and arthropodpests; however, the wide use of synthetic chemicals is beinglimited by an increasing public concern regarding residuesin food and by the development resistance to pesticides.Also, extensive use of preservatives and overprocessingmethods are often required to extend the shelf life of pro-cessed food, negatively impacting on nutritional quality.

    Plant secondary metabolites represent an invaluablesource of molecules with antimicrobial activity against awide range of bacteria, yeasts, molds, and viruses. Indeed,the antimicrobial eect exhibited by many herbs and spicesextracts is due to their phytochemical constituents [1]. econcentration of these bioactive compounds is usuallyvariable depending on plant variety, seasonal factors, andgeographical factors, but biotic and abiotic stresses mayincrease the concentration of the secondary metabolites thatplants produce as defense factors. Among these phyto-chemicals, polyphenolic extracts and essential oils are themost studied and used antimicrobials in food and are oftenapplied as antioxidants and avor- and color-enhancingagents [2, 3]. e development of nano- and microstruc-tures able to stabilize and/or deliver bioactive compounds of

    natural origin has recently attracted the attention of re-searchers and industry. Since phytochemicals are degradedduring processing and storage and they are often charac-terized by a strong odor, these new encapsulation techniquesare useful to stabilize and deliver bioactive compounds,micronutrients, bers, prebiotics, and probiotics in food andto mask undesired avors [4]. ese approaches can alsohelp replace the traditional processes with new mild andecofriendly techniques. Heat treatments, for example, canreduce the bioactivity of phytochemical compounds; eventhough in some cases, this process induces the formation ofnovel compounds with increased antioxidant potential [1, 5].

    e use of natural products in food protection againstarthropods is attracting particular interest, thanks to acombination of eciency in pest control with a reduction oftypical issues associated to chemical pesticides [6, 7]. enatural availability of these products can have economicbenets especially in developing countries [8, 9]. Althoughan increasing number of laboratory studies is accounting fortheir ecacy, the published evidence on the real imple-mentation of natural products in pest management pro-grams is somewhat thin, especially outside of R&D projects[10]. Although the biopesticide market is quickly increasing,according to Chandler et al. [11], it needs a major boost inorder to override the prevalence of synthetic chemicalpesticides. However, as pointed out by the same authors,investments in this direction can be constrained by failure inreducing xed costs, farmers’ risk aversion to unknownproducts, integration costs into current pest managementprograms, and lack of prot from a niche market. Indeed,

    HindawiJournal of Food QualityVolume 2018, Article ID 7480910, 3 pageshttps://doi.org/10.1155/2018/7480910

    mailto:[email protected]://orcid.org/0000-0003-2989-5672http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0811-1229https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/7480910

  • companies have to go through a strict procedure to be able tocommercialize pesticides based on natural products, whichhas a cost. Furthermore, the authorization process is con-ceived for conventional synthetic pesticides, with regulatorybarriers that can severely hinder, or even prevent, productsto enter the market.

    &e current special issue addresses research and reviewarticles related to new developments on the use of naturalextracts or natural compounds to improve food quality,safety, and security.

    &e possibility of using different doses of corneliancherry juice as a functional additive in the production of beefburgers was investigated in this special issue by A. M. Salejdaet al. &e cornelian cherry juice effectively reduced lipidoxidation and allowed maintaining the sensory character-istics of the beef products. &is indicates the feasibility ofusing the active compounds of cornelian cherry juice (iri-doids and polyphenols) to prolong the shelf-life of meatproducts and, at the same time, to offer novel nutraceuticalproducts. &e obtained results can be applied in the meatindustry to develop novel products.

    Another study demonstrates that extracts from differentherbs, which are specific to spontaneous flora in Romania,can be incorporated successfully into a fermented dairyproduct, in particular into yoghurt. A. Dabija et al. examinedthe effects of aqueous extracts prepared from four herbs(thistle, hawthorn, sage, and marjoram) on the yoghurt’squalitative characteristics. &e results showed that thephysicochemical and rheological properties of the yoghurtwith herbs extracts addition were improved compared to thecontrol sample after 28 days of storage. Marjoram extractexhibited the best antioxidant properties and nutritionalvalues, while the thistle extract showed the best physico-chemical and rheological properties. Since yoghurt is asource of bioactive peptides, these obtained results certainlyencourage the production of yogurts fortified with naturalantioxidants from natural sources.

    In another study about fermented milkless beverages, U.T. Jasińska et al. focused on probiotics immobilization toprolong their survival, a current challenge for food in-dustries. &e immobilization of probiotic bacteria in algi-nate, or low-methoxylated pectin hydrogel particles,significantly increased the survival rate of these strains infermented milkless beverages compared with free bacteriacells. &e authors also evaluated the impact of the immo-bilizing method on the sensory properties of the beverages.&e results confirmed that the supplementation of fer-mented beverages with microencapsulated bacteria does notaffect the overall sensory quality of beverages during thestorage period.

    Another approach to improve food quality is based onmathematical and statistical methods, which can help tooptimize processes and workflows or to help in estimatingrisk levels. R. H. Abiyev et al. constructed a Z-number-basedfuzzy system to predict the food security risk level using dataabout cereal production in Turkey, demonstrating the ap-plicability of the designed system in real life.

    Since the use of insecticidal molecules extracted fromplants is attracting considerable interest from both

    researchers and consumers, O. Campolo et al. focused onreviewing the literature about the use of plant essential oils(EOs) in stored products protection carried out in last 15years. Although the efficacy of EOs as repellents and/orinsecticides has been already recognized, this is the firstcritical review on their use in foodstuff protection, a chal-lenging sector where pest control techniques are quitelimited. &e authors presented the major findings about theinsecticidal activity and the impact on insect life-historytraits (e.g., fertility and fecundity) of EOs on stored products’pests. Furthermore, the authors reviewed the available in-formation about their putative modes of action, suggestingthat EO-based insecticides may act on insect-specific met-abolic pathways, different from those of vertebrates, makingthem safe towards nontarget organisms.

    &e studies reported in the present issue offer the op-portunity to deepen the possibilities of using natural extractsto improve quality in food protection. Moreover, the use ofmathematical models can further help companies and re-searchers to raise the level of food quality and safety. We areassisting to increase efforts in testing the efficacy of naturalproducts in food protection. Researchers are improvingformulates and their integration into production chains,while policy-makers are putting efforts to ease their regu-lation, with the joint aim to help the transition from con-ventional approaches. &erefore, now it is time to climbthrough the looking glass, search beyond the lab bench, andto push our research efforts into real-world situationsboosting the transition from conventional strategies to amore environmental-friendly food protection.

    Conflicts of Interest

    &e Lead Guest Editor and the other Guest Editors do nothave any possible conflicts of interest or private agreementswith companies.

    Flora V. RomeoJuliana Alves MacedoAntonino Malacrinò

    References

    [1] C. Mart́ınez-Graciá, C. A. González-Bermúdez,A. M. Cabellero-Valcárcel, M. Santaella-Pascual, andC. Frontela-Saseta, “Use of herbs and spices for food pres-ervation: advantages and limitations,” Current Opinion inFood Science, vol. 6, pp. 38–43, 2015.

    [2] S. Burt, “Essential oils: their antibacterial properties andpotential applications in foods—a review,” InternationalJournal of FoodMicrobiology, vol. 94, no. 3, pp. 223–253, 2004.

    [3] R. Gyawali, S. A. Hayek, and S. A. Ibrahim, “Plant extracts asantimicrobials in food products: types,” in Handbook ofNatural Antimicrobials for Food Safety and Quality, M. Taylor,Ed., pp. 31-47, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, Netherlands,2015, ISBN 978-1-78242-034-7.

    [4] M. Vinceković, M. Viskić, S. Jurić et al., “Innovative tech-nologies for encapsulation of Mediterranean plants extracts,”Trends in Food Science and Technology, vol. 69, pp. 1–12, 2017.

    [5] P. S. Negi, “Plant extracts for the control of bacterial growth:efficacy, stability and safety issues for food application,”

    2 Journal of Food Quality

  • International Journal of Food Microbiology, vol. 156, no. 1,pp. 7–17, 2012.

    [6] C. Regnault-Roger, C. Vincent, and J. T. Arnason, “Essentialoils in insect control: low-risk products in a high-stakesworld,” Annual Review of Entomology, vol. 57, no. 1,pp. 405–424, 2012.

    [7] S. Walia, S. Saha, V. Tripathi, and K. K. Sharma, “Phyto-chemical biopesticides: some recent developments,” Phyto-chemistry Reviews, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 989–1007, 2017.

    [8] M. B. Isman, “Botanical insecticides: for richer, for poorer,”Pest Management Science, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 8–11, 2007.

    [9] P. C. Stevenson, M. B. Isman, and S. R. Belmain, “Pesticidalplants in Africa: a global vision of new biological controlproducts from local uses,” Industrial Crops and Products,vol. 110, pp. 2–9, 2017.

    [10] M. B. Isman, “Bridging the gap: moving botanical insecticidesfrom the laboratory to the farm,” Industrial Crops andProducts, vol. 110, pp. 10–14, 2017.

    [11] D. Chandler, A. S. Bailey, G. M. Tatchell, G. Davidson,J. Greaves, and W. P. Grant, “&e development, regulationand use of biopesticides for integrated pest management,”Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: BiologicalSciences, vol. 366, no. 1573, pp. 1987–1998, 2011.

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