Functional Polymers in Food Science
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Giuseppe Cirillo received his PhD in 2008 from the University of Calabria, Italy, where he is currently in a post-doctoral position. His research interests are in the development of functional polymers with tailored biological activity, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer chelating,, the design of smart hydrogels for drug delivery, the study of the activity of innovative functional foods and nutraceuticals, and the synthesis and functionalization of carbon nanotubes, based devices for biomedical applications. He is the author and coauthor of more than 100 publications, including four edited books with Wiley Scrivener.
Umile Gianfranco Spizzirri obtained his PhD in 2005 from the University of Calabria. He is currently a member of the Technical Staff at the Department of Pharmacy, Nutrition and Health Science of the same university. His research activities are mainly related to the polymer chemistry and technology for the preparation of stimuli-responsive drug delivery system, functional polymers for food industry, and new analytical methodologies for the food quality and safety assessment. He is the author and coauthor of more than 100 publications, including three edited books with Wiley Scrivener.
Content
Preface xiii 1 Functional Polymers for Food Processing 1 Giuseppe Cirillo, Umile Gianfranco Spizzirri and Francesca Iemma 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Food Preparation 2 1.3 Food Processing: Rheology 5 1.4 Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals 5 References 6 2 Polyacrylamide Addition to Soils: Impacts on Soil Structure and Stability 9 Guy J. Levy and David N. Warrington 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 Polyacrylamide (PAM) Properties and Interactions with Soil 10 2.3 Polymer Effects on Aggregate Stability 14 2.4 PAM Effects on Soil Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity 16 2.5 PAM Effects on Infiltration, Runoff and Erosion 19 2.6 Concluding Comments 25 References 26 3 Functional Polymeric Membrane in Agriculture 33 Yuichi Mori 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Principle of Imec 34 3.3 Imec System 37 3.4 Plant Cultivation by Imec System 39 3.5 Comparison between Imec and Hydroponics 40 3.6 Current Domestic State of Imec Growth 42 3.7 Imec Vegetables besides Tomato 43 3.8 Imec Changes Barren Land to Farming Land 43 3.9 Current State of Overseas Growth of Imec 45 References 45 4 Enzymes Used in Animal Feed: Leading Technologies and Forthcoming Developments 47 Daniel Menezes-Blackburn and Ralf Greiner 4.1 Introduction: General Outline and Value Drivers 48 4.2 Feed Digestive Enzymes 49 4.3 Actual and Potential Feed Enzyme Market 59 4.4 Advances in Feed Enzyme Technology 60 4.5 Conclusions and Future Perspectives 63 Acknowledgments 63 References 63 5 Interaction of Biomolecules with Synthetic Polymers during Food Processing 75 K. Narsaiah 5.1 Introduction 75 5.2 Basic Biomolecules in Food and Their Interactions with Synthetic Polymers 76 5.3 Membranes for Food Processing 78 5.4 Chromatography for Food Processing 91 5.5 Analogy of Ultrafiltration and Size Exclusion Chromatography 92 5.6 Future Perspectives of Membranes and Chromatography 93 References 94 6 Rheological Properties of Non-starch Polysaccharides in Food Science 99 Anna Ptaszek, Pawel Ptaszek and Marcin Lukasiewicz 6.1 Non-starch Hydrocolloids 99 6.2 Rheological Properties of Non-starch Hydrocolloid Systems 108 References 129 7 Polysaccharides as Bioactive Components of Functional Food 133 Patricia Peso-Echarri, Carlos Alberto González-Bermúdez, Gaspar Ros-Berruezo, Carmen Martinez-Graciá and Carmen Frontela-Saseta 7.1 Introduction 134 7.2 Functional Foods 135 7.3 Polysaccharides from Seaweed 137 7.4 Functional Activity of Polysaccharides 141 7.5 Conclusions 150 References 150 8 Milk Proteins: Functionality and Use in Food Industry 159 Seval Andiç and Gökhan Boran 8.1 Introduction 159 8.2 Milk Proteins 161 8.3 Milk Protein Products 163 8.4 Functional Properties of Milk Proteins 166 8.5 Conclusions 174 References 175 9 Bioactive Peptides from Meat Proteins as Functional Food Components 181 Jianping Wu, Forough Jahandideh, Wenlin Yu and Kaustav Majumder 9.1 Introduction 181 9.2 Generation of Bioactive Peptides in Meat 183 9.3 Meat-Derived Bioactive Proteins and Peptides 184 9.4 Conclusion 196 References 197 10 Antioxidant Polymers: Engineered Materials as Food Preservatives and Functional Foods 209 Manuela Curcio and Nevio Picci 10.1 Introduction 209 10.2 Antioxidant Polymers as Food Additives 211 10.3 Antioxidant Polymers as Dietary Supplements and Functional Foods 215 10.4 Conclusion 223 References 223 11 Biopolymers for Administration and Gastrointestinal Delivery of Functional Food Ingredients and Probiotic Bacteria 231 Kasipathy Kailasapathy 11.1 Introduction 231 11.2 Characteristics of the Gastrointestinal Tract 233 11.3 Bioencapsulation Techniques for Administration and Gastrointestinal Delivery 237 11.4 Polymeric Materials for Microencapsulation 247 11.5 Biopolymers in the Encapsulation of Nonmicrobial Functional Food Ingredients 250 11.6 Biopolymers in the Encapsulation of Functional Microbes (Probiotics) for Administration and Gastrointestinal Delivery 255 11.7 Conclusion and Future Trends 258 References 259 12 Cyclodextrin as a Food Additive in Food Processing 267 Katia Martina and Giancarlo Cravotto 12.1 Introduction 268 12.2 Inclusion Complex Formation 270 12.3 Covalent Polymer Networks Containing Cyclodextrins 271 12.4 Regulatory Issues for CDs as Food Additives and Use in Food Processing 271 12.5 Applications of CD in Food 272 12.6 Cholesterol Sequestration 273 12.7 Taste Modifiers 274 12.8 Product Stability and Food Preservatives - Improving Shelf Life 277 12.9 Nutraceutical Carriers - Functional Foods 277 12.10 Packaging 278 12.11 Conclusion 281 References 282 13 Enzymes and Inhibitors in Food and Health 289 Nana Akyaa Ackaah-Gyasi, Priyanki Patel, Julie Ducharme, Hui Yin Fan and Benjamin K. Simpson 13.1 Introduction 290 13.2 Traditional Methods of Producing Enzymes 294 13.3 Biotechnological Methods for Producing Enzyme 299 13.4 Enzymes in Food Processing 309 13.5 Endogenous Enzyme Inhibitors from Food Materials 313 13.6 Concluding Remarks 320 References 321 Index 329
Chapter 1
Functional Polymers for Food Processing
Giuseppe Cirillo*, Umile Gianfranco Spizzirri and Francesca Iemma
Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy
*Corresponding author: giuseppe.cirillo@unical.it
Abstract
Polymeric materials can be used as functional elements for reaching an efficient food production and processing, with considerable advantages for the whole food industry. Among others, the applicability of polymers involves their use in agriculture, animal feed, modification of food rheology, and the development of functional food and nutraceutics.
Keywords: Functional polymers, agriculture, animal feed, food rheology, functional foods, nutraceutics
1.1 Introduction
Living a long healthy life is the desire of every human on earth. This basic desire is affected by almost every activity of human beings, with nutrition acting as one of the key elements, since it provides the essential elements for the cell cycle, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals [1].
Food, basically of plant or animal origin, is defined as any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the human body. The rapid development of economies allows consumers to access foodstuff by the food industry, while the direct production has sensibly been reduced over the last century. The main challenge of the food industry is to address the growing global emphasis and attention on food quality and safety concerns, which are related not only to the consumers' rising and persistent demand for requirements for safe food and better quality of food and beverage, but also the strict norms of government regulations.
"Food quality" refers to the quality characteristics of food that are acceptable to consumers, including such external factors as appearance (size, shape, color, gloss and consistency), texture, and flavor, and other internal factors (chemical, physical and microbial contamination).
The improvement of food quality can be related to one of the foodstuff production steps, namely production, manufacturing and storage. Each of these industrial activities acts as a key determining step for the final food quality assessment, and several different technologies have been developed for a substantial and sustainable quality improvement.
Polymers, from both natural and synthetic origin, are practically indispensable for everyday life in modern society, representing one of the main classes of compounds within the global chemical market. Almost every human activity in life highly depends on polymers, which are used in technological fields such as communications, transportation, electronics, as well as in the pharmaceutical, medical and food industries [2]. One of the reasons for the great popularity exhibited by polymers is their ease of processing. Polymer properties can be tailored to meet specific needs by varying the "atomic composition" of the repeat structure and by varying molecular weight. The flexibility can also be varied through the presence of side-chain branching and according to the lengths and the polarities on the side chains. The degree of crystallinity can be controlled through the amount of orientation imparted to the polymers during processing, through copolymerization, by blending with other polymers, and via the incorporation (via covalent and noncovalent interactions) of an enormous range of compounds [3].
1.2 Food Preparation
Providing for the health and welfare of its population with abundant, safe, and affordable food has long been the goal of food systems all around the world. This is related to the production of foodstuffs of both plant and animal origins, where the use of polymeric materials in the production step is explored differently.
1.2.1 Functional Polymers in Agriculture
As a consequence of the impressive technological progress of the last decades, agriculture is becoming an industrial sector with complex supply chains and electronically aided information and logistics systems [1].
In the agricultural field, polymers are widely used for many applications [4]. Although they were first used just as structural materials for creating a climate beneficial to plant growth (inhert polymers), in the last decades functionalized polymers have revolutionized the agricultural and food industries with new tools for the molecular treatment of diseases, rapid disease detection, enhancing the ability of plants to absorb nutrients, etc. [5].
Smart polymeric materials and smart delivery systems help the agricultural industry combat viruses and other crop pathogens. Functionalized polymers are used to increase the efficiency of pesticides and herbicides, allowing lower doses to be used and to protect the environment indirectly through filters or catalysts to reduce pollution and clean up existing pollutants [6].
The first application of polymeric materials is related to the enhancement of the soil stability, including aridity remediation. The use of polymeric materials with good water absorption and retention capacities even under high pressure or temperature represents a valuable approach to these aims. An important class of systems with this behavior is composed of the Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs), organic materials with lightly cross-linked three-dimensional structure possessing high to very high swelling capacity in aqueous media [7].
Generally, the SAP materials used in agriculture are polyelectrolyte gels often composed of acrylamide, acrylic acid, and potassium acrylate. Therefore, they swell much less in the presence of monovalent salt and can collapse in the presence of multivalent ions [8,9]. These ions naturally exist in the soil or are introduced through fertilizers and pesticides.
Interesting base elements for the preparation of highly engineered SAPs are natural polymers such as starch [10], chitosan [11], guar gum [12] and poly (amino acid)s [13], since they are environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and independent of soil resources.
A further development in the use of polymers in agriculture for soil protection is related to the use of plastic mulch [4], which offers the advantages of increased soil temperature, reduced weed pressure, moisture conservation, reduction of certain insect pests, higher crop yields, and more efficient use of soil nutrients.
Nanotechnology represents another area holding significant promise in the agricultural scenario [14]. Polymeric nanomaterials hold great promise regarding their application in plant protection and nutrition due to their size-dependent qualities, high surface-to-volume ratio and unique optical properties, making them suitable for developing agrochemical carriers for pesticides (inhibitors, antibiotics and toxins), biopesticides (bacteria, viruses and fungi enzymes), fertilizers, and biofertilizers (live formulations of beneficial microorganisms) [15]. Furthermore, they are suitable to be used for the assisted delivery of genetic material for crop improvement and as nanosensors for plant pathogen and pesticide detection.
In recent years, the removal of hazardous heavy metals from water and soil environments and industrial waste streams has attracted considerable attention. Enhanced metal separation techniques that require less energy with minimal impact on the environment are desirable [16,17]. When soils are contaminated with heavy metals, the clean-up is one of the most difficult tasks for environmental engineering. For remediating sites contaminated with inorganic pollutants, several techniques have been developed. An efficient technique for the removal of metal ions from wastewaters is the use of functionalized water-soluble polymers combined with the membrane-based separation method of ultrafiltration [18]. It consists of making heavy metals react with a water-soluble macromolecular ligand to form a macromolecular complex. Solution containing macromolecular complex is pumped through an ultrafiltration membrane. Unbound chelates pass through the membrane, while metal-loaded polymers are of sufficient molecular size to be retained.
1.2.2 Functional Polymers and Animal Feed
Animal feed is an industrial field that has drastically increased in the last decades, since efforts have been made to improve its production to obtain a substantial reduction in production costs and to improve the quality of animal-based foodstuffs [19].
In animal feed, key issues are related to the safety of the components. Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 May 2002 on undesirable substances in animal feed is the Directive governing the measures on undesirable substances in feed. "Undesirable substance" is defined as any substance or product, with the exception of pathogenic agents, which is present in and/or on the product intended for animal feed and which presents a potential danger to animal or human health or to the environment or could adversely affect livestock production [20].
Specific protocols have been developed for the the detection of contaminants (e.g., heavy metals, botanical species, alkaloids, toxins, bacteria and fungi), some of them involving the use of polymer-based biosensors.
Furthermore, various attempts have been made to develop efficient delivery system for animals based on pH-sensitive polymers [21].
1.3 Food Processing: Rheology
The quality and desirability of food products depends on their flavor and texture [22]. Food texture has historically been considered those properties that are not covered in the classical definitions for taste and flavor compounds. This...
