Browsing by Author "Martins, Pedro Miguel Mota"
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- Carotenoid-based solutions for the replacement of artificial colorants in pastry productsPublication . Martins, Pedro Miguel Mota; Dias, Maria Inês; Pereira, CarlaColour has a great importance in the first consumers’ impression, allowing to infer about the overall quality, the taste, the smell, the texture, and even the safety of foodstuff. For these reasons, there is a massive use of colorants in food products. Among the numerous natural matrices potentially used for the extraction of colouring compounds, the fruits from the genus Solanum represent promising sources of pigments, namely carotenoids. This reason, together with the fact that large amounts of fresh tomato wastes (resulting from crop growing, packaging, processing, storage, and sale) are discarded worldwide, make the recovery of valuable colorant biomolecules from agri-food wastes a crucial step of the circular economy by re-introducing them into the food chain as ingredients. In the present work, ultrasound-assisted methodologies were applied to obtain carotenoid-rich colouring extracts from three varieties of tomato (traditional red tomato - Solanum lycopersicum L., cherry tomato – S. lycopersicum var. cerasiforme, and yellow pear tomato – S. lycopersum 'Beam's Yellow Pear), using green solvents, and HLPC-DAD-ESI/MS to establish the carotenoid profile of each sample. Furthermore, the most promising and bioactive extracts were applied in a commercialized pastry cream to substitute the currently used artificial colorants, and finally an in-depth nutritional, chemical, and bioactive characterization of the obtained products was performed, complemented with their physical attributes, studied at Time 0 and 3 days of storage. Lycopene and β-carotene were the major carotenoids found in tomato extracts. None of the studied samples showed hepatotoxicity (including the artificial colorant), and cherry tomato extract was the one with the highest antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. All the creams coloured with the three tomato extracts revealed a uniform aspect and were stable in terms of structure and colour after the heat resistance test. The colour of the creams revealed no significant change over time; however, the pH levels suffered a growing tendency, except for the cream coloured with yellow pear tomato extract, which presented the most stable pH levels. As expected, the cream with the artificial colorant showed the best texture attributes, since the high quantity of carotenoid-rich extracts needed to achieved the final color lead to a weaker texture. Nevertheless, the cream coloured with cherry tomato extract presented the strongest cohesiveness and work of cohesion, while cream with yellow pear tomato presented the best firmness and consistency.Cherry tomato coloured cream presented the highest amounts of protein, fat, and ash, as also higher energetic value. Three soluble sugars were found, fructose, glucose, and trehalose; and citric acid was the major organic acid detected. Saturated fatty acids were found in the highest percentages in all samples, mainly due to the presence of palmitic acid, being oleic acid the second most abundant fatty acid. Finally, all creams revealed antioxidant properties, similar to the respective extracts, and no toxicity was observed for the VERO cell line. A significant improvement in the antimicrobial activity of the creams was verified, comparing with the extract, especially in the cream coloured with cherry tomato extract. The colouring capacity of these molecules makes them a very attractive target for the industrial sector, since carotenoid-based colorants appear as a valid solution for application in the pastry sector, that greatly relies on yellow/orange artificial colorants.
- Carotenoid-based solutions for the replacement of artificial colorants in pastry productsPublication . Martins, Pedro Miguel Mota; Dias, Maria Inês; Pereira, Carla; Molina, Adriana K.; Saldanha, Ana Luísa; Ferreira, Isabel C.F.R.; Barros, LillianColour has a great importance in the first consumers’ impression, allowing to infer about the overall quality, the taste, the smell, the texture, and even the safety of foodstuff [1]. For these reasons, there is a massive use of colorants in food products. Nevertheless, the most applied compounds are of artificial origin and some of them have been increasingly associated to health issues, with allergic reactions, children attention deficit, and cancer pointed out as the most common consequences [2]. These facts have been driving new research in this field, through the exploitation of natural sources of colouring molecules to be applied in detriment of artificial colorants. Among the numerous natural matrices potentially used for the extraction of colouring compounds, the fruits from the genus Solanum represent promising sources of pigments, namely carotenoids [3]. Together with the fact that large amounts of fresh tomato wastes (resulting from crop growing, packaging, processing, storage, and sale) are discarded worldwide, the recovery of valuable colorant biomolecules from these agri-food wastes represents a crucial step of the circular economy by re introducing them into the food chain as ingredients [3]. The need to process these bio-wastes for the recovery of coloring molecules, has led to the use of more eco-sustainable extraction methodologies in detriment of more conventional techniques, such as maceration. Ultrasound-assisted extraction methodology arises as one of the most promising alternatives, with lower extraction times, use of greener solvents, and higher recovery yields, but also with the possibility to be scaled-up to respond to the high demands of the industrialized world [3]. Carotenoid compounds are lipophilic pigments responsible for the yellow, orange, and red colours of certain plant matrices, with a vast structural diversity, but prone to isomerization and oxidation [4]. However, the colouring capacity of these molecules overcomes any instability problem (that can be solved with stabilization strategies) and, therefore, carotenoid-based colorants appear as a valid solution for application in the pastry sector, that greatly relies on yellow/orange artificial colorants.
- Extraction of chlorophylls and carotenoids from natural sourcesPublication . Martins, Pedro Miguel Mota; Gomes, Leonardo Corrêa; Molina, Adriana K.; Dias, Maria Inês; Pereira, Carla; Ferreira, Isabel C.F.R.; Barros, LillianThe growing consumers’ concern for possible long-term adverse effects of artificial molecules commonly used in food industry has led to an increased interest in natural products. At the same time, there is a demand for a more eco-sustainable use of natural matrices, which justifies the search for by products that have no other application to be explored in the development of novel food products [1,2]. Together with the fact that large amounts of carrot aerial parts and fresh tomato wastes (resulting from crop growing, packaging, processing, storage, and sale) are discarded worldwide, the recovery of valuable colorant biomolecules from these agri-food wastes represents a crucial step of the circular economy by reintroducing them into the food chain as ingredients [3]. Chlorophylls are the most abundant pigments in plants, responsible for green coloration, and carotenoid compounds are lipophilic pigments responsible for yellow, orange, and the red colours of certain plant matrices. In addition to their great colouring capacity, these classes of pigments also exert several bioactive properties, which corroborates the importance of their application in food [3,4]. In this context, the present study aimed to explore these natural pigments, more specifically chlorophylls in the aerial parts of carrots and tomatoes, and carotenoids in tomato fruit bio-residues. Maceration and ultrasound assisted extractions (MAE and UAE, respectively) were used, being applied to maximize the extraction yield of chlorophyll and carotenoid compounds. For the extraction, green solvents were prioritized, namely water, ethanol (90%), and hexane. The parameters affecting pigment recovery were varied for each technique, more specifically, time, power, and solvent for UAE, and time and solvent for MAE. The extractions were carried out protecting the samples from light to avoid the pigments degradation. The results were monitored through the implementation of a chromatographic method, HPLC coupled to a diode array detector (DAD) and mass spectrometry (MS), in order to obtain the individual profile of both samples, and also to determine the concentration of chlorophylls and carotenoids. UAE proved to be more effective than MAE, with increased extraction yields in the extractions performed employing higher ultrasonic power. The assessed bioresidues proved to have great potential to be used as sources of natural pigments that can find application in several industrial fields as colorants, namely food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic, among others.