Furan is generally produced during thermal processing of various foods including baked, fried, and roasted food items such as cereal products, coffee, canned, and jarred prepared foods as well as in baby foods. Furan is a toxic and carcinogenic compound to humans and may be a vital hazard to infants and babies. Furan could be formed in foods through thermal degradation of carbohydrates, dissociation of amino acids, and oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The detection of furan in food products is difficult due to its high volatility and low molecular weight. Headspace solid‐phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) is generally used for analysis of furan in food samples. The risk assessment of furan can be characterized using margin of exposure approach (MOE). Conventional strategies including cooking in open vessels, reheating of commercially processed foods with stirring, and physical removal using vacuum treatment have remained unsuccessful for the removal of furan due to the complex production mechanisms and possible precursors of furan. The innovative food‐processing technologies such as high‐pressure processing (HPP), high‐pressure thermal sterilization (HPTS), and Ohmic heating have been adapted for the reduction of furan levels in baby foods. But in recent years, only HPP has gained interest due to successful reduction of furan because of its nonthermal mechanism. HPP‐treated baby food products are commercially available from different food companies. This review summarizes the mechanism involved in the formation of furan in foods, its toxicity, and identification in infant foods and presents a solution for limiting its formation, occurrence, and retention using novel strategies.
Pumpkin is abundantly available in Indonesia and well known to contain high dietary fiber, β-carotene and phenolic compounds. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pumpkin flour enrichment to the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of bread. Breads were made by partially replacing of wheat flour with pumpkin flour at the level of 5% to 20%. The results showed that pumpkin flour significantly (P<0.05) enhanced antioxidant activity of enriched bread measured by DPPH and ABTS. The highest antioxidant activity was observed in bread with enrichment of 20% of pumpkin flour. At highest values, antioxidant activity were 76,59% (DPPH) and 81,74% (ABTS), respectively. Total phenolic contents of enriched bread were also significantly affected by increased level of pumpkin flour. The highest total phenolic content (5,39 mg GAE/g) was observed in bread with enrichment of 20% pumpkin flour. Whereas, control bread contained total phenolic content of 1,38 mg GAE/g. Thus, we concluded that pumpkin flour can be employed to enhanced antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of bread.
Yellow pumpkin (Cucurbita moscata) is a popular plant in Indonesia, but its utilization is limited. It has been reported that the antioxidant activity of the yellow pumpkin increased by increasing the drying temperature and immersing the pumpkin in bisulfite solution during processing. The aim of this study was to optimize the processing conditions for the manufacturing of pumpkin flour using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to enhance its antioxidant activities. The optimization process was done using a Box-Behnken construction. The factorial treatments consisted of immersion in metabisulfite solution, drying temperature, and drying time. The results showed that the scavenging activity as measured by DPPH and ABTS corresponded well to the independent variables based on the multiple regression analysis particularly the multivariate quadratic regression (MQR). Based on the MQR, the determination coefficients (R2) of DPPH and ABTS were 0.97 and 0.96, respectively. Based on that model, the optimum conditions of pumpkin flour manufacturing were immersion in metabisulfite solution for 23.05 min, drying temperature of 85°C, and drying time of 11.40 h. This optimum condition was predicted to yield pumpkin flour having DPPH and ABTS scavenging activities of 90.12% and 94.38%, respectively. Based on the validation data, the optimum condition resulted in flour with antioxidant activities of 80.23 (DPPH) and 86.67% (ABTS). The quadratic models developed were powerful in predicting the actual values of the antioxidant activity by DPPH and ABTS. The accuracy of the models in predicting the antioxidant activity by DPPH and ABTS were 89.02 and 91.83%, respectively.
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