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The growing search for natural alternatives to synthetic food packaging materials and additives has increased, and seaweed extracts’ bioactivity has made them suitable candidates for incorporation in novel edible films. This study aims to investigate the effect of Codium tomentosum seaweed extract (SE) incorporation in alginate and chitosan edible films. Alginate- and chitosan-based films with and without the incorporation of 0.5% SE were characterized according to their physical, optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Seaweed extract incorporation in chitosan films resulted in an increase of film solubility (50%), elasticity (18%), and decrease of puncture strength (27%) and energy at break (39%). In alginate films, the extract incorporation significantly decreased film solubility (6%), water vapour permeability (46%), and elasticity (24%), and had no effect on thermal properties. Depending on the type of application, the addition of SE in edible films can bring advantages for food conservation.

Polycaprolactone (PCL) is widely used in tissue engineering due to its interesting properties, namely biocompatibility, biodegradability, elastic nature, availability, cost efficacy, and the approval of health authorities such as the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The PCL degradation rate is not the most adequate for specific applications such as skin regeneration due to the hydrophobic nature of bulk PCL. However, PCL electrospun fiber meshes, due to their low diameters resulting in high surface area, are expected to exhibit a fast degradation rate. In this work, in vitro and in vivo degradation studies were performed over 90 days to evaluate the potential of electrospun PCL as a wound dressing. Enzymatic and hydrolytic degradation studies in vitro, performed in a static medium, demonstrated the influence of lipase, which promoted a rate of degradation of 97% for PCL meshes. In an in vivo scenario, the degradation was slower, although the samples were not rejected, and were well-integrated in the surrounding tissues inside the subcutaneous pockets specifically created.

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This study aimed to evaluate changes in body composition, specially muscle and liver fatty acid profile in meagre (Argyrosomus regius) fed with different dietary lipid sources and levels, with or without selenium supplementation. Six hundred meagre were fed twice a day, 6 days per week, with eight experimental diets for 60 days. Diets were a combination of fish oil or a vegetable blend (45% linseed + 35% rapeseed + 20% soybean oil), at 12 or 17% of oil and 0 or 1 mg/kg of organic selenium, in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. The whole body protein and lipid content were affected by the dietary oil source. Fish oil diets increased long‐chain (LC) PUFAs content in the edible tissues, while vegetable oil‐based diets increased short‐chain (SC) PUFAs. Vegetable oil diet tended to decrease the fish protein content. A higher lipid liver content was observed in meagre fed the vegetable oil blend. The results also suggested the ability of meagre to convert SC‐PUFA to LC‐PUFA when the vegetable oil is included in their diet. The possibility for partial substitution of fish oil by vegetable oil in meagre diets, resulting in lower dependence of fish oil in meagre farming, is also demonstrated here. Practical applications: The growing importance of aquaculture for basic food supply, and the urge for cost‐effective and sustainable feeds that maintain or even increase fish quality, makes the search for alternatives to common feeds a route of upmost importance, as the vegetable oil here addressed. SC‐PUFA and LC‐PUFA contents of the studied tissues increased with diets supplemented with 17% oil level, which may ultimately add more value to this farmed species. These results indicate the possibility of the partial substitution of fish oil by vegetable oil in meagre diets, resulting in lower dependence on fish oil for fish farming. Meagre were fed with different dietary lipid sources and levels, with or without selenium supplementation, in a total of eight experimental diets during 60 days, in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Fish oil diet increases HUFAs and vegetable oil diet increases PUFAs in body composition. There is great potential for partial substitution of fish oil by vegetable oil in meagre (Argyrosomus regius) diets, resulting in lower dependence of fish oil in meagre farming.

Codium tomentosum hydroethanolic extract was obtained using a pilot solid–liquid extractor to validate the anti‐browning functionality of the extract under industrial conditions. Fresh‐cut apple slices were coated by immersion in: (1) a seaweed extract solution (0.5% w/v) and (2) a commercial coating, and the two sets of samples were compared with a control (immersion in water). Packaged samples were stored, under ambient and modified atmosphere conditions at 4°C. After 30 days of storage, the samples that were coated with the seaweed extract and packaged under modified atmosphere, demonstrated lower peroxidase activity and polyphenol oxidation when compared with the samples treated with the commercial additive. These results confirm, at pilot scale and under industrial production conditions, the efficacy of the seaweed extract as a bio‐based substitute for the synthetic coatings, which are currently used to prevent browning in fresh‐cut apples. Novelty impact statement Fresh‐cut fruits are subjected to processing operations leading to a decrease in nutritional and organoleptic properties. It is therefore necessary to adopt strategies to delay the degradative processes. In this study, the efficacy of a pilot‐scale production and industrial application of a coating formulated with Codium tomentosum seaweed extract has been established for the first time. This seaweed extract possesses the potential to prevent browning development in fresh‐cut apples under industrial operating conditions.

Argan oil is rich in long-chain unsaturated fatty acids (FA), mostly oleic and linoleic, and natural antioxidants. This study addresses the production of low-calorie structured lipids by acidolysis reaction, in a solvent-free system, between caprylic (C8:0; system I) or capric (C10:0; system II) acids and argan oil, used as triacylglycerol (TAG) source. Three commercial immobilized lipases were tested: Novozym® 435, Lipozyme® TL IM, and Lipozyme® RM IM. Higher incorporation degree (ID) was achieved when C10:0 was used as acyl donor, for all the lipases tested. Lipozyme® RM IM yielded the highest ID for both systems (28.9 ± 0.05 mol.% C10:0, and 11.4 ± 2.2 mol.% C8:0), being the only catalyst able to incorporate C8:0 under the reaction conditions for biocatalyst screening (molar ratio 2:1 FA/TAG and 55 °C). The optimal conditions for Lipozyme® RM IM in system II were found by response surface methodology (66 °C; molar ratio FA/TAG of 4:1), enabling to reach an ID of 40.9 mol.% of C10:0. Operational stability of Lipozyme® RM IM in system II was also evaluated under optimal conditions, after eight consecutive 24 h-batches, with biocatalyst rehydration between cycles. The biocatalyst presented a half-life time of 103 h.

Fungal infections cause losses amounting to between 20 and 25% of the fruit industry’s total outcome, with an escalating impact on agriculture in the last decades. As seaweeds have long demonstrated relevant antimicrobial properties against a wide variety of microorganisms, extracts from Asparagopsis armata, Codium sp., Fucus vesiculosus, and Sargassum muticum were used to find sustainable, ecofriendly, and safe solutions against Rocha pear postharvest fungal infections. Alternaria alternata, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum, and Penicillium expansum mycelial growth and spore germination inhibition activities were tested in vitro with five different extracts of each seaweed (n-hexane, ethyl acetate, aqueous, ethanolic, and hydroethanolic). An in vivo assay was then performed using the aqueous extracts against B. cinerea and F. oxysporum in Rocha pear. The n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanolic extracts from A. armata showed the best in vitro inhibitory activity against B. cinerea, F. oxysporum, and P. expansum, and promising in vivo results against B. cinerea using S. muticum aqueous extract were also found. The present work highlights the contribution of seaweeds to tackle agricultural problems, namely postharvest phytopathogenic fungal diseases, contributing to a greener and more sustainable bioeconomy from the sea to the farm.