An antioxidant gluten-free cracker snack was developed through the inclusion of carob by-products (germ and seed peel). The levels of formulation of these two novel ingredients were optimized through their effect on nutritional, physicochemical, sensory and antioxidant parameters of the final product. The results showed that both ingredients affected significantly (P 0.05) the studied parameters. Based on the surface response models, germ content ranging 4-14% and seed peel lower than 9% were considered optimal formulation conditions of a protein and fiber-rich product with high antioxidant activity. The incorporation of both ingredients increased significantly the antioxidant activity of the snack. However, concentration outside the optimal range of germ and/or peel had modifications in the expected color, texture and flavour of the crackers.

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Proteins are the most important structural and functional components of muscle and meat batter systems. Vibrational spectroscopy provides information to determine protein structural changes of this food, since these spectroscopic techniques are direct, nondestructive or noninvasive, and require small sample quantities. Raman spectroscopy offers structural information about secondary and tertiary protein structure, and infrared spectroscopy provides information particularly on protein secondary structure. This chapter reviews the applications of these techniques to protein structural studies of muscle and meat batter systems including the effects of various processing treatments and the possibilities of protein structural changes to assess muscle food quality.

: The possibilities of using the stress relaxation test as a nondestructive method to monitor post‐mortem textural changes of ice‐stored cod have been evaluated. The stress relaxation tests were performed in gutted cod. Fish were compressed by 5% and deformation was kept constant for 60 s. The relaxation curves obtained were fitted to nonlinear and linear regression models. Nonlinear regressions with 2 or 3 exponential terms and the linear regression model could be fitted to the relaxation curve of ice‐stored cod, although the three‐terms exponential models gave the best results for assessing the quality of ice‐stored cod (maximum relative difference ≦ 2% and R 2 > 0.999). The highest differences were found between pre‐rigor and in‐rigor states.