Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) obtained by fermentation of sucrose may be purified at large-scale by continuous chromatography (Simulated Moving Bed: SMB). In order to improve the efficiency of the subsequent SMB purification, the optimization of the fermentative broth composition in salts and sugars was investigated. Fermentations conducted at reduced amount of salts, using Aureobasidium pullulans whole cells, yielded 0.63 ± 0.03 g of FOS per gram of initial sucrose. Additionally, a microbial treatment was proposed to reduce the amount of small saccharides in the mixture. Two approaches were evaluated, namely a co-culture of A. pullulans with Saccharomyces cerevisiae; and a two-step fermentation in which FOS were first synthesized by A. pullulans and then the small saccharides were metabolized by S. cerevisiae. Assays were performed in 100mL shaken flasks and further scaled-up to a 3 L working volume bioreactor. Fermentations in two-step were found to be more efficient than the co-culture ones. FOS were obtained with a purity of 81.6 ± 0.8% (w/w), on a dry weight basis, after the second-step fermentation with S. cerevisiae. The sucrose amount was reduced from 13.5 to 5.4% in total sugars, which suggests that FOS from this culture broth will be more efficiently separated by SMB.

Stevia rebaudiana is known for its sweet-tasting ent-kaurene diterpenoid glycosides. Several manufacturing strategies are currently employed to obtain Stevia sweeteners with the lowest possible off-flavors. The chemical composition of four commercial S. rebaudiana extracts, obtained by different technologies, was characterized using UHPLC-ESI-MS(n). The composition of one of the ethanol-crystallized extracts (EC2) was entirely rebaudioside A, whereas the enzymatically modified (EM) extract contained the lowest concentration of this compound (2.7 mg/100 mg). The membrane-purified (MP) extract had the highest content of minor natural steviol glycosides (23.7 mg/100 mg total extract) versus an average of 2.4 mg/100 mg total extract for the EC samples. Thirteen trained panelists evaluated sweetness, bitterness, licorice, and metallic attributes of all four extracts. The highest licorice intensity (p ≤ 0.05) was found for MP. Both samples EC1 and EC2, despite their different chemical compositions, showed no significant differences in sensory perception.

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Metabolomics aims at gathering the maximum amount of metabolic information for a total interpretation of biological systems. A process analytical technology pipeline, combining gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data preprocessing with multivariate analysis, was applied to a Port wine "forced ageing" process under different oxygen saturation regimes at 60°C. It was found that extreme "forced ageing" conditions promote the occurrence of undesirable chemical reactions by production of dioxane and dioxolane isomers, furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, which affect the quality of the final product through the degradation of the wine aromatic profile, colour and taste. Also, were found high kinetical correlations between these key metabolites with benzaldehyde, sotolon, and many other metabolites that contribute for the final aromatic profile of the Port wine. The use of the kinetical correlations in time-dependent processes as wine ageing can further contribute to biological or chemical systems monitoring, new biomarkers discovery and metabolic network investigations.