The tomato is a member of the Solanaceae family and is a crop that is widely cultivated around the world due to its sweet, sour, salty, juicy, and nutritious berries. The processing of tomatoes generates a significant amount of waste in the form of tomato pomace, which includes seeds and skin. Tomato seeds are reservoirs of various nutrients, such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, minerals, and vitamins. These components make tomato seeds an important ingredient for application in food matrices. This review discusses the functional food properties of tomato seeds and their scope of utilization as major ingredients in the functional food industry. In addition, this review describes the development of tomato seeds as a potential nutritional and nutraceutical ingredient, along with recent updates on research conducted worldwide. This is the first review that demonstrates the nutritional profile of tomato seeds along with its diverse functional food properties and application as a functional food ingredient.

As calorie-consciousness becomes a worldwide phenomenon, demand for low-calorie sweeteners is increasing. Compared to other sugars, the reduced calorific value of mannitol (1.6 kilocalories per gram) finds its application as a sweetener in low-calorie foods. The present study was conducted to develop low-calorie yoghurt by adding lactic acid bacteria (LAB) having significant mannitol production potential. Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides IMAU:11666 was incorporated to standard yoghurt culture as adjunct culture. As mannitol is a food-grade sweetener with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) endorsement, the newly identified LAB strain can be used to develop low-calorie dairy products with beneficial effects. Side effects of other artificial sweeteners can also be reduced. Significantly high (p≤0.05) mannitol content was observed in functional yoghurt samples T1 (12.27 ± 0.18 g/l) and T2 (14.13 ± 0.30 g/l) with Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides when compared to control samples. The calorific value obtained for yoghurt samples viz., C1, C2, T1, and T2 (86, 95, 98, and 92 kcal/100g, respectively) was less than control yoghurt C (99 kcal/100 gm). Microbial and chemical quality parameters of the functional yoghurt were in the safe and acceptable zone. On sensory evaluation of yoghurt samples, significantly higher overall and flavor scores were observed for sample T2 with Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides.

This review features different powdered fruits with optimal storage stability and physiochemical parameters. Spray-drying parameters, such as temperatures and flow rate, can affect the physical properties of powders. Carrier agents provide powders with various favorable qualities, e.g. good flow rate. Commercial spray-drying of fruit juice knows different carrier agents. The review involved scientific and methodological publications, conference papers, patents, regulatory papers, and Internet resources. They were subjected to grouping, categorization, comparative analysis, and consolidation. Inlet temperature, maltodextrin concentration, and air flow rate of spray-drying increased the powder yield but decreased the moisture content. Inlet temperature, maltodextrin concentration, and feed flow rate affected the solubility. Effects of atomization rate, air flow rate and free flow rate were assessed in terms of yield, moisture content, hygroscopicity, and solubility. The article introduces the fundamentals of spray-drying and describes the effect of each spray-drying parameter on the powder quality. The list of parameters included inlet air temperature, atomization rate, air flow, and feed flow rate. We also evaluated the impacts of various carrier agents on the powder quality. The article contributed to a better understanding of how variable parameters affect the quality of food powders. The results provide the food industry with better choice options to adopt certain parameters for specific production needs.

Single-use synthetic plastics that are used as food packaging is one of the major contributors to environmental pollution. Hence, this study aimed to develop a biodegradable edible film incorporated with Limosilactobacillus fermentum. Investigation of the physical and mechanical properties of chitosan (CS), sodium caseinate (NaCas), and chitosan/sodium caseinate (CS/NaCas) composite films allowed us to determine that CS/NaCas composite films displayed higher opacity (7.40 A/mm), lower water solubility (27.6%), and higher Young’s modulus (0.27 MPa) compared with pure CS and NaCas films. Therefore, Lb. fermentum bacteria were only incorporated in CS/NaCas composite films. Comparison of the physical and mechanical properties of CS/NaCas composite films incorporated with bacteria with those of control CS/NaCas composite films allowed us to observe that they were not affected by the addition of probiotics, except for the flexibility of films, which was improved. The Lb. fermentum incorporated composite films had a 0.11 mm thickness, 17.9% moisture content, 30.8% water solubility, 8.69 A/mm opacity, 25 MPa tensile strength, and 88.80% elongation at break. The viability of Lb. fermentum after drying the films and the antibacterial properties of films against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 were also evaluated after the addition of Lb. fermentum in the composite films. Dried Lb. fermentum composite films with 6.65 log10 CFU/g showed an inhibitory effect against E. coli and S. aureus (0.67 mm and 0.80 mm inhibition zone diameters, respectively). This shows that the Lb.-fermentum-incorporated CS/NaCas composite film is a potential bioactive packaging material for perishable food product preservation.

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The prevalence of viral infections, cancer, and diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate around the world, and these diseases are now considered to be the most serious risks to human well-being in the modern period. There is a widespread practice in Asian countries of using papaya leaves (C. papaya L.) as herbal medicine, either alone or in combination with prescribed medications, to treat a variety of ailments. The importance of conducting the necessary descriptive studies in order to determine the safety of papaya leaf consumption is also emphasized in the context of their application in the healthcare sector. Electronic databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, and PubMed were used to gather information on papaya leaves, their therapeutic potential, and clinical evidence-based studies. The literature was gathered from publications on papaya leaves, their therapeutic potential, and clinical evidence-based studies. The antidengue, anticancer, antidiabetic, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory effects of papaya leaves discussed in this article are supported by evidence from preclinical, in vivo, in vitro, and clinical trial studies, as well as from other sources. Leaves have been investigated for their mechanism of action as well as their potential to be used in the development of novel herbal products for the health business. According to the reports gathered, only a small number of research demonstrated that leaf extract at high concentrations was hazardous to certain organs. The collective literature reviewed in this review provides insights into the use of papaya leaves as a cure for epidemic diseases, highlighting the phytochemical composition and pharmacological attributes of papaya leaves, as well as the results of various preclinical and clinical studies that have been conducted so far on the subject. The review clearly demonstrates the successful medical evidence for the use of papaya leaf extracts in the healthcare system as a supplemental herbal medication in a variety of clinical settings.

Background: Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is considered as food-grade microorganism with generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status. Both hetero-fermentative and homo-fermentative LAB have the ability to produce mannitol as metabolic end product in normal fermentation. Methods: Ten LAB isolates selected were detected for its mannitol production potential using colorimetric assay in preliminary study. Later selected four isolates of LAB with better mannitol production were further optimized at different culture conditions. A total of 540 mannitol combinations were obtained after optimization. All the observations were statistically analyzed using response surface methodology. Biochemical and molecular assays were carried out to identify the isolates. Result: The isolate L8 produced mean mannitol content of 1.635 g/L, 0.345967 cell densities, at pH 7.0 and temperature 42°C with agitation of 100 rpm was selected with optimum response surface optimization because of its higher mannitol production. Biochemical and molecular assays identified higher mannitol producers, L4 as Enterococcus faecium strain Gr17, L6 as Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain 6870, L8 as Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides culture IMAU: 11666 and L9 as Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum strain NMB8.

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