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Berry fruits are known to be a rich source of natural compounds which provide them many health benefits. The most common compounds that occur in berries are vitamins, flavonoids, anthocyanins and phenolic acids. The objective of this work was to identify and compare the phenolic acids, flavonol glycosides content and antioxidant potential in blueberry, blackberry, raspberries and cranberries. Berries methanolic extracts were analyzed by HPLC/PDA-ESI/MS. Antioxidant activity was determinate using FRAP assay. Antioxidant activity of analyzed berries varied considerably. Blueberry extract demonstrated the highest ferric reducing antioxidant potential (48.3 μM Fe 2 /g) while lower values were obtained for cranberries extract (19.6 μM Fe 2 /g). Berries extracts were characterized by the presence of 16 compounds in different ratios. Blueberry extract was characterized by the presence of a large amount of phenolic acids such as chlorogenic and caffeic acid while raspberries extract was found to have high amount of ellagic acid. All analyzed berries contain higher levels of bioactive compounds which are responsible for their antioxidant potential. Based on quantitative analysis of phenolics these fruits can be highly recommended for daily consumption.

The present work describes a preliminary study to compare some traditional Romanian cheeses and adulterated cheeses using Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). For PLS model calibration (6 concentration levels) and validation (5 concentration levels) sets were prepared from commercial Dalia Cheese from different manufacturers by spiking it with palm oil at concentrations ranging 2-50 % and 5-40 %, respectively. Fifteen Dalia Cheese were evaluated as external set. The spectra of each sample, after homogenization, were acquired in triplicate using a FTIR Shimatsu Prestige 21 Spectrophotometer, with a horizontal diamond ATR accessory in the MIR region 4000-600 cm -1. Statistical methods as PLS were applied using MVC1 routines written for Matlab R2010a. As first step the optimal condition for PLS model were obtained using cross-validation on the Calibration set. Spectral region in 3873-652 cm -1 , and 3 PLS-factors were stated as the best conditions and showed an R 2 value of 0.9338 and a relative error in the calibration of 17.2%. Then validation set was evaluated, obtaining good recovery rates (108%) and acceptable dispersion of the data (20%). The curve of actual vs. predicted values shows slope near to 1 and origin close to 0, with an R 2 of 0.9695. When the external sample set was evaluated, samples F19, F21, F22 and F24, showed detectable levels of palm fats. The results proved that FTIR-PLS is a reliable non-destructive technique for a rapid quantification the level of adulteration in cheese. The spectroscopic methods could assist the quality control authority, traders and the producers to discriminate the adulterated cheeses with palm oil.

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Probiotics are bacteria that can provide health benefits to consumers and are suitable to be added to a variety of foods. In this research, viability of immobilized Lactobacillus casei in alginate with or without sea buckthorn lipid extract were studied during heat treatment and with an in vitro gastrointestinal model. The characterization of the lipid extract was also done using the UV-Vis spectrometry (UV-Vis), high-performance liquid chromatography photodiode array detection method (HPLC-PDA), gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GS-MS) and Cryo scanning electron microscopy (Cryo-SEM). During heat treatment, the entrapped probiotic cells proved high viability (>6 CFU log/g), even at temperatures above 50 °C. The rich in monounsaturated fatty acids sea buckthorn fraction improved the in vitro digestion passage regarding the probiotic viability. The survival of the probiotic cells was 15% higher after 2 h in the acidic medium of the simulated gastric fluid in the sample where L. casei was encapsulated with the sea buckthorn extract compared with the samples where no extract was added. Thus, this approach may be effective for the future development of probiotic-supplemented foods as foods with health welfare for the consumers.