No abstract

No abstract

This study aims at integrating food material with food processing to develop edible shape‐changing foods and investigate the effect of cold plasma treatment on their functionality. The anisotropic structure of the xerogel was obtained by sessile drop drying of the hydrogel. Xerogel discs were exposed to glow discharge plasma at 7.32 W for 5 min. For harnessing shape transformation, ethyl cellulose (constraint material) was applied in a single circle pattern. Upon immersing in hot water shape transformation takes place, and increases in bending curvature, angle, and height were observed for both the samples. The plasma treatment led to surface etching (ablation) of the xerogel. This resulted in better adhesion between constraint material and xerogel and therefore, more bending of plasma‐treated xerogel was observed than the untreated ones signifying a positive effect of cold plasma on shape transformation. Consequently, this method can be explored for the application in four‐dimensional food materials. Practical applications Designing flat two‐dimensional materials capable of undergoing shape transformation into a three‐dimensional configuration during cooking/frying, is an innovative area of research which could facilitate in reducing shipping and packaging costs as well as to engineer user‐customized interactive food materials. Detachment of constraint material from xerogel can be rectified by using cold plasma technique. This engineered shape transformation technique may help in food processing industries through the introduction of four‐dimensional printed food materials.

No abstract

No abstract

Cold plasma is recognized and explored for a plethora of applications in the food and agricultural industry. This study investigated the influence of a continuous atmospheric pressure non-thermal jet plasma system on the mortality of Rhyzopertha dominica adults in whole wheat kernels and the changes in the milling and physicochemical attributes of the treated whole wheat. Air-filled packets of whole wheat kernels were artificially infested with R. dominica adults. The packages were carried by a continuous conveyor belt and treated with plasma at voltages ranging from 44-47 kV for 4-7 min. The mortality was determined after 24 h and milling yield, particle size, proximate composition, and color of plasma-treated and untreated wheat grains were also evaluated. The maximum mortality was 88.33% at 47 kV for 7 min. The milling yield, protein, and fiber content of wheat were enhanced with plasma treatment significantly. Thus the continuous atmospheric pressure jet plasma used in this study could be one of the practically implementable emerging techniques for the commercial disinfestation of packaged food products.

No abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the impact of pin-to-plate cold plasma on the gelation and functional attributes of guar seed galactomannan. The guar galactomannan was subjected to 170 and 230 V treatment for 30 and 60 min and investigated for the gel characteristics and functional properties. The cold plasma treatment incurred galactomannan chain depolymerization with a reduction in the degree of polymerization (DP) ranging from 7.33% to 48.99%. The water contact angle (WCA) reduced from 110.93 to 95.54 , thus increasing the hydration capacity (36.73-45.90 g/g). These mechanisms diminish the gel viscosity (from 798. 227 cP of UT to 334.65 cP at 230-60) and the viscoelastic moduli (G 0 and G 00 ) indicating the low strength of gels from plasma-treated galactomannan (PT-GG). This further influenced the least gelation concentration, foam capacity, and foam stability. However, the critical strain (from 11.83% [UT] to 41% [230-60]), cross-over frequency (from 3.39 Hz [UT] to 15.3 Hz [230-60]), and degradation activation energy (from 18.445 kJ/mol [UT] to 21.721 kJ/mol [230-60]) of the PT-GG were increased (from 18.445 kJ/mol [UT] to 21.721 kJ/mol [230-60]) signifying the increased stability of gels by intramolecular and electrostatic forces. Thus, the cold plasma-induced depolymerization and hydrophilic modification of galactomannan influence the gelation and functional attributes which widen the potential applications of the hydrocolloid. Practical ApplicationsDepolymerized guar gum is industrially known for its specific applications such as lowviscosity source of dietary fiber, stabilizers, complex forming, and encapsulating agents.This study shows the potential of cold plasma processing as an eco-friendly sustainable technology for producing depolymerized guar gum which can be applied as a source of fiber in enteral feed formulations, stabilizers in low viscous spreads and sauces, and also in thermo-reversible gel networks due to its thermal gel transition attributes.