The results indicate that exposure of people to pistachio significantly affects the prevalence of its allergic reactions. In addition, it was observed that, among pistachio allergic subjects, such exposure may affect the co-sensitivities with other nuts, including cashew and almond. The plant taxonomic classification of pistachio and other tree nuts does appear to predict allergenic cross-reactivity.

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The objectives of this study were to determine if flavor differences between 2% fat pasteurized milks with and without naturally enhanced vaccenic acid (VA) and cis-9, trans-11 conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) levels could be detected over the commercial shelf life of the product and to determine if milk with elevated VA and cis-9, trans-11 CLA levels was more susceptible to development of light-induced oxidative flavor defects. Cows were fed a control diet or the same ration supplemented with 2% soybean oil and 1% fish oil (CLA diet). The milk, standardized to 2% fat, was pasteurized, homogenized, and stored in plastic containers at 4 degrees C. Oxidation was induced by exposing half of the containers to light. Testing was conducted at 1, 7, and 14 d postpasteurization. Average cis-9, trans-11 CLA content of the milks from the control and CLA diet groups was 0.52 and 4.74 g/100 g of fatty acids, respectively (8-fold increase). Average VA content of the milk from the control and CLA diet groups was 1.43 and 12.06 g/100 g of fatty acids, respectively (7.5-fold increase). Together, VA plus CLA represented almost 17% of the total milk fatty acids. There was no effect of light exposure on fatty acid composition initially or over the 14-d storage period. Although VA, cis-9, trans-11 CLA, and degree of unsaturation were significantly elevated in the milk from the CLA diet group, untrained panelists were unable to detect flavor differences initially or over time in 15 of 16 triangle test evaluations. Similarly, sensory results indicated no difference in susceptibility to the development of oxidized off-flavors between the milk from the control and CLA diet groups, even when oxidation was induced by light exposure.

The factors which are very important in saffron are crocin (color), picrocrocin (flavor) and safranal (aroma). Higher amount of these compounds in saffron provide higher quality of saffron. ISO (the international organization for standardization) has set a classification of saffron based on minimum requirements of each quality. According to ISO picrocrocin, safranal and crocin are expressed as direct reading of the absorbance of 1 % aqueous solution of dried saffron at 257, 330 and 440 nm respectively. There was some doubt about the accuracy of the safranal result using ISO method. Therefore it was decided to evaluate the amounts of safranal and crocin in saffron according to ISO method and compare the results with the amounts of these compounds when using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In HPLC method in an isocratic run a 30 cm ODS column were used. Mobile phase was mixture of acetonitrile and water (76 % v/v). A UV detector at wavelengths of 308nm for safranal and 440 nm for crocin was also employed. Results indicated that standard crocin had significant absorption at 308nm. We concluded that present ISO method is not an accurate method to measure the amount of safranal in saffron. Therefore it is suggested to evaluate this method and meanwhile using a HPLC method to evaluate the amount of safranal and crocin in saffron samples.

Pistachio (Pistacia vera) is a tree nut that has been reported to cause IgE-mediated allergic reactions. This study was undertaken to investigate the distinctions between different cultivars of pistachio nut and the influence of different processing on the IgE-binding capacity of whole pistachio protein extracts. The influence of different processes on allergenicity was investigated using competitive inhibition ELISA and Western blotting assays. The Western blotting results of extracts from pistachio cultivars showed no marked difference among them. The IgE-binding capacity was significantly lower for the protein extract prepared from steam-roasted than from raw and dry-roasted pistachio nuts. The results of sensory evaluation analysis and hedonic rating proved no significant differences in color, taste, flavor, and overall quality of raw, roasted, and steam-roasted pistachio nut treatments. The most significant finding of the present study was the successful reduction of IgE-binding by pistachio extracts using steam-roast processing without any significant changes in sensory quality of product.