Complex lipids including sphingolipid and plasmalogens were expected to be used as functional supplement, although their physiological activities have not been fully demonstrated. Although these complex lipids exist voluminously in brain and nervous tissues, hardly any animal resources of these lipids have been used since the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Thus, the chemical composition and concentration method of complex lipids from the skin of mature laying hens, a huge amount of which is wasted every year, has been investigated. Total lipid yield (32 g/100 g) prepared from chicken skin contained 2% complex lipids. Total lipids predominantly consisted of triacylglycerol (TAG), with phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin (SM) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) generally predominant as complex lipids. PE was primarily plasmalogens (62 mol%), of which arachidonic acid (47.6 mol%) and docosahexaenoic acid (11.2 mol%) were the predominant fatty acids. The component sphingoid base of sphingomyelin was almost totally 4-trans sphingenine (sphingosine). The complex lipids were able to be separated from an ethanol extract of minced skin in good yield by solvent fractionation with a hexane/ethanol system. Moreover, highly purified SM ([95 wt%) was prepared by a combination of solvent fractionation and alkaline/acidic hydrolysis from the ethanol extract. Thus, it was shown that culled chicken skin could be a potential resource of the antioxidant phospholipid plasmalogens and human-type sphingolipid.
A newly developed oven system, which generates superheated steam consisting of micro-droplets of hot water (Aqua-gas) by spraying heated water into a heating chamber, was applied to the blanching of potato. It was thought that the micro-droplets would increase the heat transfer coe$cient of the heating medium to the extent that they would prevent the deterioration of foods due to drying during the heating process. Blanching of the potatoes was conducted using Aqua-gas (++/), superheated steam (++/) and hot water (+**). The thermal properties of the heating mediums and the qualities of the potato processed with the heating mediums were compared. Though a greater heat transfer coe$cient was measured in the Aquagas, no significant di#erences were observed in temperature distributions or the progress of peroxidase inactivation among the heating media. Heat transfer simulations showed that the temperature distribution in the potatoes was only dependent upon thermal di#usivity of the potato since the heat transfer coe$cients of the heating mediums were su$cient. The potatoes processed with the Aqua-gas and with the superheated steam were firmer and brighter than the potatoes processed with the hot water. In addition, weight loss of the potatoes was reduced and any Bacillus subtilis would have been sterilized by the Aqua-gas.
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