Extension of the Shelf-Life of Fresh Pasta Using Chickpea Flour Fermented with Selected Lactic Acid Bacteria

Abstract

Fresh pasta is subjected to rapid spoilage, mainly due to the metabolic activity of bacteria, yeasts, and especially molds, which negatively affect the sensorial characteristics and the safety of the product. In this work, chickpea flour was fermented with selected lactic acid bacteria, characterized in terms of the antifungal activity, and used to fortify fresh semolina pasta. Pasta was characterized and subjected to a long period of storage after being artificially inoculated with Penicillium roqueforti. Conventional fresh semolina pasta, produced with or without calcium propionate addition, was used as a reference. The water/salt-soluble extract from chickpea sourdough exhibited antifungal activity towards a large spectrum of molds. Its purification led to the identification of ten potentially active peptides. Besides the high content of dietary fibers (4.37%) and proteins (11.20%), nutritional improvements, such as the decrease of the antinutritional factors concentration and the starch hydrolysis index (25% lower than the control) and the increase of the protein digestibility (36% higher than the control), were achieved in fresh pasta fortified with the chickpea sourdough. Inhibition of the indicator mold growth during a 40-day storage period was more effective than in pasta added to calcium propionate.

Nutritional and Functional Advantages of the Use of Fermented Black Chickpea Flour for Semolina-Pasta Fortification

“…A decrease in OCT and the increase of cooking loss were indeed observed, regardless the fermentation pretreatment. Nevertheless, fortified pasta was characterized by hardness significantly higher than semolina control, according to previous findings [7][8][9][10].…”

“…Twelve sensory attributes (described in Supplementary Table S2) were included in the lexicon [9]. Evaluation was carried out using a line scale from "not at all" (0) to "very" (10). Samples were analyzed after cooking at corresponding OCT and randomized distributed to the panelists, in duplicate.…”

“…Pasta production technology easily allows its functionalization, since fortification with different active ingredients such as fibers, polyphenols, minerals or proteins [ 1 ] is possible. Numerous attempts to increase the nutritional value of the pasta by adding different cereals (e.g., barley and pigmented cereals) [ 4 , 5 ], legume and pseudocereal flours [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] and ingredients from various origins, such as oregano and carrot leaf meal [ 11 ], fish (Tilapia) [ 12 ], carob [ 13 ] and maize bran, grape marc and brewers spent grain flour [ 14 ] were already reported.…”

Statistical Approach to Potentially Enhance the Postbiotication of Gluten-Free Sourdough

“…The nutritional and functional value of these gluten-free seeds can be enhanced by malting, cooking or fermentation [26,27]. Beverages, pasta [28,29], bread and sourdough were successfully made using the above-mentioned pseudocereals and legumes [30][31][32].…”

Editorial for Special Issue “Lactic Acid Bacteria, Biopreservation Agents for Fruit and Vegetables”

“…In a similar approach, lactic acid fermentation of African nightshade leaves not only increased the shelf life but also the antioxidant activity and the bioavailability of flavonoids [ 2 ]. Schettino et al [ 3 ] showed that addition of fermented chickpea flour to fresh pasta provided better nutritional properties. Moreover, chickpea sourdough was efficient in limiting the development of yeasts and molds and, to a lesser extent, of enterobacteria, hence increasing the shelf life.…”