Metabolomics and Food Processing: From Semolina to Pasta

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the metabolite variations during industrial pasta processing (from semolina to dried pasta) for five different commercial products. Up to 76 metabolites were detected. Significant differences were observed between wholemeal and refined pasta samples, with the wholemeal pasta richer in many classes of compounds such as phytosterols, policosanols, unsaturated fatty acids, amino acids, carotenoids, minerals, and so on. Significant differences were also observed between samples of refined pasta apparently similar for the actual parameters used for the assessment of pasta quality. The results indicated that a number of metabolites undergo a transformation during the pasta-making process depending on the processing conditions adopted. The approach used in this work shows the high potential of metabolite profiling for food investigations with regard to process-related transformation, safety, and nutrition.

Carotenoids, Tocols, and Retinols during the Pasta-Making Process

“…The thermal resistance of carotenoids and tocols to the temperatures used during drying processes of wheat was also observed by Panfili et al (2005). A significant total carotenoid loss was observed during processing by Beleggia et al, 2011. Overall losses of carotenoids observed from semolina to pasta were between 55% and 80%.…”

An Emerging Role for Metabolomics in Nutrition Science

“…For example, recent studies reported that organic cultivation was found to provide tomatoes with a significantly higher content of antioxidant phenolic compounds than conventional farming [33,35]. Finally, metabolomics allows scientists to discover and characterize the chemical modifications that result from food processing, which could significantly alter the molecular content and health properties of food [19,36,37]. The molecular composition of food products, indeed, can be significantly affected by different methods of food preparation (e.g., frying vs. baking, steaming vs. boiling) and preservation (freezing, drying, smoking, and refrigerating) [20,36,37].…”

“…Finally, metabolomics allows scientists to discover and characterize the chemical modifications that result from food processing, which could significantly alter the molecular content and health properties of food [19,36,37]. The molecular composition of food products, indeed, can be significantly affected by different methods of food preparation (e.g., frying vs. baking, steaming vs. boiling) and preservation (freezing, drying, smoking, and refrigerating) [20,36,37]. Recently, a metabolomics approach was used to determine the molecular difference between wholemeal and refined pasta samples, finding that the wholemeal pasta was richer in many classes of compounds such as phytosterols, policosanols, unsaturated fatty acids, amino acids, carotenoids, and minerals [36].…”

“…The molecular composition of food products, indeed, can be significantly affected by different methods of food preparation (e.g., frying vs. baking, steaming vs. boiling) and preservation (freezing, drying, smoking, and refrigerating) [20,36,37]. Recently, a metabolomics approach was used to determine the molecular difference between wholemeal and refined pasta samples, finding that the wholemeal pasta was richer in many classes of compounds such as phytosterols, policosanols, unsaturated fatty acids, amino acids, carotenoids, and minerals [36]. Similar applications are starting to show the high potential of metabolomics for investigating the process-related food transformation [37].…”

Mass-spectrometry-based metabolomics analysis for foodomics

“…In particular, with the high sensitivity and the selectivity of MS-based technologies, food constituents can be detected at trace levels (e.g., fmol). Composition analyses by MS-based metabolomics have been performed extensively for a large number of natural foods, including barley, potato cultivars, honey and olive oil [25][26][27][28], processed foods, such as ketchups, green tea and pasta [29][30][31][32], geneticallymodified crops, including transgenic potato, maize and soybean [15,[33][34][35], beverages, such as milk, wine and beer [36][37][38][39][40] and aquatic products, such as fish, shrimp, shark meat and mackerel [41,42]. Taking milk as an example, characterizing the composition, especially milk from different species, is important for uncovering the role of milk in food and health, as milk is the only bio-material to nourish and to sustain infant mammals.…”