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The aim of this research was to produce low-fat and functional fish nuggets using the inulin prebiotic. In this study, inulin was used at concentrations of 0%, 1.5%, 3%, and 4.5% to enrich the fish nuggets. The results showed that increasing the concentration of inulin led to a reduction in fat content in the fish nuggets, with the greatest reduction observed in the treatment containing 4.5% inulin (T3). Additionally, the quality attributes of the fish nuggets, including moisture content, cooking loss, and shrinkage, were improved with the use of inulin. Higher concentrations of inulin resulted in a decrease in lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) and an increase in redness (a*) during both pre-frying and final frying step. Inulin also improved the textural properties of the nuggets, such that with increasing inulin concentration, hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness, and gumminess decreased, while springiness and resilience increased. This study demonstrated that enriching fish nuggets with 4.5% inulin can effectively reduce fat content and enhance the quality of fried fish nuggets.

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Tomato is a major fruit, as well as a major food science product. There is a need of determining the quality attributes of this fruit (nondestructively) due to the increasing demand of the in agro-industrially controlled areas. Most of the commonly employed techniques are time consuming and involve a considerable degree of manual work. Sample preparation, juice making, and laboratory tests are among the limitations. Raman spectroscopy was applied in this study to measure such important quality parameters of tomato as SSC, pH and color. A dispersive Raman instrument was employed and reference analyses were carried out to make calibration models regarding the spectral features and target attributes. Analysis of the spectra revealed that all the three characteristic bands of cartenoids, lycopene, and carotene, were significantly recognizable. Also there were several strong to medium bands recognized as related to carbohydrates. Principal Component Regression (PCR) and Partial Least Square (PLS) were selected as the multivariate calibration models. The prediction models proved to be robust resulting in a desirable mapping between the spectra and output attributes. The Root Mean Square Error of Predictions (RMSEP) through PLS and PCR for modeling the color index using the whole spectrum was obtained as 0.33 and 0.38, respectively. RMSEP for mapping the SSC using PLS and PCR models was resulted in respective figures of 0.30 and 0.38. PCA interpretation depicted that Raman spectra could make a favorable distinction among the samples based on their maturity stages. As a result, there is a great potential to use Raman spectroscopy in industrial approach and in line control.

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This study was conducted to determine the effects of flower and leaf extract of Humulus lupulus plant on the shelf life and quality attributes of strawberry fruits. Different treatments were applied in this research including: flower and leaf ethanolic extract of Humulus lupulus plant at concentration of 25, 50 and 100 percent, diazinon fungicide at concentration of 100 and 200 ppm and blank samples (0 ppm). Different quality attributes including: total soluble solids, fruit juice pH, titratable acidity, flavor index of fruit, sensory attributes and total microbial counts of fruits were measured during storage periods. The results showed that application of the flower and leaf extract of Humulus lupulus plant and diazinon fungicide had no significant effect on the pH value of strawberry fruits but maintained the titratable acidity during storage periods compared to the blank samples (p>0.05). Total soluble solid content of strawberry fruits was decreased with increase of the storage time but increased with increase of the flower and leaf extract of Humulus lupulus plant concentration and compared to applied concentration of diazinon fungicide (tow concentration) lead to better brix content maintenances. Treated strawberry samples with the flower and leaf extract of Humulus lupulus plant compared to other samples obtained the higher score in case of appearance, color and texture during sensory evaluation. Microbial evaluation results, showed the ability of the flower and leaf extract of Humulus lupulus plant in microbial spoilage inhibition compared to the diazinon fungicide. According to the obtained results from different chemical, microbial and sensory evaluations, the flower and leaf extract of Humulus lupulus plant can be introduced as replacer of the common fungicide applied in strawberry preservation.