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Some of our Works
Enhancing the water solubility and stability of zinc modulated chlorophyll by alginate-whey protein isolate complexes at different pH values
2025
Chlorophyll (Chl), a natural pigment, is widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries for its vibrant green color. However, its application is limited by its poor solubility and stability in aqueous solutions, especially under acidic conditions. This study investigates a novel approach to enhance the solubility and stability of zinc modulated chlorophyll (Chl-Zn2+) by complexation with whey protein isolate (WPI) and alginate (ALG)…
A comprehensive review on natural sweeteners: impact on sensory properties, food structure, and new frontiers for their application
2024
In recent years, the worldwide increase in lifestyle diseases and metabolic disorders has been ascribed to the excessive consumption of sucrose and added sugars. For this reason, many approaches have been developed in order to replace sucrose in food and beverage formulations with alternative sweetening compounds. The raising awareness concerning the synthetic sweeteners due to their negative impact on health, triggered the need to search for…
Stabilized chlorophyll-based food colorants from spinach: Kinetics of a tailored enzymatic extraction
2024
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An organic solvent-free method based on limited dosing options (biocatalyst and zinc chloride) for the quick and mild recovery of chlorophyll (Chl) from spinach has been proposed. This tailored, custom-made protocol has been designed to produce stable green natural colorants. The kinetics of pigment extraction turned out to be a very useful tool to identify the proper conditions, in terms of biocatalyst dose (0.10–50 U/g), extraction time (1–48h), and ZnCl2 amount (50–300ppm), both for enhancing the recovery yield and preserving the green color…
Authenticity Markers of Aged Red Wines from Aglianico, Uva di Troia, Negroamaro and Primitivo Grapes
2024
The wide ampelographic treasure of Italian wine grape varieties is driving research towards suitable approaches for the varietal authenticity control of wine. In this paper, Aglianico, Negroamaro, Primitivo and Uva di Troia red wines, which were produced experimentally by single-grape winemaking from non-aromatic grapes native to southern Italy, were analyzed with respect to berry markers, namely anthocyanins, hydroxycinnamic acids (HPLC-DAD), shikimic acid (HPLC-UV) and glycosidic aroma precursors (GC-MS). The study confirms that…
Extraction, catalytic study and milk-clotting properties of proteases from Brassica oleracea
2024
Proteases were extracted and biochemically characterized from different Brassica oleracea varieties (B. oleracea var. palmifolia (black cabbage, BC), B. oleracea var. sabellica (curly kale, K), and B. oleracea var. botrytis (white cauliflower, WC)). Calf rennet (CR) and Cynara cardunculus crude extracts (CC) were used as reference samples. The catalytic study used two different substrates: the synthetic peptide Bz-Phe-Val-Arg-pNA (BPVA-pNA), which contains para-nitroaniline (pNA), and azocasein (AzC) as a macromolecular substrate…
Dosing oxygen from the early stages of white winemaking: Effect on oxidation–reduction potential, browning stability, volatile composition, and sensory properties
2024
This study investigated the effect of controlled oxygen addition during alcoholic fermentation (4 mg/L, at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 10th, 14th, 16th, 20th day) and aging on lees (2 mg/L, every 15 days for 3 months) in a stainless-steel tank for white wine production from a nearly neutral grape. Under less reductive conditions (Ox), alcoholic fermentation was completed in 27 days, whereas one extra week was required under more reductive conditions (no-Ox). The greatest amount of dissolved oxygen in Ox wine triggered the increase of redox potential (EH) starting from…
Enzyme-Assisted Extraction for the Recovery of Food-Grade Chlorophyll-Based Green Colorant
2023
The aim of the study was to develop a biotechnological approach for the green recovery of chlorophyll from spinach, to be used as a natural food colorant. The plant matrix was characterized in terms of cell wall polysaccharide composition, and a tailored enzymatic mix based on cellulase (40%) xylanase (41%) and polygalacturonase (19%) was formulated. The process variables…
Partitioning Recovery of Natural Pigments from Spirulina platensis
2023
In the last few decades, the recovery of high-added value compounds with high food potential using microalgae as feedstock has been one of the main challenges for both research and industry. This study provides a simple, affordable, and cost-saving approach for…
Catalytic properties of lipoxygenase extracted from nine different Italian olive varieties (Olea europaea L.)
2023
Lipoxygenases (linoleate oxygen oxidoreductase, LOX, EC 1.13.11.12) are a class of dioxygenases found abundantly in the plant kingdom, which catalyse the oxygenation reaction of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Considering the capacity of LOX to define the distinctive and refined “green” fruity aroma of virgin olive oil (VOO), the biochemical study was conducted to…
Innovative continuous biocatalytic system based on immobilized tannase: possible prospects for the haze-active phenols hydrolysis in brewing industry
2023
The development of biotechnological approaches for preventing chill haze formation has attracted great interest in brewing research. The current work provides an innovative biocatalytic system, based on immobilized tannase (as phenolic-degrading enzyme), for the continuous treatment of wort in fluidized-bed reactor (FBR). The covalent immobilization on chitosan beads has been performed using …
Phenolic-Degrading Enzymes: Effect on Haze Active Phenols and Chill Haze in India Pale Ale Beer
2023
The development of green and sustainable biotechnological approaches for preventing chill haze formation is currently under investigation. In this preliminary study, laccase and tannase (pure or combined) were applied as phenolic-degrading enzymes during two crucial brewing steps (i. post-mashing and ii. before the yeast inoculum). In post-mashing and irrespective of the dosage applied (100 μL/L or 1 mL/L), tannase-based treatment ensured…
Green Enzymatic Recovery of Functional Bioactive Compounds from Unsold Vegetables: Storability and Potential Health Benefits
2022
Carotenoids and betalains are food-derived bioactive compounds well-known for their countless healthy properties, especially as antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and immune system regulators. We have achieved a concise literature review on the main topics related to fruits and vegetables…
A Minimally Invasive Approach for Preventing White Wine Protein Haze by Early Enzymatic Treatment
2022
Protein stability in bottled white wine is an essential organoleptic property considered by consumers. In this paper, the effectiveness of an early enzymatic treatment was investigated by adding a food-grade microbial protease at two different stages of winemaking: (i) at cold settling, for a short-term and low temperature (10 °C) action prior to alcoholic fermentation (AF); (ii) at yeast inoculum, for a long-lasting and medium temperature (18 °C) action during AF. The results reveal that…
Oilseed Extracts from Local Markets as Promising Coagulant Agents for Milk from Various Mammalian Species
2022
The aim of this study was to identify novel milk coagulants to be used in cheesemaking. For this purpose, aqueous extracts from safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), flax (Linum usitatissimum) and sesame (Sesamum indicum) seeds were tested for…
Natural colorants from vegetable food waste: Recovery, regulatory aspects, and stability—A review
2022
Worldwide, approaches inspired by the Circular Economy model have been increasing steadily, generating new business opportunities such as the recovery of high-added value molecules (e.g., pigments) from vegetable food waste that may be applied as food additives (e.g., colorants). Indeed, food waste is a global problem that does not seem to be decreasing, leading to economic, environmental, and...
Inclusion of curcumin in β-cyclodextrin: a promising prospective as food ingredient
2022
In the present work, the inclusion complexes between curcumin (CC) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) were obtained through co-precipitation at different times of magnetic stirring and simple mixing. The stoichiometric ratio between CC and β-CD was ascertained to be 1:2. The samples prepared by co-precipitation (24 h magnetic stirring and 24 h cold static precipitation) and by simple mixing, showed the best performance…
Betalain Extracts from Beetroot as Food Colorants: Effect of Temperature and UV-Light on Storability
2021
Beetroot is a good source of natural food colorants given that it contains significant amount of betalain pigments. This study investigates the three-months storage stability of betalain extracts recovered from unsold beetroot by...
Novel food colorants from tomatoes: Stability of carotenoid-containing chromoplasts under different storage conditions
2021
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Despite years of research, the application of natural pigments as food ingredients is still limited by their low stability. This research investigated the storability of carotenoid-containing chromoplasts, as novel natural food colorant from unsold tomatoes. The 30-day stability of chromoplasts (Chr), in comparison to...
A Novel Process for the Recovery of Betalains from Unsold Red Beets by Low-Temperature Enzyme-Assisted Extraction
2021
Food waste management plays a central role in the circular economy. To our knowledge, only a few studies have investigated the use of unsold fruit and vegetables from supermarkets as a substitute source for the extraction of natural colorants. Thus, the aim of this paper was to suggest a green, tailored protocol that avoids the use of organic solvents for the recovery of...
Lipase-mediated hydrolysis of hempseed oil in a packed-bed reactor and in-line purification of PUFA as mono- and diacylglycerols
2020
Mono- and diacylglycerols (MAG and DAG, respectively) of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are raising an increasing interest as novel non-ionic food emulsifiers owing to the recognized health-promoting effects of PUFA. We here reported on the lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of hempseed oil in a homogeneous medium based on oil and t-BuOH/water carried out in a continuous flow packed-bed reactor (PBR). The biotransformation was carried out by…
Heat and light stability of natural yellow colourants in model beverage systems
2020
The performance of 10 natural yellow colourants at different concentrations (0.001–0.3% w/v) was investigated in a model beverage system at various pH levels (3.5, 5.5 and 7.5) containing 10% w/v of sucrose, with or without ethanol (15% v/v) to simulate both alcoholic and non-alcoholic lemon-like beverages. Thus, the incidence of pH, ethanol and colourant concentration…
Tailored and synergistic enzyme-assisted extraction of carotenoid-containing chromoplasts from tomatoes
2020
Despite significant efforts recently made to improve the recovery yield of food pigments from natural sources, the development of green and sustainable biotechnological approaches is currently under investigation. Within the context of circular economy, food wastes represent a cheap source for the recovery of...
Prolyl endopeptidase from Aspergillus niger immobilized on a food-grade carrier for the production of gluten-reduced beer
2020
The recently growing demand of gluten-reduced beer is leading to the development of diverse approaches to be applied in brewing. The current work focuses on the development of an innovative and sustainable biocatalytic tool for the continuous production of...
Multi-enzymatic Systems Immobilized on Chitosan Beads for Pomegranate Juice Treatment in Fluidized Bed Reactor: Effect on Haze-Active Molecules and Chromatic Properties
2019
In this study, two different food-grade enzymes (i.e., bromelain from a pineapple stem (protease) and Pectinex® BE XXL (pectinase)) were successfully immobilized on chitosan beads and their application in pomegranate juice clarification was evaluated. The immobilization procedure was...