Berry fruits represent a valuable source of natural aroma and antioxidants for vinegars. The aim of this research was the evaluation of the total polyphenol content (TPC), total anthocyanin content (TAC), and antioxidant properties (by ABTS and DPPH assay) of several vinegars produced by an acetous fermentation process, using substrates that contain berry (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries) juice (40%; 60%) inoculated with acetous bacteria (0.5%; 1%). Experimental results indicated that blueberry vinegar samples obtained using 0.5% acetous bacteria and 60% berry juices led to the highest mean values for TPC, TAC, and levels of antioxidant activity, but all these variants had significantly the lowest values of acetic acid content.

The difficulty facing the food industry in the future is sustainability, a topic that has received a lot of attention in recent years. The recovery, recycling, and valuing of food by-products is one of the many methods suggested to encourage the development of a sustainable food system. The most abundant sources of bioactive chemicals and byproducts that can be used to create new functional ingredients for foods are found in fruits and vegetables. In this paper, the possibility of using by-products of wine industry was evaluated. Grape marc, one of the wastes produced during wine-making process is typically not utilized. In particular, the red grape marc flour (15% and 20% w/w) was employed to enrich white grape juice following a sufficient drying and grinding procedure. Then, the grape juice fortified with red grape marc flour was subjected to ultrasound treatment with amplitude of 50 and 70% for 3 and 6 minutes. In comparison to control samples, the enriched products bioactive compounds and chromatic attributes, as well as acidity, soluble content and pH were assessed. Overall, the findings indicate that fortification of grape juice with by-products improved nutritional quality and chromatic attributes without compromising product acceptability. It is possible to conclude that these examples might serve as a starting point for utilizing industrial byproducts and developing viable food with beneficial properties in a more sustainable manner.

The aim of this research was to improve the physical-chemical properties and processability of wheat durum pasta while adding supplementary nutritional benefits. This was accomplished by incorporating carob powder into the conventional wheat pasta recipe. The study investigated the properties of pasta made with different proportions of carob powder (2%, 4%, 6% w/w) and evaluated its nutritional profile, texture, dough rheological properties and the content of bioactive compounds such as phenolic compounds. The physical and chemical properties (total treatable acidity, moisture content, and protein content), compression resistance, rheological properties of the dough and sensory analysis were also analyzed. Results showed that incorporating up to 4% carob powder improved the sensory and functional properties of the pasta. Additionally, the study found that the pasta contained phenolic compounds such as Gallic, rosmarinic, rutin and protocatechuic acids, ferulic, coumaric, caffeic acid, resveratrol and quercetin, and increasing the percentage of carob powder improved the polyphenolic content. The study concluded that it is possible to create innovative value-added pasta formulas using carob powder. Thus, the information revealed by this study has the potential to expand the portfolio of functional pasta formulations on the food market.

The primary focus in the production of quality red wine is the extraction of grape components, which can be achieved in a variety of ways. This work investigates the extraction yield of biologically active compounds from crushed Merlot grapes, as a result of ultrasound treatment applied before maceration, and optimizes the process parameters of a laboratory scale using response surface methodology (RSM) within a central composite design (CCD) model. The two factors whose response was studied were amplitude (A) % and treatment time (t), while the dependent variables were the total phenolic compounds (TPC), monomeric anthocyanins (MA), and antioxidant activity expressed as ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity. The results showed that the application of high-power ultrasound treatment to crushed grapes for a few minutes increased both the extraction rate of bioactive compounds and the antioxidant activity by a maximum of 12 times for the TPC, 14 times for the MA, 3.6 times for the FRAP value, and 18.77% for the DPPH. The optimized solution had an amplitude of 90% and a treatment time of 4 min and 24 s. The validation experiments yielded errors between—8.70% and 3.14%, confirming the proposed model. Thus, the RSM model is recommended as a tool to optimize a procedure for enhancing both the extraction rate of the bioactive compounds from grapes and the antioxidant properties of grape must. Our results demonstrate the ultimate benefits of using ultrasonic treatment on crushed grapes at the beginning of the winemaking process, as a highly effective technique for improving the extraction of high-value bioactive chemicals, with significant application potential.