Soy peptides were characterized for flavor, chemical properties, and hydrophobicity to investigate their relationships with bitterness. Five peptide fractions ranging in average molecular mass from 580 to 11300 Da were fractionated by ultrafiltration from two commercial soy protein hydrolysates. The bitterness of fractionated peptides was related to molecular mass, with maximum bitterness observed at approximately 4000 Da for one hydrolysate and 2000 Da for the other. The bitterness increased as the peptide M(w) decreased to 3000 Da for the first hydrolysate and to 2000 Da for the second one and then decreased as the peptide M(w) decreased below 1000 Da. The peptide fraction with molecular mass of <1000 Da showed the lowest bitterness for both. The hydrophobicity data based on Q values do not support Ney's Q rule as a predictor of bitterness for soy peptides.

Structured beef steaks formed with the algin/calcium binder and with or without glucono-delta-lactone were compared with 100% beef controls and with structured steaks formed with salt and phosphate. Alginl calcium-treated products exhibited better binding and color in the raw state, but had lower palatability scores in the cooked state than salt/ phosphate controls. Shelf-life of both algin/calcium products under aerobic conditions was similar to the all-beef control. In vacuum packages, however, the algin/calcium products showed more rapid gas production and microbial growth than all-beef and salt/phosphate controls. The algin/calcium treatment will allow increased marketing alternatives for meat products.

Discriminant analysis of four vegetable oil types (cotton‐seed, peanut, soybean and canola) was performed by near‐infrared reflectance spectroscopy. The objective of this study was to provide an alternate method to differentiate vegetable oil types and to classify unknown oil samples. Second derivative spectra of the vegetable oils were subjected to discriminate analysis with Mahalanobis distances principles. A four‐wavelength (1704, 1802, 1816 and 2110 nm) equation was derived, which produced a sum of inverse squared distance of 0.0548. Although all four groups were successfully separated with a chi square of 18.9, the soybean oil group is more dispersed in space than the other three groups. Iodine values of the soybean oil samples suggest that this group may have a wide range of hydrogenation states. Discriminant analysis can be successfully used to differentiate vegetable oil types and possibly could also be used to differentiate degree of hydrogenation and oxidative states of oils.

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