Summary Antioxidant properties of commercial sugarcane‐derived products were analysed to study their suitability for being used as functional ingredients. Cane honey, several jaggeries and several brown sugars were selected from the market and analysed in terms of physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant properties, and compared with white refined sugar (twelve products in total). Moisture, water activity, total soluble solids, pH, colour and sugar profile are reported. As for antioxidant properties, total phenols and flavonoid content, as well as antiradical ability (DPPH˙ and the TEAC‐ABTS methods), are given. All sugarcane products contained phenols and flavonoids and exhibited in vitro antioxidant activity, determined by degree of refining. Among the alternatives analysed, jaggeries and cane honey showed the best antioxidant properties. Thermal treatment did not significantly affect the antioxidant capacity of sugarcane products, especially jaggeries. As sugar‐rich products are widely consumed worldwide, the use of non‐refined sugarcane derivatives in food formulation is encouraged.

This work aimed to determine the effect of homogenization pressures and addition of trehalose on the functional properties of mandarin juice enriched with Lactobacillus salivarius spp. salivarius. Physicochemical and structural properties of mandarin juice were evaluated and related with quantity and stability of probiotic microorganism as well as with its hydrophobicity. Both food matrix and processing, affected functional properties of L. salivarius spp. salivarius. Homogenization pressures and trehalose addition affected quantity and stability of probiotic microorganisms during storage. 20 MPa and 20 MPa with 100 g/kg of trehalose allowed obtaining 10 6 colony forming units (CFU)/ml mandarin juice after ten storage days. In MRS growth, cell hydrophobicity increased with homogenization pressures, with values in range 67-98 %. Highest cell hydrophobicity was obtained in samples homogenized at 100 MPa. Under stress growth conditions, cell hydrophobicity values were in a range 30-84 %. In samples no homogenized, addition of trehalose resulted in an increased values of hydrophobicity, with highest levels in those samples with 100 g/kg of trehalose addition.

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Nowadays, the sustainability of a product, a process or a system is assessed according to three dimensions environmental, social and economic. Sustainability challenges occur at all stages in the food system from production through processing, distribution and retailing to consumption and waste disposal. The promotion of organic and local food is not the only way to reach the sustainability. There is other possibility that implies to continue the production hegemony. Increasing research is being focused on the development of healthy, quality and safety food products adapted to consumer's needs and more environment-friendly processes, that is, processes consuming energy more efficiently, generating less waste and emitting less greenhouse effect gases. Drying technology is applied in the food industry not only for preservation but also to manufacture foods with certain characteristics. Drying technology operations need to be precisely controlled and optimized in order to produce a good-quality product with the highest level of nutrient retention and flavor together with microbial safety. This chapter contains detailed information about some measurements taken by the food industry to ensure the supply of bioactive nutrients to as many individuals as possible, assuring the global sustainability. More specifically, the contribution of some drying techniques employed in the development of functional foods to increase the sustainability of the feeding process is discussed.Keywords: sustainability, functional foods, drying, bioactive compounds, structure © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. . IntroductionSustainability means meeting the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. As a result of environmental imbalances caused by intensive production and massive use of resources, to achieve food and agricultural sustainability, traditionally, the system has been directed toward promotion of organic and local food, but this is not the only way, as explained in [ ] there is other possibility that implies to continue the production hegemony, emphasizing biotechnology and technological panaceas.Nowadays, the sustainability of a product, a process or a system is assessed according to three dimensions environmental, social and economic. Sustainability challenges occur at all stages in the food system from production through processing, distribution and retailing to consumption and waste disposal. The development of a sustainable agri-food system places responsibilities on both the natural and the social sciences [ ]. While advances in basic and strategic biological research have greatly expanded, the potential to produce nutritious food in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner, social an...

In a new probiotic food, besides adequate physicochemical properties, it is necessary to ensure a minimum probiotic content after processing, storage, and throughout gastrointestinal (GI) digestion. The aim of this work was to study the effect of hot air drying/freeze drying processes, encapsulation, and storage on the probiotic survival and in vitro digestion resistance of Lactobacillus salivarius spp. salivarius included into an apple matrix. The physicochemical properties of the food products developed were also evaluated. Although freeze drying processing provided samples with better texture and color, the probiotic content and its resistance to gastrointestinal digestion and storage were higher in hot air dried samples. Non-encapsulated microorganisms in hot air dried apples showed a 79.7% of survival rate versus 40% of the other samples after 28 days of storage. The resistance of encapsulated microorganisms to in vitro digestion was significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in hot air dried samples, showing survival rates of 50–89% at the last stage of digestion depending on storage time. In freeze dried samples, encapsulated microorganisms showed a survival rate of 16–47% at the end of digestion. The different characteristics of the food matrix after both processes had a significant effect on the probiotic survival after the GI digestion. Documented physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in the stress response of probiotic cells would explain these results.