BACKGROUND Haskap berries (Lonicera caerulea L.) are rich in anthocyanins. Cold plasma‐assisted enzyme method (CPEM) is an innovative method for green extraction of anthocyanins, which was optimized by an artificial neural network‐genetic algorithm (ANN‐GA) to maximize the yield. In this study, seven factors were screened using by Plackett–Burman design based on single‐factor experiments and optimized by ANN‐GA. RESULTS The results showed that the maximum total anthocyanin content (TAC, 42.45 ± 0.25 g cyanidin‐3‐glucoside equivalent (C3G) kg−1 dry weight, DW) was obtained under optimal pretreatment power of 192 W, pretreatment time of 29 s and liquid‐to‐solid ratio of 39 mL g−1. Cleavage and porosity appeared on the surface of the treated sample. The active ingredients and antioxidant capacity of the CPEM extracts were identified by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (UPLC‐Q‐TOF‐MS). Compared with other extraction technologies, CPEM presents the advantages of shortening the extraction time, reducing the solvent volume, and significantly increasing active ingredients and antioxidant activity. CONCLUSION The ANN‐GA has better predictive and higher accuracy than the response surface methodology (RSM) model and is more suitable for optimizing the CPEM by greatly improving the process yield and the utilization of biomass, thus contributing to the sustainability of the agri‐food chain. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Spiced pork shoulder is a traditional Chinese meat product that is loved by consumers. However, heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) formed by spiced pork shoulder during processing endanger human health. The present study determined the HAA contents of seven kinds of spiced pork shoulder, and examined the effects of soy sauce, cooking wine and sugar on the formation of HAAs. The total HAAs of the seven samples were between 0.10 ng/g and 56.82 ng/g. There were Harman (0.03-39.77 ng/g) and Norharman (0.06-18.76 ng/g) correlations in all samples. Not all samples had higher HAAs levels in the skin than the whole shoulder. Creatine and creatinine were more actively involved in the formation of HAAs than glucose. Soy sauce contributed the most to the formation of HAAs, followed by cooking wine and sugar. Compared to spiced pork shoulder, the soup contained more HAAs. Exogenous contamination of HAAs in soy sauce, cooking wine and soup was an important source of HAAs in spiced pork shoulder.

BACKGROUND: Carrots are widely used in home cooking and vegetable processing industries because of their high nutritional value. However, different processing methods may produce a negative impact on carrot texture and nutrition quality. Therefore, the development of better processing methods to preserve the texture and nutrition quality of carrots will be beneficial to the carrot industry. RESULTS:The effects of heat and pulsed electric field (PEF) treatments with different heat temperatures (T) and holding time (t h ) on comprehensive changes in thermal efficiency profiles, and physicochemical (color, hardness, cell structural damage) and nutritional (releasable ⊎-carotene contents) properties of carrots were studied. In addition, electrical conductivity (⊞) and soluble matter contents (°Brix) were determined for the heat-treated extracts. The value of total color difference (ΔE) and cell structural damage index (Z) of carrots, ⊞ and °Brix of extracts all increased with increasing T and t h under different heat experimental conditions, whereas the value of cutting force (F) presented an opposite tendency and content of releasable ⊎-carotene decreased after t h > 2 min at T = 100 °C. CONCLUSION:The results show that PEF heating is beneficial in preventing changes in physicochemical and nutritional properties of carrots compared to traditional heat treatment. PEF has potential as a heating technology in the food industry.