Studies on the physico‐chemical changes between different hand positions (top, middle and bottom) within a bunch and different finger positions (upper and lower) within a hand at different maturity stages (between 3 and 15 weeks from the flower emergence) were carried out on ‘Montel’ banana (Musa cavendishii L). The suitable harvesting stage was found to be between 12 and 15 weeks after flower emergence. The size, weight, volume and peel colour of fruits increased significantly (P < 0·01) for fruits from all positions (hands and fingers within a hand) of the bunch until the end of maturity stage. On the other hand, texture values of the fruit decreased significantly (P < 0·01). The total soluble solids (TSS), ascorbic acid (AA) and sugar contents increased slowly during development, but the increase was rapid during ripening. The starch composition accumulated gradually (P < 0·05) at the early stages and decreased thereafter. The pH and titratable acidity (TA) values showed an irregular pattern in all the fruits from all positions during the maturity stage. However, significant differences were also detected in size, weight, volume, peel colour, texture, TSS, AA, pH, TA, starch and sugar contents between different hands and different fingers portions from the same bunch. © 1998 Society of Chemical Industry

Aims: Fermented mango leaves of Chokanan variety was produced using selected symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) from MARDI's Collection of Functional Food Cultures (CFFC). The aim of this work was to investigate its functional benefits as food remedy to reduce the risk of food poisoning illness incidence. Methodology and results: Five species of foodborne pathogens: Escherichia coli O157:H7 UPMEC32 (local isolate), Salmonella typhimurium ATCC®53648™, Salmonella enteritidis MDC15 (local isolate), Listeria monocytogenes ATCC®51772™ and Streptococcus gallolyticus (ATCC®9809™) were selected to examine the antimicrobial effect of fermented mango leaves beverage by means of agar well diffusion assay and broth microdilution method to determine its minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC>99). In comparison with chemical inhibitor (acetic acid, 1%) and antibiotic (Penicillin streptomycin, 1%), the agar diffusion assay results confirmed the inhibition efficacy of fermented mango leaves beverage against all five foodborne pathogens tested. Particularly, fermented mango leaves beverage was showing a significant inhibitory effect (P<0.05) against S. gallolyticus, whereas both acetic acid and penicillin streptomycin have no inhibitory activities at all towards this pathogen. Another antimicrobial activity assay using broth microdilution method also confirmed the 100% inhibition effect of fermented mango leaves beverage against these selected pathogenic microorganisms. Furthermore, the efficacy retained 100% inhibitory activities even though the fermented mango leaves beverage has been diluted to 50%. Synergetic effect of significant amount of multiple organic acids present in fermented mango leaves beverage were the main factors contributing to its potent antimicrobial properties and improvement taste after fermentation. On the contrary, little or no antimicrobial inhibitory activity was observed in all non-fermented mango leaves beverages treated samples. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: This finding indicates that the potential of fermented mango leaves beverages as prophylaxis measures to reduce the risk of food poisoning incidence as it has shown a good antimicrobial effect against selected foodborne pathogens. Moreover, this fermented mango leaves beverage are more tasteful after gone through the microbial fermentation process. It is recommended to consume daily to reduce the incidence of food poisoning illness.

Diabetes mellitus is complicated multifactorial disorders characterised by hyperglycemia or glucose intolerance. Globally, the number of people suffering from diabetes has increased steadily. Jackfruit leaf, a rich source of phytochemicals offers the opportunity for the development of value-added products. A fermented jackfruit leaf beverage product was developed using symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) as cost-effective beneficial treatment for mankind in the management of diabetes. The effectiveness of this fermented jackfruit leaf beverage as an anti-diabetic therapy agent was evaluated using Streptozotocin-induced Sprague Dawley rats model for 4 weeks. The findings depict that, there was a remarkable reduction of blood glucose level in fermented jackfruit leaf-treated diabetic rats as opposed to non-treated diabetic rats, comparable with metformin-treated diabetic rats. The body weight and various relative organ weights of diabetic rats treated with fermented jackfruit leaf beverage showed a healthy recovery sign from diabetes symptoms. The blood haematology profile, liver and kidney function analysis revealed no toxic effect of prolong fermented jackfruit leaf beverage consumption. These results indicated that fermented jackfruit leaf beverage has similar anti-diabetic properties with commercial anti-diabetic drugs with no adverse side effect. Promisingly, it offers a cheaper source to alleviate the diabetes epidemic in a natural way.

The phytochemical and antioxidant properties of fermented jackfruit leaves, using yeast and acetic acid bacteria, individually or in combination during 6 days of fermentation were investigated in the present study. Changes in pH, total reducing sugar, ethanol, acetic acid, total phenolics and flavanoids content were examined. A number of antioxidant activities such as ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and DPPH free radical scavenging activities were comparatively tested to determine the differences in the respective properties during the fermentation process. Results obtained demonstrated that there were differences in the phytochemical and antioxidant properties of fermented jackfruit leaves, depending on the fermentation starters. Fermented leaves using acetic acid bacteria alone, exhibited higher total reducing sugar (6.89 mg glucose/mL) compared to others. The ferric-reducing activities of fermented jackfruit leaves showed an increasing trend in the yeast fermentation process (5.96-10.12 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/mL). Generally, all extracts of fermented jackfruit leaves exhibited stronger DPPH radical scavenging activity except in the total phenolics and flavonoids content, whereby it showed a decrease trend throughout the fermentation process.

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) is one of the important tropical fruits in Malaysia, mainly used for fresh consumption because of its good source of energy, deliciously sweet in taste, proteins, dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins. To date, there is lack of fermentation study reported on jackfruit. Hence, the aim of this work is to evaluate the phytochemical content and antioxidant properties of fermented jackfruit which was subjected to acetic acid bacteria and yeast fermentation individually for a duration of 7 days. The changes in the pH value, brix value, total reducing sugar content, total phenolic and total flavonoid content were examined for both yeast and acetic acid fermented jackfruit samples. Few antioxidant activities such as ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) value and 2,2-diphenyl -1picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity were also analyzed to determine the differences in the respective properties of jackfruit pulp after being subjected to yeast or acetic acid fermentation. There is a slight change on brix value and DPPH free radical scavenging activity (31.05-33.17% radical scavenging activity) for both yeast and acetic acid fermented samples. However, acetic acid fermented jackfruit exhibited higher total reducing sugar content (23.24 mg glucose/mL) and total phenolics content when compared to yeast fermented jackfruit sample. Both yeast and acetic acid fermented jackfruit samples showed higher FRAP value (0.435 -0.48 mg ascorbic acid/mL) than unfermented jackfruit sample (0.372 mg ascorbic acid/mL) except for total flavonoid content which exhibited a decreasing trend after fermentation.