The effect of microwave heating on breaking properties of confectionery was studied by using two methods. One method (I) used the baked products as cookies of which material contained wheat-flour, butter and low content of water. The other (II) used commercial confectionery heated by microwave after moisture absorption. (1) The breaking energy of the microwave heating products was triple higher compared with the conductive, and was approximated to the value of the conductive products of which material contained higher water about 10∼20%. In the sensory evaluation, the texture characteristic of microwave was estimated to be hard, not short, difficult crunch and chewy. (2) A high, positive correlation was obtained between the breaking properties and the starch gelatinization values, and then a paste material was suggested to be an important factor for hardening. (3) A moisture absorption sample contained about 15% water, in the microwave heating, began increasing starch gelatinization and breaking properties. It is assumed that the temperature raising behavior in low moisture might accelerate the physical properties changing.

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6-O-caffeoylsophorose (CS) is a functional component identified in vinegar produced through acetic fermentation of storage roots of purple sweetpotato cultivar Ayamurasaki. The optimum conditions of CS production was investigated using the purple sweetpotato pigment (PSP) separated from Ayamurasaki containing acylated anthocyanins in order to develop the efficient production method of CS.
By heating PSP under weak acidic conditions, CS as the side chain fragment of acylated anthocyanins was produced abundantly. The amount of produced CS was dependent on pH, and highest at pH 3.0, not on the kind difference of acids. The temperature was also an important factor to the concentration of CS : at higher temperatures the highest score was obtained in shorter time. The ratio of the highest score to anthocyanin content in original PSP was almost same at each temperature and production efficiency of CS was also similar in quantity.

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Defrosting frozen pork with a low temperature requires a long time and the quality of pork after defrosting becomes an issue. We tried to shorten the defrosting time of pork loin by using an electric field. At the same time we examined the quality of the defrosted meat using pork loin. We also melted ice cubes and measured the pH of melted water. Defrosting was carried out by placing the object between two electrodes, one rod-type and another in plate-type, which were used to create electric fields with three different voltages, 5, 10, and 12kV. The rate of ice cube defrosting was accelerated when the object was subjected to the electric field. The increased rates at 10 and 12kV were 25.1% and 28.8%, respectively. A pork loin cube, 20×20×20mm, was also placed in the electric fields. The times needed to defrost the pork were 62min in 10kV and 30min in 12kV, compared with 86min in the control. When the size of the meat was increased to 20×50×100mm, the times required for complete defrosting were 337min in 5kV, 168min in 10kV and 165min (1/2 of the control) in 12kV. After defrosting the pH of the water declined, 0.39 by 10kV and 0.89 by 12kV. The declines of pH may be a result of the formation of nitrogen oxides by the spark in the electric field, which were dissolved into the water. Subjecting pork loin to the electric fields did not seem to have changed the quality of the pork in terms of color, pH, moisture content, water-holding capacity and the amount of dripping.

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The shredded vegetables (cabbage, lettuce, carrot and cucumber) was sterilized by mixed oxidant (MIOX) solution. MIOX is equipment (MIOX) that electrolyzes 3% sodium chloride aqueous solution by the non-barrier membrane electrode and MIOX solution include the oxidizing agent of hypochlorous acid, chlorine dioxide, ozone and hydroxyl radical. MIOX solution (available chlorine concentration is 20mg/l) exhibited similar sterilizing efficiency with that of sodium hypochlorite solution. Washing with MIOX solution (available chlorine concentration is 20mg/l) gave nearly 3logCFU/g reduction of the viable cell counts on cabbage, lettuce and carrot. In the case of the cucumber, nearly 2logCFU/g of the reduction was obserbed at the same condition. Each of the shredded vegetable exhibited less than 5logCFU/g of the viable cell counts for each of the sanitize treatment.

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We have found that a hot-water extract from adzuki beans inhibited the growth of human stomach cancer KATO III cells. In this study, the active components were isolated from the extract by repeated reverse phase chromatographic purification. The structures of the isolated growth inhibitors were elucidated by FT-IR, 1D and 2D NMR, and ESI-MS and APCI-MS analyses. They were novel sesquiterpene glucosides, which were a pair of isomers interconvertible to each other at high temperature. We named these novel sesquiterpene glucosides Vignoside A and B.

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