The effect of added liquid oil on the springiness of emulsion-type sausages without polyphosphate was investigated. Medium-chain fatty acid oil containing about 99 % caprylic acid, safflower oil containing about 76 % oleic acid, and safflower oil containing about 71 % linoleic acid were used as the liquid oils. After adding 10 to 70 wt% of each liquid oil to refined lard, the viscosity of the mixed oil was measured. The results showed that the viscosity of all mixed oil samples was more decreased than that of the refined lard. There was no significant difference in cooking loss for sausages regardless of the type of mixed oil. In addition, a textural analysis of the hardness and springiness of the sausages revealed that although the addition of the mixed oil had no effect on hardness, the springiness improved as the blending amount of the liquid oil was increased. Furthermore, a high correlation was observed between the viscosity of the mixed oil and springiness, regardless of the liquid oil used. Fluorescence microscopy observations of fluorescein 5-isothiocyanate stained proteins in the sausages revealed that the protein structure of sausages blended with mixed oil was finer than that of products using polyphosphate.

To discriminate between domestic and foreign soybeans, we developed an analytical method focusing on the insertion/deletion of the first intron of Dt1 (GmTfl1), which is the gene that determines determinate/indeterminate finite growth of soybeans. The genotype with a deletion in the first intron was designated as Type a, and the genotype without deletion was designated as Type b, and PCR primers were designed so that a band was detected at 162 bp in Type a, and 135 bp in Type b. As a result, 81 out of 82 domestic soybean varieties were determined to be Type b, while 32 of 33 soybean samples from the USA and 24 of 24 soybean samples from Canada were determined to be Type a. This suggests that it is possible to distinguish between domestic and foreign soybeans with this newly developed method using the designed primers. As a result of the analysis using a mixture of DNA extracted from domestic and foreign soybeans, this method could detect at least 2.5 % contamination of foreign samples, and may be applied to discriminate the origin of raw materials of processed soybean products.

In recent years, the issue of excessive salt intake has been raised and the need for low-sodium foods has increased. In this study, we prepared bread with soy sauce to reduce the salt content and investigated its quality characteristics. Since salt reduction deteriorates the physical properties of dough, extra strong flour was used for bread making. Using a dough (30 % salt reduction) in which the 1.4 % (baker’s percent) of total salt was replaced with an appropriate amount of soy sauce, low-salt white bread was produced by the optimal short-time baking method to improve the color of bread. This reduced-salt bread was significantly inferior in appearance, i.e., volume (specific loaf volume) and crumb color, staling and so on compared to the control bread (control) made from the dough with a normal amount (2 %) of salt. However, bread taste, saltiness and umami, showed equivalent or significantly higher values compared to the control. The saltiness and umami were also significantly higher than those of normal bread with 1.4 % salt. These results clarified that the addition of an appropriate amount of soy sauce has the effect of enhancing the saltiness of bread. The overall quality of this reduced-salt bread was inferior to that of the control; however, the difference between breads was not large. These results suggested that it is possible to produce low-salt white bread without significantly compromising bread quality by using an appropriate amount of soy sauce in bread-making.

The primary physicochemical aspects of freezing are the substantial reduction of water activity and the increase of osmotic pressure by freeze-induced concentration. The temperature-dependent ice fraction subsequently affects the changes in thermal properties and specific chemical reaction processes. In frozen food, the ice structure is strongly determined by the moving ice-front through the balance of water mass transfer and heat transfer. By controlling the ice structure, progressive freeze-concentration could be applied to concentrate liquid food with high quality. In some living organisms, freeze-related biosubstances are produced and accumulated for freeze-tolerance. The cell structure also plays an important role in the freeze-tolerance of cells in microorganisms, plants, and animals.