In order to study the efficient production of bean sprouts (black matpe and alfalfa) withlonger hypocotyls and less microbial contamination, the effect of ozone treatment wasinvestigated. Results were as follows: 1) The ozone treatment greatly affected the totalmicrobial count and the growth of bean sprouts. Decrease of the total microbial count andthe elongation of hgpocotyls of bean sprouts were mainly ascribed to the simultaneoustreatment with 0.02-0.2ppm ozone in air and 0.3-0.5ppm ozone-water. It was assumedthat the most appropriate harvesting time for the bean sprouts treated with ozone at 0.02-0.2ppm and 0.3-0.5ppm ozonewater was about 5 days after planting. 2) Changes in catalaseactivity during germination of black matpe andalfalfa beans treated with ozone werefollowed for one week. The catalase activities reached a maximum in 3 or 4 days from thebeginning of germination, although they wereremarkably increased by the ozone treatmentduring germination. 4) In the germinating black matpe and alfalfa beans treated with ozone, the changes in SOD activities were measured by using the nitroblue tetrazoriumreduction method. On germination SOD activities increased rapidly in 1-2 days from thebeginning of germination, and then the activities maintained an almost constant through 7days

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Water contents in some powdered foods, i.e. wheat flours (soft and hard type), corn starch and sweet potato starch, were determined by the simplified photoacoustic spectroscopy. The characteristics of the apparatus were determined prior to the actual measurement of water contents in samples. The dependency of the photoacoustic signal intensity S on the chopping frequencies ω of light source was depicted by S^∝ω^-1.35 and the power number of ωalmost coincided with the theoretical one. The pressure used in this experiment for compressing the powdered samples had no influence on the photoacoustic signal intensity, which was eventually proportional to the water contents of the sample powders. The relationship between the signal intensity and the water content was fairly identical irrespective of the sample used.

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Examinations of anti-hiochi bacteria were carried out using 7 strains of hiochi bacteriain sake by adding a cultivated liquid of Rhizopus javanicus TUA 0.55 contaning 1.13%fumaric acid. In the case of sake contaning 15.5% ethanol, the growth of a homo-.13%fumaric acid. In the case of sake contaning 15.5% ethanol, the growth of a homo-fermentative true-hiochi bacterium was inhibited in sake composed of fumarate 993ppm, acidity 3.2ml and pH 3.80 where 8.8ml of the cultivated liquid of Rh. was added to 100mlsake. The growth of hetero-fermentative hiochi-natured lactobacillus was inhibited in sakecomposed of fumarate 518ppm, acidity 2.3ml and pH 4.07 where 4.6ml of the cultivatedliquid of Rh. was added to 100ml sake. In the case of sake contaning 12.0% ethanol, 3strains of homo-fermentative true-hiochi bacteria were inhibited in sake composed offumarate 720-822ppm, acidity 2.6-2.8ml and pH 3.65-3.61 where 6.3-7.3ml of thecultivated liquid of Rh. was added to 100ml sake. Three strains of hetero-fermencultivated liquid of Rh. was added to 100ml sake. Three strains of hetero-fermentrue-hiochi bacteria were inhibited in sake composed of fumarate 514ppm, acidity 2.1ml andpH 3.75 where 4.5ml of the cultivated liquid of Rh. was added to 100ml sake. WhiWhile, thesestrains could grow in sake composed of lactate 1619ppm, acidity 3.0ml and pH 3.54.

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The Alcohol Insoluble Solid (AIS) was prepared from'Sordum' plum (Prunus salicinaLindl.) during storage at 3, 20, and 30°C and the total nitrogen and protein-form amino acidcontent in the AIS and the free-amino acid content in the fruit were determined. 1) The AIScontents in plum fruit at the stage of firm mature were lower than those at thestage ofimmature and soft mature, whereas the total nitrogen content in the AIS increased with theprogress of harvest season. 2) A little change in the AIS content was observed duringstorage at 3, 20, and 30°C. The total nitrogen content in the AIS increased markedly at 20°C.The compositional ratio of free alanine and glutamate to the total free amino acid in thefruit stored at 20°C was about four times larger compared with that at harvest time. TheAIS content and compositional ratio of free alanine and glutamate increased slightly duringstorage at 3 and 30°C. 3) The AIS was composed of 18 kinds of protein-form aminoacids. The compositional ratio of glutamate was the highest among the all aminoacids, and that of cystine and methionine was the lowest. The amino acid composition of the AISat those three maturity stages was similar except hydroxyproline. The ratio of hydroxypro-line decreased during storage at 20°C and increased at 3 and 30°C, but the other protein-formamino acids containing alanine and glutamate changed slightly. From these results, thespecific increase of free alanine and glutamate in ‘Sordum' plum accompanied by deteriora-tion was not concerned in the changes of protein-form amino acid composition ofthe AIS inthe fruit.

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Effects of added nitrite and curing temperature (5 to 15°C) on the microflora in the comminuted pork, prepared under conventional and aseptic conditions, were examined. After cooking the cured meat, flavor acceptance was scored and the pH changes and residual nitrite levels were determined. In the conventional meat system cured with nitrite at higher temperatures, acceptable cured meat flavor developed at the earlier stage of curing. In the conventional meat system cured without nitrite, the higher the curing temperature, the more rapidly dropped the pH values, leading to the more rapid development of off-flavor. The aseptic meat system cured with or without nitrite showed a slightly higher pH value than that observed at the initial stage of curing, while the conventional systems showed decreased pH values. Decrease in the residual nitrite levels was slower in the aseptic system than in the conventional system. The aseptic meat system cured with nitrite developed the proper cured meat flavor from the early stage of curing. The results obtained in this study are consistent with the notion that nitrite plays important functions not only to inhibit the growth of spoilage bacteria, and thereupon retarding the meat system to change to acidic, but to contribute to the development of flavor characteristic to cured meats.

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The effects of various starches and heating conditions on the physical properties of kamaboko containing 10% starch were examined by measuring jelly strength, softness, expressible water, and Hunter's whiteness. The heating temperature at which the maximum jelly strength of the kamaboko had been observed (T_m) was 75°C for waxy rice starch, 75-80°C for rice and tapioca starches, 80°C for waxy corn starch, 85°C for amylomaize starch, and 90°C for potato, wheat, sweet potato, corn and arrowroot starches. The starting gelatinization temperature of starch added to the kamaboko was 8-15°C higher than that of starch slurry alone. When the kamaboko was subjected to continued heating at Tm, changesin expressible water and jelly strength of the kamaboko heated at 75-80°C was larger thanthose of the kamaboko heated at 85-90°C. When the kamaboko was heated at Tm, the jellystrength of the kamaboko containing potato, amylomaize, sweet potato, or corn starch was larger than that of the kamaboko containing the other starches.

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The durability of a bag-in-drum type aseptic container was examined during transportation for more than 1200km; this type of container is becoming popular at present for orange juice or tomato puree. The container received severe damage of cracks and pin-holes. The damage was more serious in case of shipment by train than by truck and ferry boat, because the resonance frequency of the products in the aseptic bag was mostly equivalent to the lowest vibrating frequency of transporting vibration in the train. The damage could be reduced by supporting the aseptic bag in the drum with two semicircular plates of polystyrene foam.

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A supernatant of coagulated soymilk obtained during Tofu processing have been te rmed Yu in Japanese, and have been main waste water of Tofu factory. Because Yu has been suggested to contain noncoagulated protein and sugers, the recovery of protein from Yu is expected to be effective for reduction of waste water facilities and the recover ed protein should be utilized as food materials. Therefore, the yield, nitrogen content and protein composition and its molecular weight distribution on gel electrophoresis of the Yu solid were examined. Fractionation by gel filtration and ultrafiltration was also studied. As a result, into Yu moved 5.7% of soybean's solid materials, and the nitrogen content of the Yu solid was 5.1% (31.9% as protein). On a gel electrophoretical pattern at least 7 kinds of protein components were detected, of which main three components were deduced to have the molecular weight of 55, 38 and 15.5kD, respectively. The gel electrophoretical pattern of Yu was quite different from that of a soybean whey fraction (supernatant fraction of isolated protein from defatted soybean meal) which have been investigated in detail. Yu was able to divide into protein and nonprotein fractions by gel filtration with a Bio gel P-30 or P-100 column, ultrafiltration with a 10kD filter and dialysis with cellophane tube. Further, about 60% of the protein fraction was successfully recovered from waste Yu water of Tofu factory by dialysis and ultrafiltration.

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The role of floating rice koji in the manufacture of pot vinegar was investigated using the mash prepared on an industrial scale at Fukuyama, Kagoshima Prefecture. The results were as follows: (1) Effects of the addition of floating rice koji: without addition of floating rice koji, alcohol fermentation occurred significantly at the early stage and delayed the start of acetic acid fermentation, resulting in the prolongation of the fermentation period. These results revealed that surplus alcohol content hindered acetic acid fermentation even in the presence of acetic acid bacteria. (2) Effects on the formation of organic acids except acetic acid: lactic acid was the most dominant in both samples. The amount of lactic acid produced was high in the pot vinegar added with floating rice koji. The other acids detected were succinic, pyroglutamic, pyruvic and malic acids. (3) Effects of the time of adding floating rice koji: delayed addition of floating rice koji onto the mash caused higher level of alcohol production, resulting in the reduction of acetic acid fermentation. (4) Effect of the addition of starters including yeast immediately after the mash preparation: addition of a high inoculum size of yeast cells resulted in a high production of alcohol and hindered the acetic acid fermentation. Addition of acetic acid bacteria after alcohol fermentation without the addition of yeast showed no significant difference from the sample without the addition of acetic acid bacteria. From these results, it was revealed that addition of floating rice koji immediately after the preparation of mash in the manufacture of pot vinegar, played an important role to help smooth acetic acid fermentation after alcohol fermentation.

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We have examined the sizes and constituents of 17 "hoto" noodles on the market in Yamanashi prefecture. We have also studied the influence of boiling time on the moisture content and physical characteristics of cooked"hoto", The physical values of selected five "hoto" noodles were compared at the same moisture content. The results obtained were as follows:1) 17 "hoto" noodles were considerably different each other in their sizes and constituents. The standard values obtained were: the width, 5-6mm or 7-8mm; the thickness, 2mm; the water content, 28-30%; ane the salt content, 0.8-1.1%, the calculated protein content of the material flour is 9-10%. 2) The increases in their sizes after boiling were 1.2-1.5 times in width and 1.2 times in thickness. Their tensile strengths were 3-4g/mm. 3) In five "koto" noodles the most suitable boiling time for eating was 13-20min., when the moisture content was 67-68%. 4) The shear strength and tensile strength of five "hoto" noodles had strong negative correlation with the moisture content. 5) At 68% of the moisture content, the shear strengths of five "hoto" noodles was positively correlated with their tensile strengths.

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