A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the determination of pantothenic acid in infant formulas. The clean-up procedure was as follows; sample was dissolved in water and adjusted pH to 4.6 With HCl to precipitate protein and to extract pantothenic acid. The extract was purified on Chem Elute column and Bond Elute CH column. Pantothenic acid was separated on a Inertsil ODS-2 column with accetonitrile/20mM phosphate buffer (pH 3.0) [7+93] as a mobile phase. An UV detector was used for the detection of pantothenic acid and the wavelength was set at 200nm. The recoveries of added pantothenic acid were 92.0%-98.6%. The repeatability of this method was 3.3% as coefficient of variation. Twelve commercially available samples were analyzed by this method. The results almost agreed with those of microbiological method.

View full abstract

Comparison of chemical properties and compositions of total lipids between normal-"katsuobushi" (4 samples) and "Shirata-katsuobushi" ("Shirata": phenomena developed in a piece of dried skipjack, 5 samples) was made. The results are summarized as follows: (1) Total lipid contents were 3.0-5.6% (3.7-7.0% as dry matter) in normal-"katsuobushi" and 8.5-11.5% (9.5-12.2%) in "Shirata-katsuobushi". (2) Acid value of total lipids was higher in "Shirata-katsuobushi" than in normal-"katsuobushi", and peroxide value and iodine value were lower in "Shirata-katsuobushi" than in normal-"katsuobushi". (3) Neutral lipid fraction contents of total lipids were 60.6-72.4% (2.1-4.1g in 100g samples) in normal-"katsuobushi" and 75.7-87.9% (6.5-10.1g in 100g samples) in "Shirata-katsuobushi", while compound lipid fraction contents of total lipids were 27.6-39.4% (0.9-1.7g) in normal-"katsuobushi" and 12.1-24.3% (1.4-2.6g) in "Shirata-katsuobushi". (4) Triacylglycerol and free fatty acid contents of neutral lipid fraction in normal-"katsuobushi" were 31.2-49.3% and 28.2-43.3%, respectively, while those in "Shirata-katsuobushi" were 19.4-33.2% and 48.7-60.5%, respectively. (5) Phosphatidylcholine content of compound lipid fraction in normal-"katsuobushi" was 67.9-74.7%, while that in "Shirata-katsuobushi" was 53.2-63.6%. (6) The major fatty acids of total lipids, neutral lipid fraction and compound lipid fraction in both types of "katsuobushi" were 14:0, 16:0, 16:1, 18:0, 18:1, 20:4, 20:5 and 22:6 acids. However, "Shirata-katsuobushi" contained more saturated fatty acids and less highly unsaturated fatty acids than normal-"Katsuobushi".

View full abstract

Homemade Ume liqueur is made by steeping Ume fruit and sugar in spirits. Changes of compositions during production and aging of Ume liqueur were studied. The results obtained are as followes: (1) At an earlier stage of storage, the flesh weight decreased in contrast with an increase in the liquid volume. The rate of decrease reached a maximum between day 16 and 30, after which the liqueur permeated into the flesh, as shown by the gradual increase in weight. (2) The pH value of the liqueur decreased and its acidity increased until day 30. After that it remained constant. (3) Most of organic acids, malic, citric, formic and oxalic acids, in the liqueur increased to some extent until day 30, and reached a plateau after that time. However, fomic and oxalic acids did not change until day 60, but were hardly detected affer day 90. (4) Asparagine is the major free amino acid, and we detected γ-aminobutylic acid, alanine and asparatic acid etc. Most of free amino acids in the liqueur increased to some extent until day 30, but did not greatly change thereafter. However, glutamic acid was not detected in the liqueur nor the mixture of liqueur and fruit at day 1 in spite of its presence in the fresh fruit. In contrast, γ-aminobutyric acid sharply increased at day 1 which was almost 0 in the fresh fruit.

View full abstract

Effects of 18 spices, 9 seasonings and 9 food additives on volatility of volatile acids from fish muscle homgenate were examined. Volatile acids were determined on the distillate of homogenated mixture of muscle and a test compound after distillation at 90°C for 30min. Acetic acid, propionic acid, n-butyric acid and/or n-caproic acid were vaporized from the muscle homogenate of salmon, tuna, pacific saury and plaice, but hardly from that of mackerel, sea bream, sardine and yellowtail. Among the spices tested, an addition of clove to mackerel muscle released a high concentration of acetic acid, which was originated from clove itself. Increased release of volatile acids from mackerel muscle by addition of seasonings such as Worcester sauce, miso (red), tomato ketchup, white wine or vinegar originated from those in the test compounds and was probably due to decreased pH of the mixture by adding the test compounds. Any food additives tested had no effect on volatility of volatile acids. In the experiment with the homogenated mixture of mackerel muscle and 8 standard volatile acids, release of volatile acids was increased by an addition of clove, Worcester sauce, tomato ketchap, white wine, vinegar, ascorbic acid or sorbic acid, but decreased by that of vanillin or maltol. Cyclodextrin failed to reduce the release of volatile acids. Volatility of volatile acids was greatly influenced by pH of the homogenated mixture: volatile acids were hardly released about pH 6; n-butyric and n-caproic acids were released below pH 5; and propionic and iso-butyric acids below pH 4.

View full abstract

Mass transfer studies on several kinds of materials in fish flesh have been reported in our previous papers. As a part of these studies, a transfer rate of glucose in tuna flesh is investigated in extraction and in penetration. Concentration distribution and the amount of glucose in fish flesh observed in penetration are explained well by Fick's law of diffusion. And for both directions of diffusion parallel to or perpendicular to fiber, there are no differences in mechanism and in diffusivities. The effect of temperature on diffusivity in fish flesh obtained from the extraction experiment is the same as that in water. These results indicate that the transfer of glucose is the simplest case of mass transfer in fish flesh which the author has reported before. Relationship between diffusivities of glucose in flesh and in water is comparable to the relationships of salts obtained previously.

View full abstract

In order to elucidate odor-characteristics of green tea, odor-descriptive terms for sensory evaluation of green tea flavor were characterized, and data of sensory evaluation of 60 green tea samples by 5 expert panelists were analyzed by Quantification theory 3 (Quant. 3) and cluster analysis. (1) Images for the terms with unpleasant odor showed small differences among the panelists, but images for the pleasant terms showed accordancce among the panelists. (2) On the first and second axes by the Quant. 3, green tea samples were grouped into Gyokuro with their attribute of "Ooika", high grade Sencha very rich in "Chanokaori", "Sinsenka" and "Mirumeka", and middle or lower grade Sencha with defective factors such as "Kowabasyu", "Ichyoka", "Aosyu" and "Ishu". (3) Green tea samples were classified into 8 groups by cluster analysis which was done on the scores from the first to third axis obtained by Quant. 3 including over 80% of total information.

View full abstract

Changes in rice proteins during miso fermentation were investigated. The percentages of water-soluble nitrogen content to total nitrogen content (nitrogen solubility) of the steamed rice samples (4 samples) were 0.3-0.4%. The nitrogen solubilities of the koji samples prepared With these steamed rice samples were 9-14%. When each koji sample was mixed with salt (at finally 12%) and water (at finally 44%) and allowed to ferment at 30°C for 60 days, the nitrogen solubilities were ranged from 35 to 44%. There were not so differences in the SDS-polyacylamide gel electrophoretic (SDS-PAGE) pattern between the lyophilized soaked rice samples and the water-insoluble fractions of the koji samples. Clear bands with molecular weights of 22-23KDa and faint bands with molecular weights of 26, 37, 39 and 57 KDa were observed in the SDS-PAGE patterns of the water-insoluble fraction of the mixture fermented for 60 days. When the koji was mixed with salt, water and cooked soybeans to make miso and the mixture was allowed to ferment at 30°C for 60 days, the nitrogen solubility increased to approximately 60%. The bands with molecular weights of 5 to 15, 22-23KDa, 26, 37, 39 and 57KDa were observed in the SDS-PAGE pattern of the weter-insoluble fraction of the miso. From the above results, it is found that rice proteins, especially of basic subunits of glutelin with molecular weight of 22-23KDa, are hardly digested by koji enzymes during miso fermentation.

View full abstract

To clarify the rheological properties of Japanese type noodle, the stress relaxation under a well-defined normal strain was measured by the floating method using a mercury bath. The raw noodle showed a nonlinear viscoelasticity, while the cooked noodle can be expressed by a linearity up to 6% in strain. The relaxation modulus of both raw and cooked noodle indicated a minimum value at 1% NaCl, and then increased with increasing NaCl content. The relaxation modulus of the cooked noodle gave maximum value at 4% NaCl, and decreased slightly with increasing NaCl content. The relaxation modulus of both raw and cooked noodle decreased, while water content increased. The effect of added water for cooked noodle was smaller than that for raw noodle. The time-temperature superposition principle was found in the master relaxation curve existing in the temperature range of 10-40°C for raw noodle and in the range of 5-50°C for cooked noodle. Sixty seven and 117KJ/mol of apparent activated energy was evaluated from the correlation between the shift factor and 1/T for the raw noodle and the cooked noodle, respectively. Relaxation time distributed in a wide range of 1-10⁴ sec for the raw noodle and 0.1-10⁵ sec for the cooked noodle.

View full abstract

The influence of cultivar and crop year on mineral components of apple fruits was investigated using three cultivars cultivated at Morioka Branch, Fruit Tree Research Station in 1980 to 1982. The mineral components measured were 9 elmemts, i.e. sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, and phosphorus. The potassium, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus contents were affected significantly by cultivar and crop year, and the sodium content by crop year on dry basis. The content in ash was not affected by cultivar in all minerals except manganese. On the other hand, the potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus contents in ash were affected significantly by crop year. The phosphorus content in 1982, drying year, was particularly low and differed significantly with that in 1980 and 1981. Crop year was more influencial than crop tree in the mineral content of 3 cultivars. As to the cultivar, Ralls Janet was significantly higher than Starking Delicious and Golden Delicious in the sodium, manganese, and phosphorus contents.

View full abstract

Information System (JOIS), technical problems on retrieval for users as well as on preparing relevant documents for database producers were studied with a case study concerning the research subject of meat radicidation. Referring to the results of surveys on pathogens in meats, the following six groups of bacteria were selected as an object organism to be studied: Salmonella sp., Campylobacter sp.: Yersinia sp., Listeria sp., Shigella sp. and Staphylococcus aureus. As the results of indexing, changes during 15years from 1975 to 1989 of documents concerned, relationship between retrieval formula employed and useful documents found and the conclusive data on radiosensitivities of these six bacteria and recommended radiation doses for meat radicidation were indicated. Some examples of documents were analyzed for improvement of database production and utilization. It was noted that the abstracts in databases play an important role in utilization of databases, and the use of different types of databases may provide the complementary effect on retrieval.

View full abstract

Changes in the viable counts and enterotoxin production of Staphylococcus aureus during fermentation of sausages were investigated. By smoking at 37°C for 6h, staphylococcal growth and enterotoxin production on the surface of sausages were inhibited, even if lactic starter was not added. On the other hand lactic starter could inhibit S. aureus growth in the center of unsmoked sausages. By the combination of lactic starter and smoking at the beginning of fermentation stage, the staphylococcal growth and enterotoxin production were effectively inhibited at both surface and center of sausages, while smoking practically exerted no effect on lactic fermentation of sausages.

View full abstract

Air-dried, freeze-dried and alcohol-replaced calcium alginate xero-gels were compared with by the specific surface area, pore-size distribution and fractal dimension. The specific surface areas of air-dried and -20°C freeze-dried xero-gels were less than 0.5m²/g, while those of ethanol-or 1-propanol-replaced xero-gels were about 400mm²/g. The macro-pore size distribution of -196°C freeze-dried xero-gel had a maximum at about 1 μm of pore radius, while that ethanol-replaced xero-gel had broad distribution in the range less than 100nm in pore radius. The micro-pore size distribution was very much affected by the contents of mannuronic acid and gluronic acid of alginate. The micro-pore was most effectively developed by use of 1-propanol. Air-dried, -20°C freeze-dried and ethanol-replaced xerogels had fractal structures with the fractal dimension of 2.4-3.0. The specific surface area of ethanol-replaced xero-gel was independent of the particle diameter, showing that the surface was the fractal with the fractal dimension of 3.0.

View full abstract

Influences of carbon dioxide (0-91%), oxgen (2.0-20.8%), sodium chloride (0-12%), pH (4.5-6.5) and ethanol (0-2%) on the growth of Debaryomyces hansenii and Saccharomyces servazzii were studied. Carbon dioxide had no effect on the growth of S. servazzii, while an inhibition of the gowth of D. hansenii was observed with an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide (5-40%) and its growth was completely inhibited when the concentration of carbon dioxide was increased over 50%. Although sodium chloride had a little effect on the growth of D. hansenii, it was much effective on that of S. servazzii which was inhibited completely at 12% sodium chloride. The influences of oxgen, pH and ethanol on the growth of both S. servazzii and D. hansenii were not so high as those of carbon dioxide and sodium chloride.

View full abstract