"Khanom jeen" is an indigenous fermented rice noodle of Thailand.
To examine the microflora and the hydrolysis of rice starch during fermentation, microbiological analysis was carried out periodically on a sample. Twenty strains of lactic acid bacteria were isolated and identified, and lactic acid bacteria amounted to 40 to 60 percent of the total isolated bacteria. Dominant coccus type species belonged to Streptococcus lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus and Pediococcus acidilactici, while rod shape species were mainly occupied by Lactobacillus acidophillus, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus reuteri.
One of the strains was particularly interesting, since it had strong productivity of a red orange pigment. This strain was identified as Lactobacillus plantarum by its morphological and physiological properties.

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The influences of wheat flour protein on physical properties of cookie dough and cookie were investigated. Gliadin, glutenin and gluten were extracted from soft and hard wheat flours, and each of them was added to wheat starch. Cookies were prepared by 20g palm oil, 10g water and 50g synthetic flour obtained as above. The results of a creep test and a compression test on the doughs indicated that the dough prepared from the hard wheat flour had less flow deformation and a higher hardness than that of the soft wheat flour in every protein fractions. In a constant rate compression/fracture test, the cookies prepared from the hard wheat flour showed a high fracture ability in every protein fractions, suggesting that they were harder and less brittle. Cookies prepared from gliadin fraction of the soft wheat flour expanded well, while those prepared from the one of the hard wheat flour showed a low expansion ratio. A number of small peaks were observed on the surface of cookies prepared from the hard wheat flour.

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Effects of cooking temperature (55 to 80°C) and time (5 to 360min) on chemical and sensory characteristics of pork sausage were investigated. The pH values, free amino acid levels, color characteristics and taste acceptance of pork sausage varied with the cooking temperature and time. The pH values of the pork sausage increased with cooking. The higher the cooking temperature, the more rapidly decreased the residual nitrite levels. Free amino acid levels increased on low-temperature cooking (55°C), while decreased on hightemperature cooking (80°C). The color characteristics of sausage added with nitrite were judged to be better than those without nitrite. Sensory scores were also affected by nitrite addition.

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An aroma concentrate of miso obtained by the use of a porous polymer column was analized by GC and GC-MS. HEMF (4-Hydroxy-2 (or 5)-ethyl-5 (or 2)-methyl-3 (2H)-furanone) with intense sweet aroma was identified as a flavor component of miso for the first time. Miso suspension added with HEMF was evaluated to have stronger misolike aroma by a sensory test. As HEMF is known as one of the character compounds of Shouyu, it is considered to be a very important flavor compound of miso.

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The changes of hydroxycinnamic acids in daikon (Raphanus sativus L.) roots under salting were studied by HPLC analysis.
In fresh daikon, most of the extracted hydroxycinnamic acids were found as malic acid esters, where p-coumaric acid ester was the major and ferulic acid ester the other.
In short period (7 days) salted daikon, the total hydroxycinnamic acid content increased, and the portion of free form (p-coumaric acid and ferulic acid) to the total was about 3 times higher than that in fresh daikon. In long period (2 or 8 months) salted daikon, most hydroxycinnamic acids were free forms, namely p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and caffeic acid.
It was presumed that hydroxycinnamoyl esters with malic acid in fresh daikon were hydrolyzed to free hydroxycinnamic acids during salting.

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Some physico-chemical properties of four kinds of domestic wheats and Australian Standard White (ASW) which has been known to possess favorable characteristics for noodle making were investigated in connection with the noodle making quality and the eating quality. In order to investigate essential factors for affecting desirable noodle making quality, starch, one of the main components, isolated from each wheat flour was compared in the amylose and damaged starch contents, solubility and swelling power.
There were no remarkable differences between five wheat starches among the items tested. A rapid rise in viscosity and the highest maximum viscosity were observed in the amylographic pattern of Chihoku harvested in Hokkaido. It was revealed from a noodle making test that ASW was superior in both breaking stress and the rate of extension. Fukuwase harvested in Gifu Prefecture was evaluated to be the best one by the texture measurements with a texturometer and eating quality test.

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The water extracts from 107 samples of vegetables and 60 of mushrooms were examined on the antimutagenic activities on Trp-P-1 in the assay using Salmonella typhimurium TA 98. Among the 167 of samples tested, the extracts prepared from lemonbalm, thyme, butterbur flower, momijigasa, oregano, field horsetail, shiroza, gyojaninniku and tarragon were found to possess the strong capacities of inactivating the mutagenicity of Trp-P-1. Many of the vegetables possessing the activity were the edible plants which belong to Family Compositae, Labiatae, Cruciferae and Umbelliferae. In addition, all of the aromatic herbs tested possessed the antimutagenic effects. On the other hand, although 45% of mushroom samples were active, their activities were relatively weak, compared to vegetables.

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Sixteen soy sauces and 4 fish sauces produced in Asian countries were subjected to electrodialysis. Their nondialyzable fraction was determined for iron (II) chelating activity by HPLC using a gel permeation column equilibrated with 0.01M acetate buffer (pH 4) containing 0.1mM iron (II) sulfate. The Fe-complex of each sample was detected in melanoidin fractions and in uncolored fractions, and the characteristics of the sause sample were represented by the elution profiles of Fe-complex. The results show that the amount of iron chelated per ml of electrodialyzed soy sauce ranged from 0.11 to 1.95mg, and that of the fish sauce ranged from 0.13 to 0.50mg. The chelating activity of soy sauce was larger than that of fish sauce. The chelating activity of the sauces was not always correlated with the color intensity at 450nm of the samples, since some iron complex appeared in uncolored fractions of HPLC analysis.

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Effect of the transformation of surface microstructure on the sorption behaviors of water vapor and mutagens (Trp-P-1 and Glu-P-1) was investigated by using calcium alginate of different specific surface area. Equilibrium sorption isotherms of water vapor and mutagens at 0°C were not affected significantly, although the sorption rates of water vapor and mutagens were very much influenced, by the change of specific surface area. The apparent diffusivities of water vapor and mutagens were increased more than several ten times by the increase of the specific surface area of calcium alginate xero-gels.

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Investigation was made on the effect of postharvest application of ethanol and ethylene on softening, respiration, activities of pectinmethylesterase and polygalacturonase, and changes in the total pectic substances and water-soluble pectin in banana during ripening. Peel color development, total soluble solids (as an estimate of total sugar) and acidity were also monitored.
Ethanol hastened ripening of bananas but was less effective than ethylene. The respiratory peak of ethylene-, ethanol-treated and control fruits was observed after 4, 8 and 11 days of storage. The fruits were edible ripe at or shortly after CO2 peak and the firmness at this time was comparable to the control. As the fruits softened, polygalacturonase activity increased, total pectic substances decreased and the water-soluble pectin increased. Polygalacturonase activity was low in the pre-climacteric stage, increased during the climacteric and reached a level of 17 to 18 times the initial in post-climacteric phase. The control was slow to ripen and its polygalacturonase activity was always lower than in treated fruits. The activity of pectinmethylesterase was not readily related to the decrease in firmness. The total soluble solids increased to 20-22% during ripening and the increase was most rapid in ethylene-treated fruits and slowest in the control. Acidity in all samples increased slightly during ripening.

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Effect of the surface microstructure of potato starch on its various physical properties was investigated by using starch gel powder of different specific surface area. The apparent diffusivity of water vapor within gelatinized potato starch powder was not affected by the change in the specific surface area, while that of native potato starch depended on the specific surface area. On the other hand, solubility, swelling capacity, absorbability of fluids, adsorption of flavor, and emulsion stability, of gelatinized and dried potato starch, were very much affected by the increase of the specific surface area.

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The effects of ultrasonication on the thermal gelation of ordinary and dark meat pastes from yellowfin tuna were investigated by means of jelly-strength curves of thermal gels and changes of actomyosin ATPase activities. When the pastes were ultrasonicated in phosphate buffers, the thermal gelation of the pastes was affected remarkably by pH and temperature of the phosphate buffer. The optimum for the ultrasonication to pastes was near pH 5.7 at 30°C.It was shown that during ultrasonication the activities of actomyosin Ca-, Mg-, EDTA-ATPases decreased rapidly. The differences in heat change of the Mg-ATPase which occurred in a very short time were observed between ordinary and dark muscles.

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Five groups of broilers (all males) with 6 birds in each were fed diets supplemented with dl-α-tocopheryl acetate (ATA) at a level of 0, 100, 250, 500 or 1000mg per kg of feed, respectively, for the last two weeks prior to slaughter. Dietary supplementation with ATA increased the α-tocopherol (α-Toc) contents of the skeletal muscle, subcellular membranes, liver and adipose tissue in proportion to the supplementary levels, decreased the molar ratios of PUFA or PUFA>18:2 (PUFA with three or more double bonds) to α-Toc in the muscle and subcellular membranes, and improved the oxidative stability of the white (M. pectoralis superficialis) and dark (thigh muscles) meat during refrigerated storage. Broiler dark and white meat with about 200 or less molar ratios of PUFA>18:2 to α-Toc gave TBA values of less than about 0.1 and were highly stable to lipid oxidation in the raw ground state over 5 days of storage at 0°C. For cooked ground samples, however, it failed to protect the cooked meat lipids from becoming oxidized, even though broilers were fed diets supplemented with up to 1000mg ATA/kg of feed.

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Extruded sorghum was prepared by using a single-screw extruder (barrel temperature; 180°C, revolution; 240rpm). The nutritional quality of sorghum proteins was evaluated by in vivo method, net nitrogen utilization based on nitrogen metabolism in rats. The nutritive value of sorghum proteins increased after extrusion cooking. Moreover, an extruded product of sorghum supplemented with lysine by yeast extract showed higher nutritive value than the extruded sorghum. These results suggest that nutritional quality of grain sorghum proteins can be improved by extrusion cooking and supplementation of limiting amino acid.

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A HPLC technique was used to evaluate iron (II) chelating activity of melanoidin in soy sauce and fish sauce. Dialysis of the sauce samples was found to be essential to the HPLC technique. Twenty samples of soy sauce and fish sauce produced in Asian countries were subjected to electrodialysis and measured for the amounts of melanoidin and sodium chloride retained in the dialyzed sauces. The dialyzed sauces retained less than 0.045% of sodium chloride and more than 81% of melanoidin except for two fish sauces and one soy sauce. The color intensity of melanoidin in sauce measured by optical density at 450nm was raised by the addition of iron (II) sulfate. It suggests that melanoidin in the soy sauce and fish sauce has a potent ability to chelate iron.

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