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Milena Sinigaglia

Bio: Milena Sinigaglia is an academic researcher from University of Foggia. The author has contributed to research in topics: Food spoilage & Lactobacillus plantarum. The author has an hindex of 45, co-authored 264 publications receiving 6625 citations. Previous affiliations of Milena Sinigaglia include London Metropolitan University & University of Bari.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The scope of this review is a focus on interactions of EOs with proteins, carbohydrates, oils, NaCl, and pH, as well as a brief description on the different protocols to assess their bioactivity both under in vivo and in vitro conditions.
Abstract: Essential oils (EOs) are liquid preparations, produced from plant materials. Although EOs showed a promising bioactivity in vitro, they could interact in foods with some components (fats, proteins, carbohydrates) and pH, thus many authors have reported that a significant effect of EOs toward spoiling and pathogenic microorganisms could be achieved in vivo by using higher amounts of oils. Different methods can be used to assess the bioactivity of EOs (disk diffusion and agar or broth dilution methods); however, there is not a standardized test and researchers propose and use different protocols (evaluating the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration, studying the survival curves, analysis through the scanning electron microscopy, etc.). Thereafter, the scope of this review is a focus on interactions of EOs with proteins, carbohydrates, oils, NaCl, and pH, as well as a brief description on the different protocols to assess their bioactivity both under in vivo and in vitro conditions.

217 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of some alternative approaches for food stabilisation and shelf life prolonging (based on the use of natural compounds and/or non-thermal techniques) is presented in this paper.
Abstract: Summary This paper proposes a review of some alternative approaches for food stabilisation and shelf life prolonging (based on the use of natural compounds and/or non-thermal techniques). After a brief description of food structure implication on the way of using the alternative approaches, two paragraphs summarise the topics of natural molecules (essential oils, lysozyme, lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase system, fatty acids, chitosan) and non-thermal approaches (high hydrostatic and homogenisation pressures, pulsed electric fields, high power ultrasound and irradiation). Finally, the last sections deal with the use of combined hurdles (along with the proposal of three possible modes of action of a multi-target preservation), the mathematical approaches for shelf life evaluating and some critical issues to be addressed in the future for a real scaling up of the proposed techniques.

175 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review covers researches on thermal processing of fruit and vegetable juices and beverages, with a particular emphasis on products derived from different botanical sources, and conventional and alternative thermal treatments presented.
Abstract: Fruit and vegetable juices and beverages are generally preserved by thermal processing, currently being the most cost-effective means ensuring microbial safety and enzyme deactivation. However, thermal treatments may induce several chemical and physical changes that impair the organoleptic properties and may reduce the content or bioavailability of some nutrients; in most cases, these effects are strongly dependent on the food matrix. Moreover, the efficacy of treatments can also be affected by the complexity of the product and microorganisms. This review covers researches on this topic, with a particular emphasis on products derived from different botanical sources. Technologies presented include conventional and alternative thermal treatments. Advances toward hurdle-based technology approaches have been also reviewed.

150 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The modified Gompertz equation was re-parameterized to directly include the shelf life as a fitting parameter among the Gomertz parameters and the new equation was able to describe the data well and to estimate the shelflife.

147 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Investigation of the possible use of chitosan coating on fresh-cut strawberries revealed that applying a chitOSan coating prolonged effectively the quality and extended the shelf life of fresh- cut strawberries.

136 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The major strategies for designing surfaces that prevent fouling due to proteins, bacteria, and marine organisms are reviewed and ongoing research in this area should result in the development of even better antifouling materials in the future.
Abstract: The major strategies for designing surfaces that prevent fouling due to proteins, bacteria, and marine organisms are reviewed. Biofouling is of great concern in numerous applications ranging from biosensors to biomedical implants and devices, and from food packaging to industrial and marine equipment. The two major approaches to combat surface fouling are based on either preventing biofoulants from attaching or degrading them. One of the key strategies for imparting adhesion resistance involves the functionalization of surfaces with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or oligo(ethylene glycol). Several alternatives to PEG-based coatings have also been designed over the past decade. While protein-resistant coatings may also resist bacterial attachment and subsequent biofilm formation, in order to overcome the fouling-mediated risk of bacterial infection it is highly desirable to design coatings that are bactericidal. Traditional techniques involve the design of coatings that release biocidal agents, including antibiotics, quaternary ammonium salts (QAS), and silver, into the surrounding aqueous environment. However, the emergence of antibiotic- and silver-resistant pathogenic strains has necessitated the development of alternative strategies. Therefore, other techniques based on the use of polycations, enzymes, nanomaterials, and photoactive agents are being investigated. With regard to marine antifouling coatings, restrictions on the use of biocide-releasing coatings have made the generation of nontoxic antifouling surfaces more important. While considerable progress has been made in the design of antifouling coatings, ongoing research in this area should result in the development of even better antifouling materials in the future.

2,278 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper reviews recent advances in the covalent attachment of bioactive compounds to functionalized polymer surfaces including relevant techniques in polymer surface modification such as wet chemical, organosilanization, ionized gas treatments, and UV irradiation.

1,334 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present review aims to highlight various preparative methods and antimicrobial activity including the mechanism of the antimicrobial action of chitosan based films including the optimisation of the biocidic properties of these so called biocomposites films and role of biocatalysts in improvement of quality and shelf life of foods.

1,237 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper aims to review recent in-food applications of EOs and plant-origin natural antimicrobials and recent techniques for screening such compounds.

1,183 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
10 Jan 2002-Analyst
TL;DR: The measurement of antioxidant activities, especially of antioxidants that are mixtures, multifunctional or are acting in complex multiphase systems, cannot be evaluated satisfactorily by a simple antioxidant test without due regard to the many variables influencing the results.
Abstract: Antioxidant activity has been assessed in many ways. The limitation of many newer methods is the frequent lack of an actual substrate in the procedure. The combination of all approaches with the many test methods available explains the large variety of ways in which results of antioxidant testing are reported. The measurement of antioxidant activities, especially of antioxidants that are mixtures, multifunctional or are acting in complex multiphase systems, cannot be evaluated satisfactorily by a simple antioxidant test without due regard to the many variables influencing the results. Several test procedures may be required to evaluate such antioxidant activities. A general method of reporting antioxidant activity independent of the test procedure is proposed.

1,145 citations