Sara Simões

Over the past few years, clean label food has been growing, meaning that consumers are searching for shorter and simpler ingredient lists composed of familiar and natural ingredients. The objective of the present work was to develop a vegan clean label mayonnaise, replacing the additives with fruit flour obtained from fruit reduced commercial value. The mayonnaises were prepared by replacing the egg yolk with 1.5% (w/w) lupin and faba proteins, while fruit flour (apple, nectarine, pear, and peach flour) was incorporated to substitute sugar, preservatives, and colorants. Texture profile analysis and rheology—small amplitude oscillatory measurements were performed to evaluate the impact of the fruit flour on mechanical properties. The mayonnaise antioxidant activity was also analyzed in terms of color, pH, microbiology, and stability measurements. The results showed that mayonnaises produced with fruit flour had better structure parameters in terms of viscosity, and texture, but also improved pH and antioxidant activity (p < 0.05) compared to the standard mayonnaise (mayonnaise without fruit flour). The incorporation of this ingredient into mayonnaise increases the antioxidant potential, though it is in lower concentrations compared to the fruit flours that compose them. Nectarine mayonnaise showed the most promising results in terms of texture and antioxidant capacity (11.30 mg equivalent of gallic acid/100 g).

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is a pulse with historical importance in Portugal, but that was forgotten over time. Previous to this work, an innovative miso was developed to increase grass pea usage and consumption, using fermentation as a tool to extol this ingredient. Our work’s goal was to develop a new vegan emulsion with added value, using grass pea sweet miso as a clean-label ingredient, aligned with the most recent consumer trends. For this, a multidisciplinary approach with microbiological, rheological and chemical methods was followed. Grass pea sweet miso characterization revealed a promising ingredient in comparison with soybean miso, namely for its low fat and sodium chloride content and higher content in antioxidant potential. Furthermore, in vitro antimicrobial activity assays showed potential as a preservation supporting agent. After grass pea sweet miso characterization, five formulations with 5–15% (w/w) of miso were tested, with a vegan emulsion similar to mayonnaise as standard. The most promising formulation, 7.5% (w/w) miso, presented adequate rheological properties, texture profile and fairly good stability, presenting a unimodal droplet size distribution and stable backscattering profile. The addition of 0.1% (w/w) psyllium husk, a fiber with great water-intake capacity, solved the undesirable release of exudate from the emulsion, as observed on the backscattering results. Furthermore, the final product presented a significantly higher content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity in comparison with the standard vegan emulsion.

Summary: Mayonnaise is an oil in water emulsion of egg, oil and an acid, worldwide consumed. The major challenges of the mayonnaise industry include searching for an alternative protein source. This study evaluates an alternative protein source, yeast protein extract (YPE), to replace egg in the mayonnaise model. Furthermore, the natural ability of phenolic compounds (PCs) to bind to proteins was studied to enhance the emulsifying capacity of YPE. The mayonnaise‐like emulsions were characterised according to their rheology, texture and colour profile. There were no differences in rheological parameters between the YPE emulsion (G' at 1 Hz 785 ± 15 Pa) and onion powder emulsion (G' at 1 Hz 785 ± 15 Pa) compared with the commercial mayonnaise (CC, G' at 1 Hz 747 ± 16 Pa). In general, the emulsions obtained with YPE and YPE‐PCs were found to have similar viscoelastic and viscosity properties to the CC. In terms of texture profile (firmness) the blueberry powder (0.574 ± 0.036 N), grape seed extract (0.497 ± 0.061 N) or wine extract (0.626 ± 0.128 N) YPE emulsions were equal to CC (0.561 ± 0.031 N). As a result, some of the mayonnaise‐like emulsions developed could be alternatives to CC regarding physical–chemical properties.

Tenebrio molitor flour, a sustainable source of protein and bioactive compounds, was used as a clean label ingredient in order to reformulate a commercial hummus sauce, replacing egg yolk and modified starch, improving its nutritional quality. For this purpose, the impact of different concentrations of insect flour on the sauce was studied. Rheology properties, texture profile analysis, and the microstructure of the sauces were analyzed. Nutritional profile analysis was carried out, as well as bioactivity, namely the total phenolic content and the antioxidant capacity. Sensory analysis was conducted to determine the consumer’s acceptance. At low concentrations (up to 7.5% of T. molitor flour) the sauce structure remained practically unchanged. However, for higher additions of T. molitor (10% and 15%), a loss of firmness, adhesiveness and viscosity was observed. Structure parameters such as elastic modulus (G’) at 1 Hz of the sauces with 10% and 15% were significantly lower than the commercial sauce, indicating a loss of structure caused by Tenebrio flour incorporation. Although the formulation with 7.5% T. molitor flour was not the best rated in the sensory analysis, it showed a higher antioxidant capacity compared to the commercial standard. In addition, this formulation also presented the highest concentration in total phenolic compounds (16.25 mg GAE/g) and significantly increased the content of proteins (from 4.25% to 7.97%) and some minerals, compared to the standard.

This work explores the potential of Rocha do Oeste pear pomace to be used as a sustainable and healthy food ingredient. Moreover, the enrichment with yeast protein extract (YPE) may be useful to design innovative food products. The main goals of this study were to assess pear pomace concerning: (i) chemical composition and antioxidant capacity; (ii) rheology, texture, and microstructure characterization (alone or enriched with YPE), before and after heating. The results showed that pear pomace was a rich source of dietary fibers (74.5% DW), with phenolic compounds (3.9 mg chlorogenic acid equivalents/g dry weight), also presenting antiradical activity (3.90 μmol Trolox equivalents/g DW). Pear pomace showed a shear thinning behavior and a typical soft-gel behavior, which was not affected by YPE enrichment, thus suggesting that YPE did not affect pear pomace technological properties. Thermal treatment also did not alter pear pomace rheological properties. YPE addition induced a decrease in the apparent viscosity and a destabilizing effect, compared to the samples that were subjected to thermal processing. These results highlight the importance of pear pomace and the use of YPE for protein enrichment, opening new opportunities for their exploitation.

As food trends evolve towards sustainable, healthy, and mildly processed products, it is essential to consider new food sources, which contribute to positive changes in the food industry and originate interesting new products. For the tomato industry, where only completely red tomatoes are used, unripe and non-red tomatoes constitute an important by-product, with important losses in the field of a perfectly edible vegetable food source. To give value to this unripe tomato, a fermentation with a consortium of lactic acid bacteria and yeast was previously optimized, originating an acidic pulp with optimized nutritional characteristics and great potential for salad dressing development. Pulp's texture was improved with two hydrocolloid systems: 0.5 g/100 g of xanthan gum; and a mixed system of xanthan gum and kappa-carrageenan (0.1 g/100 g each). After rheology optimization, spices and condiments were added to the thickened fermented pulp, and promising tasty sauces were obtained. These sauces were presented to a consumers’ panel, with good acceptance. The production of these new healthy sauces aims to mitigate unripe tomato waste, adding value to the tomato industry by using a major industrial by-product.

Summary: The consumer's perception that food is one of the main determining factors for health increases the demand for foods in line with this trend. The food industry is researching new ingredients, formulations, and technologies aiming to respond to this demand. Namely, product formulations are increasingly less complex, with fewer additives, and manufactured with commonly known ingredients, leading to the concept of clean label products. The present work aimed to develop a vegan and clean label mayonnaise by replacing egg yolk with vegetable protein, obtaining a product aligned with current food trends. Emulsions with 1.5% (w/w) powdered aquafaba, green pea, lupin, and faba bean proteins were prepared and compared to the commercial standard Mendes Gonçalves' mayonnaise. Texture (TPA) and rheology (SAOS) measurements showed that emulsions with lupin and faba bean protein had significant differences (P < 0.05) from the standard. Thus, these two proteins were assessed in a mixed system using different proportions – total protein content of 1.5% (w/w). Additionally, lupin protein showed a significant impact on mayonnaise structure and consistency. Backscattering and droplet size distribution measurements indicated that, except for faba bean, all the emulsions studied are stable and have a high potential for scale‐up.