Andreea Bianca Balint

Food additives are defining components of ultra-processed foods, yet microbiome-related effects remain largely outside routine safety assessment. This review evaluates evidence for six additive classes across four pathways—microbial community changes, altered microbial metabolites, mucus-epithelial barrier disruption, and immune modulation—and examines how these findings could inform microbiome-inclusive risk assessment. Mechanistic, translational, and epidemiological evidence was organized using a five-tier hierarchy: in vitro, ex vivo, animal, observational, and controlled human studies. Chronic-disease associations were graded across six domains by two raters using explicit criteria, with sensitivity analysis. Evidence was then translated into a tiered, decision-gated assessment protocol, illustrated with carboxymethylcellulose and back-tested against carrageenan, acesulfame K, and titanium dioxide, which return three different protocol outcomes. Non-nutritive sweeteners and emulsifiers have the strongest direct human and ex vivo evidence, including microbiome-dependent interindividual responses, although null and discordant trials remain. Gastrointestinal and metabolic outcomes received the highest support, cardiovascular associations were intermediate, and autoimmune, neurological, and psychiatric links remained preliminary. Metabolic and cardiovascular epidemiology relied largely on NutriNet-Santé, with modest hazard ratios (generally 1.03–1.15 per exposure increment) and indirect exposure estimation. Recent additive-mixture analyses from the same cohort were also considered. Food additives can act as context-dependent, microbiome-active exposures. Current evidence supports considering microbiome composition, barrier-integrity, and immune endpoints in additive safety evaluation, while causal links with most chronic-disease outcomes remain unproven.

This study characterized mango peel powder (MPP) and evaluated its effects on the composition, bioactive properties, structure, and sensory quality of spreadable cream cheese. Three formulations were prepared, namely an unsupplemented control and two supplemented cheeses, designated MPPC1 and MPPC2, with nominal MPP addition levels of 3 and 6 g/100 g of the curd–butter mixture before powder addition, respectively. Physicochemical composition, phytochemical content, antioxidant activity using the 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)(ABTS) assay, colour, texture, microstructure, and sensory properties were evaluated. Phytochemical content, ABTS activity, and colour were monitored during 21 days of refrigerated storage, whereas the other assessments were performed at day 0. Moisture decreased from 60.72% in the control to 55.69% and 51.97% in MPPC1 and MPPC2, while crude fiber increased from 0.00% in the control to 1.54% and 3.05% in MPPC1 and MPPC2, respectively (p < 0.05). Supplemented cheeses showed higher flavonoid and polyphenol contents and ABTS activity than the control. Carotenoids were measured only in the supplemented formulations, with MPPC2 showing the highest concentration. ABTS activity retention ranged from 99.50% to 99.64% after storage. Increasing MPP addition produced darker, redder, yellower, and firmer cheeses; hardness increased from 4.38 N to 5.59 N and 7.09 N (p < 0.05). Microscopy revealed greater structural heterogeneity at higher addition levels. In the preliminary sensory evaluation, MPPC1 achieved the highest overall acceptability score (6.81/7), significantly exceeding the control and MPPC2 (p < 0.05). Among the tested formulations, MPPC1 combined compositional enrichment with the highest sensory acceptability, while MPPC2 produced greater phytochemical enrichment and more pronounced colour and texture changes.

The barley-malt-beer chain continues to expose beer, one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the world, to mycotoxin contamination. Fusarium species like F. graminearum and F. culmorum, which produce deoxynivalenol (DON), deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside (DON-3 G), zearalenone (ZEN), T-2, HT-2, and other toxic compounds, can infect brewing cereals, particularly barley and wheat. These pollutants have an impact on raw material quality, malting efficiency, and final beer composition in addition to food safety. With a focus on the processes that influence the final contamination profile in beer, this chapter explores the incidence, transport, and transformation of mycotoxins during malting and brewing. It describes how brewing redistributes mycotoxins across wort, beer, and by-products through transfer, partition, and biotransformation; how steeping may partially remove water-soluble toxins; and how germination may promote fungal growth and toxin generation. Simultaneously, the chapter examines the state-of-the-art analytical methods for barley, malt, wort, beer, and brewing residues, along with the primary limitations concerning sampling, matrix effects, and modified form detection. The debate also discusses the need for ongoing surveillance, improved coverage of modified mycotoxins, and more robust process-based control techniques, even if the existing data indicate that average exposure through beer frequently stays below current health-based recommendation values. Integrated chain monitoring, a wider analytical focus, and a closer connection between occurrence data, processing behavior, and exposure assessment are all necessary for future advancements.

Chitosan, produced through deacetylation of chitin from crustacean byproducts and, increasingly, fungal biomass and insects, is attracting food-sector interest because it combines antimicrobial activity, antioxidant capacity, biodegradability, and film-forming behavior in a single polymer. This review discusses how source, molecular weight (MW), degree of deacetylation, solubility, and charge density shape its performance in food systems. The paper then follows the main technological routes now tested or used: edible films and coatings, hydrogels, cryogels, nanoparticles, microcapsules, and hybrid matrices. These formats can protect fresh produce, meat, poultry, fish, seafood, and dairy foods, while also supporting beverage clarification, emulsion control, release of natural antimicrobials or antioxidants, and freshness monitoring in active or intelligent packaging. The evidence indicates strong promise, especially where microbial growth, lipid oxidation, moisture transfer, and short shelf life remain limiting factors. Yet, wider industrial use is still slowed by water sensitivity, sensory effects, raw-material variation, cost, process scale-up, and regulatory alignment. Future work should move beyond laboratory efficacy and address reproducible production, food-specific validation, and consumer acceptance.

Brewing generates several by-products with high potential for conversion into food in-gredients, including brewer’s spent grain, brewer’s spent yeast, spent hops, and hot trub. These streams contain dietary fibre, proteins, β-glucans, phenolics, minerals, and others with nutritional and technological value. This review evaluates their suitability for food applications by linking composition, processing routes, techno-functional behaviour, safety, sensory quality, and industrial readiness. A structured literature search covering publications from 2015 to 2026 was conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar to support a critical narrative synthesis of food-relevant applications of brewing by-products. The review shows that brewer’s spent grain is the most suitable by-product for wider food use, mainly in bakery, snacks, pasta, and cereal-based products, due to its high availability and fibre-rich composition. Brewer’s spent yeast is more appropriate for fraction-based applications involving proteins, peptides, β-glucans, and mannoproteins, especially in dairy products, savoury foods, beverages, and encapsula-tion systems. Spent hops and hot trub are less suitable for direct incorporation, but they may be used for selective recovery of phenolic-rich, antioxidant, flavour-active, or pro-tein-containing fractions. The conversion of these materials into food ingredients depends strongly on stabilization, drying, milling, extraction, fermentation, enzymatic treatment, debittering, and fractionation. Main limitations include high moisture content, short shelf-life, microbial spoilage, compositional variability, bitterness, dark colour, high nucleic acid content in yeast-derived fractions, regulatory uncertainty, and limited pilot-scale validation. Overall, brewing by-products can support the development of up-cycled ingredients when processing, safety, sensory quality, and product compatibility are controlled. Future progress requires standardized recovery protocols, stronger quality control, sensory validation, legal assessment, and scale-up studies to support their use in commercial food production.

Pomegranate peel, an agro-industrial by-product, is a promising source of functional compounds. This study evaluated pomegranate peel powder (PP) as a multifunctional yogurt ingredient and assessed its effects on the phytochemical profile, antioxidant activity, physicochemical properties, color, texture, microstructure, mineral composition, storage stability, and sensory acceptability. Yogurts supplemented with 3% and 6% PP were compared with a control. PP contained 12.49 mg GAE/g dw total polyphenols, 9.16 mg CE/g dw flavonoids, 63.66 mg C3G/100 g dw anthocyanins, 17.48% dietary fiber, 341.88 mg/100 g calcium, and 140.99 mg/100 g magnesium. PP addition improved yogurt functionality in a concentration-dependent manner. The 6% formulation showed the highest total polyphenol content (9.71 mg GAE/g dw), antioxidant activity (63.67 µmol TE/g dw), dry matter (19.20 g/100 g), and dietary fiber (1.19 g/100 g). Syneresis decreased from 18.22% in the control to 12.17% and 9.22% in the 3% and 6% PP yogurts, respectively, while firmness increased from 3.85 N to 4.80 N. After 21 days of refrigerated storage, fortified yogurts retained high phytochemical and antioxidant levels. Although the 6% formulation provided greater enrichment, the 3% yogurt offered the best balance between functionality, technological performance, and sensory quality, supporting PP valorization in cleaner-label dairy products.

The expansion of the global agri-food industry has led to the generation of large volumes of processing by-products that, although traditionally treated as waste, represent valuable sources of bioactive phytochemicals with potential for sustainable valorisation. This review critically examines the integration of fruit, vegetable, cereal, and dairy processing side streams into functional dairy products. Particular attention is given to recent advances in green and emerging extraction technologies, including ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, and supercritical fluid extraction, with emphasis on their efficiency, environmental performance, and effects on the stability and recovery of phytochemicals. The review also discusses the health-related properties of these bioactive compounds, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and metabolic regulatory effects, in relation to their incorporation into milk, yogurt, cheese, and ice cream matrices. In addition, key barriers to industrial implementation are assessed, including compound stability, sensory constraints, bioavailability, and current regulatory limitations. Beyond direct fortification, the review also considers broader valorisation pathways, such as the biotechnological production of microbial enzymes from agro-industrial biomass, as relevant strategies for supporting circularity. Overall, this review highlights how sustainable extraction approaches and functional dairy innovation can contribute to improving the nutritional value, resource efficiency, and circularity of the dairy sector.

In response to consumer demand for more sustainable and health-conscious products, the food sector is increasingly shifting towards the use of natural additives. Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana L.) is a medicinal plant that contains valuable biologically active compounds, including betacyanins, which serve as its red pigments, along with phenolic acids, flavonoids, polyphenolic compounds, and others. Phytolacca americana (P. americana) is a plant renowned for its bioactive compounds, which exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, antioxidant, anticancer, and antibacterial properties. This study investigates the potential of betalain pigments extracted from the berries of P. americana as a natural colorant for cheese formulation. The impact of these pigments on the color attributes, sensory qualities, and physicochemical and phytochemical composition of the cheeses was systematically evaluated. The Phytolacca americana (PA) powder demonstrated significant levels of total polyphenols (111.95 ± 1.60 mg GAE/g dw) and antioxidant activity (21.67 ± 0.19 µmol TE/g dw). The incorporation of PA powder increased the physicochemical and phytochemical contents and antioxidant activity in the final product (4.40 ± 0.22 µmol TE/g dw for CPAP1 and 6.11 ± 0.22 µmol TE/g dw for CPAP2). The sensory study revealed that the PA-supplemented cheeses were acceptable. The enhanced cheeses present a distinctive color profile, attracting health-conscious consumers looking for innovative dairy products. The study concludes that PA powder can effectively enhance cheese, producing a phytochemical-enriched product that appeals to health-conscious consumers.