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Vol. 45, No. 4
Resistant starch is chemically not a fiber; however, there is an effort to have it declared so because it acts like soluble fiber in the gastrointestinal tract, thus providing the health benefits of fiber. Resistant starch and soluble fiber ferment in the small intestine—conferring their health effects.
Rice bran and its oil contain large concentrations of several compounds that could potentially prevent chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease and cancer. The LSU AgCenter has been actively engaged in identifying, extracting, purifying and evaluating the functionality of several of these compounds. The focus has been on vitamin E, especially the tocotrienols, and oryzanol, which contains a high proportion of phytosterols.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that by 2025 global aquaculture will provide more than half of the world’s seafood supply. Now it is about 35 percent to 40 percent.
Ohmic heating is a food processing method in which an alternating electrical current is passed through a food sample. This results in internal energy generation in foods. This produces an inside-out heating pattern, which is much faster than conventional outside-in heating. Ohmic heating is somewhat similar to microwave heating but with very different frequencies.
The LSU AgCenter is conducting research on converting bagasse into value-added nonwoven materials. This research involves procedures for bagasse fiber extraction, bagasse fiber processing and bagasse fiber formation into nonwoven materials. It also involves methods of evaluating nonwoven bagasse products, including fiber bonding structure, mechanical and physical properties, and biodegradability.
Soy flour and more highly purified soy proteins contain a number of constituents that can be used in combating a variety of diseases. Soy isofla-vones may prevent diseases associated with post-menopausal women such as osteoporosis and coronary heart disease.
Because of declining natural fishery resources and increasing consumer demand for fishery and aquacultural products, it is no longer practical to discard undersized crawfish and byproducts and wastes from crawfish and catfish processing plants, especially when a significant amount of valuable raw materials can be recovered and used to produce value-added new products and functional ingredients.
Value-added industries and activities are fundamental to agriculture’s viability, stability and contribution to economic development of the state. In general, value-added means any activity or process that increases the market value or utility of a product to consumers.
The term “value-added” broadly means “adding value to a product.” For food items, adding value implies a degree of innovation that makes a product more desirable to consumers, perhaps in terms of shelf stability, improved functionality, better color, texture, flavor and more convenience.
The history of sugarcane began in New Guinea, which is the home of a cultivated form of sugarcane. In ancient times, people migrating from the Indochina area to New Guinea encountered different types of wild sugarcane. High-fiber forms were used for construction; softer and juicier forms were propagated in gardens for chewing.
Solid wood forest products as opposed to pulp and paper products can be characterized broadly as primary or secondary. This classification is not always clear, but most industry observers agree that primary products are those produced directly from raw timber input. Examples include chips, lumber, veneer, plywood and their byproducts.
Louisiana has the nation’s most productive commercial shrimp fishery, landing about 100 million pounds a year with a dockside value of $150 million. White and brown shrimp make up most of Louisiana’s harvest.
The large-scale and economic diversification of sucrose in other than food products has not been realized. The biorefinery concept can solve this problem.
In recent years, many large food and beverage companies have adopted team approaches to new product development. The approach typically involves both a marketing department and a research and development department generating product ideas, concepts and ultimately prototypes, which are subsequently tested in selected target markets.
The usable carbon and nutrients contained in rice hulls and bran, sugarcane bagasse and sweet potato skins, which are Louisiana agricultural byproducts, may be converted by microorganisms to high-value products. LSU AgCenter researchers are developing bioconversion processes that can be used to produce specialty or nutra-ceutical compounds from these byproducts.
The LSU AgCenter is operating a program in Ukraine that is a model for how to run a successful educational effort in a country formerly part of the Soviet bloc. The program, “Improving Income of Private Ukrainian Agricultural Producers,” targets farmers with fewer than 250 hectares and household plot owners (HPOs).
The overwhelming majority of microbes in the world are not harmful to humans. Food processing researchers have established two kinds of microorganisms that are undesirable in food: spoilage microorganisms, which spoil the food but are not toxic to consume, and pathogenic microorganisms.
Processed beef products in the U.S. market include sausages and cured, canned, dehydrated and convenience meat items. The convenience and snack meat products make up about 2 percent of the total meat production.
The cranberry was once an obscure, regional fruit that through research and marketing has been propelled to a commodity with international demand. LSU AgCenter researchers hope that the mayhaw may also achieve such prominence, and research projects are under way. The following study involves mayhaw-muscadine juice blends.
Macular (a region of the retina) degeneration is a physiological process that involves the formation of excessive new blood vessels in the retina and is the leading cause of cataract formation, glaucoma and irreversible blindness indiabetic patients and the elderly.
A freshly prepared mayhaw fruit juice should correspond to the composition of the fruit selection from which it has been prepared. If the juice extraction method has been effective, there should not be significant differences between the fresh juice and the original fruit.
