Introduction Plant cell walls constitute the key structural components of plants and many foods derived thereof. For decades, it has also been appreciated that they play a central role in determining the quality characteristics of many plant-based foods, particularly texture (Van Buren 1979). There is an implicit assumption that by understanding the physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and molecul...

We review the viscous and viscoelastic behaviours of concentrated food emulsions and plant food suspensions. Special attention has been given to the influence that food processing exerts on the rheological characteristics of the abovementioned foodstuffs.

It is essential to guarantee the safety of unprocessed plants and food supplements if consumers' health is to be protected. Although botanicals and their preparations are regulated at EU level, at least in part, there is still considerable discretion at national level, and Member States may choose to classify a product either as a food supplement or as a drug. Accurate data concerning the finis...

In all but the poorest countries of South Asia and Africa, the supply and quality of food will rise to meet the demand. Biotechnology, accelerated by genomics, will create wealth for both producers and consumers by reducing the cost and increasing the quality of food. Famine and malnutrition in the poorest countries may be alleviated by applying genomics or other tools of biotechnology to impro...

Phytic acid is a bioactive compound widely distributed in plant foods. Due to its molecular structure, phytic acid has affinity to polyvalent cations, such as minerals and trace elements, and could in this way interfere with their intestinal absorption in man and animals. Most studies in humans have therefore concentrated on the effect of phytate on mineral absorption and deficiencies. Currentl...

Indirect plant defenses are those facilitating the action of carnivores in ridding plants of their herbivorous consumers, as opposed to directly poisoning or repelling them. Of the numerous and diverse indirect defensive strategies employed by plants, inducible volatile production has garnered the most fascination among plant-insect ecologists. These volatile chemicals are emitted in response t...

Linkages between detritus-based ("brown") food webs and producer-based ("green") food webs are critical components of ecosystem functionality, but these linkages are hard to study because it is difficult to measure release of nutrients by brown food webs and their subsequent uptake by plants. In a three-month greenhouse experiment, we examined how the detritus-based food web inhabiting rain-fil...

Quercetin is a promising food component, which can prevent lifestyle related diseases. To understand the dietary intake of quercetin in the subjects of a population-based cohort study and in the Japanese population, we first determined the quercetin content in foods available in the market during June and July in or near a town in Hokkaido, Japan. Red leaf lettuce, asparagus, and onions contain...

Most studies on plant defenses against insect herbivores investigate direct and indirect plant defenses independently. However, these defenses are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Plant metabolites can be transmitted through the food chain and can also affect the herbivore’s natural enemies. A conflict may arise when a natural enemy is attracted to a plant that is suboptimal in terms of its ...

Natural food preservation method refers to application of naturally produced antimicrobial compounds that are obtained from plants, animals and microbes to prevent food spoilages microorganism, proliferation and growth of food borne pathogens in food and foods products. Now it is the time of growing interest of many researchers with the application of these natural antimicrobial compounds as sa...