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Physical properties of four common Iranian varieties of canola seeds (Hyola, Okapi, Orient and SLM) were evaluated as a function of their moisture contents. The average seed length and thousand seed mass varied linearly from 1.925 to 2.262 mm and from 3.06 to 4.84 g, respectively. The average diameter, geometric mean diameter, and sphericity varied non-linearly from 1.475 to 1.911 mm, 1.625 to 2.02 mm and from 0.82 to 0.93, re-spectively in a moisture content range of 5.27 to 23.69% wet basis (w.b.). Among the va-rieties, Hyola had the highest values for length, diameter, geometric mean diameter, sphericity and thousand seed mass at all moisture levels. Maximum and minimum values of bulk density were obtained for SLM (738.8 kg m-3) and Hyola (666.06 kg m-3). The fill-ing and emptying angles of repose ranges were determined as 25.37-28.54o and 25.48-28.68o, respectively. At all moisture content levels, the static coefficient of friction was the greatest against rubber (0.372-0.460), followed by plywood (0.358–0.449), galvanized iron sheet (0.301–0.419) while fiberglass sheet (0.260-0.414) while the least for glass sheet (0.253–0.392). Among the four canola varieties, Orient and SLM showed respectively the least and the greatest static coefficients of friction at all moisture levels studied.

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Rheological properties of chocolate are important in manufacturing process for obtaining high-quality products with well-defined texture and are directly influenced by composition and their refining time. Soy protein benefits from nutritional and functional properties to be used in different foods. Effects of different replacement levels of skim milk powder by soy flour, (from 0 to 100%) and ball mill refining time (105 and 135 minutes) on particle size and rheological properties of compound chocolate were investigated. Considering four rheological models, it was found that compound chocolate behaved as a Casson fluid .Overall, the results indicated that Casson plastic viscosity values ranged between 1.36 and 5.47 (Pa s) and replacing skim milk powder with soy flour led to a significant (P< 0.05) increase in Casson plastic viscosity in either of the refining time treatments. Casson plastic viscosity and apparent viscosity also increased for all the replacement levels with increase in refining time from 105 to 135 minutes. Values of Casson yield ranged from 11.23 to 38.88 (Pa). By replacing soy flour, Casson yield value increased significantly (P<0.05). Casson yield value also increased with increase in refining time in samples containing only skim milk powder, but it decreased in samples containing soy flour.

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Production of nutritious drink powders specially based on native or industrial by products is one of the research fields of interests in the food industry. Date syrup as a byproduct of date palm processing is containing a considerable amount of nutritious ingredients and monosaccharides. However this is a little use of this valuable ingredient in the food industry. Whey protein is also one of nutritious and energetic dairy industry byproduct that use of it has been recommended by many food science scientists. In the present study, the effect of concentration of each one of the components include date syrup (0-12%), whey protein concentrate (0-9%) and xanthan stabilizer (0-0/02%) on the phase separation and rheological properties of soft drink by mixture design- extreme vertices were investigated. The results indicated that phase separation deceased with increasing each components specially stabilizer (p<0.05).Generally, increase in components specially stabilizer altered the rheological behavior of soft drink from Newtonian to non-Newtonian.  Also optimization results showed that the phase separation was about 4% in the concentration of 1.49% w/v of xanthan, 8.6% w/v of whey protein and 10.75% w/v date syrup. Optimize formulation had  95 percent of stabilization, consistency index of 0.054 Pa. sⁿ and zeta potential of -34 mV.

 

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Shelf life is the amount of time that corresponds to an acceptable reduction in food quality under certain conditions. This feature depends on various intrinsic and environmental factors such as the nature of the food, storage processes, coating and the type of packaging, and it affects the stability of the product. The ability to estimate shelf life is of considerable commercial value, but there is no reliable method for this purpose for fresh pistachios. The aim of this study was to create mathematical models to predict the shelf life of food, using Badami's fresh pistachio samples coated with chitosan edible coating in different concentrations (0, 1, and 1.5%) under three atmospheres including ambient atmospheric condition, passive MAP, and active MAP. The shelf life study was performed at 5°C and a multivariate prediction of instrumental and sensorial firmness was performed through kinetic models. In this study, fresh pistachios coated with 1.5% chitosan under active MAP had the highest estimated shelf life (86 days). Also, obtained models were able to estimate the softening time to the end-point of shelf life in different conditions of coating and packaging of fresh pistachios.

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Cell membranes are the main preventive of intracellular solute extraction. Mechanical destruction and thermal treatment are pre-treatment methods commonly used to destroy cell membranes and facilitate the release of solute into the solvent during the extraction. However, the overall rupture of membranes requires excessive heating that leads to altering plant tissue, passing solid materials through membranes (such as pectin in sugar production) to the adjacent solvent, and altering the chemical structure cell walls by hydrolytic reactions which itself requires further purification cost. Applying a pulsed electric field (PEF) with low heat treatment of products significantly enhances mass transfer into the biological tissues of food crops, which leads to saving  much time and energy. In this study, extraction of sugar from carrots under both different pulsed electric field conditions (including  field strengths of  250, 750, and 1250 V/cm and number of 10, 45, and 80 pulses) and thermal treatments (20, 45, and 70ºC) was investigated based on full factorial design experiments. Carrot slices treated with PEF were suspended in water at the desired temperature and liquid to solid (L/S) weight ratio of  2. Immediately after the PEF treatment, a significant increase in the solute extraction was observed because of the cell membrane permeability, which led to the enhancement of solute convection on the surface of the tissue.