Marco Dalla Rosa

1. Optimisation of processing conditions and storage of minimally processed fruit (fresh cut)
2. Study of chemical, physical, rheological and sensorial properties of dough, bread and bakery products as a function of different formulations and / or processing conditions
3. Study of processing conditions and evaluation of acrylamide formation in potato frying and minimisation; study of occurrence of mycotoxins in cereals and coffee beans and brew
4. Determination of antioxidant capacity in fresh products (e.g. fruit and vegetables) and its modification during processing
5. Study of water relation in food



1. Optimisation of processing conditions and storage of minimally processed fruit (fresh cut). Main alterative phenomena are studied for several fruit and horticultural products. The research was carried out to set up a pre-industrial pilot scale plant to study adeguate technologies of raw material pre-treatmetnts and MA packaging. Inhibitory effects of dipping in different solutions have been assessed.
2. Study of chemical, physical, rheological and sensorial properties of dough, bread and bakery products as a function of different formulations and / or processing conditions. Physico-structural and rheological properties are evaluated by means of research rheometer, thermal analysis (DSC), texture analyser and SEM in order to individuate fundamental and empirical parameters able to describe structural modifications during processing of cereal based foods.
3. Study of processing conditions and evaluation of toxicants and minimisation; a) The effect of frying time on quality and  acrylamide (AA) content of French fried potatoes,  obtained simulating home-cooking practices, was  studied in order to investigate the optimal conditions  to minimize the amount of produced toxicant together  with the maintenance of good culinary quality; b) study of occurrence of mycotoxins in cereals and coffee beans and brew: To evaluate main factors responsible for the occurrence of Mycotoxins in beans of different species have been carried out. Particular attention has been focused on coffee bean processing, from washing / depulping to roasting and on wheat growing and milling to obtain flour and semolina (from durum wheat).
Technological approach was established to determine processing conditions during each step of coffee management as a raw material (on the basis of data collected from coffee importer), following the chain management as well as during experimental roasting and subsequent grinding and brewing to obtain coffee brew.
 Mass balance during coffee processing has been modelled in order to establish the pathway of reduction of OTA in the processing line
4. Determination of antioxidant capacity in fresh products (e.g. fruit and vegetables) and its modification during processing: a) Fresh cut products: Modelling the influence of processing conditions on changes of foodstuff properties and the processing optimisation have been considered in order to maximise the antioxidant properties of functionally valuable fruit and vegetables . Antioxidant activity evaluation by means of comparative methods and as a function of extraction procedures. The use of different pre-treatments able to slow down the metabolic activity and the quality degradation during processing is an important part of the research, in order to establish processing conditions and chemical/physical agents. Ongoing research is carried out in collaboration with local and national level industries and primary producers associations. Research on MAP (Modified atmosphere packaging) of fresh-cut fruit covers a promising innovative branch for the increase of fruit consumption. Metabolic activity during pre-treatment and storage of MP-MAP fresh-cut fruit has been mathematically modelled as a function of gas mixtures used in the packaging. Antioxidant properties, presence of bioactive compounds as well as consumer's perceived quality characteristics are monitored along the storage time, along the food chain.
a) Drying: During drying, and also during food processing,  many changes that could affect antioxidant activity take place. Under the experimental conditions considered, air drying treatment in most  cases increased the antioxidant activity of broccoli; in particular, high-temperature, short-time drying processes maximised the antioxidant activity. This could be explained by an increased release of compounds from the matrix, hydrolytic phenomena which took place during drying and polyphenol oxidation, resulting in oligomers with higher antioxidant activity than the native compounds.
5. Study of water relation in food: The mobility and availability of water in food systems (the so called “state” of water) depend on the extent of interactions between the aqueous phase and the biopolymers matrix. These parameters are of the utmost importance in food technology as the amount and physico-chemical behavior of water embedded in foods may trigger microbiological growth or even unwanted chemical reactions, thus lowering food quality and shelf-life. It is thus highly desirable to attain a deep understanding of the interactions between water and food components so as to be able to produce clear-cut models and simple quality parameters that can be readily applied in the food industry. The description of the water status provided by water activity, DSC and LF-NMR measurements during hydration of freeze-dried chicken breast meat taken here as model system. Not only can meat be driven to span a large aw range from complete dryness to complete hydration (aw of fresh meat is 0.99), but it is also well characterized from both the NMR (17) and the DSC (18) point of view.  As far as NMR is concerned, we also correct a misbelief about the origin of the very fast relaxing fraction of the meat signal in NMR T2 relaxograms. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that this kind of multianalytical approach is applied to the hydration of freeze-dried meat.