FOOD QUALITY Edited by Kostas Kapiris Food Quality Edited by Kostas Kapiris Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2012 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. As for readers, this license allows users to download, copy and build upon published chapters even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. Notice Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Oliver Kurelic Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer InTech Design Team First published April, 2012 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechopen.com Food Quality, Edited by Kostas Kapiris p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0560-2 Contents Preface IX Section 1 Molecular Approaches to Achieve the Food Quality 1 Chapter 1 Strategies for Iron Biofortification of Crop Plants 3 Mara Schuler and Petra Bauer Chapter 2 Monitoring Harmful Microalgae by Using a Molecular Biological Technique 15 Tomotaka Shiraishi, Ryoma Kamikawa, Yoshihiko Sako and Ichiro Imai Chapter 3 Species Identification of Food Spoilage and Pathogenic Bacteria by MALDI-TOF Mass Fingerprinting 29 Karola Böhme, Inmaculada C. Fernández-No, Jorge Barros-Velázquez, Jose M. Gallardo, Benito Cañas and Pilar Calo-Mata Chapter 4 Raman Spectroscopy: A Non-Destructive and On-Site Tool for Control of Food Quality? 47 S. Hassing, K.D. Jernshøj and L.S. Christensen Chapter 5 Contamination of Foods by Migration of Some Elements from Plastics Packaging 73 O. Al-Dayel, O. Al-Horayess, J. Hefni, A. Al-Durahim and T. Alajyan Section 2 Some Case Studies Improving the Food Quality 81 Chapter 6 Senescence of the Lentinula edodes Fruiting Body After Harvesting 83 Yuichi Sakamoto, Keiko Nakade, Naotake Konno and Toshitsugu Sato VI Contents Chapter 7 Feeding Habits of Both Deep-Water Red Shrimps, Aristaeomorpha foliacea and Aristeus antennatus (Decapoda, Aristeidae) in the Ionian Sea (E. Mediterranean) 111 Kostas Kapiris Preface Food quality is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers. This includes external factors as appearance (size, shape, colour, gloss, and consistency), texture, and flavour; factors such as federal grade standards (e.g. of eggs) and internal (chemical, physical, microbial). Food quality is an important food manufacturing requirement, because food consumers are susceptible to any form of contamination that may occur during the manufacturing process. Many consumers also rely on manufacturing and processing standards, particularly to know what ingredients are present, due to dietary, nutritional requirements, or medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, or allergies). Food quality also deals with product traceability, e.g. of ingredient and packaging suppliers, should a recall of the product be required. It also deals with labeling issues to ensure there is correct ingredient and nutritional information. Besides ingredient quality, there are also sanitation requirements. It is important to ensure that the food processing environment is as clean as possible in order to produce the safest possible food for the consumer. Foodborne diseases due to microbial pathogens, biotoxins, and chemical contaminants in food represent serious threats to the health of thousands of millions of people. Serious outbreaks of foodborne disease have been documented on every continent in the past decades, illustrating both the public health and social significance of these diseases. A recent example of poor sanitation has been the 2006 North American E. coli outbreak involving spinach, an outbreak that is still under investigation after new information has come to light regarding the involvement of Cambodian nationals. Foodborne diseases not only significantly affect people's health and well-being, but they also have economic consequences for individuals, families, communities, businesses and countries. These diseases impose a substantial burden on healthcare systems and markedly reduce economic productivity. Poor people tend to live from day to day, and loss of income due to foodborne illness perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Effective national food control systems are essential to protect the health and safety of domestic consumers. Governments all over the world are intensifying efforts to improve food safety in response to an increasing number of problems and growing consumer concerns in regards to various food risks. Responsibility for food control in X Preface most countries is shared between different agencies or ministries. The roles and responsibilities of these agencies may be quite different, and duplication of regulatory activity, fragmented surveillance and a lack of coordination are common. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have a strong interest in promoting national food control systems that are based upon scientific principles and guidelines, and which address all sectors of the food chain. This is particularly important for developing countries as they seek to achieve improved food safety, quality and nutrition, but will require a high level of political and policy commitment. During the recent past new analytical approaches used to assess the quality of foods have been emerging, new molecules have been discovered, and there have been many advances in molecular biology and genetics. As well as comparing and evaluating indices used to assess quality of foods, this book offers some recently developed techniques and methods. The book discusses the potential of these novel approaches, which attempt to solve the existent problems and offer to the food scientist valuable assistance for the future. The detailed methodologies and their practical applications could consist a fundamental reference work for industry and a requisite guide for the research worker, food scientist and food analyst. It will serve as a valuable tool for the analysts improving their knowledge with new scientific data for quality evaluation. Except the above laboratory techniques’ descriptions, two case studies chapters provide data on the improvement of food quality in the natural environment: the study of the postharvest spoilage, such as browning of the gills and softening of the fruiting body of land (mushrooms) and the improved food quality of the preys of marine (deep water shrimps) organisms. The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. Commonly, the concept of food security is defined as including both physical and economic access to food that meets people's dietary needs as well as their food preferences. Dr. Kapiris Kostas Hellenic Center for Marine Research (H.C.M.R.), Institute of Marine Biological Resources (I.M.B.R.), Athens, Greece . FOOD QUALITY Edited by Kostas Kapiris Food Quality Edited by Kostas Kapiris Published by InTech Janeza. orders@intechopen.com Food Quality, Edited by Kostas Kapiris p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0560-2 Contents Preface IX Section 1 Molecular Approaches to Achieve the Food Quality 1 Chapter. Sea (E. Mediterranean) 111 Kostas Kapiris Preface Food quality is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers. This includes external factors as