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Introduction
I (Asif Ahmad) am working at the Department of Food Technology as professor and Director at PMAS - Arid Agriculture University. Research is focused in Food Science, Nutrition, and related fields. Working on project 'Beta Glucan from cereal sources'. Possess vast teaching and research experience at university level and served on different positions. More than 95 Journal articles, 20 Book chapters are on my record. Won Fulbright and several competitive awards.
Additional affiliations
March 2014 - March 2015
December 2010 - March 2014
January 2008 - December 2010
Education
April 2004 - February 2020
Publications
Publications (154)
The present research study explores the drinking water quality of Rawalpindi and Islamabad to identify the potent dissolved contaminants and carry out a health risk assessment as the study area houses more than 3 million people. Drinking water samples were collected from 95 union councils of the selected study area and were investigated for 12 phys...
Flaxseed, derived from the humble flax plant (Linum usitatissimum L.), has gained substantial recognition as a nutritional powerhouse in recent years. This abstract delves into the multifaceted attributes that make flaxseed an inimitable functional food for the human diet. With its rich history dating back to ancient civilizations, flaxseed has und...
Pakistan is one of the biggest mango producing country in the world. Post-harvest losses of mango occur due to lack of storage facilities. Mango can be converted into concentrate to utilize it for longer period. In the current study, the physicochemical profile and storage stability of mango concentrate was investigated to evidence the opportunity...
Postharvest losses in fruits and vegetables pose a key challenge to the global horticulture industry. Improved storage stability of horticultural commodities through irradiation is a technological intervention which has greater compliance over more than 60 foods and food products. The present study was intended to explore the effect of γ-irradiatio...
The traditional beverage that people consume more after water is a tea. The ethanolic extract of green and black tea have antioxidant and antimicrobial activity and these activities may differ in their processing methods. In this study, physiochemical analysis of green and black tea was carried out. The physiochemical analysis showed that green tea...
Water pollution is one of the major threats to public health throughout the world. In Pakistan, the drinking water quality is poorly managed and monitored. Both surface and groundwater sources are contaminated with municipal wastes, industrial effluents and agrochemicals wastes. Therefore, water purification is necessary to reduce the contamination...
Thyme is a perennial aromatic herbaceous plant for medicinal, culinary, and for ornamental purposes. Thymus vulgaris is the most prevalent species. Thyme is a member of the genus, Thymus, of the mint family (Lamiaceae). Thyme leaves are one of the richest sources of metallic elements, iron, calcium, manganese, metallic element, and
The incorporation of oat grain fiber (ultrasound-assisted extraction) into the dough was evaluated for its rheological characteristics. Spread ratio increased significantly with an increase in the level of oat fiber. The color tonality of biscuits significantly decreased its L*, b*, C, and hab factors, while the a* factor increased with the level o...
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This study aimed to prepare a stirred type of fat-free yogurt from enzymatically hydrolyzed potato powder (EHPP) and skimmed milk powder (SMP) without changing its quality and consumer acceptance. The yogurt formulations prepared contained different amount of EHPP 0, 10, 25 and 50% and were stored for 28 days at 4 °C and observed that...
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum L.) is a baceous plant that belongs to the Asteraceae (daisy) family and is a member of the Carduae clan. Since antiquity, a several diseases has been treated by milk thistle such as to treat liver problems, spleen problems, gallbladder problems, hepatitis, and gallstones. Milk thistle seeds are utilized in herbal rem...
Corn silk is an herb plant used as traditional medicine throughout the world to treat many diseases. The scientific name of corn silk is Stigma Maydis. Corn silk consists, of carbohydrates, vitamins, and proteins some calcium, Na salts, K, and Magnesium. Corn silk contains volatile oils, certain steroids such as stigmasterol and sitosterol, tannins...
Cereal grains are used as a staple food all over the world and play a significant role in satisfying the daily dietary and nutritional requirements of the body. They have attracted great nutritional attention due to their easy availability and multiple health benefits for humans. Owing to health-friendly chemical composition, these grains are culti...
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a method of infrared absorption spectra and emanation of a solid, fluid, or gaseous material. It gathers and digitizes the interferogram followed by Fourier transformation and displays the spectrum. Infrared spectra obtained from the FTIR spectrometer lie in the mid-infrared region of wave number 40...
Red kidney bean protein isolate was prepared and incorporated into wheat flour at levels of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% to prepare protein-enriched cookies which were then evaluated for various quality attributes. Nutritional evaluation of cookies showed that the supplementation of bean protein isolate increased the protein content of the cookies from 7....
Non-dairy sources of prebiotics and probiotics impart various physiological functions in the prevention and management of chronic metabolic disorders, therefore nutraceuticals emerged as a potential industry. Extraction of prebiotics from non-dairy sources is economical and easily implemented. Waste products during food processing, including fruit...
Effect of the solvents ethanol, acetone, and distilled water at several concentrations on the antimicrobial potential, antioxidant activity, total flavonoid and phenolic content, and biochemical screening was studied for licorice extract. All extract at 100% solvent concentration showed the presence of phenols, carbohydrates, alkaloids, steroids, c...
Polysaccharides are present everywhere as important biomolecules having great potential as biomaterial with numerous applications in biotechnology and food industry sectors. These natural substances have characteristics of biodegradability, low immunogenicity, and low toxicity, thus they found their way into food and pharma products. In these indus...
Ultrasonic Assisted Extraction technique by means of response surface methodology was used to study optimized conditions for extraction of insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) from wheat bran of varieties namely Zincol‐2016 (ZL), Borlaug‐2016 (BG), NARC (NC), and Pakistan‐2013 (PN). Optimized parameters for time, temperature, and amplitude ranged from 10‐...
Insoluble (IDF); Cellulose: reduces constipation, maintain healthy weight hemicellulose: plays part in intestinal
regulation lignin plays part immune function by healthy blood profile.
Valuable IDF available in wheat bran; Need of safe extraction method.
Mostly used method i.e. hazardous chemicals i.e NaOH or H2SO4 which is still popular in food...
Buckwheat is a precious source of various bioactive compounds like phenolics, flavonoids, rutin, and quercetin, etc. This research work was performed to harvest the nutraceutical potential of indigenous buckwheat varieties and their milling fractions (fine flour, coarse flour, bran flour, and husk). Common buckwheat (CBW) and Tartary buckwheat (TBW...
2021) Profiling and characterization of oat cultivars (Avena sativa L.) with respect to bioactive compounds, pesticide residues and mycotoxin
Spinach is highly contaminated with different pesticide residues. This study was designed to evaluate organochlorine and pyrethroid pesticide residues present in various washing treatments (T0-T13) of fresh and chemically washed spinach with respect to maximum residues limits. Efficiency of washing solutions (citric acid, acetic acid, garlic extrac...
Oat predominately cultivated as forage crop and is not explored for its value-added bioactive moieties. This study was aimed to characterize five selected oat (Avena sativa L.) cultivars with respect to organic sugars, antioxidant activities, pesticide residues, mycotoxin and phenolic acids as measured HPLC. Five indigenous oat cultivars (Avon, PD2...
Goat meat is consumed all over the world because of its nutritional profile and delicacy. It is produced in all areas of Pakistan but the meat produced in the Karakoram region of the Pakistan is mostly organic and the animals are fed on the natural vegetation having nutrition benefits for humans. In current study, goats were reared on the different...
The hyperglycaemia defines features of type 2 diabetes (T2DM), which is a real time problem and poses a significant economic burden on the globe and is spreading like an epidemic. Currently it affects 384 million people on the globe and this number is expected to reach 592 million in 2035 as reiterated by International Diabetes Federation (IDF). By...
The study was carried out to explore the effects of ultraviolet irradiations, gamma irradiations and hot water treatment on the sensory attributes (taste, skin color, flavor, flesh color, aroma and acceptability) of black and white Chaunsa varieties of mango. Gamma irradiations at a dosage of 0.5 KiloGray (KGy) and 1 KGy were very much effective in...
This study was conducted to evaluate the quality and mineral contents of Moringa oleifera root-based tomato sauce. Results showed that roots of M. oleifera are highly enriched with essential nutrients including minerals, such as iron, sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium and zinc and vitamins specifically vitamin C. Thus, it is useful as a nutriti...
The effect of edible coatings incorporated with essential oils of cinnamon, basil, and thyme with and without sodium alginate, glycerol, and Tween 80 on the physiochemical, sensory, and shelf life of peach fruit were investigated using the multivariate technique. All coatings retarded the changes in fruit as compared to control samples. Combination...
Roasted flax seed is a good source of protein that can be blended with wheat flour for the development of protein enriched cookies. Protein quality is a huge issue in developing countries along with the nutritional deficiency in people. Flax seed possess great nutritional benefits and can also be used as part of functional food hence, making it a v...
In order to ascertain physicochemical and nutraceutical attributes, indigenous guava (Psidium guajava L.) cultivars were comprehensively characterized. Eight cultivars namely Gola, Chota Gola, Surahi, Choti Surahi, Sufaida, Sdabahar, Lal Badshah and Karela were selected due to their climatic adaptability and commercial suitability. All the cultivar...
Worldwide, fruit and vegetable processing industries are generating massive agro-industrial by-products. The industrial processing of mango generates a lot of by-products. Usually the major is with mango peel having a 7-24% portion of total fruit and not normally utilized. In the present research, mango peel was utilized in the formulation of insta...
Wheat is consumed as staple food by majority of population in Pakistan. This study was aimed to assess the effects of recently introduced five cultivars of wheat (Ojala 2016, Borlaug 2016, Johar 2016, Gold 2016 and Fatehjang 2016) for chapatti quality. Results for different physical, chemical, rheological and sensory parameters revealed significant...
King's ruby is a seedless variety of grapes grown in the Phothohar region of Pakistan. In the present study, nutritional value of King's ruby grapes was determined and extraction conditions were optimized using response surface central composite rotatable design of RSM using three variables at five levels. To get maximum yield of total phenolic con...
Oats are increasingly recognized as super food owing to the presence of multiple health promoting substances. Five indigenous oat cultivars S2000, PD2LV65, SGD2011, Avon and SGD81 were characterized physico-chemically and nutritonally. Avon showed the maximum (12.69 g100 g-¹ dry solids) protein content indicating potential to be used as protein sou...
In the current study, bioactive compounds of Vitis vinifera (Perlette) were extracted using an ultrasound-assisted extraction technique. The central composite design of response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine the effect of time, temperature, and concentration of acetic acid on response variables that include extract yield, total ph...
Abstract The present study was planned to use surfactants in different concentrations along with varying amounts of shortening in the form of gels to prepare breads. For that purpose, SSL, CSL, PS-60 and GMS were used at level of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00 parts in combination with shortening @ 4.00, 3.75, 3.50 and 3.25 parts. The dough having surfa...
Flaxseed composite flour enriched with 5% coconut, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% chiaseeds was used for the formulation of coconut–flaxseed balls. The chiaseeds enrichment effect was evaluated for physicochemical and sensory properties of coconut–flaxseed balls. Bioactive phenolics content and antioxidant activity were also determined. Addition of chi...
Helicobacter pylori is the etiological agent of gastritis and peptic ulcer. This importance had proposed antibiotics as a principle treatment of gastrointestinal pathologies. The focus of this research was to investigate the occurrence of H. pylori in patients having gastritis or gastric ulcer and also draw the susceptibility profile of isolates to...
Now-a-days, chia seeds; the sleeping beauty of Mexico, have become center of focus among scientist, food technologist and nutritionist owing to its nutritional composition in mitigating challenges to malnutrition. Globally, malnutrition; expressed in terms of stunning, wasting and obesity, has reached at a prevalence level of 21.9%, 7.3% and 5.9% r...
Abstract explains, How ICT and data is helpful in maintaining food security.
Grape is one of the most remunerative summer fruit crops widely used by human for food and medicinal purpose. Grapes are grown all over the Pakistan, especially the province of Baluchistan but now a day Pothohar area in Punjab province is recognized as favorable area for its cultivation of different varieties of grapes.
There is increasing interes...
Plant based by-products are naturally available in large quantities and they can be exploited as cheap and feasible substrate for their biological transformation into valuable products. Date palm is a good example from plant source having a great value for its by-products owing to presence of cellulosic material that can be converted into valuable...
Date palm Phoenix dactylifera L., is recognized as an oldest plant and is grown for its palatable fruit and pit in various Arab countries for centuries. Its fruit is considered as an important source of dietary carbohydrates, fibers, antioxidant compounds, definite unique profile of vitamins and minerals especially the pits are tremendous reservoir...
Abstract The number of attributes, related to the selection of potato varieties, was evaluated with reference to their potential in chip processing. Five commercial varieties of potato were analyzed regarding their physico-chemical, functional, and processing aspects. In general, Lady Rosetta subsequently, Chipsona were the most noticeable potato v...
Apricot is considered to be a natural antioxidant and functional food source against various diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease. This study was intended to evaluate phytochemical constituents of three apricot varieties i.e. Habi, Alman and Halman. The apricot varieties were initially extracted with methanol (70, 80 and 90%) and suspend...
Flax gum (FG) was extracted and purified from flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) locally called as Alsi. Physicochemical and functional aspects of separated gum were interrogated in detail. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis depicted variety of peaks in region of 3308.8, 2923.60, 1739.97 & 1149.68 cm ⁻¹ which are feature of typical pol...
Essential nutritional components are quantified in the study in addition to major antioxidants, carotenoids, phenols and flavonoids. Their antioxidant activities were also analyzed using DPPH, ABTS and hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging activities and by determining their iron reducing power. Results indicated that the highest quantity of nutriti...
Non-selective use of pesticide to increase productivity leaves residues on crops. These pesticides after consumption have a detrimental effect on human health and their intake can lead to various diseases such as kidney damage, neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, circulatory and reproductive problems. The recent study was designed to a...
Sous-vide cooking is a process in which food is cooked in heat stable vacuumed containers under controlled temperature (65–95 °C) for a specific time followed by low-temperature storage. Sous-vide is also used at temperatures lower than 65 °C. For instance, in LTLT cooking the temperature is often close to 60 °C or even 55 °C. It is applicable to a...
Alarmingly increasing globalization is not only wiping out the resources but also cause of creating health concerns of domesticating
people. The produce of their livings and chemicals used for various processes are major source of food contamination. Food
contamination is happening either accidently or chemicals are being added intentionally in for...
Dietary fiber has been variably defined by researchers in various eras but most of the researchers claimed it as a plant part that resists digestion against gut enzymes in human beings. Chemically, these plant parts are composed of homopolysaccharides, heteropolysaccharides, resistant starches, oligosaccharides, lignin, gums, and mucilages. On the...
β-Glucan, an important component of dietary fiber, can be extracted from oat, barley, bacteria, and yeast. It possesses several physiological effects, including lowering plasma cholesterol level, control of postprandial glucose level, and immune modulation effects. The food industry can obtain the benefits of β-glucan for production of nutraceutica...
Legumes grain seeds are broadly developed and consumed all over the world. Legumes are considered as an important constituent of human diet, economical source of energy, proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, B-group vitamins and minerals.Beyond these nutritional facts legumes are rich in plant bioactive compounds like phenolic contents and flavonoidconte...
Granola is the nutritious product prepared with a different level of cereals, chickpeas, nuts, and raisins because they are the valuable source of protein and can be used as a complementary protein source of each other. The products were analyzed for nutritional quality, texture, and sensory attributes. Moisture content was same in all bars. The pr...
Background Safflower is a multiple purpose crop generally grown for oil production. The safflower oil is considered to be a better oil since it contains higher amount of oleic and linoleic acids than other oil seed crops. Safflower oil has numerous applications in food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and feed industry. An added advantage of safflower oi...
Background:Dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are well known as both a food and economic crop for many years worldwide due to its substantial nutritional, health,and economic benefits besides its appeal and environmental value.However, although Datepits are rich in phenolic and antioxidant contents,they are generally neglected and treated as a waste pr...
Background
Phoenix dactylifera is an instinctive plant, cultivated worldwide especially in Arab regions being an edible nutritious fruit. For this plant, Ajwa date fruit variety is distinguished among all varieties due to its richness of sugar, dietary fiber, essential mineral and vitamin contents. The unique phytochemical profile of Ajwa dates hav...
The present study was conducted to prepare co-surfactant free, olive-oil based alpha tocopherol nanoemulsions, using a food grade non-ionic surfactant. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine the effects of independent variables (ultrasonic homogenization time, olive oil concentrations and surfactant contents) on different physico-...
Background Phoenix dactylifera is an instinctive plant, cultivated worldwide especially in Arab regions being an edible nutritious fruit. For this plant, Ajwa date fruit variety is distinguished among all varieties due to its richness of sugar, dietary fiber, essential mineral and vitamin contents. The unique phytochemical profile of Ajwa dates hav...