Teresa R S Brandão

• PhD in Biotechnology - Specialization in Science and Food Engineering
• Researcher at Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Several scientific studies point fruits as rich sources of antioxidants but mainly focus on their edible part. However, fruits wastes are abundant sources of bioactive compounds and nutrients, which are considered to be health beneficial. The main purpose was to characterise juice, pulp, peel and seeds of Piel de Sapo melon, in terms of several phy...

Introdução: Alimentos geneticamente modificados (AGM) entraram recentemente no mercado europeu. Essa decisão política gerou polêmica social devido ao debate sobre os riscos reais à saúde e ao meio ambiente. Diante dessa realidade, profissionais da saúde, como médicos e nutricionistas, desempenham papel fundamental na decodificação dessa nova tecnol...

Introduction: Transgenic (genetically modified) foods are being grown, sold and eaten in Portugal. As such it is important that physicians stay up to date on any negative health consequences of such foods. This study aimed to identify their opinion, knowledge and training needs regarding transgenic foods. Material and Methods: A total of 278 physic...

Introduction Genetically modified (GM) foods have been approved in the European Union. These foods have been questioned for their actual benefits and risks. This is especially relevant in the case of the nutritional dimension, where consumers are confronted with daily decisions about how to best feed their families. Within this complex framework, h...

Ozone is used in grains to guarantee mycotoxin degradation, microbial inactivation, and insect disinfestation. However, its oxidizing properties can promote changes in the grain constituents, affecting both product properties and process behavior. Even so, the effect of ozone processing on quality properties of grains and their process, was rarely...

The application of lytic phages as biocontrol agents is emerging as a promising strategy towards elimination or reduction of foodborne pathogens in a variety of food products. This technology is particularly advantageous for minimally processed and ready-to-eat (RTE) foods. In this study, the potential use of Listex™ P100 combined with high hydrost...

Evaluation of the effect of bean processing with ozone on its phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity, as well as its impact on the physical properties and inactivation of Listeria innocua.

Many minimally processed foods depend on a combination of inhibitory factors to reduce the hazard of foodborne illness. Therefore, inactivation of Listeria innocua was studied according to a 2⁴ factorial experiment designed to draw conclusions about temperature (52.5 °C and 65.0 °C), pH (4.5 and 7.5), water activity (aw=0.95 and 0.99) and solute ty...

This work aimed to develop an orange juice powder by spray drying with lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum 299v and Pediococcus acidilactici HA-6111-2), testing their survival both during drying and storage (room temperature and 4 °C). Initially, the best conditions for spray drying were chosen to allow the best survival of each LAB: (i)...

Contaminated food with Listeria monocytogenes is the predominant route of transmission of listeriosis to humans, a severe illness with a high mortality rate. Food processing environments can be colonized by persistent strains, repeatedly isolated for months or years. This study aimed to investigate the biofilm formation capacity of six strains of L...

Ultraviolet-C radiation (UV-C) is widely used as an alternative strategy to control microorganism in food products. Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris is a thermo-acidophilic, non-pathogenic and spore-forming bacterium, able to grow at low pH and high temperatures. It is a concern, particularly in apple juice thermal pasteurization, because it is res...

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of six pretreatments on quality and nutritional contents of sliced Galega kale submitted to convective drying. Among all treatments, steam blanching was the most favourable, allowing improvements in retention of vitamin C, total antioxidant capacity and chlorophylls in comparison to the absence...

Introduction: Obesity is one of the more serious health problems worldwide. Finding solutions to the designated epidemic of the twenty-first century persists, and the relationship between the consumption of sweetened beverages and body weight became a relevant issue. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of an awareness strategy about the content of s...

This study aimed to investigate the effect of different conditions, including temperature (37 ºC, 22 ºC, and 4 ºC), NaCl concentrations (2.5%, 4%, and 8%), and acidity (pH = 5), on the growth response of persistent and non-persistent isolates of Listeria monocytogenes. The resistance to two common sanitizers (benzalkonium chloride and hydrogen pero...

Natural fruit juices are difficult to transform into powder because they are rich in sugars and acids with low glass transition temperatures, resulting in a sticky behaviour during spray drying. The present research work aimed to test the prebiotics maltodextrin and arabic gum as drying agents in order to be able to produce dehydrated powder from p...

Drying has been applied to vegetables in order to preserve, store and transport these food products. However, drying implies not only physical changes, easily detectable by the consumer through visual assessment, but also chemical modifications. These are not always visible, but are responsible for alterations in colour, flavour and nutritional val...

The objective of this work was to evaluate the drying characteristics and the effect of drying temperature on the quality characteristics of Galega kale without any pretreatment. Drying times of 330, 162, 78 and 51min provided minimal moisture contents, using temperatures of 35, 50, 70 and 85C, respectively. The L* and a* values diminished and b* i...

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Ozone has been recognized as a promising food processing agent, which is gaining interest in the food industry due to its oxidant properties. In order to generate commercial levels of ozone, the corona discharge method is generally used. However, there are other less mainstream methods of ozone generation, such as electrochemical and radiochemical...

Two different pre-treatments were applied to grapes prior to drying in a mixed mode solar dryer. Grapes were blanched in water and in a 0.1% sunflower oil water emulsion, both at 99oC and for approximately 15 seconds. Several models were tested to fit the experimental data of drying curves but the normalized Newton model gave the best fit results....

The microbiological safety of fresh produce is a significant concern of consumers and industry. After applying at an inoculated level (6–7 log CFU/mL) of Listeria monocytogenes on Iceberg lettuce, the antilisterial properties of balsamic vinegar from Modena, white wine vinegar and acetic acid solutions were investigated. Different proportions of th...

Strawberry is an attractive fruit, with potential benefits to human health, due to its excellent sources of natural antioxidants, anthocyanins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, as well as nutritive compounds such as minerals, vitamins and dietary fibers. However, strawberries are extremely perishable as a consequence of tenderness and susceptibility to...

Consumers expect that food products will be safe and convenient to use and still have all the qualities of a fresh product. Foods often undergo processing, which has three major aims: to make food safe while providing products with the highest quality attributes, to transform food into forms that are more convenient or more appealing, and to extend...

Abstract The aim of this study was to characterize a broad collection of isolates of Listeria monocytogenes, of different serotypes, recovered in Portugal between 2003 and 2007 from foods (n=353) and from clinical cases of human listeriosis (n=95), in terms of antimicrobial susceptibility. All the isolates were susceptible to ampicillin, the prefer...

The development and application of efficient methods for the preservation of food products have always been industrial concerns. The search for new technologies that assure safety and quality of the products is an ever-growing challenge. In this context, ozone has emerged, presenting a set of characteristics that makes it highly suitable for fruits...

Ethylene oxide gas is commonly used to sterilize medical devices, and concerns about using this agent on biological systems are well-established. Medical devices sterilized by ethylene oxide must be properly aerated to remove residual gas and by-products. In this work, kinetics of ethylene oxide desorption from different sterilized materials were s...

Freezing has been successfully implemented worldwide for longterm preservation of an endless variety of food products. The low temperatures achieved in freezing processes change the physical state of water and, consequently, water becomes unavailable to support deteriorative processes. Freezing, when conveniently applied, may preserve some of the o...

Ethylene oxide is a dominant agent in the sterilization of medical devices due to its effectiveness and compatibility with most materials. The advantages and disadvantages, as well as its recommended uses, are explored in this chapter. The variables and their relevance on process optimization are described, the types of processing cycles are detail...

The impact of sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 at 1 and 5%) solutions on Listeria innocua in red bell peppers, total mesophiles in strawberries and total coliforms in watercress was studied. Quality attributes such as colour, firmness and pH were studied for all products; total anthocyanins content was determined for strawberries. Se...

This study aimed at assessing the role of ubiquitous (non-Escherichia coli) Enterobacteriaceae in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance through the urban water cycle. Enterobacteriaceae isolated from a municipal wastewater treatment plant (111 isolates), urban water streams (33 isolates) and drinking water (123 isolates) were compared in te...

The effect of non-thermal technologies (ozone in aqueous solution, ultrasound and ultraviolet C radiation) and washings with chemical solutions (sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide) on safety and quality features of strawberries was studied. These treatments were applied before fruit storage at two different temperatures (4 and 15 °C). The ov...

Microorganisms isolated from sites contaminated with heavy metals usually possess a higher removal capacity than strains from regular cultures. Heavy metal-containing soil samples from an industrial dumpsite in Northern Portugal were accordingly collected; following enrichment under metal stress, a consortium of wild microalgae was obtained. Their...

Consumers’ demand for increased quality standards has spurred the search for new and less aggressive processing technologies´, which permit greater retention of natural taste. As a consequence, minimal processing techniques emerged with the objective of replacing traditional preservation methods with the intention of extending shelf-life, without t...

Ozone is a strong sanitizer that can be applied as a convenient washing-treatment to foods. The main objective was to study the ozone impact on Listeria innocua in red bell peppers, total mesophiles in strawberries and total coliforms in watercress. Modelling microbial load reduction throughout treatment time and due to ozone effect were also targe...

Thermal processes applied to foods focus on destruction of target microorganisms. Besides these processes often occur under time-varying temperature environments, microbial inactivation is commonly assessed under isothermal conditions. The development of mathematical models that describe microbial kinetics in dynamic conditions is important for pro...

D values were calculated at 55, 60 and 65 °C for five Listeria monocytogenes isolates using alheira (traditional Portuguese sausage) food matrix as heating menstrum. z values were also calculated and combined with internal alheiras temperature profiles during cooking in multiple ways, allowed estimations of percentages of L. monocytogenes survival....

The impacts of ultraviolet-C radiation, blanching by heat, and combination of heat/ultrasounds (thermosonication) were studied for Listeria innocua (inoculated) in red bell peppers, total mesophiles in strawberries and total coliforms in watercress, in the temperature range 50–65°C. Quality attributes such as colour and firmness were studied for al...

The effects of freezing process and frozen storage at isothermal (−7, −15 and −25 °C) and non-isothermal (accelerated life testing with step-stress methodology; temperature range from −30 to −5 °C) conditions on pumpkin quality were investigated. Storage temperature conditions were selected to embrace the limits practiced in the cold chain. Quality...

Food processes should be designed to provide an adequate margin of safety against microbiological risk of food poisoning and food spoilage throughout shelf life. In this field, the use of mathematical models that describe the microorganisms’ kinetics in such conditions is an important tool for convenient design, control and optimization of efficien...

In attempts to optimize their manufacture, whey cheese matrices obtained via thermal processing of whey (leading to protein precipitation) and inoculated with probiotic cultures were tested. A central composite, face-centered design was followed, so a total of 16 experiments were run using fractional addition of bovine milk to feedstock whey, homog...

Ethylene oxide is currently a dominant agent in medical device sterilization. This work intends to study the main effects and interactions of temperature, ethylene oxide concentration, and relative humidity on commercial spore strips of Bacillus subtilis, var. niger (ATCC 9372) inactivation, the most common microorganism used in controlling the eff...

The objective of this work was to study the effect of three linear temperature profiles (heating rates of 1.5, 1.8 and 2.6 °C/min, from 20 to 65 °C) on Listeria innocua inactivation in liquid medium. The inactivation was also analyzed in artificially contaminated parsley (heating rate of 1.8 °C/min) and throughout a frying process, using a pre-cook...

Milk and dairy products are the most consumed foods. Their quality and safety have a great impact in humans' diet and consequently in their health. The objective of this chapter is to present an overview of the most relevant microorganisms of milk and dairy products. With the purpose of eliminating pathogens and inactivating spoiled related microor...

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This study compares the feature of different media with the combination of selective with non-selective media in a TAL method for recovery of Listeria innocua cells exposed to thermal treatments. Experiments were conducted in broth at constant temperature (52.5 and 65.0 °C) and pH (4.5 and 7.5) conditions, using NaCl or glycerol to adjust water act...

No âmbito de uma iniciativa da rede internacional ISEKI_Food (Integrating Food Science and Engineering into the Food Chain – www.iseki-food.net), liderada pela Escola Superior de Biotecnologia (ESB), surgiu o projecto da criação de um e-journal em Open Access (OA). Para a sua concretização, foi estabelecida uma parceria com a Biblioteca e Gestão da...

a b s t r a c t The kinetics of peroxidase thermal inactivation, total phenolic content degradation, and colour (CIE L*a*b*) and texture changes were studied in a temperature range of 70–90 °C for carrots (Daucus carota L.). Peroxidase inactivation, total phenolic content degradation and the lightness colour (L* parameter) change were successfully...

A computer program was developed, aiming at estimating water diffusivity parameters in a dynamic drying process with grapes, assessing the predictability of corresponding non-isothermal drying curves. It numerically solves Fick’s second law for a sphere, by explicit finite differences, in a shrinking system, with anisotropic properties and changing...

Egg yolk cream is a sweet confectioned with egg yolk, sugar and water. The use of raw egg products is a potential safety hazard in its production. In this work, a safer formulation is developed by using an easier to manipulate raw material – pasteurized liquid egg. Because of previous heat treatment, pasteurized liquid egg presents different sensor...

Listeria innocua inactivation was studied within the temperature range 52.5–65.0 °C, comparing two different strains (10528 and 2030c) and two growth phases (exponential and stationary). Survival curves may present a sigmoidal behaviour, with an initial shoulder (L), followed by a maximum inactivation rate (kmax) period and a final tailing tendency...

Twenty-seven strains of Listeria monocytogenes previously isolated from food (n = 16) and human patients of listeriosis (n = 11) were characterized and compared based on their ability to survive through the simulated gastrointestinal tract conditions. Cells were exposed (60 or 120 min) to low pH in the presence of pepsin, to simulate the digestion...

The effects of water blanching, freezing, and frozen storage during 400 days at three different temperatures (−7, −15 and −30 °C), on watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br.) colour Hunter Lab parameters, chlorophyll degradation, vitamin C content loss and peroxidase (POD) activity were evaluated. The blanching induced significant changes on colou...

The effects of water blanching treatment on peroxidase inactivation, total phenolic content, color parameters [-a*/b* and hue (h degrees*)], texture (maximum shear force), and sensory attributes (color and texture, evaluated by a trained panel) of broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. ssp. Italica) were studied at five temperatures (70, 75, 80, 85, and 90...

Acidification of foods with organic acids, either by fermentation or by intentional addition, is an important and common mechanism for controlling foodborne pathogens in a diversity of food products. The objective of this work was to study thermal inactivation of Listeria innocua, an acid tolerant microorganism, at 52.5, 60.0 and 65.0 degrees C, at...

IntroductionQuality and Safety of Frozen Fruits and VegetablesTraditional Freezing TechnologiesInnovative TechnologiesReferences

Table 1. Physical methods (advantages/ limitations) used for the preservation of minimally processed vegetables and fruits Table 2. Chemical methods (advantages/ limitations) used for the preservation of minimally processed vegetables and fruits METHODOLOGIES Minimal processing describes non-thermal technologies applied to food aiming at attaining...

When a mathematical model is properly developed, it is a potential tool for process design, assessment, and optimization. Using a mathematical expression that predicts a real observation with accuracy and precision is an efficient way to develop new products and to control systems. However, to attain a convenient model, a lot of well-guided experim...

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to Integrated Predictive Modeling.- Risk Assessment: A Quantitative Approach.- Processing, Distribution and Consumption.- Predictive Microbiology.- Prediction of Heat Transfer During Food Chilling, Freezing, Thawing, and Distribution.- Modeling of Heating During Food Processing.- Shelf-Life Prediction of Chilled Foods.- Exposure Assessment of Chemi...

The future of ethylene oxide (EO) sterilization has been questioned, owing to its associated toxicity. EO has been around for more than 60 years, mainly due to its recognized characteristics of reliability and effectiveness, coupled with the process flexibility, as well as its compatibility with most mechanical devices. Despite the well-known EO to...

BACKGROUND: Egg yolk cream is confectioned with egg yolk, sugar and water. Pasteurized liquid eggs may be used in order to increase product safety, although these samples may differ from the classic ones produced with raw eggs. The objective was to evaluate and compare the stability (physicochemical characteristics, such as texture assessment, pH a...

Sucrose solutions, with concentrations near or superior to saturation, present high potentialities for the candy and pastry industries. The development of colour in a neutral and highly concentrated sucrose solution (16.32%(w/w) water content) subjected to isothermal heat treatment (in the 100–160 °C range) was investigated. Under such conditions,...

Ethylene oxide (EO) is a well-known sterilizing agent. However, only recently has its use significantly emerged, based on its range of applications in the field of new medical device development and sterilization. This paper describes the progress in terms of EO sterilization and concludes that it remains a promising field to explore and develop. T...

Multiresponse modelling is a powerful tool for studying complex kinetics of reactions occurring in food products. This modelling technique uses information of reactants and products involved, allowing insightful kinetic parameters estimation and helping in clarifying reaction mechanisms. One example of a complex reaction that occurs in food process...

Sucrose and its supersaturated or supercooled solutions are of the utmost importance in areas as different as food and pharmaceutical industries or cryopreservation of biological systems. In the supercooled "state", such amorphous solutions are fragile systems, presenting extremely high viscosity with decreased mobility of molecules, impairing expe...

Sucrose thermal degradation is an important reaction in the food industry. When in concentrated and neutral solutions, pure sucrose presents a lag phase in the reaction. This work aimed at: (i) modelling sucrose thermal degradation autocatalytic behaviour and (ii) studying the concentration and temperature effects on kinetic parameters. Isothermal...

The effects of blanching treatment on peroxidase inactivation, colour and texture of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima L.) were studied in the temperature range of 75–95 °C. Peroxidase inactivation followed a first-order Arrhenius model, where the activation energy and rate of the reaction at a reference temperature of 85 °C were 86.20 ± 5.57 kJ mol−1 and...

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Listeria innocua was subjected to thermal inactivation and the extent of heat-injured cells was quantified. Cultures were heated in liquid medium for different times, using temperatures in the range of 52.5 to 65.0 degrees C, and plated on Tryptic Soy Agar with 0.6% yeast extract (TSAYE) used as non-selective medium and on TSAYE plus 5% NaCl (TSAYE...

Sucrose solutions, with concentrations near or superior to saturation, present high potentialities for the candy and pastry industries. Creep measurements under small stresses were done to obtain the rheological properties of highly concentrated sucrose solutions, since such solutions could be in a metastable state and tend to crystallise. The visc...

The objective of this work was to create a software application (Bugdeath 1.0) for the simulation of inactivation kinetics of microorganisms on the surface of foods, during dry and wet pasteurisation treatments. The program was developed under the Real Basic© 5.2 application, and it is a user-friendly tool. It integrates heat transfer phenomena and...

Development of effective heat treatments is crucial to achieve food products’ safety, and predictive microbiology is an excellent tool to design adequate processing conditions.This work focuses on the application of a modified Gompertz model to describe the inactivation behaviour under time-varying temperature conditions at the surface of a food pr...

Oral presentation: “Annual Meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists & Food Expo (IFT 2006)”.

Solar drying of foods is an old technique, still used nowadays. Nevertheless, the mathematical approach of the complex phenomena involved is not completely integrated. Drawbacks appear in modelling heat transport, specially related to the huge variability of meteorological factors. The great dependence of the heat and mass transfer model parameters...

Ozone is a potent oxidant and disinfectant agent with multiple industrial applications. The efficacy of ozone treatments has been recognised in the sanitation of equipments and water disinfections. Recently, ozone started to be used as an innovative food processing technology that guarantees product safety. The objective of this work was to study t...

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