Propiedades físicas y químicas de sales de quitosana obtenidas a partir de quitina de langosta común ( Panulirus argus ) J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13996969ISSN: 3073-1283 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Physical and chemical properties of chitosan salts obtained from common lobster chitin ( Panulirus argus ) Mario A. García marioifal@gmail.comReceived: 11 February 2024 / Accepted: 13 May 2024 / Published online: 30 July 2024© The Author(s) 2024 Nilia de la Paz 1 · Mirna Fernández 2 · Jarol A. Hernández 2 · Mario A. García 3 Abstract The physical and chemical properties of chitosan salts were evaluated. To produce chitosan acetate and lac-tate, chitosan solutions at 4% (w/v) were prepared in solu-tions of acetic and lactic acids at 10% (v/v), respectively. The spray drying was carried out at inlet/outlet temperatures of 160/100 ºC. The particle size, shape, surface morphology, and microstructure of the chitosan salts were characterized. Additionally, moisture content and water activity were de-termined. Analyses of the chemical structure and thermal properties of the compounds were performed. The color of the chitosan and its salts-forming solutions (FPS) was also evaluated. Chitosan lactate exhibited more spherical par-ticles than chitosan acetate, which showed greater particle agglomeration with irregular and sticky shapes, associated with its higher moisture content. Chitosan acetate proved more stable, exhibiting a higher exothermic temperature than chitosan lactate. A partial conversion of the chitosan acetate structure was observed due to the high temperature of the spray drying process. The FPS of chitosan lactate was the least luminous and showed the highest b* value ( p ≤0.05), in - dicating a more intense coloration. No signifcant diferences were found in the values for a* component between the FPS of chitosan and its salts. Keywords chitosan salts, physical and chemical proper-ties, spray drying, powder properties. Resumen Se evaluaron las propiedades físicas y químicas de las sales de quitosana. Para la producción de acetato y lactato de quitosana, se prepararon disoluciones de quitosana al 4 % (m/v) en soluciones de ácido acético y láctico al 10 % (v/v), respectivamente. El secado por aspersión se llevó a cabo a temperaturas de entrada/salida de 160/100 ºC. Se car-acterizaron el tamaño de partícula, la forma, la morfología de la superfcie y la microestructura de las sales de quitosana. Además, se determinó el contenido de humedad y la activi-dad de agua. Se realizaron análisis de la estructura química y propiedades térmicas de los compuestos. También se evaluó el color de las disoluciones formadoras de películas (DFP) de quitosana y de sus sales. El lactato de quitosana presentó partículas más esféricas en comparación con el acetato de quitosana, que mostró una mayor aglutinación de partículas con formas irregulares y pegajosas, lo cual se relaciona con su mayor porcentaje de humedad. El acetato de quitosana resultó más estable, presentando una temperatura exotérmica mayor que el lactato de quitosana. Se observó una conversión parcial en la estructura del acetato de quitosana debido a la alta temperatura del proceso de secado por aspersión. La DFP de lactato de quitosana fue la menos luminosa y mostró el mayor valor de b* ( p ≤0,05), lo que indica una coloración más intensa. No se encontraron diferencias signifcativas en los valores de la componente a* entre las DFP de quitosana y sus sales. Palabras clave sales de quitosana, propiedades físicas y químicas, secado por aspersión, propiedades de polvos. How to cite de la Paz, N.; Fernández, M., Hernández, J.A., & García, M.A. (2024). Physical and chemical properties of chitosan salts obtained from common lobster chitin ( Panulirus argus ). Journal of Food Science and Gastronomy , 2 (2), 8-16. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13996969 1 Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de Medicamentos, La Habana, Cuba.2 Instituto de Farmacia y Alimentos, Universidad de La Habana, Cuba.3 Universidad San Gregorio de Portoviejo, Ecuador.
J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16 9 Introduction Currently, there is a growing interest in developing mate-rials that enhance the shelf life of food and provide greater microbiological safety. Many natural substances have been studied for this purpose (Teshome et al., 2022). Antioxidants prevent or delay oxidative damage to lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids caused by reactive oxygen species, such as free radicals (Chaudhary et al., 2023). In addition to playing a crucial role in physiological systems, antioxidants are used in the food industry as additives to extend the shelf life of foods, especially those rich in polyunsaturated fats. These components are susceptible to oxidation by reactive oxygen species, contributing to quality degradation, nutritional loss- es, the development of undesirable favors, and non-charac - teristic colorations (Pruteanu et al., 2023). Evidence suggests that using many synthetic antioxidants in food can lead to negative health efects. Due to these concerns, interest in natural antioxidants has increased, among which chitosan is notable (Herdiana et al., 2023).The seafood processing industry generates a signifcant amount of solid waste, as 75-85% of the animal mass is con -sidered waste (such as shells, heads, and legs). This waste contaminates the environment and represents an economic burden for the industry, as its disposal can be problematic and costly. Currently, there are technological alternatives to utilize these wastes and convert them into useful products, such as chitin and its derivatives (Santos et al., 2020). Chi- tin is the most abundant natural polymer after cellulose. It is found in insect wings, fungal cell walls, algae, and the exoskeletons of crustaceans, with the latter being its primary source (Elieh-Ali-Komi & Hamblin, 2016). Chitosan, ob-tained by deacetylating chitin, is a helical-structured poly-mer with reactive amino groups, allowing for a wide variety of modifcations and ionic interactions (Aranaz et al., 2021).In recent years, chitosan has attracted researchers’ attention due to its extraordinary properties and ease of extraction. As the few cationic polysaccharides, it ofers unique properties compared to other polysaccharides, typically neutral or neg- atively charged (Desai et al., 2023). However, the practical applications of chitosan are limited by its insolubility in wa-ter at pH levels above 6. Several chitosan derivatives have been designed to overcome this limitation. Chitosan can form water-soluble salts with organic and inorganic acids, such as hydrochloric, formic, glutamic, lactic, citric, acetic, and ascorbic acids. The reactive amino groups in chitosan can be protonated (NH3+ OCOR-) by these acids, resulting in a positively charged, water-soluble polysaccharide (Desai et al., 2023). Considering the reasons mentioned earlier, this study evaluated the physical and chemical properties of chi-tosan salts obtained from the chitin of the common lobster ( Panulirus argus ). Materials and methods The materials used to prepare the solutions included chi- tosan with a molecular weight of 275 kDa and a degree of deacetylation of 75%, obtained from the chitin of the com -mon lobster ( P. argus ) at the Center for Research and De - velopment of Medicines. Additionally, a 90% lactic acid solution (Merck, Germany), glacial acetic acid (Merck, Ger-many), and distilled water were employed.Chitosan acetate and lactate were generated with approx- imately 30% (m/m) chitosan through spray drying at inlet/ outlet temperatures of 160/100 °C in a San Young dryer. The analysis of particle size, shape, surface morphology, and microstructure of the salts was conducted using a scanning electron microscope (Zeiss, DSM 962, Germany), capturing micrographs at a magnifcation of 1000x. The moisture con -tent was determined in triplicate using a Karl Fischer method (Mettler DL35, Switzerland), and water activity was mea - sured with an AquaLab water activity meter (Series 3TE, Sweden), also in triplicate. Fourier-transform infrared (FT- IR) spectra were recorded using an IR spectrometer (FT/IR Jasco 460-Plus, Japan) by processing compressed KBr discs. The salts thermograms were obtained using a diferential scanning calorimeter (DSC 823e, Mettler Toledo, Greifens - ee, Switzerland), utilizing a nitrogen fow at 50 mL/min. The samples weighed in aluminum pans, were heated from 25 to 220 °C for chitosan lactate and from 25 to 300 °C for chi -tosan acetate at a heating rate of 10 °C/min.Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed using a TGA 850 analyzer (Mettler Toledo, Switzerland), employ - ing nitrogen at 50 mL/min and samples of 5 mg, from 25 to 250 °C at 10 °C/min. The color of the chitosan and its salt flm-forming solutions (DFP) at 1% (m/v) was deter -mined spectrophotometrically, following the methodology described by Casariego et al. (2009). A spectrophotometer (Shimadzu UV-2401PC UV-VIS, Japan) was used to mea -sure transmittance between 400 and 700 nm, and the data were transformed into the CIE L* a* b* color space. Lumi -nosity (L*) and hue components (a* and b*) were calculated, using the D65 illuminant and a standard observer viewing angle of 10° (CIE LAB, 1976).A double ANOVA was conducted using the Statistics software (version 7, 2004, StatSoft, Inc., Tulsa, USA) and Duncan’s multiple range test to assess diferences between samples, with a signifcance level of p ≤0.05. Results and discussion The scanning electron micrographs of chitosan are shown in Figure 1. The chitosan originally derived from lobster chi- tin consisted of scales with irregular size and shape. In con -trast, the chitosan salts exhibited more spherical particles,
J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16 10 with small particles observed around larger ones, which may be related to the drying process temperatures. Similar results have been reported in previous studies on chitosan salts pre-pared by spray drying (Nunthanid et al., 2008). It was observed that chitosan lactate was composed of more spherical particles than chitosan acetate, which exhib-ited a greater agglomeration of particles that were irregular and sticky. This phenomenon may be attributed to an in- crease in the humidifcation of the sample, leading to parti - cle clustering. No signifcant diferences were found in these characteristics between the salts obtained at the laboratory scale and those produced at the industrial scale. Figure 1. Scanning electron microscopy of (a) chitosan monomer; (b) chitosan acetate; and (c) chitosan lactate at the laboratory scale; (d) chitosan acetate and (e) chitosan lactate at the industrial scale.
J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16 11 The results regarding the moisture content and water ac-tivity of the spray-dried chitosan salts are presented in Ta-ble 1. All chitosan salt samples contained water, as the acid solvent used in their preparation did not completely evapo-rate during the drying process. Chitosan acetate showed the highest moisture percentages, which may be related to the fact that acetic acid has a lower molecular weight (M (acetic acid) = 60.06 g/mol and M (lactic acid) = 90.08 g/mol) and a lower boiling point (acetic acid: 118.2 °C and lactic acid: 122 °C) (Demarger-Andre et al., 1994), making it the most volatile acid among those studied in this work.The moisture content of the salts is linked to the inlet tem-perature of the spray-drying process, during which there is an increase in the energy of the adsorbed water molecules. This phenomenon facilitates the release of these molecules from the active sites of the chitosan salts, resulting in a re- duction in water absorption. Water activity refects the ac -tive part of the moisture, meaning the fraction that, under normal conditions, can be exchanged between the product and its environment (Desai et al., 2023). Similar to moisture content, the water activity of chitosan salts also depends on the temperatures used in the drying process. It was observed that the water activity values were higher for chitosan lactate than those of chitosan acetate, which could be attributed to the ability of lactate ions to compete with water molecules, thereby afecting their dehydration potential. Table 1. Moisture content, water activity (a w ), and mass loss by TGA of chitosan salts (n = 3) Chitosan saltsScaleMoisture content (%)a W Mass loss by TGA (%) Chitosan acetateLaboratory 8.09 (0.2) 0.267 (0.002)7.08 Industrial7.99 (0.2)0.273 (0.0)7.13 Chitosan lactateLaboratory 3.14 (0.03)0.352 (0.007)3.06Industrial3.8 (0.2)0.364 (0.01)2.23The FT-IR spectra of the chitosan salts are presented in Figure 2. In the FT-IR spectrum, broad bands are identifed in the range of 3450-3400 cm -1 , indicating the presence of intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Additionally, the stretching of the bands corresponding to the NH groups may overlap in this same spectrum region. Amino groups exhibit charac- teristic absorption bands at 1597 and 1615 cm -1 in the FT-IR spectrum of chitosan. With both chitosan salts, these bands are reduced, suggesting that the NH groups are protonated. The carboxylate -COO- band at 1556 cm -1 was detected in all salts, allowing us to infer an ionic interaction between chitosan and the acids. The FT-IR spectra of chitosan acetate exhibit intense peaks in the range of 1550-1600 cm -1 and weak peaks near 1400 cm -1 , which are attributed to the carboxylate anion, suggesting that this salt is adequately formed as a result of spray drying. In contrast, the FT-IR spectra of chitosan lactate reveal cer - tain spectral changes. As shown in the fgure, the spectrum of chitosan lactate displays a prominent NH 2 band at 1630 cm -1 . This shift of the vibration to higher wavenumbers, compared to typical amino group values, indicates the formation of a carboxylate between the -COO⁻ groups of the acid and the -NH₃⁺ groups of chitosan (Di Foggia et al., 2023). Additionally, absorption bands for carbonyl groups are ob-served at 1700 cm -1 or higher, indicating the presence of car- boxylic acids. The band around 1730 cm -1 corresponds to the ester of the carboxylic group of the oligo (lactic acid) either in a chain or free form (Cervera et al., 2011), suggesting the presence of free lactic acid in the chitosan lactate salt. This fnding also aligns with previous studies (Yao et al., 2003). These results suggest that organic acids may interact with chitosan at the positions of the amino groups during the spray-drying process, thus forming chitosan salts. The FT-IR spectra of all chitosan salts showed ammonium and carboxylate bands, although free carboxyl groups in chitosan lactate are evident at wavelengths above 1700 cm -1 . Figure 3 presents the DSC curves of the chitosan salts dried by spray drying. All samples exhibit signifcant endo - thermic peaks in the temperature range of 70-120 °C. In par -ticular, chitosan lactate shows a broad second endothermic peak between 150-200 °C, which can be attributed to the loss of crystallization water and the melting point of the samples. Similar behavior has been reported in previous studies on chitosan lactate microcapsules and flms. Chitosan acetate exhibited an additional endothermic peak in the temperature range of 150-200 °C. According to the literature, these endothermic peaks of chitosan acetate are associated with mass loss of the salt (de la Paz N et al., 2021). The correlation between the higher ΔH values and the moisture contents of the chitosan salt samples suggests dif-ferences in their polymer-water interaction and water reten- tion capacity. The ΔH values for chitosan acetate and lactate dried at 160/100 °C were 105.2 and 45.8 J g -1 , respectively.The thermal decomposition of chitosan is an exother-mic process that involves the contraction of the crystalline structure of the material, starting after dehydration (Mura- leedharan et al., 2015). In this study, exothermic peaks of the chitosan salts were observed around 290 °C (Figure 3). Chitosan lactate demonstrated lower stability than chitosan
J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16 12 Figure 2. FT-IR spectra of chitosan acetate and chitosan lactate. and chitosan acetate, as evidenced by its lower degradation temperature. An irreversible change in the structure of chi-tosan lactate was detected above 220 °C.These results indicate a higher thermal stability of chitosan acetate compared to chitosan lactate. At elevated tempera-tures, carboxylic acids can be protonated and react slowly with the amine to form an amide (Lu et al., 2022). This ami-dation process reduces the amount of hydrophilic groups, which in turn increases water absorption (Lu et al., 2022). In this study, the chitosan lactate samples showed lower mois-ture content compared to chitosan acetate, possibly due to intramolecular and intermolecular condensations between the carboxylic acid and chitosan. Figure 4 shows the values for the mass loss of chitosan salts during heating. According to TGA analyses, the mass loss is associated with the endothermic changes observed in the diferential scanning calorimetry analysis. Chitosan acetate exhibited a higher moisture content com-pared to chitosan lactate. The results of mass loss at elevated temperatures, around 150-200 °C, are consistent with pre - vious fndings on chitosan salts (de la Paz N et al., 2021). The mass loss was more pronounced in chitosan lactate than in chitosan acetate, while this change in mass loss was not recorded for pure chitosan. The values of L*, a*, and b* for the flm-forming solutions (FFS) of chitosan are presented in Table 2. It is noteworthy
J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16 13 Figure 3. Diferential scanning calorimetry of chitosan acetate and chitosan lactate. that the chitosan solution was the most luminous ( p ≤0.05), while the FFS obtained from chitosan lactate was the least luminous.The b* value is the parameter that describes the color of the chitosan flm-forming solutions (FFS), given that chi -tosan has a yellow color, and this chromatic component has the most signifcant infuence on the total color diference observed in the FFS. The FFS made with chitosan lactate showed the highest b* value, which, combined with its low-er luminosity, resulted in the solution with the most intense coloration. It is important to note that the development of color in the solutions is linked to the amount of chitosan used in their preparation, with the salts consisting of 30% (m/m) chitosan. It is widely recognized that color changes may be relat -ed to chemical and biological alterations in a substance; the yellow tones in chitosan solutions could be attributed to the carbonyl groups (C=O) present in its structure (Mohan et al., 2019). Additionally, both the origin of the chitosan and the extraction process infuence its color. Regarding the values of the component a*, no signifcant diferences were observed between chitosan and its salts, with values ranging between -2 and 2, indicating a negligible contribution of this compo-nent to the color development of the FFS. The chromaticity values (C*) showed a behavior similar to that observed for the b* component.
J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16 14 Figure 4. Thermogravimetric analysis of chitosan acetate and chitosan lactate. Table 2. Parameters related to the color of the FFS. CompoundL*a*b*C* Chitosan 91.9 (0.1) a -1.80 (0.11) c 5.41 (0.26) c5.71(0.27) c Chitosan acetate 89.6 (0.1) a -1.87 (0.02) bc11.28 (0.04) b 11.43(0.03) b Chitosan lactate 79.7 (2.2) b-0.09 (1.47) ac24.02 (1.15) a 24.06(1.14) a Mean (Standard deviation); n = 3.Diferent letters indicate a signifcant diference ( p ≤0.05) by Duncan’s multiple range test. Conclusions Chitosan lactate was characterized by more spherical par-ticles than chitosan acetate, which showed greater particle agglomeration with irregular and sticky shapes, correlating with its higher moisture content. Furthermore, chitosan ac-etate proved more stable, exhibiting a higher exothermic temperature than lactate. A partial conversion in the struc- ture of chitosan acetate was identifed, attributed to the high temperatures used during spray drying. Regarding the flm-forming solutions (FFS), chitosan lactate was the least luminous, showing the highest value in component b*, in- dicating a more intense coloration. However, no signifcant diferences were found in the values of the component a* between the chitosan FFS and its salts.
J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16 15 References Aranaz, I., Alcántara, A.R., Civera, M.C., Arias, C., Elor -za, B., Heras, A., & Acosta, N. (2021). Chitosan: An Overview of Its Properties and Applications. Poly-mers (Basel) , 3 (19), 3256. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13193256 Casariego, A., Souza, W.S., Cerqueira, M.A., Texeira, J.A., Cruz, L., Díaz, R., & Vicente, A. (2009) A. Chitosan/clay flm´s properties as afected by biopolymers and clay micro/nanoparticles´s concentrations. Food Hy-drocolloids , 23 , 1895-1902.Cervera, M.F., Heinämäki, J., de la Paz, N., López, O., Mau - nu, S.L., Virtanen, T., Hatanpää, T., Antikainen, O., Nogueira, A., Fundora, J., & Yliruusi, J. (2011). Efects of spray drying on physicochemical properties of chi-tosan acid salts. AAPS PharmSciTech , 12 (2), 637-649. https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-011-9620-3Chaudhary, P., Janmeda, P., Docea, A.O., Yeskaliyeva, B., Abdull, A.F., Modu, B., Calina, D., & Sharif-Rad, J. (2023). Oxidative stress, free radicals and antioxidants: potential crosstalk in the pathophysiology of human diseases. Frontiers in Chemistry , 11 , 1158198. https:// doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2023.1158198de la Paz, N., Fernández, M., López, O., García, C., Noguei -ra, A., Torres, L., Turiño, W., & Heinämäki, J. (2021). Spray drying of chitosan acid salts: process develop-ment, scaling up and physicochemical material char-acterization. Marine Drugs , 19 (6), 329. https://doi. org/10.3390/md19060329Demarger-Andre, S., & Domard, A. (1994). Chitosan car -boxylic acid salts in solution and the solid state. Car-bohydrate Polymers , 23 (3), 211-219. https://doi. org/10.1016/0144-8617(94)90104-XDesai, N., Rana, D., Salave, S., Gupta, R., Patel, P., Karuna -karan, B., Sharma, A., Giri, J., Benival, D., & Kom- mineni, N. (2023). Chitosan: a potential biopolymer in drug delivery and biomedical applications. Pharmaceu-tics , 15 (4), 1313. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceuti - cs15041313Di Foggia, M., Tsukada, M., & Taddei, P. (2023). Vibrational study on the structure, bioactivity, and silver adsorp- tion of silk fbroin fbers grafted with methacryloni -trile. Molecules , 28 (6), https://doi.org/10.3390/mole - cules28062551Elieh-Ali-Komi, D., & Hamblin, M.R. (2016). Chitin and chitosan: production and application of versatile bio-medical nanomaterials. International Journal of Ad-vanced Research (Indore) , 4 (3), 411-427. https://pmc. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5094803/ Herdiana, Y., Husni, P., Nurhasanah, S., Shamsuddin, S., & Wathoni, N. (2023). Chitosan-based nano systems for natural antioxidants in breast cancer therapy. Poly-mers (Basel) , 15 (13), 2953. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15132953Lu, B., Xiao, W.J., & Chen, J.R. (2022). Recent advances in visible-light-mediated amide synthesis. Molecules , 27 (2), 517. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27020517Mohan, C.O., Gunasekaran, S., & Ravishankar, C.N. (2019). Chitosan-capped gold nanoparticles for indicating tem-perature abuse in frozen stored products. NPJ Science of Food , 3 , 2. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-019-0034-z Muraleedharan, K., Alikutty, P., Abdul Mujeeb, V.M., & Sarada, K. (2015). Kinetic studies on the thermal de -hydration and degradation of chitosan and citralidene chitosan. Journal of Polymers and the Environment , 23 , 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-014-0665-8 Nunthanid, J., Huanbutta, K., Luangtana-Anan, M. Sria-mornsak, P., Limmatvapirat, S., & Puttipipatkhachorn, S. (2008). Development of time-, pH-, and enzyme-con-trolled colonic drug delivery using spray-dried chitosan acetate and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics , 68 , 253-259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpb.2007.05.017Pruteanu, L.L., Bailey, D.S., Grădinaru, A.C., & Jäntschi, L. (2023). The biochemistry and efectiveness of an -tioxidants in food, fruits, and marine algae. Antioxi-dants (Basel) , 12 (4), 860. https://doi.org/10.3390/an -tiox12040860Santos, V.P., Marques, N.S.S., Maia, P.C.S.V., Lima, M.A.B., Franco, L.O., & Campos-Takaki, G.M. (2020). Seafood waste as attractive source of chitin and chitosan produc-tion and their applications. International Journal of Mo-lecular Sciences, 21 (12), 4290. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21124290Teshome, E., Forsido, S.F., Rupasinghe, H.P.V., & Olika, E.K. (2022). Potentials of natural preservatives to enhance food safety and shelf life: a review . Scientifc World Jour -nal , 9901018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/9901018 Yao, F., Chen, W., Wang, H., Liu, H., Yao, K., & Sun, P. (2003). A study on cytocompatible poly (chitosan-g- L-lactic acid). Polymer , 44 , 6435-6441. https://doi. org/10.1016/S0032-3861(03)00676-1 Conficts of interest Te authors declare that they have no conficts of interest. Author contributions Nilia de la Paz, Mirna Fernández, Jarol A. Hernández and Mario A. García: Conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, supervision, valida-tion, visualization, drafting the original manuscript and writ-ing, review, and editing.
J. Food Sci. Gastron . (July - December 2024) 2 (2): 8-16 16 Data availability statement The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Statement on the use of AI The authors acknowledge the use of generative AI and AI-as -sisted technologies to improve the readability and clarity of the article. Disclaimer/Editor’s note The statements, opinions, and data contained in all publica-tions are solely those of the individual authors and contrib-utors and not of Journal of Food Science and Gastronomy.Journal of Food Science and Gastronomy and/or the editors disclaim any responsibility for any injury to people or prop-erty resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions, or prod-ucts mentioned in the content.