حنان لشکری

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) plays an important social, environmental, and economical role for many people living in arid and semiarid regions of the world. Date fruit is one of the major agricultural crops in the East Asia region, where about 90% of the world's dates are cultivated. Dates are rich in certain nutrients and provide a good source of rapid energy, due to their high carbohydrate content (70–80%). Moreover, date fruits contain fat (0.20–0.50%), protein (2.30–5.60%), dietary fibre (6.40–11.50%), minerals (0.10–916 mg/100 g dry weight), and vitamins (C, B1, B2, B3, and A) with very little or no starch. In addition to the direct consumption of the fruit, various industrial products are also extracted derived from this product, including date juice, date honey, liquid sugar, vinegar, alcohol, caramel, date paste and date chocolate. The annual production of one million and 400 thousand tons of dates in Iran has made Iran the second pole of date production in the world after Egypt. Zarin Dasht region is located in Fars province, and the annual production of dates in this region reaches more than 1000 tons. The aim of the present work was to investigate the chemical composition, carbohydrate, and antioxidant capacity of two cultivars of Zarin Dasht dates.
 
After collection, all date fruits were washed with tap water, and the seeds were then removed, and the flesh were shade dried at room temperature. The dimensions and area of the imaged surfaces were measured by the physical properties measurement device in 100 repetitions. The working principle of this device is based on image processing technique. By placing the product in three different positions and perpendicular to each other, pictures of the date samples were taken individually. Date mass was obtained using a sensitive digital scale with an accuracy of 0.01 g. The displaced water method was used to determine the volume and density of each date seed. Bulk density, date porosity, geometric mean diameter, sphericity coefficient and surface area of the samples were determined. The amount of moisture was determined by weight method, ash by burning in an electric furnace, titratable acidity based on malic acid and pH of the samples were measured by a digital pH meter. To measure the amount of total phenol in the fruit, Folin–Ciocalteu reagent was used and the absorbance of the reaction mixture was read at 750 nm by a spectrophotometer. The amount of total phenol was reported in terms of gallic acid. The antioxidant capacity was determined through the neutralization of free radical 2 and 2 diphenyl 1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). To measure the sugar of all samples, first a standard curve was drawn from the glucose solution in different concentrations, then the sugar content of the samples was measured in milligrams per gram of fresh weight at 490 nm using the sulfuric phenol method. The amount of crude fibre was calculated according to the standard method of AOAC-991/43. The amount of fat was obtained with the Universal Extractor E-800 device for 3 hours at a suitable temperature and in 250 cc of n-hexane solvent. Finally, the statistical analysis of the data was done factorially and in the form of a completely random design in 3 replications using SAS 4, 9 software and the comparison of the means was done using the LSD test at a probability level of 1%.
 
According to the results of this research, there was a significant difference in all qualitative traits except pH (P<0.01). In comparing the characteristics of the palms of two cultivars, it was observed that the highest amount of fibre (1.78 %), titratable acid (0.59 %), ash (1.64 %) and fat (0.85 %) is related to Shahani cultivar,and the highest amount of total phenol (8.1 mg/gFW), DPPH inhibitory property (13 %), moisture (18.7%), sugar (63.8 %), protein (0.29 %) and pH (5.74) belonged to Khassui cultivar. Also, comparing the kernel characteristics of two cultivars, it was observed that the highest amount of ash (3.17 %), total phenol (10.8 mg/gFW), antioxidant property (72 % DPPH inhibition), protein (2.55 %), pH (6.11) and fat (9.20 %) related to the kernel of Shahani variety and the highest amount of fibre (26.2 %), moisture (5.26 %), sugar (15.8 %) and titratable acid (0.38 %) belonged to the kernel of Khassui cultivar. Overall, the kernel of Shahani variety had more DPPH inhibitory power among all the samples.

 Manufacturers are trying to replace plastic materials in the food packaging industry with biodegradable and edible films. Biodegradable edible films and coatings are mainly made from carbohydrates, lipids and proteins and their mixtures. In recent decades, various carbohydrates from plant sources have been investigated and introduced as new compounds for the preparation of these films. Flaxseed gum is a white to cream-colored powder that dissolves in water and produces a gel, and is a desirable compound for forming films and coatings. Recently, through the integration of reinforcements or fillers with at least one nanometer dimension in the substrate of one or more natural biopolymers, the physicochemical, mechanical, optical, thermal and barrier properties of pure biofilms have been improved. The use of cellulose nanoparticles in biofilms as a reinforcing agent for polymer materials leads to the creation of composite films with better quality characteristics and leads to the creation of functionalization activities in film production. Therefore, the aim of this research was to produce and characterize edible and biodegradable film based on the combination of flaxseed gum and cellulose nanocrystals.

 Cellulose nanocrystals (Degree of crystallinity: 42% and average particle size: 58 nm) were extracted from cotton linters. Glycerol and other chemicals used for this research were obtained from Merck, Germany. Flaxseeds were purchased from the local market of Shiraz (Iran). Bionanocomposite films were prepared from different ratios (0:100, 30:70, 50:50, 70:30 and 100:0) of flaxseed mucilage (2% w/v) and cellulose nanocrystal (6% w/v) solutions. The prepared solutions were poured on a petri dish with a diameter of 15 cm and dried in an oven at 80°C for 4 hours. Their physical, color and mechanical properties were investigated and the best ratio was selected for the preparation of bionanocomposite film. The produced films were subjected to different analysis to determine thickness, solubility, water absorption capacity, permeability to water vapor, tensile strength, elongation at break point, and colorimetry. The microstructure of the produced film was studied using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM).The average data were analyzed by analysis of variance in a completely randomized design using SPSS 22.0 software. Differences between treatments were expressed in Duncan's multiple range test at the 95% probability level (p<0.05) and the corresponding graphs were drawn with Excel 2013.

 The results of the film thickness test showed that the film containing 100% mucilage has the lowest thickness and with the addition of cellulose nanocrystals, the thickness increased significantly (p<0.05). The results of the water solubility and water absorption capacity of the film samples showed that the addition of cellulose nanocrystals to the flaxseed mucilage film initially led to a significant decrease in the water solubility and water absorption capacity (p<0.05), so that the lowest level ofthese two physical parameters were obtained in the film containing the combination of 70% flaxseed mucilage and 30% cellulose nanocrystal, and then with the increase of cellulose nanocrystals, an increase in water solubility and water absorption capacity of the films was observed. Nanocrystal cellulose at low levels (30%) acted as a filler and was uniformly dispersed in the network of the film and by filling the empty pores of the biopolymer film based on flaxseed mucilage, it caused the transfer of water vapor more complicated and reduced the permeability to water vapor. However, its higher amount increased the permeability of the film to water vapor.The results showed that by adding cellulose nanocrystal to the film based on flaxseed mucilage and increasing its amount, the brightness of the films decreased and the intensity of redness, yellowness and turbidity of the films increased significantly (p<0.05). By combining flaxseed mucilage and cellulose nanocrystals in a ratio of 30:70, the best film was produced in terms of mechanical strength and stability against moisture and water vapor. The SEM image of this film showed a smooth, even surface and a uniform distribution of cellulose nanocrystals in the film network.

 The results finally showed that the combination of flaxseed mucilage and cellulose nanocrystals in a ratio of 30:70 was able to produce a biodegradable and edible film with favorable structural and barrier properties. The characteristics of this film include; thickness (0.313mm), solubility (53.42%), water absorption capacity (44.44%), permeability to water vapor (0.350 g.m-1s-1Pa-1 × 10 -10), tensile strength (0.973 MPa), elongation at break point (30.52%) were obtained. The colorimetric indices L*, a*, b* and turbidity were determined as 79.73, 1.95, 3.48 and 1.335 mm-1 respectively.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of intelligent pH-sensitive composite film based on gelatin and Persian gum incorporated with purple carrot extract (PCE) on the freshness of wrapped mozzarella cheese. In this regard, the color, pH, yeast and mold count of control and treatments wrapped with intelligent pH-sensitive composite film during 60 days were evaluated. The results showed that the pH significantly reduced in wrapped cheese with and without PCE (control) samples during storage. However, this reduction was more pronounced in the control sample (P<0.05). Additionally, the application of composite film on cheese affected the color during storage. It was observed that L* and a* values of the composite film-wrapped cheese were significantly higher than the control sample, but the b* values were significantly lower than the control sample. Moreover, poor microbial growth (yeasts and mold) was observed in cheese samples wrapped by composite film with purple carrot compared to the control. Also, the pH of the composite film with extract significantly decreased from 6.33 to 4.85 during storage (P < 0.05), which showed the changes of color from purple to pink. After 40 days, the color changed to pink, indicating the end of the cheese storage. Therefore, it was concluded that the pH-sensitive film, while being an effective method to improve the shelf life of mozzarella cheese, can also use as an indicator for freshness.

In this study, an edible film based on gelatin-Persian gum was prepared and optimization of the edible film was done using Design Expert and Mixture Design. The resulting films were subjected to various physicochemical tests, including pH, total solid, heat seal ability, tensile strength, contact angle, calorimetric and moisture absorption. At first, modeling of responses was done using data regression analysis, and then 3D charts were drawn to show the effects of gelatin (0.5 -1), Persian gum (0.5 -1), and Glycerol (0-0.5) on the film characteristics. Finally, Numerical optimization based on optimization goals was performed and the optimal point with the highest desirability (0.78) was obtained. The ratio of each of the independent variables in the optimal formula was 0.5. Various properties of the optimal film including pH, total solid, heat seal ability, tensile strength, contact angle, moisture absorption, L*, a* and b* were obtained at 6.66, 95.61%, 84.45 N/M, 64.5 N, 77.34°, 4.5%, 70.98, 0.97 and 0.66 respectively. Generally, the findings proposed that the gelatin-persian gum-based edible film can be used as a food packaging material.

The aim of this study was to investigate crocin encapsulation in liposome and niosome systems and their characteristics such as particle size, stability, encapsulation efficiency, viscosity, antioxidant properties, gastrointestinal release, resistance to acidic conditions and resistance to high temperatures. The results showed that the samples encapsulated in the noisome (76.45 nm) had smaller particle size and better dispersion than the liposome (103.35 nm). Also, the encapsulation efficiency of the noisome (88.08 %) was higher than that of the liposome (80.59 %). No significant difference was observed between the antioxidant properties of liposome and niosome samples. But gastrointestinal release was higher for niosomic samples. Examination of the results of resistance to acidic conditions and high temperature showed that the samples covered in the niosome showed better resistance. In general, it can be concluded that niosome system is a more suitable system for crocin encapsulation and its use in increasing the efficiency of food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic systems.

In the present study, the effect of chemical refining process on the oxidative stability of Bene kernel oil during 32 hours of thermal process at 170 ° C was investigated. Examination of fatty acid structure showed that the amount of trans fatty acid was very small after the thermal process. The trend of changes in tocopherol and polyphenolic compounds during the heating process was different from other studies. The rate of tocopherol changes increased at the end of the thermal process in crude, degummed and neutralized oils and decreased in bleached and deodorized oils. The reason for the increase in tocopherols was related to their regeneration process. Also, the amount of polyphenolic compounds after the thermal process compared to the zero moment was largely in line with tocopherol changes. The reason for the increase in phenolic compounds was related to the breakdown of these compounds and their becoming simpler compounds. Examination of oxidation stability tests (conjugated diene vlue and p-anisidine value) also showed that crude kernel oil was the most stable sample, followed by degummed, neutralized, deodorized and bleached oils, respectively. The reason that the decolorization step caused the lowest oxidative stability in Bene kernel oil can be attributed to the greatest reduction in the amount of tocopherol compounds in this oil sample compared to the zero moment. Also, the trend of changes in antioxidant activity was largely consistent with changes in antioxidant compounds.

Cheese is a dairy product that is susceptible to contamination by pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. Microbial contamination can reduce its shelf life and Cause serious health risks to consumers. Thymus vulgaris essential oil has high antioxidant and antimicrobial activity and can improve and enhance the storage time of food systems. In order to evaluate the effect of thymus vulgaris essential oil on physicochemical, microbial and sensory properties of cream cheese, different percentages of thymus essential oil (0, 0.005, 0.01% and 0.015%) were added to cream cheese. Cheese sample were analyzed in the first, fourth and seventh weeks of storage. The results showed that Changes in essential oil percentage had significant effect (P<0.05) on acidity, dry matter, adhesiveness, IC50 and peroxide. With increasing essential oil percentage, a decrease in the level of acidity, adhesiveness, peroxide and IC50 was observed. Changes in essential oil percentage had no significant effect (P<0.05) on pH, fat, hardness and protein content of cheese. The results showed that storage period had a significant effect (p<0.05) on acidity, pH, dry matter, IC50, peroxide, adhesiveness, but had no significant effect (P<0.05) on protein, fat and hardness. During the storage time, Acidity, dry matter, protein and IC50 increased and pH and adhesiveness decreased. The addition of thymus essential oil did not have a significant effect (P<0.05) on coliforms but significantly decreased (P<0.05) mold and yeast and total count. The results showed that the addition of essential oil to cheese did not have a significant effect on color and texture but had a significant effect on taste and acceptance of cheese and improved the taste and acceptance. High percentage of essential oils reduced the sensory characteristics of cheese. In general, the treatment containing 0.005% essential oil was the best treatment for the sensory properties.

In recent years, the tendency to use antimicrobial edible film and coating has increased, which has increased the quality, safety and shelf life of food. Cheese is one of the most important dairy products that has a special nutritional value in human nutrition. UF-Feta cheese, which is a type of cheese, is contaminated by microorganisms such as coliforms, spore-forming bacteria and lactose-fermenting yeasts. The causative agent of listeriosis, Listeria monocytogenes, is transmitted through the consumption of cheese. In this study, the effect of composite edible coating based on chitosan and whey protein containing titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and Zataria multiflora essential oil on shelf life, microbial, physicochemical and sensory properties of UF-Feta type cheese was investigated.  Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of films from coating solutions on the growth of Listeria monocytogenes was also investigated.  Chitosan, whey protein isolate (WPI) (higher than 91% protein), Zataria multiflora essential oil (ZEO), TiO2 nanoparticles, and glycerol were procured from Bio Basic (Canada), Hilmar Canada, Barij-Essence Co. (Iran), Acros Co. (USA), and Merck Co. (Darmstadt, Germany), respectively. In order to prepare the coatings, a solution of WPI and chitosan was prepared separately. Whey protein suspension (3%, w/v) was made by dispersing WPI in DDW subsequently heated at 90°C for 30 min at pH value of 8.0 and then cooled rapidly. Chitosan solution (10 g/L) was made by dispersing chitosan in 2% (v/v) acetic acid solution with constant mixing for 3 h at 60°C. Based on preliminary experiments, whey protein–chitosan suspension was made using blending two polymer suspensions at constant ratio of WPI/chitosan (70:30) and mixed magnetically for 15 min at 25ºC. In the next step, TiO2 NPs (1 and 2% w/w) were incorporated and after mixing for 15 min, glycerol (30% w/w) was incorporated to the composite suspension and again stirred for 30 min. Next, ZEO (0 and 1% v/v) was incorporated into the composites suspension and sonicated for 30 min with power of 100 W.To produce cheese samples, milk was subjected to bactofogation, pasteurization (76°C for 15 seconds), ultrafiltration and then the retentate was homogenized at a pressure of 70 bars. By adding a starter culture (10 units /1000 L), the pH of the retentate was decreased to 6.2. Then, rennet (0.004 g/ 100 g) and salt (2 g/ 100 kg) were mixed with water and added to the cheese container. Retentate was transferred to a coagulation tunnel at 37 ° C for 30 minutes to form a coagulum.  After incubation, the coating solutions were sprayed on the clot using a spray device equipped with a spray gun and packed with aluminum foil. Finally, the samples were stored at 4°C. Samples were subjected to microbiological tests (contaminating microbes and starters), physicochemical (fat, titratable acidity, pH, and moisture content, texture analysis) and sensory evaluation at different ripening periods (3 to 60 days). To evaluate the growth inhibitory of Listeria monocytogenes on the surface of cheese by composite films, pieces of cheese (23× 21× 1.7 mm) were first cut under aseptic conditions and their upper surface was inoculated with 40 μl of Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC19115) until the initial bacterial count was about 3.5 log cfu /g. The composite films placed on the surface of the inoculated cheese and stored at 4°C. Film-inoculated cheese samples were used as a control. Microbial counts were done at intervals of days 0, 3, 8, 11, 14. Data analyzed with SPSS software and means were compared with Duncan multiple range test.  The results showed that TiO2 NPs and ZEO significantly reduced total bacterial count, lactic acid bacteria and coliforms compared to control with increasing storage period. Mold and yeast colonies also increased considerably over time in the control compared to the nanoparticle-treated samples, while the While in treatments containing ZEO did not grow at all. Physicochemical analysis exhibited that the content of moisture, fat, and pH of all cheeses decreased, acidity and texture hardness increased. Sensory evaluation of UF-Feta cheeses showed that the aroma, taste and overall acceptability of the control and nanoparticle-containing coatings improved compared to the brine-treated cheese. Nevertheless, in the coating samples containing ZEO due to the negative effect of the essential oil on the organoleptic properties of cheese, consumer acceptance was significantly reduced. On the other hand, the use of composite films to inhibit the growth of Listeria monocytogenes on the surface of UF-Feta cheese at 4 °C for 14 days showed that composite films, especially films containing ZEO, had a significant effect on the reduction of the Listeria monocytogenes population. As a conclusion, composite films containing TiO2 NPs and ZEO could be applied in food packaging systems, particularly at the UF-Feta cheese packaging.

Black cumin is one of the most important and valuable herbal plants that are wildly found in regions of Iran with dry weather such as Kerman, Fars, Isfahan and Yazd. Black cumin seed in traditional medicine is used as anti- flatulence, anti-diarrhea, antipyretic, blood fat and cholesterol reducer, anti-allergic and digestive enhancers. Essential oils are oily liquids that are obtained from different parts of the plant. Different compounds in the essential oil of black cumin include cumin-aldehyde, gamma trypinene, paracymon and other active ingredients, which are often terpene compounds and have numerous uses as anti-bacterial and antioxidant agents. In recent years, consumers have become more concerned with the health issues and are looking to eat foods with higher functional characteristics, as well as higher nutritional value. Therefore, it can be suggested that essential oil of Cumin as a natural and vegetable preservative was used in food. Because cheese is a nutritious environment for the growth of microbes, it always has microbial degeneration.

Identification of essential oil compound was performed by GC/MS chromatography. In order to evaluate the effect of Black Cumin essential oil on physicochemical, microbial and sensory properties of cheese, different percentages of Black Cumin essential oil (0, 0.05, 0.1% and 0.15%) were added to cheese. Iranian white cheese production was done by ultrafiltration method in Arjan Fars Company. Cheese sample were analyzed at days 3, 30 and 60 of storage time. Acidity, pH, fat, protein and dry matter were measured according to National Standard No. 2852, 2852, 8785, 1811, 1753 respectively. To measure the inhibition of free radicals of DPPH, method of Rezai et al(2012) was followed. Microbial characteristics were performed according to the standard microbial milk and dairy products number 2406. The color analysis was performed based on Hosseini et al (2019) method. The parameters of color include L* (lightness), a* (redness) and b* (yellowness) were measured. The sensory attributes were evaluated by 9 panelists. A five-point hedonic scale rating (1= very bad, 2=bad, 3= neither bad nor good, 4= good, 5= very good) was carried out. Data analyzed with SPSS: 22 software and Means were compared with Duncan multiple range test (p<0.05).

The analysis of black cumin essential oil with GC/MS chromatography showed that the main ingredients of it were α-Thujene, p-Cymene, Linalool, Thymoquinone, Carvacrol and Longifolene. The results showed that Changes in essential oil percentage had significant effect (p<0.05) on acidity, pH, IC50. With increasing essential oil percentage, an increase in the level of acidity and decrease in the level of IC50 and pH was observed. Changes in essential oil percentage had no significant effect(p<0.05) on protein, fat, salt and dry matter content of cheese. The results showed that storage period had no significant effect (p<0.05) on protein, fat and salt content. Increasing the essential oil percentage of cheese significantly decreased the L* index and increased the b* index. The microbial analyses showed no microbial contamination (coliforms, sataphylococcus aureus, mold and yeast) was found during the storage time therefore, the essential oil of Cumin can be used as a natural preservative in cheese production. Analyses of the sensory characteristics during storage time showed that the addition of essential oil to cheese did not have any significant effect on color and texture but had a significant effect on taste and acceptance of cheese. In all treatments, the taste score changed significantly with time (p <0.05). Over time, the flavour rating began to increase until the twentieth day, and then decreased to the end of the storage time. In general, the treatment containing 0.05% Black Cumin essential oil has the highest acceptance in sensory evaluation and since its other characteristics were standard, it was selected as the best treatment.

Milk-based dessert is one of the dairy products which in addition to the nutritional value, makes a variety in the consumer basket of goods. The most important property of desserts is their high energy and a pleasant feeling that is created by the consumer due to its ingredients. These products contain mainly milk, thickeners, sugar, flavoring compounds and colorant, and have a jelly structure. Sugar is used as a sweetener in the production of desserts. The grape juice concentrate is one of the traditional products of Iran's grapevine region, which accounts for about 5 to 20 percent of Iranian grapes used to make grape juice concentrate. Grape juice concentrate contains high levels of natural sugars, minerals, vitamins, organic acids and antioxidants. Therefore, grape juice concentrate can be used as a sugar replacer sweetener. 

In order to reduce the amount of sucrose in dessert and its replacement with grape juice concentrate, different ratio of grape juice concentrate (0, 5, 7.5 and 10%) were used. To prepare dessert samples, wheat starch was first added to milk at 4%w/w, and then 0.5%w/w gelatin and sugar were added and mixed until all ingredients were completely dissolved in the milk. Then, it was heated to 95°C and stirred at 270 rpm for 15 minutes, then cooled to 40 °C, and grape juice concentrate and water were added. The mixture was finally filled into the dishes. Samples were subjected to physicochemical, microbial and sensory evaluation after 48 hours of storage at 4 °Ċ. The AOAC (2000) methods were used for measuring the moisture content and fat. The amount of carbohydrate, acidity, and pH were calculated based on method of Ebrahimi et al (2018). To measure the free radicals inhibition by DPPH, method Kamkar (2009) was followed. The color analysis was performed based on the method of Hosseini et al (2019). The parameters of color include L* (lightness), a* (redness) and b* (yellowness) were measured. Texture parameters include hardness (N), cohesiveness, springiness (cm), gumminess (N), chewiness (N.cm), adhesiveness were determined by texture analyzer as described by AOAC (2000). The sensory attributes were evaluated by 15 panelists. A five-point hedonic scale rating (1= very bad, 2=bad, 3= neither bad nor good, 4= good, 5= very good) was carried out. Data analyzed with SPSS software and means were compared with Duncan multiple range test.

The results showed that the increase in the amount of grape juice concentrate in dessert samples caused a significant (p< 0.05) increase in acidity, hardness, total solid, a*, and b* value, and percentage antioxidant activity and a significant (p<0.05) decrease in fat, sucrose, pH and L* index. Grape juice concentrate has no significant (p˃0.05) effect on the texture indexes, total count, mold and yeast. The results of microbial tests showed that the total bacterial count increased in samples of grape juice compared to control (p <0.05) but mold and yeast counts were not significantly different in dessert dairy samples (p˃0.05). It should be noted that the microbial count of the samples is in accordance with the standard dairy dessert No. 14725. Sensory evaluation indicated that the addition of grape juice concentrate in the dessert samples did not have any significant effect on the textural characteristics but increased the score of other sensory factors. The sample containing 10% of grape concentrate juice obtained the highest score in odor, sweetness, color, and acceptance, and since its other characteristics were standard, it was selected as the best treatment.

Whey less Feta cheese was prepared using cream, milk protein concentrate, whey protein concentrate and fresh milk. The effects of various levels of pomegranate juice and storage time on its physicochemical and microbial properties were investigated. Samples were produced at five levels of pomegranate juice and analyzed at intervals of 15 days for two months. Data analysed with SPSS software and means were compared with duncan multiple range test. The results showed that pomegranate juice had very significant impact (P<0.0001) on physicochemical and microbial properties of cheese and storage time had significant impact (P<0. 05) on all properties except for ash and springiness. Pomegranate juice reduced the textural indexes of hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, springiness and increased the adhesiveness index. During the storage time, hardness, cohesiveness and gumminess of cheese at first increased then decreased and chewiness and adhesiveness properties of the cheese respectively decreased and increased. The colorimetric test illustrated that pomegranate juice increased (a*) index and decreased (L*) and (b*) indexes. In other words, red pomegranate juice can increase redness and reduce brightness and yellowness of cheese. During of storage, the indexes (L*) and (b*) increased and (a*) reduced. In other words, redness of cheese was decreased and brightness and yellowness of it were increased. Samples were subjected to sensory evaluation and the sample containing 20% of pomegranate juice with the highest score in acceptance was selected as the best sample.

In order to achieve optimized condition of whey less Feta cheese production, Milk protein concentrate, Whey protein concentrate and cream , respectively, with ratio 5- 15%, 0- 10%, 45- 55% were mixed with fresh milk (40%). Cheese Samples were produced by industrial method in small scale and analysed with various physicochemical tests. Design and analysis of experiments were done using Design-Expert software version 9.0.With this software, regression equations, mixture surface and contour plots for each response were achieved. Finally, the optimization based on the average physicochemical and textural characteristics of UF cheeses on the market, was done and the optimal condition was determined by the highest desirability.The independent variables, cream, Milk protein concentrate and Whey protein concentrate at the optimal condition respectively are 45.6, 11.7 and 2.7 percent.

Nitrite and nitrate are the key ingredients and play a multifunctional role in meat curing technology. Despite all of their desirable effects، the addition of nitrite to meat is the major cause of carcinogenic N-nitrosamines formation. In this study، the amount of residual nitrite and nitrate in meat products containing 61% to 80% meat were assessed. The samples were obtained at the fourth day of their production from Shiraz retails and analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). According to the results، the mean concentrations of residual nitrite and nitrate were estimated at 36. 96 ± 7. 38 and 85. 81 ± 5. 5 mg/kg in small-diameter (1. 5-2 cm) sausages. Meanwhile، in largediameter (5. 5-8 cm) sausages the residues were estimated at 20. 97 ± 3. 28 and 124. 85±5. 3 mg/kg، respectively. In all analyzed samples، the residual nitrite level was found below the permitted level of 120 mg/kg which indicated the application of allowed concentrations of nitrite in such products. The mean values of residual nitrite and nitrate concentrations were statistically different (p<0. 05) between small and large-diameter sausages. Although nitrate was not used in these products، detection of relatively high levels of nitrate could be originated from the ingredients of sausages such as meat، water، spices as well as vegetable or might be entered via the conversion of nitrite to nitrate during the primary stages of processing. Finally، it was concluded that HPLC is a rapid، sensitive and selective method and provides accurate results.