Organic acids are a class of natural and safe antithrombotic factors that come from a variety of sources, and are widely found in various plant foods such as fruits, vegetables and grains. They have antithrombotic effects such as anticoagulation and inhibiting platelet aggregation and thrombolysis, and thus have the potential for the development and clinical application of health products for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In this paper, the food sources and antithrombotic mechanisms of organic acids and their derivatives are reviewed, and the antithrombotic effects of different organic acids are comparatively discussed. Moreover, recent studies on the antithrombotic effects of organic acids are summarized and an outlook on the future of this filed is given, so as to provide a reference for further studies on the antithrombotic mechanisms of organic acids and the development of foods rich in organic acids.

A quantitative method for the detection of cashew allergens in foods was established based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Cashew samples were extracted, trypsinized, purified, and separated using an Easy nLC 1000 nano-liquid chromatograph, and then data were collected in the full-scan acquisition mode by quadrupole/orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry. The scanning results were analyzed by ProteinPilot software search against the UniProt protein database, and the peptide specificity was verified using the basic local alignment search tool (BLAST). Finally, six cashew specific peptides were selected, and actual samples were detected by UPLC-quadrupole/orbitrap MS in the multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The results showed that the proposed method had good linearity in the range of 0.005‒10 mg/mL with correlation coefficients (R²) greater than 0.99. The quantitation limit was 2.5‒5 mg/kg and 0.005‒0.01 mg/mL for solid-state and beverage matrices, respectively. The average recoveries were 82.5%‒109.9%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was not more than 8.9%. This method has high sensitivity and specificity, and it can be used for the detection of cashew allergens in six food substrates including biscuit, bread, cake, walnut cookie, chocolate and beverage.

The purpose of this study is to select lactic acid bacteria with a strong ability to inhibit oral pathogens, high safety and strong oral colonization capacity. Firstly, the strains that could inhibit Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus gordonii were screened from lactic acid bacteria resource bank in the laboratory by Oxford cup diffusion method. The 28 selected strains were evaluated for hemolytic activity. The results showed that seven of the 28 strains showed α-hemolysis while the remaining 21 did not. The antibacterial metabolites of 16 strains without hemolysis and with a diameter of inhibition zone ≥ 10 mm against S. mutans and S. gordonii were determined by neutralization, catalase and protease susceptibility assays. Then seven strains with strong bacteriostatic capacity and the potential to produce non-organic acid antimicrobial metabolites were selected. The safety evaluation results showed that all seven strains had low acid production ability and caused low corrosion to teeth. The highest tolerable concentration of lysozyme for strain JZ14-1 was 1.6 mg/mL, while that for the other six strains was 1.2 mg/mL, indicating that all seven strains could tolerate lysozyme. Strain HB13-2 was most susceptible to antibiotics. The oral colonization capacity evaluation of strain HB13-2 showed the following results: the highest hydrophobicity of 44.00%, surface acid charge of 20.16%, surface base charge of 49.44%, and content of exopolysaccharides of 0.283 mg/mL. This strain could easily colonize in oral cavity and had low biofilm formation capacity and good self-aggregation capacity, and the maximum inhibition percentage against S. mutans biofilm was 59.72%. Moreover, strain HB13-2 had strong copolymerization capacity with S. mutans, and the copolymerization capacity was 67.40% at 24 h. In conclusion, strain HB13-2 has good antibacterial activity, high safety and strong oral colonization capacity. It is identified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum by 16S rDNA sequencing.

An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was established for the detection of pine nut allergen Pin k 2 in food matrices. Pine nuts were ground, degreased, and enzymatically extracted and the hydrolysate was separated and analyzed by using an Easy-nLC 1000-QExecutive high-resolution mass spectrometer, and the mass spectral data obtained were processed using Protein Pilot TM software and the Uniprot protein database. The specificity was verified by Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST), and three pine nut-specific peptides were selected finally. The developed method exhibited a good linear relationship in the concentration range of 0.001–50 mg/mL, and the limit of quantification was 1 mg/kg. The average recoveries for blank biscuit, chocolate and beverage were 88.50%–107.57%, with a relative standard deviation (RSD) not exceeding 6.08%, and the matrix effect was 89.77%–96.13%. This method has the advantages of high sensitivity and good specificity, and can be applied to the detection of pine nut allergens in food samples such as biscuits, chocolate, and beverages, which provides technical support for the authentication of food labels and the detection of latent allergens in foods.

This study explored the inhibitory effect and mechanism of the culture supernatant of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum HB13-2 on Candida albicans. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined by the double dilution method. Then, the fluorescent dye calcofluor white (CFW) was used to stain the cell wall and observe it. The results showed that the supernatant enhanced the fluorescence intensity and damaged the cell wall. Flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy showed that the supernatant changed the membrane permeability of C. albicans. The transmembrane potential was detected using the fluorescent probe DiSC₃(5), and it was found that the fluorescence intensity was enhanced, indicating that the supernatant caused dissipation of the transmembrane potential. Through microstructural observation by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), it was found that the supernatant of Lactobacillus plantarum HB13-2 caused cellular deformation and leakage of intracellular contents. As detected by fluorescence staining with 2’,7’-dichlorodihydrofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) and Rhodamine-123, the supernatant resulted in accumulation of a large amount of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increased mitochondrial membrane potential. In conclusion, the supernatant of L. plantarum HB13-2 can deform cells by destroying the cell wall and membrane and lead to mitochondrial damage, thereby inhibiting C. albicans. This study will provide a scientific basis for the development of L. plantarum HB13-2 as an oral probiotic.

Mold spoilage and nutrition enrichment are major concerns of Chinese steamed bread, and using functional lactic acid bacteria as starter to play the role of in-situ preservation and nutritional fortification was a promising alternative. Hence, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum P10 capable of inhibiting spoilage microorganisms and producing γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) (380 mg/L) was screened from Chinese pickle. Metabolomics analysis showed that P10 produced key antimicrobial metabolites mainly including ten organic acids, aldehyde, alkaloid. Besides, P10 might exhibit health beneficial effects such as degrading cholesterol, lowering blood glucose and reducing uric acid due to the production of deoxycholic acid and Ile-Pro-Ile, and the degradation of purine. Finally, the promising application potential of P10 was evidenced in steamed bread with extended shelf life, excellent anti-aging effect, and 24.5-fold enrichment of GABA. Conclusively, this investigation could provide scientific basis for the application of P10 as a functional starter in steamed bread.