INFORM February 2026

42 INFORM FEBRUARY 2026 , VOL. 37, NO. 2

used: whole powder (WTP) and defatted powder (DTP: applying CO 2 supercritical fluid extraction). The effect of this replacement on the technological, nutritional, oxidative, and sensory properties of resulted sausages was evaluated. Emulsion stability increased with adding TP. The reformulations resulted in final products with less fat (reductions of 39–46 % in WTP-sausages and 57–67 % in DTP-sausages), more protein (increases of 14–33 % in WTP sausages and 25–51 % in DTP sausages) and higher levels of K, Mg, P, and Zn. In addition, the reformulation using WTP resulted in healthier lipid fraction (more proportion of polyunsaturated fraction) and the corresponding increase in lipid oxidation, although in any sausages the detection threshold for rancidity was exceeded. The worst score for “general acceptance” was obtained when WTP was used at the highest concentration (15 %) with odor, taste, and color as the attributes that most influence this valuation. Some unpleasant odors attributed to insect powders seem to be reduced during defatting by the supercritical CO 2 process.

In the full press processing of oilseeds and nut oils, the economics of the business is heavily affected by the value of the press cake, which can represent up to 65 percent of the product. Hence, methods to valorize this co-product into a value-added food product can improve the economics of the operation while addressing unmet needs in the food industry. The first article reviews the feasibility of a protein isolate from sesame seed press cake and applying it to a meatball analog. The second article explores the use of almond, walnut and pistachio press cake as an alternative to wheat flour for making bread. The third article reports on a process to upcycle virgin coconut oil press cake to produce a functional ingredient for infant formulations. The fourth article reports on adding pumpkin and walnut press cake to pork salami to increase the PUFA content. OPTIMIZED EXTRACTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SESAME SEED PRESS CAKE PROTEIN AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE FORMULATION OF MEATBALL ANALOG Farhan, M., et al. , Food Biophysics , 20, 62, 2025. In this study, extraction of protein from sesame seed press cake (SSPC) was optimized. SSPC protein isolate was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis and both SSPC protein isolate and hydrolysates were characterized by SDS-PAGE,

gel filtration chromatography, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Meatball analogs containing SSPC protein isolate (15 and 20%) were prepared and evaluated for sensory attributes. The extraction at optimized conditions resulted in protein yield of 20.87 ± 0.57% with protein content of 92.1 ± 1.82%. Water holding capacity (WHC) and oil holding capacity (OHC) of SSPC protein isolate were 1.47±0.04 g/g and 5.86 ± 0.10 g/g, respectively. Densitometric analysis showed that 7S globulins (55–60 kDa) were the major protein bands in SSPC protein isolate and this finding was further supported by gel filtration chromatography. CD spectroscopy revealed that SSPC protein isolate contained 23.4% α -helical structure which after hydrolysis was reduced to 12.6%. FTIR analysis revealed the presence of Amide, I, II and III in protein isolate and hydrolysates. The incorporation of SSPC protein isolate resulted in a decrease in fat content whereas, the protein content of meatball analog was increased up to 42.43% in comparison to control formulation (22.68%). The meatball analogs received acceptable sensory scores and the addition of SSPC protein had no overall negative impact on the sensory scores. SSPC protein due to its low cost and functional attributes can be used in the formulation of meatball analogs.

Bryan Yeh has over 30+ years of senior leader experience in the agribusiness,

biofuels, energy, food, management consulting, renewable chemicals, synthetic biology, and water industries. He is based in Walnut Creek, California.