Spray-Dried Jaboticaba Powder as Food Resource

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

We believe that the manuscript article in its current state can be improved by the analysis of certain parameters including trace elements and amino acids. Which will make it more digestible for the scientist and especially for the assessment of the nutritional quality of the fruit.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

R: We thank the Reviewer for this positive feedback. We agree that it would  also be interesting to evaluate other parameters such as amino acids and trace elements, and we will consider this in future works. The conclusions section has been improved.

Thank you very much

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Ref: Reviewers Comments for Manuscript – “Jaboticaba powder production as food resource.”

1. Title: “Jaboticaba powder production as food resource” - to be revised and rephrased for clarity especially including the gist of the study which was spraying drying for preservation/production of the powder.
2. Abstract - Section with summary of findings should be enhanced to show key finding on the spraying drying/drying kinetics versus the final quality of the dried fruit. Can you provide some numerical data on these findings e.g. in percentages for the data analysed? Can give a range and the level of significance tested for some of the parameters tested? At the end of the abstract, some practical conclusions and recommendation with regard to key findings and future implications of the research would be relevant here.
3. Introduction – Page 1-2: “Jaboticaba, also known as jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora), is a seasonal berry fruit originating from to the Brazilian Atlantic forest, which has recently garnered attention as a food resource due to its organoleptic, nutritional and health properties. This fruit is rich in carbohydrates (such as fructose, glucose and sucrose), dietary fibers, and organic acids (primarly citric, succinic and malic acids). It is also packed vitamins (including A, B1, B2, and notably vitamin C), and minerals, such as copper, calcium, manganese, potassium and iron. Furthermore, jaboticaba is a great source of various antioxidants compounds.” These statements should eb cited separately with up to date literature sources. “Spray drying stands out as one of the most notable industrial methods for producing powdered foods and/or microencapsulated food ingredients. It involves atomizing a fluid material through a hot gas, typically air, resulting in instant formation of powder particles.” Requires citations.
4. Materials and Methods – Page 2 - Section 2.1. Raw Material: The jaboticaba fruits utilized in this study were sourced from a local plantation in Ibiá, Minas Gerais state, south-eastern Brazil, a detailed description of the study site should be given here.

Section 2.2. Experimental Apparatus and Procedure: The lab-scale spray dryer (LM MSD 1.0, LabMaq, Brazil) should be detailed and this also entail giving a schematic diagram representation and other design information since this is not a standard industrial spray dryer.

5. Results and discussion: Page 4 - Section 3.1. Drying Performance - The spray drying of jaboticaba produces a fine and homogeneous powder with a pinkish color, as shown in Figure 1 but it’s clear there is color change. Was any of the sensory quality attributes monitored during spraying drying as one of affected parameters? How can this result be enhanced to capture this observed change?

Page 7 - Section 3.2. Bioactive Compounds, 3.2.1. Total phenolic content (TPC) - a considerable reduction in phenolic levels was observed compared to fresh jaboticaba due to the presence of the maltodextrin in the product and other operating conditions, this observe trend need to be explained concisely using comparisons from other similar studies form literature for citations. Which conditions are being referred to? Figure 3. Total Phenolic Content (TPC) results, experiments 3, 12 and 21 had very high TPC retention, explain the trend versus the other experiments with support from previous studies?

Page 9: Figure 5. Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) results. experiments 3, 9, 10 and 12 had very high flavonoids retention, explain the trend versus the other experiments with relevant citations?

The discussion section should be strengthened to be more comprehensive in explaining the trends observed more thoroughly and should be cited using current literature information for relevancy.

6. Conclusion and recommendation: OK but give way forward for future follow up studies with large sample size and a better design.

 

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editorials required.

Author Response

Below we reproduce the reviewers’ original comments, followed by our responses (R) in italics. Changes in the text in response to the reviewers have been highlighted, as solicited.

Comments and suggestions for authors:

1. Title: “Jaboticaba powder production as food resource”- to be revised and rephrased for clarity especially including the gist of the study which was spraying drying for preservation/production of the powder.

R: The manuscript title has been changed to “Spray-dried jaboticaba powder as food resource” in the revised version of the manuscript (new Page 1).

 

2. Abstract - Section with summary of findings should be enhanced to show key finding on the spraying drying/drying kinetics versus the final quality of the dried fruit. Can you provide some numerical data on these findings e.g. in percentages for the data analysed? Can give a range and the level of significance tested for some of the parameters tested? At the end of the abstract, some practical conclusions and recommendation with regard to key findings and future implications of the research would be relevant here.

 R: The abstract has been revised as requested by the reviewer (new Page 1).

 

3. Introduction – Page 1-2: “Jaboticaba, also known as jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora), is a seasonal berry fruit originating from to the Brazilian Atlantic forest, which has recently garnered attention as a food resource due to its organoleptic, nutritional and health properties. This fruit is rich in carbohydrates (such as fructose, glucose and sucrose), dietary fibers, and organic acids (primarly citric, succinic and malic acids). It is also packed vitamins (including A, B1, B2, and notably vitamin C), and minerals, such as copper, calcium, manganese, potassium and iron. Furthermore, jaboticaba is a great source of various antioxidants compounds.” These statements should be cited separately with up to date literature sources. “Spray drying stands out as one of the most notable industrial methods for producing powdered foods and/or microencapsulated food ingredients. It involves atomizing a fluid material through a hot gas, typically air, resulting in instant formation of powder particles.” Requires citations.

 R: The literature references about jaboticaba properties have been cited separately as solicited by the reviewer (New Page 1). The citations about spray drying process were also reorganized in the revised text (New Page 2).

 

4. Materials and Methods – Page 2 - Section 2.1. Raw Material: The jaboticaba fruits utilized in this study were sourced from a local plantation in Ibiá, Minas Gerais state, south-eastern Brazil, a detailed description of the study site should be given here.

 R: More information about the study site were added in the text (new Page 2).

 

Section 2.2. Experimental Apparatus and Procedure: The lab-scale spray dryer (LM MSD 1.0, LabMaq, Brazil) should be detailed and this also entail giving a schematic diagram representation and other design information since this is not a standard industrial spray dryer.

R: A spray dryer schematic figure (new Figure 1, new Page 3) and more information about the equipment have been included in the revised version of the manuscript (new Page 2).

 

5. Results and discussion: Page 4 - Section 3.1. Drying Performance - The spray drying of jaboticaba produces a fine and homogeneous powder with a pinkish color, as shown in Figure 1 but it’s clear there is color change. Was any of the sensory quality attributes monitored during spraying drying as one of affected parameters? How can this result be enhanced to capture this observed change?

R: Sensory attributes were not evaluated in this study, but it is an interesting suggestion for future works. Visual changes are expected in the powders compared to the fresh samples due the addition of maltodextrin (which has white color), impacting several parameters.

 

Page 7 - Section 3.2. Bioactive Compounds, 3.2.1. Total phenolic content (TPC) - a considerable reduction in phenolic levels was observed compared to fresh jaboticaba due to the presence of the maltodextrin in the product and other operating conditions, this observe trend need to be explained concisely using comparisons from other similar studies form literature for citations. Which conditions are being referred to? 

 R: More information and references were added in the text as suggested (new Page 7).

 

Figure 3. Total Phenolic Content (TPC) results, experiments 3, 12 and 21 had very high TPC retention, explain the trend versus the other experiments with support from previous studies?

R: Explanations about these experiments were included in the revised version of the manuscript (new Page 9).

 

Page 9: Figure 5. Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) results. experiments 3, 9, 10 and 12 had very high flavonoids retention, explain the trend versus the other experiments with relevant citations?

R: More information were included in the manuscript (New page 10).

 

The discussion section should be strengthened to be more comprehensive in explaining the trends observed more thoroughly and should be cited using current literature information for relevancy.

R: Discussion section has been improved and literature references were added as suggested by the reviewer.

 

6. Conclusion and recommendation: OK but give way forward for future follow up studies with large sample size and a better design.

 R: A new sentence was added in the conclusion and recommendation section ( New page 15). Thank you.

 We would like to thank the reviewer for the time spent on reviewing our manuscript helping us improving the article.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper explores the optimization of the spray drying method for Jaboticaba and its impact on bioactive compounds. While the study presents valuable insights, it requires a clearer focus on the optimal parameters, as these were not adequately identified in the results and discussion sections. Additionally, the manuscript would benefit from more in-depth analysis. The title should be revised to reflect the specific content of the research.

1. The title of the paper needs to be revised. The article mainly discusses the optimization of the spray drying method for Jaboticaba and its impact on bioactive compounds. The current title resembles that of a review article and does not focus on the specific content of the study.

2.The article introduces the optimization of the best spray drying method for Jaboticaba using response surface methodology, but the optimal parameters are not observed in the result figures. Additionally, the results and conclusions do not clearly specify these optimal parameters.

3. In the "Results and Discussion" section, there needs to be an in-depth discussion of the findings. The current manuscript only provides a simple description of the results.

4. What are the optimal storage conditions? Please explore or discuss this aspect in the manuscript.

5. The experimental parameter design in the manuscript needs to be optimized based on preliminary experiments. The response surface results in the manuscript did not show optimal outcomes.

6. Line numbers are not provided, making it inconvenient for reviewers to give specific comments.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

Below we reproduce the reviewers’ original comments, followed by our responses (R) in italics. Changes in the text in response to the reviewers have been highlighted, as solicited.

Comments and suggestions for authors:This paper explores the optimization of the spray drying method for Jaboticaba and its impact on bioactive compounds. While the study presents valuable insights, it requires a clearer focus on the optimal parameters, as these were not adequately identified in the results and discussion sections. Additionally, the manuscript would benefit from more in-depth analysis. The title should be revised to reflect the specific content of the research.

1. The title of the paper needs to be revised. The article mainly discusses the optimization of the spray drying method for Jaboticaba and its impact on bioactive compounds. The current title resembles that of a review article and does not focus on the specific content of the study.

R: The manuscript title has been changed to “Spray-dried jaboticaba powder as food resource” (new Page 1).

 

2. The article introduces the optimization of the best spray drying method for Jaboticaba using response surface methodology, but the optimal parameters are not observed in the result figures. Additionally, the results and conclusions do not clearly specify these optimal parameters.

R.: We performed an optimization study using desirability analysis (Derringer and Suich [39]), as suggested by the reviewer. The methodology used and results obtained were included in Abstract, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, and Conclusions sections (new Pages 1, 4, 14, and 15, respectively). Thank you.

 

3. In the "Results and Discussion" section, there needs to be an in-depth discussion of the findings. The current manuscript only provides a simple description of the results.

 R: The “Results and Discussion” section was improved as suggested by the reviewer.

 

4.What are the optimal storage conditions? Please explore or discuss this aspect in the manuscript.

R: The optimal storage condition adopted in this study was based in a final product with moisture level lower than 10%, as related in the Section 2.4 [35, 36].

 

5. The experimental parameter design in the manuscript needs to be optimized based on preliminary experiments. The response surface results in the manuscript did not show optimal outcomes.

R: We performed an optimization study using desirability analysis, and the best operational conditions that enhance simultaneously the drying yield and bioactive compounds levels of the jaboticaba powders are presented in the new Section 3.3 (new Page 14).

 

6. Line numbers are not provided, making it inconvenient for reviewers to give specific comments.

 R: Line number were added in the revised version of the manuscript.

 We express our sincere appreciation to the reviewer for their thorough and detailed examination of this manuscript. Your insightful comments and suggestions have been immensely valuable in enhancing the quality of our work

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

We see that efforts have been made by the authors. The article manuscript has been significantly improved. At this stage, we believe that the manuscript can be accepted in present form.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thanks for the response. All the comments have been considered and revised one by one. I would suggest acceptance in the current version.