Konjac Glucomannan: Production, Processing, and Functional Applications

ISBN-13: 9781138367173 / Angielski / Twarda / 2020 / 286 str.

George Srzednicki; Chaleeda Borompichaichartkul

Opis

This is the first book in English that collects and synthesizes all the information on Konjac Glucomannan, a high-molecular-weight, water-soluble, non-cellulosic polysaccharide. The book introduces konjac, and glucomannan extracted from konjac, discussing its origin, evolution, cultivation, industrial production, and potential food applications.

Spis treści

Introduction. Botanical Background to Amorphophallus Sp. Physiology of Corms and Biosynthesis of Konjac Glucomannan. Field Production of Konjac. Postharvest Technology. Processing of Konjac Flour. Physico-Chemical Properties of Konjac Glucomannan. Advances in Drying Technology Aiming at Increasing Konjac Flour Quality. Konjac Industry in Major Producing Countries. Applications of Konjac Flour in Food, Food Preservation and Medicine. New Trends in Konjac Flour Industry. Concluding Remarks.

O autorze

George Srzednicki, PhD completed a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences with major emphasis on Agricultural Engineering in 1977 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zurich, Switzerland). He started his professional career as a consultant for engineering companies (Elektrowatt, Agroprogress) in Africa (Senegal, Nigeria) and Asia (Bangladesh) and also for the Swiss government agency funding technical cooperation projects Central America (Costa Rica). His activities included harvest and postharvest techniques with focus on storage of food grain, seed and perishable crops. In 1988 he joined the University of New South Wales (Department of Food Science & Technology, later School of Chemical Engineering) in Sydney (Australia). He became involved in a range of research projects such as design of food processing equipment, especially drying, process control and optimisation, product quality in food dehydration processes, energy efficiency in food processing etc. Several research projects were conducted in collaboration with research organisations in countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, India and Papua New Guinea. He supervised 24 PhD theses (five related to konjac glucomannan), was involved in the development of training materials and their delivery, authored 4 book chapters and over 130 papers for peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chaleeda Borompichaichartkul completed a PhD in Food Science and Technology with major emphasis on Food Processing and Engineering especially in Drying Technology in 2004 (University of New South Wales, Australia). In 2004, she started to work at Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok as Junior Lecturer and then in 2005 she obtained a Postdoc Scholarship to UMR-GENIAL Unité Mixte de Recherche Genial Cemagref, ENSIA, INAPG, INRA, Massey, France. In 2006, she created a research team on Konjac Glucomannan Processing and Applications at Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University. Her main research interests include applied research in drying technology and extension focusing on konjac glucomannan, its processing and applications in functional ingredients and foods. The research activities deal with studies of physical and chemical properties of konjac glucomannan, microencapsulation process, and development of functional films using konjac glucomannan as raw material. She has directed and evaluated Thai and international research projects, supervised doctoral theses, trained national and international students and collaborated with research groups in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Austria, Germany, USA, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. To date she has published over 40 peer-reviewed research articles (H-index of 8).