Visiting Professor from Hainan Tropical Ocean University

Photo by Ying Zhou

Professor Yaqin Hu from Hainan Tropical Ocean University, China gave a guest lecture at Food Sciences Unit on 16th August. The title of the lecture is Anthocyanin-based film, its molecular interaction, characterization and application in preservation of aquatic products. After the lecture there was discussion about possible future collaboration between University of Turku and Hainan Tropical Ocean University in research on marine food resources.

Professor Hu started by introducing Hainan Tropical Ocean University and the beautiful city Sanya in Hainan Province which the university locates. The city has a tropical Oceanic climate and high fish production. This makes her research topic very important and interesting.

Professor Hu shared her recent work on utilizing typical Hainan resources including sea grape algae. They develop novel products including fish meat noodle without wheat flour, snack food made with Lemon grass and cosmetics products with deep sea water.

Most importantly, Professor Hu’s group developed an intelligent and active anthocyanin-based film which can be applied in monitoring and preserving the freshness of food products. Film forming substrates include biological macromolecular polymer and natural anthocyanin from red cabbage, Roselle, black rice and purple sweet potato. The novelty of her study is that anthocyanin-based film could response to pH changes. Compared with other natural pigments like chlorophyll and curcumin, natural anthocyanins present more variety discolorations. This makes the anthocyanin-based film monitor freshness by naked eyes. Moreover, polyphenol compounds in anthocyanins, contributing to the enhancement of antioxidant capacity and antibacterial ability to Gram-positive bacteria.