The Effect of Selected Additives on the Oil Uptake and Quality Parameters of Fried Instant Noodles
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The effect of selected additives on the oil uptake and quality parameters of instant fried noodles
The manuscript discusses the effect of selected hydrocolloids of the oil absorption of quality parameters and is descriptive in nature. Forum additives HPMC, MCG, maltodextrin and psyllium are compared in a formulations of instant noodles fried in canola oil. The data presented seems adequate but lacks a proximate analysis of the formulated noodles prior to frying. The experimental design needs to be highlighted and explained better to set the manuscript up. For example, the additives are used at to different levels (HPMC and MCG = <1% and maltodextrin and psyllium at 3-5%) without an explanation as to why. This confounds the results especially when comparison the different observations because it is difficult to point out if the change is due to the different additives or the levels used. Again, the explanations providing the mechanism that changes are occurring are missing which is important to the significance of the manuscript.
There are also some typographical and many grammatical mistakes in the manuscript. Specific comments are listed below.
As a general comment: The manuscripts in its current state in my opinion is not ready for publication.
See specific comments:
Line 15: Should be ‘fried instant noodles’……
Lines 13-18: Please rewrite for conciseness. The statements do overlap (repetition).
Line 16: Spelling mistake… “receipe” should be ‘recipe’. Please correct in entire manuscript.
Line 18: … Results shows that….
Line 19: ……depended……
Lines 19-20: Are authors sure the HPMC and MCG decreased fat content? It would have been useful for authors to have included the proximate analyses (fat, moisture of the unfried noodles), then we can justify the statement. I think it should be ‘The addition of HPMC and MCG resulted in decrease fat absorption’
Line 28: What events? It would be useful to be specific, maybe say acoustic events.
Line 35: Should be ‘Instant noodles are one of the ….. ‘
Lines 36: What does authors mean by ‘increase of the pace of life’?
Lines 64-65: This is unclear. Please clarify.
Line 73-74: “The reduction of the fat content of fried instant noodles by partially replacing wheat flour with the oat fiber [26,6].” --- This sentence is unclear and very isolated, does not fit with the preceding or next sentences. May be revise or delete
Lines 75-77: It is unclear what authors mean. How can the high fat content in instant noodles be due to changes occurring during storage? Please rewrite this section.
Lines 85-93: There are different font sizes, please rectify. Authors should be consistent with font size in entire manuscript.
Line 85-87: Please delete this section. It is a stand-alone and is repeated in the next sentence.
Lines 95-98: This is unclear. The entire formulation should equal to approximately 100%. Currently it reads that all the additives were mixed together but I think they were mixed separately. Please rewrite.
Line 108: ‘polietylene’ should be ‘polyethylene’
Lines 114 and 121: I think the equations/formulas are fundamental and basic and should be omitted.
Lines 123 – 125: Please revise this section. Maybe, ‘The colour of the instant noodles was measured using the L*, a*, b* system as described by Papadakis, Abdul-Malek, Kamdem and Yam [28].
Lines 130-132: Why was water activity done in duplicate and others in triplicate or more? This might suggest weakness in the experimental design, unless some reasons are given.
Lines 137-142: Please rewrite for clarity.
Line 142-143: The last sentence seems incomplete.
Line 147: ‘Deformation’ should be ‘deformed’.
Line 145-154: It’s a bit of revision.
Lines 165: Maybe revise to ‘Moisture is an important parameter affecting food quality and storage stability [31]’.
Lines 166-167: According to Hou [23], fried instant noodles are characterized by the changes in moisture during frying process from an initial moisture content of 30-40% to a final moisture content of 2-5%.
Line 168: Which result? There is no reference to Table 1.
Line 169: Which permissible standards? Also, authors should check the proper style for in text referencing in line with journal guidelines. Maybe authors should say,…. 3.79%, which is consistent with that reported by Kim et al. [32], 3-4%.
Lines 170-173: What is the implication of this observation? I think both MCG and HPMC were used at <1% and showed slight higher moisture content whereas the maltodextrin and psyllium which were used at 3 and 5% should lower moisture contents. Question is, is the levels of additives used influencing the texture and hence the moisture retention and release during frying? Please provide explanation. Also where the different concentrations of additives? It makes comparison difficult and unreasonable, unless a reason has been provided.
Line 174: Please provide a more informative title for the table. Also provide standard deviations for the fat and moisture values (Analyse were performed in triplicate).
Line 180-181: The final sentence does not fit with the rest. Please revise.
Line: 183-189: The different levels of additives used for the different types make it difficult to compare, unless a reason is provide to normalise the different levels so that the effect is due to the type of additive only. Also, there are modifications to the mechanical structure of the noodles based on the type of additive, this needs to be exploited to explain the why for this result?
Line 200-201 seems to contradict with lines 194-198.
Lines 204-205: There is use of durum wheat flour and wheat flour, they both are wheat flours, what’s the difference.
Line 207: A reason should be supplied for this statement. Why should it be within 7.5-82.0? – For better consumer perception and acceptance?
Lines 208-209: Which values? Is it the 73.5-82.0? If so and considering Table 2, the L* values are in my opinion are within the range and not lower than the stated values. Please review.
Line 210-211: Again, maltodextrin and psyllium (3-5%) were used at significantly higher levels compared to HPMC and MCG (0.5-1%), does authors think this might affect the brightness value. I think it will be good to discuss further in line with the levels of additives used. Missing from the discussions are reasons or mechanisms by which this effects are occurring or is it just a thing to do with the level of additives used.
Lines 211-213: Please provide an explanation for this effect and same for lines 219-227.
Line 215: Table title appears in text, is this correct? Or are lines 216-217 part of the table heading?
Line 218: Table note has 3 triplicates but materials and methods (section 2.5) has 5 repetitions. Please review.
Lines 226-227: Similar increment also exists for HPMC.
Lines 231: regardless of type of additives used…….
Lines 231-233: Please provide explanation for the effect of type of additive on density of instant noodles. Different additives affects structural properties (porosity, etc), hence the density.
Lines 241-251: Please correct EA to AE.
Line 257: on the type of additive……
Lines 239-256: Please discussed a bit more on significance of this observation.
Lines 266-267: Please explain why increase in density. Also, density decrease at 180°C, any reason for this? Again is this effect that significant?
Line 273: What is the SEM in Table 3 (standard error of mean?). This is seems redundant in the table and discussion, if not relevant to discussion best to remove.
Lines 280-287: I feel this sections needs to be discussed further to bring more significance to the data. Also, change EA to AE.
Line 290: Table 4 is not referred to in the text.
Line 292: Please revise the text, I think authors mean ‘HPMC and MCG decrease fat absorptions in instant noodles’
Lines 295-297: Does this have to do with the different levels used. And needs to be discussed well in text.
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Thank you for your time and effort devoted to read and analyzed attached manuscript. All your comments are valuable, and for sure allows us to improve the quality of the manuscript. Every comments has been read carefully, and we have tried to address all of them. I hope that our explanations along with improvements of the manuscript follows your comments, fulfill requirements of the journal and will be interesting for the potential readers.
Below one can find answers for each comment.
· Line 15: Should be ‘fried instant noodles’……
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Lines 13-18: Please rewrite for conciseness. The statements do overlap (repetition).
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 16: Spelling mistake… “receipe” should be ‘recipe’. Please correct in entire manuscript.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 18: … Results shows that….
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 19: ……depended……
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Lines 19-20: Are authors sure the HPMC and MCG decreased fat content? It would have been useful for authors to have included the proximate analyses (fat, moisture of the unfried noodles), then we can justify the statement. I think it should be ‘The addition of HPMC and MCG resulted in decrease fat absorption’
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 28: What events? It would be useful to be specific, maybe say acoustic events.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 35: Should be ‘Instant noodles are one of the ….. ‘
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Lines 36: What does authors mean by ‘increase of the pace of life’?
Answer:
By the term „increase of the pace of life” authors understood smaller amount of available time for traditional way of meals preparation among people overloaded by their daily duties.
· Lines 64-65: This is unclear. Please clarify.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, the statement has been clarified.
· Line 73-74: “The reduction of the fat content of fried instant noodles by partially replacing wheat flour with the oat fiber [26,6].” --- This sentence is unclear and very isolated, does not fit with the preceding or next sentences. May be revise or delete
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate sentence has been removed.
· Lines 75-77: It is unclear what authors mean. How can the high fat content in instant noodles be due to changes occurring during storage? Please rewrite this section.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, the section has been rewritten to make the text more understandable.
· Lines 85-93: There are different font sizes, please rectify. Authors should be consistent with font size in entire manuscript.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, font has been unified through the entire manuscript.
· Line 85-87: Please delete this section. It is a stand-alone and is repeated in the next sentence.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, mentioned sentence has been removed.
· Lines 95-98: This is unclear. The entire formulation should equal to approximately 100%. Currently it reads that all the additives were mixed together but I think they were mixed separately. Please rewrite.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above but we have to mention that one can find at least two ways of formulation presentation. One of them is as reviewer suggested, but the other is based on the main ingredient of formulation – in this case it is flour. Authors would like to add that the way of formulation presentation follows other publications. The mass of flour is treated as 100%. Mass of other ingredients are calculated as a percentage based on the mass of flour. Such methodology was suggested by LWT journal where the first stage of research were published. To avoid unambiguity and reader confusion, authors would like to follow the same way of formulation presentation. We hope that reviewer understand our point of view.
· Line 108: ‘polietylene’ should be ‘polyethylene’
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Lines 114 and 121: I think the equations/formulas are fundamental and basic and should be omitted.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate equations have been removed.
· Lines 123 – 125: Please revise this section. Maybe, ‘The colour of the instant noodles was measured using the L*, a*, b* system as described by Papadakis, Abdul-Malek, Kamdem and Yam [28]. Zmieniono zgodnie z sugestią
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, the section has been revised and rewritten.
· Lines 130-132: Why was water activity done in duplicate and others in triplicate or more? This might suggest weakness in the experimental design, unless some reasons are given.
Answer:
Water activity has been done in triplicate. The information included in the manuscript was misleading. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Lines 137-142: Please rewrite for clarity.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, entire section (2.8) has been revised and rewritten.
· Line 142-143: The last sentence seems incomplete.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, not only the sentence, but entire section 2.8 has been revised and rewritten.
· Line 147: ‘Deformation’ should be ‘deformed’.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 145-154: It’s a bit of revision.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, entire section (2.9) has been revised and rewritten.
· Lines 165: Maybe revise to ‘Moisture is an important parameter affecting food quality and storage stability [31]’.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Lines 166-167: According to Hou [23], fried instant noodles are characterized by the changes in moisture during frying process from an initial moisture content of 30-40% to a final moisture content of 2-5%.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 168: Which result? There is no reference to Table 1.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. The reference to Table 1 has been added. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 169: Which permissible standards? Also, authors should check the proper style for in text referencing in line with journal guidelines. Maybe authors should say,…. 3.79%, which is consistent with that reported by Kim et al. [32], 3-4%.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Lines 170-173: What is the implication of this observation? I think both MCG and HPMC were used at <1% and showed slight higher moisture content whereas the maltodextrin and psyllium which were used at 3 and 5% should lower moisture contents. Question is, is the levels of additives used influencing the texture and hence the moisture retention and release during frying? Please provide explanation. Also where the different concentrations of additives? It makes comparison difficult and unreasonable, unless a reason has been provided.
Answer:
As an implication of this observation one can noticed that all samples are within acceptable level of moisture content, but the addition of MCG and HPMC leads to better results regarding oil uptake. It can be expected that the level of additives can influence the texture and hence the moisture retention and release during frying, but as it was mentioned this needs additional analysis not available here. Different types of additives as well different levels of additives has been chosen based on the main factor – ability to decrease the fat content in instant noodles as it was pointed in the literature. Such researches can be done in the nearest future. Thank you for a suggestion.
· Line 174: Please provide a more informative title for the table. Also provide standard deviations for the fat and moisture values (Analyse were performed in triplicate).
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change in the title of table has been introduced and standard deviations have been added
· Line 180-181: The final sentence does not fit with the rest. Please revise.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, final sentence has been removed.
· Line: 183-189: The different levels of additives used for the different types make it difficult to compare, unless a reason is provide to normalise the different levels so that the effect is due to the type of additive only. Also, there are modifications to the mechanical structure of the noodles based on the type of additive, this needs to be exploited to explain the why for this result?
Answer:
Different types of additives as well different levels of additives has been chosen based on the main factor – ability to decrease the fat content in instant noodles. For sure, influence of the additives level into mechanical structure can be an interesting subject of the researches but this needs additional analysis not available here. Such researches can be done in the nearest future. Thank you for a suggestion.
· Line 200-201 seems to contradict with lines 194-198.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced to remove contradiction.
· Lines 204-205: There is use of durum wheat flour and wheat flour, they both are wheat flours, what’s the difference.
Answer:
Instant noodles produced from durum wheat flour in comparison to regular wheat flour contains more protein, minerals and vitamins. The color of durum wheat flour is more yellow compared to regular wheat flour due to the higher content of carotenoids, which finally affects the color of instant noodles [Hou G., Kruk M. 1998: Asian noodle technology. AIB Technical Bulletin, 20(12); Gulia N., Dhaka V., Khatkar B. S. 2014: Instant noodles: processing, quality and nutritional aspects. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 54, 1386-1399].
· Line 207: A reason should be supplied for this statement. Why should it be within 73.5-82.0? – For better consumer perception and acceptance?
Answer:
Chong-Sik et al. [2004] claimed that L* parameter in the range 73.5 – 82.0 makes instant noodle better perceived and accepted by potential consumers. Authors would like to follow that recommendation.
· Lines 208-209: Which values? Is it the 73.5-82.0? If so and considering Table 2, the L* values are in my opinion are within the range and not lower than the stated values. Please review.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate section has been reviewed and rewritten.
· Line 210-211: Again, maltodextrin and psyllium (3-5%) were used at significantly higher levels compared to HPMC and MCG (0.5-1%), does authors think this might affect the brightness value. I think it will be good to discuss further in line with the levels of additives used. Missing from the discussions are reasons or mechanisms by which this effects are occurring or is it just a thing to do with the level of additives used.
Answer:
Different types of additives as well different levels of additives has been chosen based on the main factor – ability to decrease the fat content in instant noodles. For sure, influence of the additives level into color can be an interesting subject of the researches but this needs additional analysis not available here. Such researches can be done in the nearest future. Thank you for a suggestion.
· Lines 211-213: Please provide an explanation for this effect and same for lines 219-227.
Answer:
The darker color of the analyzed samples may result from the type of additions and Maillard reactions that take place during frying.
· Line 215: Table title appears in text, is this correct? Or are lines 216-217 part of the table heading?
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate corrections have been introduced.
· Line 218: Table note has 3 triplicates but materials and methods (section 2.5) has 5 repetitions. Please review.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. By mistake 5 repetitions have been mentioned. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate correction has been introduced.
· Lines 226-227: Similar increment also exists for HPMC.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate corrections has been introduced.
· Lines 231: regardless of type of additives used…….
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate mistake has been corrected.
· Lines 231-233: Please provide explanation for the effect of type of additive on density of instant noodles. Different additives affects structural properties (porosity, etc), hence the density.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, the section has been revised and rewritten.
The addition of Psyllium in amount of 3% caused decrease of density value in comparison with control sample, but the addition of Psyllium in amount of 5% had no influence into density. The smallest density was found in instant noodles with the addition of Psyllium in amount of 3%, while the largest was observed in instant noodles with Maltodextrin 5%. In the sample with the addition of Psyllium in amount of 3% high content of fat and low level of moisture was observed and caused the low density value of the instant noodle. However, the addition of Maltodextrin in amount of 5% caused that instant noodle has similar fat and moisture content as samples with addition of Psyllium in amount of 3%, but the density was significantly higher.
Both ingredients: Psyllium and maltodextrin added to the dough bind water [43], which evaporates during frying. Differences in the density of the tested instant noodle samples may result from the strength of water binding and the possibility of its release during frying. In addition, it can be assumed that Psyllium has greater gas retention ability during frying than Maltodextrin. Samples with a higher concentration of MCG (0.8%) HPMC (0.5%) in comparison with instant noodles with maltodextrin, had a density value on the similar level, higher moisture content and the lower fat content. One can conclude that higher concentration of MCG and HPMC results in less moisture loss and reduces the absorption of fat during instant noodles frying.
Cellulose derivatives such as CMC, HPMC, and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) and amylose have been evaluated as oil barriers in a deep-fat fried African cowpea paste-based food, comparing the coatings obtained by spraying and dipping the cowpea balls [22]. This oil barrier effect was related to the thermal gelation capacity of HPMC. Above the incipient gelation temperature the viscosity increases dramatically, as intermolecular associations occur very rapidly, and the solutions gel at a point which for HPMC lies in a temperature range of 50-90 oC. The gel layer controls the migration of water and oil during frying.
· Lines 241-251: Please correct EA to AE.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced in entire manuscript.
· Line 257: on the type of additive……
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate mistake has been corrected.
· Lines 239-256: Please discussed a bit more on significance of this observation.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate discussion has been included in section 3.3.
Higher density as well as lower fat content of samples with maltodextrin, MCG and HPMC addition influenced the generated number of AE events. The density of the instant noodle is related to the porosity, i.e. the lower the density value, the greater the porosity value. This could have affected a large number of AE events generated by samples with Psyllium addition.
· Lines 266-267: Please explain why increase in density. Also, density decrease at 180°C, any reason for this? Again is this effect that significant?
Answer:
The deleterious effects of various fibres depend greatly on dietary fibre interactions with starch, and the molecular and physico-chemical properties of the dietary fibre. This in turn has led to differing effects being observed for varying dietary fibress (Robin et al., 2012). In particular, insoluble fibre significantly reduces expansion volumes and increases density. However, the effect of fibre content on expansion volume often depends mainly on the process conditions and dough water content. Differences in expansion volume between soluble and insoluble fibres can be attributed to differences in water absorption. Also, one has to take into consideration the potential effect of protein denaturation which caused difficulties in the release of water. (Nisha Aravind, Mike Sissons, Narelle Egan, Christopher Fellows Effect of insoluble dietary fibre addition on technological, sensory, and structural properties of durum wheat spaghetti. Food Chemistry. 2012, 130, 2, 299-309)
· Line 273: What is the SEM in Table 3 (standard error of mean?). This is seems redundant in the table and discussion, if not relevant to discussion best to remove.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate text has been removed.
· Lines 280-287: I feel this sections needs to be discussed further to bring more significance to the data. Also, change EA to AE
Answer:
Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate text has been replaced. Regarding discussion, it has been noticed that higher density of samples with maltodextrin, MCG and HPMC as well as lower fat content influenced the generated number of AE events. The density of the material is related to the density, i.e. the lower the density, the greater the porosity. Hardness, like acoustic emission, strongly depends on the density of the material and its chemical composition. Therefore, the samples from Psyllium were the hardest because had high density and the lowest water content. Both, the hardness and the compression work were characterized by high variability, as evidenced by the value of standard deviation. This is due to the uniformity of the samples.
· Line 290: Table 4 is not referred to in the text.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. The Table 4 was in the text, by mistake denoted by Table 2. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate correction has been introduced.
· Line 292: Please revise the text, I think authors mean ‘HPMC and MCG decrease fat absorptions in instant noodles’
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, the text has been revised and rewritten.
· Lines 295-297: Does this have to do with the different levels used. And needs to be discussed well in text.
Answer:
Different types of additives as well different levels of additives has been chosen based on the main factor – ability to decrease the fat content in instant noodles. For sure, influence of the additives level into color can be an interesting subject of the researches but this needs additional analysis not available here. Such researches can be done in the nearest future. Thank you for a suggestion.
Reviewer 2 Report
See attached file
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Thank you for your time and effort devoted to read and analyzed attached manuscript. All your comments are valuable, and for sure allows us to improve the quality of the manuscript. Every comments has been read carefully, and we have tried to address all of them. I hope that our explanations along with improvements of the manuscript follows your comments, fulfill requirements of the journal and will be interesting for the potential readers.
Below one can find answers for each comment.
· In line 13, the first line of the abstract, abbreviations are introduced without explanation. The names of the compounds should be given in full followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced
· Is MCG the correct abbreviation for microcrystalline cellulose? Should it be MCC?
Answer:
The manuscript is the further stage of researches presented in the paper published in LWT journal, where abbreviation MCG has been used. To avoid confusion of potential reader, it was advised to keep the same nomenclature
· Line 40 mentions 38 trillion noodle portions in China and Hong Kong. That would amount to some 75 portions per person per day. Please verify.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Data has been taken from World Instant Noodles Association (WINA) and it should be 38 billion noodle portions. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· The statement on line 43 that ”the main energy component of fried noodles is fat” is not correct. If fried noodles contain 20 % fat and say 65% starch, the rest being protein and water, the energy content of this starch is larger than that of the fat.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Authors used a shortcut led to misunderstanding. Following reviewer’s suggestion, the text has been revised and rewritten.
· Section 2.1. Please eliminate the font size variation.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, font has been unified in the entire manuscript.
· Lines 117, 129, 131, 134, and 154 mention ‘repetitions’ or how many times a measurement was repeated. If it is repeated only once, it has been duplicated and two repetitions mean a total of three measurements or triplicate. Is this what the authors mean?
Answer:
No, number of repetitions means the number of measurements – two repetitions means two measurements, three repetitions means three measurements, etc.
· Lines 131-132. An explanation how this equipment works would be welcomed.
Answer:
Water activity was measured by HygroLab Rotronic Company apparatus according to the instruction of manufacturer in three iterations. The sample was placed in a measuring cell to stabilize the moisture in the entire cell. The waiting time for the measurement is about 40 minutes
· Line 154 mentions 15 repetitions of the acoustic emission measurements. These measurements are carried out with the texture analyser but the description of the latter measurement does not mention any repetitions.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. 15 repetitions were carried out for both measurements. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced
· Table 1. Usually authors mention their standard deviations after the mean values.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, standard deviations has been introduced
· Lines 183-184. The statement that the fat content of the fried noodles increases with frying temperature is correct for all additives but that it also increases with increasing amounts of additives does not hold for HPMC and MCG.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. the fat content depended on the type of the additives and increased together with an increase of the amount of the additive and an increase of frying temperature (for hpmc and mcg the changes in the amount of appropriate additives has not decrease the fat content along with increasing frying temperature). Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate corrections has been introduced
· Lines 240,241. 244, 250 (2x), 252 284, 285. Change EA to AE.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced
· The data in Table 3 show quite sizeable standard deviations. It would be helpful if they were ranked with superscripted letters to indicate significant differences.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate superscripted letters has been introduced
· The column widths in Table 3 should also be adjusted to avoid words in headings being split at odd locations.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, table has been corrected.
Reviewer 3 Report
There are some mistakes in writing. Page 1-Line 18, P2-L73, P-3-L108, L137, L147. There are mistakes in other parts too. These are minor mistakes but authors should re-read the manuscript and rectify.
Page 3, Line 97-98, the sentence can be interpreted as all the ingredients were added at the same time, but I believe it wasn’t the case. Authors should modify the sentences.
Line 137, what were the different mechanical properties measured for the instant noodles?
Add a list of all abbreviations with their full forms. There are quite a few. Authors can go back and refer to them.
Oil content analysis is a major part of the study; however, the numbers observed in various cases are even similar to the control. Authors should explain it better, why this has occurred. The pattern is not distinct though significantly different in certain cases.
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Thank you for your time and effort devoted to read and analyzed attached manuscript. All your comments are valuable, and for sure allows us to improve the quality of the manuscript. Every comments has been read carefully, and we have tried to address all of them. I hope that our explanations along with improvements of the manuscript follows your comments, fulfill requirements of the journal and will be interesting for the potential readers.
Below one can find answers for each comment.
· There are some mistakes in writing. Page 1-Line 18, P2-L73, P-3-L108, L137, L147. There are mistakes in other parts too. These are minor mistakes but authors should re-read the manuscript and rectify.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced
· Page 3, Line 97-98, the sentence can be interpreted as all the ingredients were added at the same time, but I believe it wasn’t the case. Authors should modify the sentences.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced
· Line 137, what were the different mechanical properties measured for the instant noodles?
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. The force versus deformation data were registered and selected parameters were determined using Exponent software (Stable Micro Systems, UK): compression force (N); force at strain of 60% and area under force-deformation curve until the strain 40% as compression work (mJ). Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Add a list of all abbreviations with their full forms. There are quite a few. Authors can go back and refer to them.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above, but all abbreviations has been introduced in the first appearance of the term in the manuscript, as it has been met often in scientific publications. There is no additional section devoted to abbreviations, so unfortunately, but we decided to keep original solution.
· Oil content analysis is a major part of the study; however, the numbers observed in various cases are even similar to the control. Authors should explain it better, why this has occurred. The pattern is not distinct though significantly different in certain cases.
Answer:
Indeed, as reviewer suggested, oil uptake is a major part of the study, having in mind to follow customer acceptance level as well. These requirements caused the problem as multicriterial decision one. As one can notice, some additives caused higher oil uptake (maltodextrin and psyllium), while the other has opposite effect (MCG, HPMC) as it is confirmed by results which can be explained by features of particular additives.The fat content is an important feature of the quality of fried instant noodles being a result of the production process parameters (the temperature and the frying time), the quality of raw materials and the frying medium used during the instant noodles production processThe frying medium used in the instant noodles production process is not only a heat carrier, but also becomes its new ingredient (migration into the internal structure of the instant noodles). Differences in the fat content in the process of frying instant noodles comes from the microporous structure of the instant noodles and from the amount of water absorbed in the evaporation process As for the oil uptake the situation is clear, some variations can be observed during analysis of the textural parameters that have been measured. Such parameters become a discriminant to select the best combination of the appropriate additives that fulfill the criteria defined in the literature following market expectations.
Reviewer 4 Report
The manuscript entitled: "The effect of selected additives on the oil uptake and quality parameters of instant fried noodles" is interesting and properly written. It fits with the scope and aims of the Journal. The use of canola oil and the influence of frying temperature has been properly described and assessed. The effect of prolonged frying and interminttent frying conditionson volatile compounds however must be mentioned in the Introduction to completely assess the area of interest since they influence quality parameters. The following papers should be be cited and added to the Reference list:
i) Naviglio D, Romano F, Pizzolongo F, Santini A, De Vivo A, Schiavo L, Nota G., Spagna Musso S. Rapid determination of esterified glycerol and glycerides in triglycerides fats and oils by means of periodate method after transesterfication. Food Chemistry, (2007), 102, 399-405.
ii) Romano R, Giordano A, Le Grottaglie L, Manzo N, Paduano A, Sacchi R, Santini A. Volatile compounds in intermittent frying by gas chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance. Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. (2013), 115, 764–773,
The results are justified by experimental observations. In general the manuscript is clear and properly assessed and adds information to the area of interest.
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Thank you for your time and effort devoted to read and analyzed attached manuscript. All your comments are valuable, and for sure allows us to improve the quality of the manuscript. Every comments has been read carefully, and we have tried to address all of them. I hope that our explanations along with improvements of the manuscript follows your comments, fulfill requirements of the journal and will be interesting for the potential readers.
Below one can find answers for each comment.
· The manuscript entitled: "The effect of selected additives on the oil uptake and quality parameters of instant fried noodles" is interesting and properly written. It fits with the scope and aims of the Journal. The use of canola oil and the influence of frying temperature has been properly described and assessed. The effect of prolonged frying and interminttent frying conditionson volatile compounds however must be mentioned in the Introduction to completely assess the area of interest since they influence quality parameters. The following papers should be be cited and added to the Reference list:
Naviglio D, Romano F, Pizzolongo F, Santini A, De Vivo A, Schiavo L, Nota G., Spagna Musso S. Rapid determination of esterified glycerol and glycerides in triglycerides fats and oils by means of periodate method after transesterfication. Food Chemistry, (2007), 102, 399-405.
Romano R, Giordano A, Le Grottaglie L, Manzo N, Paduano A, Sacchi R, Santini A. Volatile compounds in intermittent frying by gas chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance. Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. (2013), 115, 764–773,
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate papers has been included in the manuscript.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Lines 19-20: Should “adsorption” be “absorption”. These are two different phenomena.
Line 39: Please delete ‘serious’.
Line 226: into on density…..
Line 349: Authors should verify reference list.
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Thank you for Your additional suggestions and comments.
Below one can find answers for each comment.
· Lines 19-20: Should “adsorption” be “absorption”. These are two different phenomena
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 39: Please delete ‘serious’.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 226: into on density…...
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
· Line 349: Authors should verify reference list.
Answer:
We agree with the comment above. Following reviewer’s suggestion, appropriate change has been introduced.
