We measured by the Ames test the mutagenicity induced in heated pork samples under various cooking conditions. Grilled pork was more abundant in mutagens than grilled chicken, the mutagens mainly being formed when the sample was cooked at high temperature. These grilling-induced mutagens were decreased when six kinds of vegetable (egg plant, cabbage, bean sprout, carrot, onion and radish), four kinds of spice (ginger, sweet pepper, red pepper and pepper), or four kinds of seasoning (soy sauce, miso, malt vinegar and black rice vinegar) were added to the grilled pork. The induced mutagenicity was suppressed as much by cooking pork with these ingredients as it was by cooking with bean sprout or cabbage.

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The quality, appearance, cooked quality and palatability of koshihikari rice cultivated at the Agricultural Experimental Station of Nagano prefecture were investigated during six phases, from before maturation to after maturation, in different harvest seasons. The grain thickness distribution showed that the 5% green ratio grains tended to be 2.0 mm and more thicker than the 0% green ratio grains. The respective appearance, showed significantly more complete grains and significantly fewer cracked grains. The respective gelatinization characteristic value, showed significantly higher breakdown, and significantly lower, final viscosity and setback with the 5% green grains. The palatability of both the 5% green ratio and 0% green ratio grains was superior to that of rice in any other harvest season. Samples from the six phases were assigned three groups from these results, and both the 5% green ratio and 0% green ratio grains were classified as positive for the first principal component and second principal component. A factor analysis evaluated, the negative factor related to “hardness” in the palatability evaluation, and the positive factor related to “comprehensive evaluation” and “taste”. The overall results show that, rice harvested with a 5% green ratio was superior in grain thickness distribution, appearance and gelatinization characteristics to the 0% green ratio grains.

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Bread samples were prepared under different heating conditions with spelt wheat, which is rich in nutrients and thought to be hypoallergenic, and the appearance, physical properties, and health functions of the samples were examined. The specific volume was highest for bagel, in which the inner part of the dough was preliminarily heated by boiling, when compared with the samples made under other heating conditions. In respect of the color of the bread samples prepared by dry heating, the a* and b* values were increased and the L* value decreased by the Maillard reaction. The rupture energy was high, particularly with baking and microwave cooking, but low for bagel (boiling and baking), and with frying and steaming. The presence of water within the crust and crumb was strongly associated with the physical properties of the bread. The antioxidative activity of common wheat was lost by heating. In contrast, that of spelt wheat did not decrease and its stability was high. A difference in the molecular weight distribution of proteins according to the kind of wheat flour and the heating condition was observed in the region of 37-50 kDa between spelt and common wheat, and the band in the region of 10-15 kDa was absent after baking and steaming.

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The current provision of set meals in a university cafeteria and the development of a healthier cafeteria menu were investigated. The vegetable dish of a healthy set meal needed to be proportionately larger according to the “Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top”, and the current calcium content was low according to the “Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese, 2005”. The percentage of respondents who stated they want to eat from the improved menu in the future was 93.8%, the reasons given being elucidated by the text-mining method; words that appeared with high frequency were “delicious”, “balance”, and “good”. It was found that creating a menu with increased calcium content was a major issue for providing healthy set meals. Evaluation by the diners was extremely high and they wanted this trial to be incorporated into the daily university cafeteria menu.

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