Shu-Chen Hsu's research while affiliated with Chang Jung Christian University and other places

Several studies suggested that plasma-activated water (PAW) increases crop yields and confronts drought. This study determined the total phenolic (TP) and total flavonoid (TF) contents of water spinach to elucidate whether PAW induced changes in the antioxidant potential of water spinach planted in soil with and without metal contaminants. PAW was selected as the irrigation water for pot experiments. Results showed that PAW increased the TP of water spinach planted in soil without any contaminants and, to some extent, in Cd-added soils but decreased the TP of those planted in Pb-added soil. PAW significantly enhanced the TF of water spinach planted in Cd-added cultivation soil, but not for Pb-added cultivation soil. Meanwhile, PAW can elevate the TF of water spinach by adding fertilizer and sunlight exposure. This study demonstrated that PAW application could increase TF, powerful antioxidants of water spinach planted with fertilizer and sunlight, in the cultivation soil with Cd, or without any contaminant.

This study investigated the efficiency of plasma-activated water (PAW) on the reduction of pesticides, namely, metribuzin and metobromuron, and the effect of PAW treatment on the quality of fresh chrysanthemums. The reduction efficiencies reached 74.3% for metribuzin and 38.2% for metobromuron after 240 s of PAW treatment. Compared with reverse osmosis (RO) water, PAW achieved significantly higher pesticide reductions because of its higher acidity, enhanced oxidizing ability, and increased formation of reactive species. Moreover, when compared with metobromuron, metribuzin was reduced more efficiently irrespective of the RO water or PAW treatments because of its higher water solubility, lower log octanol-water partition coefficient, and more oxidizable chemical structure. Additionally, the PAW treatment did not cause adverse changes to the chrysanthemums’ color, total flavonoid content, radical scavenging, or metal chelating activities, but it did cause a slight decrease in the chrysanthemums’ aroma compounds and total reducing power. This study successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of PAW for reducing pesticides in herbal flowers like chrysanthemums and reveals PAW’s promising potential to treat foods with non-smooth surfaces.

Many food safety issues have arisen in Taiwan during the past decade. Therefore, in 2016, the Taiwan government proposed the "five rings of food safety" policy to comprehensively protect consumer food supply. Among these policies, the "4-labels-1-Q" approach was adopted to ensure the selection of foods with traceable labels for retrospective study. Hence, this study investigated the association between the degree of familiarity with the 4-labels-1-Q food traceability system and risk perceptions and also investigated whether a consumer's purchase intention toward fresh foods with food labels changed after viewing an educational film on food labels. This study defined subjects as the main food purchasers for their families; 290 valid questionnaire interviews were administered and educational films shown in Tainan markets and stores. Results showed that knowledge about labels significantly affected risk perception for labeling. Age, educational level, and degree of risk perception influenced purchase intention. Results also showed that after viewing the video, subjects' label knowledge and purchase intention increased significantly. However, after adjustment for age, educational level, income, and purchase places, the effect of film education on risk perception was insignificant, especially for those who had lower educational levels, including those older than 65 years. Public trust can be boosted through label education among age groups using different channels and methods, and encouraging the sale of labeled foods in traditional markets would be a useful strategy. Age, educational level, income, and risk perception of participants significantly affected purchase intention. This study can be a reference for designing risk communication strategies and promoting traceable agricultural products. Highlights:

Banana contains high levels of resistant starch (RSC), which resists digestion. Taiwan is a major producer of banana; however, little work has been reported on their specific characteristics. This study was conducted to investigate the characteristics and RSC of ripe and unripe Taiwanese bananas. The characteristics and RSC significantly differed between varieties and ripening stages. The hardness, L*, pH values, swelling power, total starch, and amylose contents of unripe bananas were significantly higher than ripe bananas, while the starch content depended on the variety and ripening stage. Therefore, Taiwanese bananas could be useful RS source for manufacturing functional foods.