Influence of the Protein Content on Fiber Morphology and Heat Treatment of Electrospun Potato Protein–Maltodextrin Fibers

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

For paper, the English way of writting still needs to be reviewed.

Grammar

Author Response

Responses to the Comments of Reviewers and Editors (ID applsci-1346660)

We appreciate the time taken by the reviewers to go through our manuscript, and in response, have made changes to the manuscript. Responses to comments are shown below and were marked in blue. Changes in the actual manuscript have been marked in red. The line numbers refer to the revised and attached Word document.

Reviewer 1

Comments and Suggestions for Authors
For paper, the English way of writing still needs to be reviewed.
Grammar

We thank the reviewer for taking time of his/her assessment of the presented work. We revised the manuscript especially the grammar and spelling.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript entitled "Influence of the protein content on fiber morphology and heat treatment of electrospun potato protein maltodextrin fibers" is well written and organized, and may be considered for publication after addressing the following recommendations:

 

Abstract

Line 17: the protein content is expressed as a weight percentage, when in the rest of the manuscript is expressed as a concentration. It would be better to maintain consistency along the manuscript.

Introduction

Lines 29-30: What do the authors mean by a favorable amino acid composition?

Lines 40-42: Could the authors develop this idea? Why is the nutritional value of proteins improved by the covalent binding with carbohydrates?

Lines 60-72: Fibers are generated to be used in food applications. I consider that the authors should include a few sentences explaining which kind of application is supposed for these fibers, since it is known that fibers have a high organoleptic impact in food products. If the fibers are going to be ground, why didn’t the authors considered electrospraying as a technique?

Lines 73-75: Which are the advantages of the potato protein compared to the pea protein?

Lines 80-82: Would it be possible to demonstrate the formation of the carbohydrate-protein complex using techniques such as FTIR?

Materials and Methods

Lines 96-97: It would be necessary to recalculate the protein content after removing the foam. How was the foam removed?

Lines 99-112: What is the distance between the rotating stainless-steel cylinder and the collector? Have the authors characterized the physicochemical properties of the solutions in terms of viscosity, surface tension and conductivity?

Lines 114-116: What is the melting point of the potato protein and the maltodextrins used?

Results and discussion

Table 1: Have the authors measure the humidity in the fiber mats?

Line 184: It is necessary to provide some values to support this explanation.

Section 3.2: The obtained results could be explained by the differences in the physicochemical properties of the solutions or the humidity of the fibers mats.

Have the authors a control sample of pure protein or pure maltodextrin to compare?

Figure 2: Were these images taken after or before the thermal treatment? In addition, letter D is missing.

Section 3.3: Since the method of Dumas involves combustion of the sample, it is not possible to know if the protein has been denaturalized during the thermal treatment, I think it is important to know it since this can affect the protein performance.

Line 297-298: What figure or table are the authors referring to?

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors presented interesting approach and results. Some parts of the manuscript should be improved/corrected:

1. L30 - In what way is the nutritional value of potato protein very close to whole egg? Amino acid composition, which amino acids?
2. Introduction part - Some references to the literature regarding the applicability of protein-polysaccharide fibers are suggested. 
3. L91 - . instead of , in "0,3".
4. To what extent are the fibers dissolved in water / oil? 
5. FTIR analysis would be advisable to indicate possible differences in chemical composition and variant changes.
6. L297 - "Figure/Table?" ??
7. Line 315 - color measurements should be carried out to state that individual blends were equally white.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors have solved all my concerns about this manuscript. In my opinion, this manuscript is suitable for publication

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors response and corrections are satisfactory.