Deaeration and pasteurization effects on the orange juice aromatic fraction

Abstract

A comparative study between the aromatic profile in fresh orange juice versus deaerated and pasteurized juices, respectively, was conducted in order to understand the evolution of volatile components after deaeration and pasteurization processes. The aromatic fractions isolated by simultaneous distillation and extraction were analysed by capillary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. At the qualitative level all the volatile components in fresh orange juice were also found in the counterparts after deaeration and pasteurization processes. According to statistical analyses, significant losses in concentration of volatile components occurred during the deaeration process, while there were no statistically significant differences determined among concentrations of volatile components in deaerated and pasteurized juices. These results show that during the industrial processing of orange juice the biggest losses in the concentration of volatile components occurs during deaeration. The pasteurization process does not change the analytical composition of deaerated orange juice in a significant way for any of the 42 quantitated compounds.