Effect of high‐pressure carbon dioxide on the quality of cold‐ and hot‐break tomato pulps

Abstract

High-pressure carbon dioxide (HPCD) has been considered as an alternative to thermal treatment in food processing. This effect of HPCD on microorganism, physicochemical properties, and lycopene isomerization of cold- and hot-break tomato pulps was investigated. The microorganism in the cold-break tomato pulp was effectively inactivated by HPCD at 10 MPa, showing a decrease with increasing the treatment time. HPCD retained better color and more aroma volatiles as compared to thermal treatment. The consistency of cold- and hot-break tomato pulps was improved by HPCD processing. For the cold-break tomato pulp, HPCD had a significant positive effect on the isomerization of lycopene. Titratable acid of HPCD-treated tomato pulp increased, while pH, soluble solid content were stable. The results above demonstrated that HPCD has greater advantages to retain the quality of cold- and hot-break tomato pulps and could be a promising nonthermal alternative technique for tomato products. Practical applications Thermal processing of tomato products is mostly used method to prevent microbial spoilage, but has deleterious influence on the sensorial quality and nutritional properties. High-pressure carbon dioxide (HPCD) has been considered as an alternative to thermal treatment in food processing. This research assessed the applicability of HPCD as a method of preserving tomato pulps, including natural microorganisms and lycopene isomerization which are critical to understand the prospects for tomato pulp processing.