Abstract
The circular economy action plan involves principles related to food waste reduction and integration of recovered nutrients to the market. In this context, the present study aims to highlight the valuable bioactive components found in tomato processing by-products (carotenoids, phenolic compounds and fatty acids) influenced by industrial pre-treatments, particularly cold break (CB) process at 65–75 °C and hot break (HB) process at 85–95 °C. The fatty acid profile of the tomato seed oil was examined by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS), individual carotenoid and phenolic compositions were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the viscoelastic properties were evaluated by rheological measurements. The physicochemical properties revealed appropriate characteristics of the tomato seed oil to fit the standards of generally accepted edible oils, for both CB and HB derived samples, however, significant qualitative and quantitative differences were detected in their phenolic composition and carotenoids content. Lycopene (37.43 ± 1.01 mg/100 mL) was a major carotenoid in the examined samples, linoleic acid was the main fatty acid (61.73%) detected in the tomato seed oil and syringic acid appeared to be one of two major phenolic acids detected in the samples of CB process. Our findings extend the boundaries of tomato processing industry by validating that tomato seed oil is a bioactive rich edible oil with additional health benefits, which can be integrated in functional food products.
Highlights
In 2017 the tomato-based products market was estimated around 8.7 billion dollars worldwide according to FAOSTAT, indicating that tomato is one of the most important agroindustrial crops
Samples exposed to cold break (CB) process presented a mean lycopene content of 41.04 ± 1.24 mg/100 g DW while those exposed to hot break (HB) process had 9.53 ± 0.62 mg/100 g DW indicating a statistically significant (p < 0.05) degradation of lycopene during industrial pre-treatment at 85–95 ◦ C
Previous studies related to tomato waste analysis reported lycopene content ranging between 13.40 and 81.54 mg/100 g [36], according to Strati and Oreopoulou [16], a much wider variation exists in reported extraction yields of lycopene, due to factors like tomato variety, tomato processing method, by-product fraction, extraction techniques and others
Summary
In 2017 the tomato-based products market (juice, paste and peeled tomatoes) was estimated around 8.7 billion dollars worldwide according to FAOSTAT (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data, 2020), indicating that tomato is one of the most important agroindustrial crops. In 2017 the tomato-based products market (juice, paste and peeled tomatoes) was estimated around 8.7 billion dollars worldwide according to FAOSTAT The tomato processing industry generates three fractions of by-products, depending on the peeling method applied as well as on the form of the final product (tomato paste, crushed or peeled tomatoes, etc.). These fractions, namely tomato peels, tomato seeds and the mixture of these two together, called tomato pomace, sum up to 5–30% of the main product [2]. The alternative solutions resolving the inconveniences caused by the wastes might be most appreciated by stakeholders and consumers and might, as well, reduce environmental discomfort caused by improperly discarded by-products, which favors microorganisms growth given the high moisture content [3]
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