Abstract
Jaggery, a traditional nutritive sweetener made from sugarcane juice, is contaminated due to poor handling during processing and storage. The study focuses on decontamination of jaggery using microwave (420–700 W, 30–60 s), infrared (80–90 °C, 4–12 min), and pulsed light treatment (1600–2200 V, 5–120 pulses). The process efficacy was compared based on microbial quality and physicochemical parameters. Microbial quality represents the reduction of aerobic mesophile (AM), yeast and mold (YM), and inoculated Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A maximum log reduction of 2.17, 2.04, and 2.78 for AM, YM, and S. cerevisiae, respectively, was observed during pulsed light (PL) treatment at 1.70 kJ/cm2 fluence. AM was the most resistant microbial entity, and PL irradiation demonstrated a maximum linear inactivation rate (k) of 17.5 s−1 and minimum non-linear decimal reduction time (δ) of 0.3 min. IR treatment at 90 ± 5 °C caused the maximum change in physicochemical properties, thermal stability, functional groups, and crystallinity index of jaggery. Microwave (MW) heating at 700 W showed maximum improvement in total phenolic content (TPC), minimum change in colour, and fastest inactivation of YM and S. cerevisiae. Finally, PL treatment exhibited better overall microbial safety, enhanced TPC, and minimum modifications in jaggery's thermal, chemical, and structural aspects.
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