Evaluation of tomato paste as a potential raw material for lycopene extraction
Chemical Product Design and Engineering (CPD&E)
Chemical Product Design & Engineering - Poster (CPD&E - P)
Keywords: Lycopene, tomato paste, enzymes, nutraceuticals, functional food
Increasing chemical evidence suggests that lycopene, the major carotenoid pigment found in ripe tomato fruits and one of the most powerful natural antioxidants, can provide protection against cardiovascular disease and some epithelial cancers. This has prompted the interest of the food and pharmaceutical industries for the development of new nutraceutical and functional food products containing the pigment. As the lycopene market is experiencing a rapid growth, there is also the need to find out new lycopene sources and new extraction technologies. In particular, although the whole tomato fruit would seem to be the most obvious raw material for lycopene production, there are other important lycopene sources, such as tomato processing waste, tomato pulp and tomato paste, that should be considered as potential alternatives.
In this contribution we present the results of a preliminary experimental study aimed at assessing the suitability of tomato paste as raw material for lycopene extraction. Experiments were carried out on two different lycopene sources: a double- and a triple-concentrated tomato paste. They were characterized for moisture content, water-insoluble solids content and total lycopene. The latter was determined by the procedure of Fish et al. (2002) using an acetone-ethanol-hexane solution as extracting agent. The lycopene content was 50 and 60.8 mg/100 g, respectively, for the double and the triple concentrate (values on a wet basis). Lycopene extractability was then investigated by performing extraction tests with hexane as the solvent. The results indicated that, under the best conditions, only about 20% of the lycopene contained in the tomato paste could be extracted.
Finally, some experiments were made by pretreating the tomato products with enzymes capable of degrading the cell-wall polysaccharides of the tomato tissue. To this end different food-grade enzyme preparations with pectinase, cellulase and hemicellulase activities were screened. From these experiments it was found that recovery yields higher than 80% can be achieved.
Presented Wednesday 19, 13:30 to 15:00, in session Chemical Product Design & Engineering - Poster (CPD&E - P).
