In view of understanding colour instability of pasteurised orange juice during storage, to the best of our knowledge, this study reports for the first time in a systematic and quantitative way on a range of changes in specific quality parameters as a function of time and as well as temperature (20-42 °C). A zero-order (°Brix, fructose, glucose), a first-order (vitamin C), a second-order (sucrose) and a fractional conversion model (oxygen) were selected to model the evolution of the parameters between parentheses. Activation energies ranged from 22 to 136 kJ mol(-1), HMF formation being the most temperature sensitive. High correlations were found between sugars, ascorbic acid, their degradation products (furfural and HMF) and total colour difference (ΔE(∗)). Based on PLS regression, the importance of the quality parameters for colour degradation was ranked relatively among each other: the acid-catalysed degradation of sugars and ascorbic acid degradation reactions appeared to be important for browning development in pasteurised orange juice during ambient storage.

Carotenoid-enriched oil-in-water emulsions with different droplet sizes (small: d 0.72μm; medium: d 1.9μm; large: d 15.1μm) were subjected to simulated gastrointestinal conditions. The kinetics of lipolysis, micelle formation and carotenoid bioaccessibility were monitored during the intestinal phase. The rates of all three processes increased with decreasing droplet size. The large droplet size emulsion contained undigested oil at the end of digestion, whereas an almost complete hydrolysis was observed for the other two emulsions. The sub-micron emulsion presented a higher conversion of MAGs to FFAs during digestion, which led to a higher concentration of FFAs in the mixed micelles. The incorporation of carotenoids into mixed micelles occurred faster and reached a higher final value for the small droplet size emulsion, leading to final carotenoids bioaccessibility values of around 70%. This work provides valuable information for developing in silico models to simulate the lipid digestibility and carotenoid bioaccessibility.

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The relative contributions of cotyledons and seed coats towards hardening of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were investigated and the rate-limiting process which controls bean softening during cooking was determined. Fresh or aged whole beans and cotyledons were soaked and cooked in demineralised water or 0.1 M NaHCO solution, and texture evolution, microstructure changes and thermal properties were studied. Fresh and aged whole beans cooked in demineralised water had significantly different softening rate constants and so did fresh and aged cotyledons. The comparable softening rate constants of aged whole beans and cotyledons indicated an insignificant role of the seed coat in hardening during storage. All samples cooked faster in 0.1 M NaHCO solution. Disintegration of cooked tissues followed by microscopic examination revealed a transition from cell breakage through a phase of cell breakage and separation to complete cell separation with increased cooking time wherefore texture decayed. Therefore, progressive solubilization of pectin in the middle lamella greatly promoted texture decay. While residual birefringence even after substantial cooking time suggested some molecular order of the starch, calorimetric analyses revealed complete starch gelatinisation before complete cell separation occurred. This implies an insignificant role of starch in texture decay during cooking but its hindered uncoiling into a viscous gel after gelatinisation due to the restricting cell wall could promote its retrogradation. Therefore, we suggest that the rate-determining process in bean softening relates to cell wall/middle lamella changes influencing pectin solubilization.

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