Degradation of β-carotene during fruit and vegetable processing or storage: reaction mechanisms and kinetic aspects: a review

Abstract

-Introduction. Food processing significantly lowers the quality of fruits and vegetables, which is a major concern for the food industry. Micronutrients are particularly affected, and among them β-carotene, which exhibits very interesting sensory, nutritional and biological properties. The literature concerning β-carotene degradation is extensive, but the conclusions are very different as a function of the biological, chemical and food transformation points of view. This paper proposes a synthesis of complementary approaches in the study of β-carotene during food transformation and storage. Degradation reactions. Degradation compounds are numerous, including isomers, epoxides, apocarotenones, apocarotenals and short-chain cleavage products, among them some flavour compounds. A detailed reaction scheme of isomerisation and autoxidation of β-carotene could be deduced from the literature data. The main pathways are well documented, but the global reaction scheme is still incomplete. Furthermore, most of the mechanistic studies are carried out in model systems, thus data may misrepresent β-carotene behaviour in real food products. Kinetics during processing and storage. The determination of degradation kinetics permits the identification of the fastest reactions, i.e., generally those with the greatest impact, and also the quantification of the effect of the factors which can lower β-carotene content. Temperature, occurrence of oxygen, food composition and food structure are shown to affect the β-carotene loss rate significantly. However, the methodologies used to obtain the kinetic parameters are of major importance, and finally, most of the results found in the literature are specific to a study and difficult to generalise. Discussion and conclusion. Mechanistic and kinetic approaches each provide interesting data to improve understanding and monitoring of β-carotene. The combination of all this data, together with thermodynamic and analytical considerations, permits the building of observable reaction schemes which can further be transcribed through mathematical models. By this multidisciplinary approach, scarcely used for the time being, knowledge could be capitalised and useful tools could be developed to improve β-carotene retention during food processing and storage.France / fruits / vegetables / storage / processing / carotenoids / isomerisation / oxidation / degradation / chemical reactions La dégradation du β-carotène au cours de la transformation ou du stockage des fruits et des légumes : mécanismes réactionnels et aspects cinétiques : une revue.Résumé -Introduction. La diminution significative de la qualité des fruits et légumes au cours de leur transformation est une préoccupation majeure de l'industrie alimentaire. Les micronutriments sont particulièrement affectés, et, parmi eux, le β-carotène qui présente d'intéressantes propriétés sensorielles, nutritionnelles et biologiques. La littérature traitant de la dégradation du β-carotène est très dense, mais la nature des conclusions diffère en fo...

Impact of different drying parameters on color, β-carotene, antioxidant activity and minerals of apricot (Prunus armeniacaL.)

“…Higher temperature and power level treatments (G, H) caused less inhibition of DPPH radical. This could be due to the degradation of antioxidative compounds, such as carotenoids and ascorbic acid (Penicaud et al, 2011;Albanese et al, 2013). β-carotene is responsible for the specific color of apricot varieties.…”

“…As seen from the table, 50 °C (A) and its combined conditions (E, F) showed the highest β-carotene values after drying. Regardless, β-carotene is prone to degradation, and more precisely, to isomerization, especially at high temperatures and oxidation (Karabulut et al, 2007;Penicaud et al, 2011). Coşkun et al (2013) determined the β-carotene contents of sulfured apricots to be between 26.4-30.8 mg/100 g for the Kabaaşı cultivar and 30.0-33.3 mg/100 g for the Hacıhaliloğlu cultivar and investigated the effect of storage temperatures on this component.…”

Pasteurization of citrus juices with ohmic heating to preserve the carotenoid profile

“…Carotenoid degradation is generally described via first-order kinetics (Penicaud, Achir, Dhuique-Mayer, Dornier, & Bohuon, 2011). Carotenoid concentration variations are thus assumed to follow eq.…”

Exploring the potential of an Andean fruit : an interdisciplinary study on the cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) value chain

“…Trans-cis isomerization of β-carotene has been described before, eventually leading to an equilibrium between the two forms (Colle, 2013). The apparent increase in carotene is most likely attributable to release from the food matrix upon heat treatment [222]. This phenomenon of apparent increase in carotene content upon moderate heating makes it not well possible to apply a kinetic 4 79 model; one cannot distinguish between the increase due to extractability, changes due to isomerization and possibly also degradation.…”

“…In carrot juice, however, at 100 °C a minor isomerization of β-carotene took place starting only at 120 °C [224,225]. The stability of β-carotene is probably related to the food matrix and heat processing increases the amount of cis-β-carotene, explaining the high amount of these isomers in processed food [222].…”