Study on the Drying Technology of Tomato Pulp with Phytoene, Phytofluene and Lycopene Retention as Inspection Indexes

The objective was to design a feasible drying method to increase the retention rates of phytoene (PT), phytofluene (PTF) and lycopene (LYC) in tomato powder. The method was to compare the effects of vacuum freeze-drying (FD), vacuum drying (VD) and hot-air drying (HAD) technologies on tomato pulp rich in PT, PTF and LYC. When dried by HAD, the retention rates of PT, PTF and LYC decreased significantly (p < 0.05) only when the water content decreased from 30% to 3.5%. When dried by VD, the temperatures had no significant effect on the retention rates, and only alkaline conditions (pH = 9), Fe 3 + and Al3+ could significantly reduce the retention rates (p < 0.05). Therefore, a combined drying process (CDP) was designed: before the water content decreased to 50%, HD (60 degrees C) technology was used; then, the paste was dried via VD (80 degrees C, 0.08 MPa) technology till the water content reached 5 +/- 2%; loading weight was 40 g (thinkness 5.70 mm) for each batch. Compared with VD alone, the CDP technology improved the retention rates of PT and LYC by 12% and 36%, respectively, while PTF decreased by only 6%.

Automated summary

The study found that temperature and environmental conditions have significant effects on the retention rates of PT, PTF, and LYC in tomatoes during the drying process. The designed CDP drying process can significantly improve the retention rates of PT and LYC, while reducing the loss of PTF.