Particle-size analysis of tomato powder

Particle-size information is a measure of the quality of processed food products. In this investigation, a study has been made for the particle-size analysis (PSA) of blanched and unblanched samples of tomato powder. The outcome indicates that the standard percentile reading D (v, 0.5), D (v, 0.1) and D (v, 0.9) for blanched and unblanched tomato-powder samples are 260.30, 308.78 and 100.49 mu m and 108.57, 609.24 and 521.76 mu m, respectively. Volume mean diameter [D 4,3] is higher for unblanched sample (335.87 mu m) compared with blanched tomato powder (288.41 mu m). Surface area mean diameter [D 3,2] is also higher for unblanched sample (200.51 mu m) than blanched tomato powder (158.71 mu m). Furthermore, the specific surface area (Aw) is higher for blanched sample (0.0378 m(2)/g) as compared with unblanched sample (0.0299 m(2)/g). The blanching treatment slightly affects the grinding/milling quality/size-reduction characteristics and results in uniform particle size, which is depicted by a narrow range of particle-size distribution of tomato-powder samples. Blanched tomato powder is finer as compared with unblanched tomato powder. The narrow range of particle sizes of the blanched sample of tomato powder shows stability during particle-size settlement, as it is a very important and much desirable parameter for its use in processing of another product preparation.