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Background: Our objective was to evaluate carotenoid accumulation in bell peppers during shelf life under different light conditions. Methods: Fruit stored for 6 d at 7 °C received a 9 kJ m−2 UV-B treatment, while non-UV-treated were used as control (CTRL). Subsequently, all peppers were disposed for a retail sale period of 4 d at 20 °C with a photoperiod of 14 h under fluorescent light (FL) + 10 h under darkness (D), FL, or blue + red LEDs (BR LED). Results: Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was increased by the UV-B treatment and the photoperiods supplemented with FL and BR LED, which was directly related to the carotenoid content. In fact, CTRL peppers (225 mg β-carotene kg−1) under FL+BR LED showed an increase of ~33% of 13-cis-β-carotene, ~24% of all-trans-β-carotene, and ~27.5% of 9-cis-β-carotene compared to FL + D and FL + FL. Capsaicinoids showed an increase by ~22%, ~38%, and ~27% in the content of capsanthin, capsanthin laurate, and capsanthin esters, respectively, after the UV-B treatment, which was even enhanced after the LED-supplemented photoperiod by ~18% compared to FL+D. Conclusions: Illumination with BR LEDs + UV-B during the retail sale period nights is recommended to increase the bioactive content of bell peppers via carotenoid accumulation to 270 mg β-carotene kg−1.

Southern Spain has an optimal climate for growing fruits and vegetables. Over 39,534 ha are currently dedicated to the production of cauliflower and broccoli in Spain, 33% of which correspond to the Region of Murcia. This type of intensive agriculture causes environmental impacts which must be quantified and minimized as much as possible. This study details the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of cauliflower production with a cradle-to-farm-gate approach using precise and updated primary data from local producers. Foreground inventory data was collected for the nursery and on-field stages, including energy use, consumption, application and diffusion of fertilizers and pesticides, machinery and transport to the packaging center. Ecoinvent v3.6 datasets were adapted to the characteristics of the system for background inventory and the EF 3.0 method was used for evaluation. The carbon footprint of 1 kg of cauliflower was estimated at 91.2 g CO2eq. Impact values for the same functional unit in other categories were as follows: Photochemical ozone formation 3.33E-04 kg NMVOC eq., Acidification 3.41E-04 mol H+ eq., Freshwater eutrophication 2.27E-05 kg P eq. The mitigation practices in cauliflower production should focus on energy use during irrigation and reduced use of pesticides. This research was funded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación-Agencia Estatal de Investigación (FEDER/MICINN-AEI), project RTI2018-099139-B-C21 (Karp0-LIFE). Laura Rasines acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through the “Ayudas para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores 2019” Program [PRE2019-090573].

Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T17:25:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-01-01. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2019-10-09T18:32:13Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 S0101-20612015000300502.pdf: 1020008 bytes, checksum: e92087bc36fdc1ca1395cda2ed90a038 (MD5) There is a growing consumer demand for higher healthy foods such as berries which are a rich source of phenolic compounds. The current work evaluated blackberry cultivars: Cherokee, Tupy and Xavante; raspberry cultivars: Heritage, Fallgold and Black; and the hybrid Boysenberry. All berries were grown under homogenous subtropical conditions in Brazil. Black raspberry, Cherokee and Tupy blackberry cultivars showed the highest ratio between soluble solid contents and titratable acidity, and Fallgold and Heritage raspberry showed the highest titratable acidity. Total phenolic content ranged from 2.03 to 5.33 g kg−1 fresh weight and total anthocyanin content registered values from 0.41 to 1.81 g kg−1 fresh weight. The most common phenolic acids were gallic, p-coumaric and ellagic, and for anthocyanins: cyanidin-3-glucoside and malvinidin-3-glucoside. Antioxidant capacity ranged from 14.13 to 21.51 mol equivalent trolox kg−1 fresh weight. Black raspberry, all blackberry cultivars and the Boysenberry hybrid are appropriate to be consumed fresh, while Fallgold and Heritage raspberries are recommended to the food industry. Due to their phenolic richness and antioxidant properties, these fruits are of great interest to the fresh fruit market and to pharmaceutical industries. These results could help breeders and growers when planning the cultivar selection according to their foreseeable destination. Departmento de Horticultura, Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP Grupo de Postrecolección y Refrigeración, Departamento de Ingeniería de Alimentos, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena - UPCT Departmento de Horticultura, Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP

Carrots are worldwide highly consumed due to their sensory characteristics and health-promoting properties. However, their low phenolic/antioxidant levels may be greatly increased with abiotic stresses. Accordingly, phenolic/antioxidant enhancements and related phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity of carrot shreds under different treatments (UVc radiation and hyperoxia conditions) were studied after a pre-enrichment incubation of 72 h at 15ºC. Subsequently, a carrot smoothie prepared from enriched carrot shreds was heat-treated (90ºC for 30 s) and stored at 5ºC up to 14 days. Heat-treated smoothies showed a good physicochemical and microbiological quality (

Phenolic compounds are phytochemicals with high health-promoting properties. Carrot is a vegetable highly worldwide consumed although its phenolic content is low compared to other plant products. The aim of this work was to evaluate changes in phenolic compounds in carrots caused by abiotic stresses. The phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity, phenolic compounds and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) changes during storage up to 72 h at 15 °C after wounding (shredding), 9 kJ UV-C m−2 pretreatment and hyperoxia (80 kPa) conditions of carrots were studied. Shredding and hyperoxia storage induced the highest phenolic compounds and TAC enhancements. Accumulation of phenolic compounds in shredded carrots could be structured in the following phases: 1st phase (

BACKGROUND Thermal processing causes a number of undesirable changes in physicochemical and bioactive properties of tomato products. Microwave (MW) technology is an emergent thermal industrial process that offers a rapid and uniform heating, high energy efficiency and high overall quality of the final product. The main quality changes of tomato puree after pasteurization at 96 ± 2 °C for 35 s, provided by a semi-industrial continuous microwave oven (MWP) under different doses (low power/long time to high power/short time) or by conventional method (CP) were studied. RESULTS All heat treatments reduced colour quality, total antioxidant capacity and vitamin C, with a greater reduction in CP than in MWP. On the other hand, use of an MWP, in particular high power/short time (1900 W/180 s, 2700 W/160 s and 3150 W/150 s) enhanced the viscosity and lycopene extraction and decreased the enzyme residual activity better than with CP samples. For tomato puree, polygalacturonase was the more thermo-resistant enzyme, and could be used as an indicator of pasteurization efficiency. CONCLUSION MWP was an excellent pasteurization technique that provided tomato puree with improved nutritional quality, reducing process times compared to the standard pasteurization process. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry This work was financially supported by MINECO-FEDER (AGL2013-48830-C2-1-R).

A green fresh vegetables smoothie rich in health-promoting compounds was developed. Two thermal treatments to reduce microbial load and preserve quality were assayed: T1 (3 min at 80ºC) and T2 (45 s at 90ºC). Fresh blended unheated samples were used as control (CRL). The smoothie presented a viscoelastic behaviour. Thermal treatments reduced initial microbial loads by 1.3-2.4 and 1.4-3.1 log units, respectively. Samples were stored in darkness at 5 and 15ºC. Colour and physicochemical changes were reduced in thermal-treated samples throughout storage, which were better preserved at 5ºC rather than at 15ºC. Vitamin C changes during storage were fitted with a Weibullian distribution. Total vitamin C losses of T1 and T2 samples during storage at 15ºC were greatly reduced when they were stored at 5ºC. Initial total phenolics content (151.1 mg 29 kg-1 fw) was 44 and 36% increased after T1 and T2 treatments, respectively. The 3-p-30 coumaroyl quinic and chlorogenic acids accounted the 84.7% and 7.1% relative 31 abundance, respectively. Total antioxidant capacity (234.2 mg Trolox equivalent kg-1 fw) remained constant after the thermal treatments and was better maintained during storage in thermal-treated samples. Glucobrassicin accounted the 81% of the initial total glucosinolates content (117.8 mg kg-1 fw) of the smoothie. No glucosinolates losses were observed after T2 treatment being better preserved in thermal-treated samples. Conclusively, a short time–high temperature mild thermal treatment (T2) showed better quality and bioactive compounds retention in a green fresh vegetable smoothie during low temperature storage. The authors are grateful to Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) Project AGL2013-48830-C2-1-R and FEDER for financial support. We are grateful to M. Otón for his skilful technical assistance.

The effect of conventional and microwave pasteurization on the lycopene and β-carotene content and on the physicochemical quality attributes (TSS, pH, TA and color) of pasteurized orange smoothie were evaluated. The smoothie was elaborated with tomato, carrot, pumpkin, lemon juice, mineral water and marine salt. The conventional pasteurization (CP) was made by mean of a semi-industrial thermomix, while for microwave pasteurization (MWP) an innovative semi-industrial continuous microwave oven was used. After both pasteurization methods no significant changes in TSS, pH and TA were found while the carotenoids content was enhanced. MWP provided the highest lycopene and β-carotene content, showing MW equipment as a tool to pasteurize and improve the bioavailability of carotenoids of the smoothie. Thanks are due to Instituto de Biotecnología Vegetal (IBV-UPCT) for providing MW equipment. This work was financially supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and competitiveness MINECO (AGL2013-48830-C2-1- R) and FEDER.

[SPA] El pardeamiento enzimático es uno de los principales problemas implicados en el procesamiento mínimo y en la siguiente conservación de hortalizas de hoja, reduciendo la vida comercial del producto. Se han evaluado las variaciones de las dos principales oxidasas, polifenol oxidasa (PPO) y peroxidasa (POD), así como del contenido en fenoles, del color y de la capacidad antioxidante (metodo ORAC) durante 10 días de conservación a 4 °C de lechuga Baby Romaine (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Duende) mínimamente procesada, cultivada bajo 3 distintas condiciones de salinidad (2,8, 3,8, 4,8 dS/m), para determinar la condición más apta al siguiente procesamiento. Niveles crecientes de salinidad redujeron las dos actividades enzimáticas durante 7 días de conservación. En las muestras cultivadas en condición de elevada salinidad se observó también la menor variación de color, expresada como ΔE* [(ΔL*2+Δa*2+Δb*2)1/2], y la menor reducción de contenido en fenoles y de capacidad antioxidante en el día 3. [ENG] Enzymatic browning is a main problem involved in minimal processing and further storage of leafy vegetables, leading to shorter shelf-life of the product. Changes in the two oxidative activities, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD), as well as in total phenolic content, colour parameters and antioxidant capacity (assayed with ORAC method), were monitored during 10 days of storage at 4 °C of minimally processed Baby Romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Duende) cultivated under 3 different salinity conditions (2,8, 3,8, 4,8 dS/m), in order to determine the most suitable condition for further processing. Increasing levels of salinity reduced both oxidases activities immediately after cutting and throughout 7 days of storage. Samples cultivated under high salinity had also the lowest change in colour, expressed as ΔE* [(ΔL*2+Δa*2+Δb*2)1/2], and showed the lowest reduction in total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity after 3 days of storage.