Optimizing tomato powder shelf-life: The role of pretreatments and drying methods

Processing of excessive short lived and deteriorating commodities, like tomatoes represents a strategic approach to preservation, particularly during periods of oversupply.Preliminary treatment is frequently applied in advance of dehydrating agricultural products to deactivate enzymatic activity, accelerate the dehydration process to enhance the standard of the desiccated goods.In this experiment, tomato fruits were subjected to pretreatments of citrus oil, honey, and vinegar before subjecting to dehydration methods (freeze and oven drying).The physical attributes and polyphenolic content (including total flavonoids, total phenolic content, lycopene, Total carotenoids and ascorbic acid) of tomato powder were evaluated over a 180-days period, with assessments taken at 45-days intervals.Additionally, the microbial quality of the powder was evaluated.The findings revealed that the measured parameters (total flavonoid content, total phenolic compounds lycopene, total carotenoids and ascorbic acid) were significantly (p=0.05)impacted by the different preliminary approach and dehydrated methods used.Tomato powder prepared after treating with vinegar, freeze dried and packed in laminated aluminium pack showed higher values of total phenolic compounds (198.73 mg GAE/100 g), total flavonoids (104.80 mg/100 g), total carotenoids (13.21 mg/100 g), lycopene (28.63 mg/100 g) and ascorbic acid (8.46 mg/100 g) and retained its quality up to 180 days under ambient storage conditions.