ONE MONTH ANALYSIS OF COLOR, PH, WATER CONTENT AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF CHILI PASTE DURING STORAGE WITH OZONE PRE-TREATMENT

ABSTRACTBackground: Chili paste are the food products that could maintain color and flavor in a semi-solid form having qualities similar to the fresh harvested ones and are suitable to use. It has observed that ozone treatment helped in strengthening quality of food products.Objectives: The research was conducted to apply ozone pretreatment in the production of chili paste with and without ozone treatment, ozone washed, and ozone sprayed.Methods: As much as ozone at the concentration of 0.25 ppm was used as pretreatment for 15 minutes in chili manufacture and stored for one month or 30 days. Analysis of L*, a*, b* color and browning index, pH values, water content, and antioxidant activity was conducted in every three days.Results: : The study's results showed that the color parameters (L*, a*, b*) of chili paste decreased across different storage conditions (room, warm, cold) and treatments. Chili paste without ozone treatment had L* values of 46.24%, 53.83%, and 39.01%, while ozone-washed paste showed values of 32.83%, 39.12%, and 27.66%, and ozone-sprayed paste had values of 32.58%, 38.19%, and 27.53%. The Browning Index increased significantly in untreated chili paste, with values up to 34.43%, compared to 20.64% for ozone-washed and 20.10% for ozone-sprayed paste. The pH values and antioxidant activities both decreased, with the most notable reduction in antioxidant activity observed in untreated paste (39.87% to 33.32%), while ozone treatments resulted in higher retention of antioxidant activity (30.61% and 34.00%). Additionally, water content increased slightly during storage, with untreated paste showing higher values compared to ozone-treated samples. Conclusion: Chili paste that undergoes pre-treatment with ozone can inhibit physical and chemical changes, thereby preventing damage during storage.Keywords : Chili; ozone; pasta; storage