Organoleptic Evaluation for Accessing Sensory Attributes of Lycopene Containing Tomato Purees and its Overall Acceptability

A study on organoleptic evaluation for accessing sensory attributes of lycopene containing tomato purees & its overall acceptance was conducted at Food Science Analysis Laboratory, School of Home Science, B.B.A.U, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, during July 2020 to May 2021. Different treatments under the investigation were prepared using dried tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum), tomato pulp and water to find out most appropriate treatment having significantly higher sensory attributes and overall acceptability. Five different types of treatments/purees viz. Dried tomato powder without food additives (T1), Mixture of tomato powder and water (ratio 1:10) without heating (T2), Mixture of tomato powder and water (ratio 1:10) heating at 60-70 ᴼC for 5 minutes (T3), Fresh tomato pulp (T4) & Tomato pulp cooked at 60-70 ᴼC for 35 minutes (T5) were used in the investigation. The effect of these treatments was distinguished as reflected on sensory characters like appearance, aroma, texture & overall acceptance. The highest overall acceptance of 8.20±0.7 on hedonic scale was obtained from tomato pulp cooked at 60-70 ᴼC for 35 minutes (T5) followed by dried tomato powder without food additives (T1) ie. 7.90±1.0. These results appeared highly promising depending on the appearance, aroma & texture.

The Design of a Tomato Powder Processing Plant with a Capacity of 75,000 Tonnes Per Annum in Oyo State, Nigeria, West Africa

This project designed a plant that will process 250 tonnes of raw tomatoes per day. The duration of this production was spread across 24 hours and operated for 300 days in a year, which gave a yield of 17.5 tons of tomato powder per day. From these specifications, the best process route was synthesized. The process route selected involved choosing and sorting the tomatoes, washing, blanching, blending, spray drying (as the drying process), packaging and labeling. Through a series of investigations, the most feasible way to dry tomato powder on an industrial scale proved to be the spray-drying method because the process was very rapid, required low labor cost, and was relatively simple to operate and sustain. The particle size was also easy to control with this technology, making it easy to correlate with product standards. The equipment to be used was then identified which included the machine vision, a spray washer, a water Blancher, an industrial blender, a spray dryer, and a powder packaging machine. Material and energy balance were evaluated around the whole plant. A process flow diagram and basic piping and instrumentation diagram were also computed using engineering software such as Microsoft Visio. From the previous work done, the selected process unit, the spray dryer, was designed with a detailed piping and instrumentation diagram made around it. The site of the plant was resolved, adjacent oriental foods along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. It was necessary to site the plant in an area where raw materials can easily be delivered to. The area selected was directly linked to a major highway, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, thereby making transport quite affordable. The site layout alongside the plant layout was constructed. The layouts clearly showed the standard flow process.

Evaluation of physico-chemical properties of tomato powder produced by an optimized freeze drying process

In this study, the physico-chemical properties of tomato powder produced by an optimized freeze drying process (FDP) were evaluated. With the lycopene content as the dependent variable, the optimum FDP conditions (i.e., thermal cracking time of 62 s, ascorbic acid addition amount [0.13%], and particle size [Dv90] of 163 μm) were obtained through response surface methodology (RSM). The results showed that the content of lycopene in the prepared tomato powder was higher than that in two commercial products. Aldehydes were the main components among 25 kinds of aromatic substances detected in tomato powder. The values of a * and a */b *, the hydration properties including water holding capacity (WHC) and oil binding capacity (OBC), and the content of total acid, ascorbic acid, and soluble solids were improved compared to commercial spray dried and freeze dried samples. All the above results suggested that FDP was an adequate procedure for the production of high-quality tomato powder.

Study of Chemical Properties of Lycopene Containing Tomato Purees

A study on chemical properties of different treatments prepared using dried tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum), tomato pulp & water was carried out at School of Home Science, B.B.A.U, LUCKNOW during July 2020 to May 2021 to find out most appropriate treatment/puree having high content of lycopene and Vitamin-C, which can be used during off season for consumption, as a substitute to fresh tomatoes. Apart from lycopene & Vitamin-C; total soluble solids, acidity, ascorbic acid content, ash, moisture and pH of the samples drawn from different treatments were also studied during the investigation. Five different types of treatments viz. Dried tomato powder without food additives (T1), Mixture of tomato powder and water (ratio 1:10) without heating (T2), Mixture of tomato powder and water (ratio 1:10) heating at 60-70⁰C for 5 minutes (T3), Fresh tomato pulp (T4) & Tomato pulp cooked at 60-70⁰C for 35 minutes (T5) were used in the investigation. The effect of these treatments was discernible, as reflected on content of lycopene & Vitamin-C. The highest Lycopene content of 90.34±4.18 mg per 100 g was obtained from tomato pulp cooked at 60-70⁰C for 35 minutes followed by dried tomato powder without food additives (66.47±2.02 mg per 100 g). Similarly, highest content of Vitamin-C i.e. 109.03±6.68 mg per 100 g was obtained from dried tomato powder without food additives and lowest 19.43±0.95 mg per 100 g from mixture of tomato powder and water (ratio 1:10) heating at 60-70⁰C for 5 minutes. These results appeared highly promising considering the nature of powder & pulp.

Dietary tomato inhibits angiogenesis in TRAMP prostate cancer but is not protective with a Western-style diet in this pilot study

Prostate cancer (PCa) remains the second most diagnosed cancer worldwide. Higher body weight is associated with chronic inflammation, increased angiogenesis, and treatment-resistant tumor phenotypes. Dietary tomato reduces PCa risk, which may be due to tomato inhibition of angiogenesis and disruption of androgen signaling. This pilot study investigated the interplay between tomato powder (TP), incorporated into control (CON) and obesogenic (OB) diets, and PCa tumor growth and blood perfusion over time in a transgenic model of PCa (TRAMP). Ultrasound microvessel imaging (UMI) results showed good agreement with gold-standard immunohistochemistry quantification of endothelial cell density, indicating that this technique can be applied to non-invasively monitor tumor blood perfusion in vivo. Greater body weight was positively associated with tumor growth. We also found that TP significantly inhibited prostate tumor angiogenesis but that this inhibition differentially affected measured outcomes depending on CON or OB diets. TP led to reduced tumor growth, intratumoral inflammation, and intratumoral androgen-regulated gene expression (srd5a1, srd5a2) when incorporated with the CON diet but greater tumor growth and intratumoral gene expression when incorporated with the OB diet. Results from this study show that protective benefits from dietary tomato are lost, or may become deleterious, when combined with a Western-style diet.

Optimization of Osmotic Dehydration Coupled to Hot Air Drying for the Production of Tomato Powder and Reconstituted Concentrates

The brine temperature (X1), the NaCl concentration (X2), the drying temperature (X3), and the drying time (X4) were the 4 parameters explored in this study, which aimed to model the OD-Drying coupling of fresh tomato. A 4 factors Box-Behnken experimental design associated to the response surface methodology (RSM). A transformation of the usual quadratic model was necessary to fit the experimental results. From the obtained models, relationships between the studied factors and the followed responses were establish. From the multicriteria optimization, the following conditions were found as optimal: X1 = 65 ℃, X2 = 5%, X3 = 43.88 ℃ and X4 = 24h. The tomato powder obtained by reproduction of optimal conditions showed better properties than the tomato powder produced by local farmer by sun drying, but similar characteristics as the concentrate prepared from it. From the fresh tomato to the tomato powder obtain using the optimal conditions, the overall quality lost is relatively low.