abstract
This study aims to assess the changes that are induced by thermal and non-thermal treatments on
acidified and non-acidified carrot juice. Glucono-delta lactone (GDL) was used to reduce the pH of juice
to 5.5. Carrot juice was treated using high pressure (HP) and mild heating (MH). The microbiological
safety, physicochemical parameters,aandb-carotene content and sensory characterisation were evaluated for 29 days of storage at 5±2
C. Both treatments resulted in an equivalent reduction of microbial
growth, and compared with the unprocessed samples, both HPP and MH processes induced modifications in the carotene content, colour, acidity and
Brix. These changes remained stable during storage.
HPP processing provides carrot juice with better sensory properties than MH. Acidification by adding
GDL did not significantly extend the shelf-life but had a detrimental effect on the sensory attributes.