Portal de Cartagena

www.portaldecartagena.com

• Home
• Business
• Hotels
• Restaurants
• News
• Advertisement

The doctoral thesis of Arjmandi Iranian Mitra at the Institute of Plant Biotechnology UPCT has shown that this heat treatment is faster and produces better results than conventional

Pasteurization by a short sharp heat treatment improves the quality of vegetables shakes.

This is the main conclusion of the thesis that the Iranian researcher Mitra Arjmandi has done in the group of postharvest and Refrigeration (GPR) and the Plant Biotechnology Institute (IBV) of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT).

Research has focused on the effect on tomato shakes heating at high power (up to 3,600 watts and 90 degrees) over short periods of 35 seconds, a new microwave continuously.

"The tests were conducted on a semi-industrial prototype furnace, which has a shuttle system to homogenize the temperature," explains the director of the IBV, Francisco Artés Calero, who led the thesis with Encarna Aguayo.

The results have shown that this, faster than hitherto used by agribusiness, heat treatment improves product quality and further maintaining its viscosity and its original color due to the extraction of lycopene, a bioactive compound.

Smoothies and pasteurized retain more vitamins and them is further reduced enzyme activity and microbial growth, achieving greater functional in summary, sensory and microbiological quality.

"Shakes vegetables ( '' smoothies' in English) are innovative very healthy food, rich in bioactive compounds, to which the industry is going," Aguayo said.

Researchers in postharvest and Refrigeration UPCT, plus tomato, are working on the development of new shakes broccoli and beets.

The author of the thesis, who has researched at the Polytechnic of Cartagena for three and a half years now rejoin her teaching job at the University of Tehran.

"I've learned a lot and I am very grateful to my colleagues in the GPR and IBV for their help" said English Arjmandi, who met UPCT through Iranian colleagues who have done research stays here.

Source: UPCT