The Protective Effect of Ascorbic Acid in Degradation of β-Carotene and Capsanthin During Storage of Paprika Powderika Powder

Abstract

Consumers are developing a growing interest in what is present in their food supply and particularly what is added to it in way of food additives. There has always been a desire for attractively coloured foods and the food industry will continue to require a wide array of acceptable, safe food colorants to satisfy consumer's preferences. Carotenoids are used extensively as natural, non-toxic colorants in food. In fact, the natural pigments are more acceptable to consumers as they have always been present in natural foods and are really metabolised. The ripe fruits of the different varieties of peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) are a good source of carotenoid pigments due to their high concentration in these compounds. In their natural environment the carotenoid pigments are fairly stable, but when the foodstuff is harvested, they become much more labile. These products lose colour easily due to the low stability of the pigments. The colour impairment during storage of paprika powder is a serious problem in many factories and enterprises. This degradation is attributable to many factors namely variety of paprika, moisture content, ripeness stage at harvest and healthy state of dry fruits before grinding. As an attempt to control colour degradation of paprika powders during storage, ascorbic acid was added to the paprika powder. In fact ascorbic acid is an effective antioxidant which inhibits oxidation of the carotenoids. Pepper fruit is a rich source of ascorbic acid and this compound is a natural antioxidant largely used in prepared food. In the presence of ascorbic acid lipid hydroperoxides are reduced to alcohol, and thus propagation of free radicals during lipid oxidation is aborted to a high extent. The objectives of our work were the separation and quantitative determination of colour pigments of the paprika powders. We have studied the influence of various environmental conditions, as time storage, concentration of ascorbic acid added to the powder samples and presence or absence of light, on the stability of capsanthin and beta-carotene using multivariate mathematical-statistical methods such as stepwise regression analysis.