IMPROVEMENT OF LYCOPENE EXTRACTION FROM TOMATOES BY ENZYME – ASSISTED TREATMENT

Abstract

Lycopene is a natural carotenoid pigment and a high value nutraceutical having wide use in the food, feed, medicinal and cosmetic industries. Both food researchers and producers always attract enhancement of the lycopene extraction yield from tomatoes. In this work, improvement of lycopene extraction by enzyme – assisted treatment from tomatoes was studied. Hydrolytic enzymes such as cellulases and pectinases were firstly screened for enzymatic treatment of tomato purée, then, some process parameters of the enzymatic treatment of tomatoes were optimized, with respect to concentration of the enzymes, tomato purée/water ratio, pH of tomato purée, temperature and incubation time. Lycopene extraction of enzymatic treatment of tomato purée by mix of solvents (hexane, acetone and ethanol: 2:1:1v/v/v) showed that: Pectinex Ultra Clear preparation attributed significantly to increase the extractability of tomato lycopene in comparison to Viscozymes L, Cellulast 1.5 and control samples (no enzyme addition). The highest lycopene yield was obtained, reached 163.35 mg/kg at their optimum parameters of enzymatic treatment, such as tomato purée/water ratio: 1/0; enzyme addition: 1 %; pH: 5.0; temperature: 50 oC and incubation time: 60 minutes.