Pasteurisation of tomato juice by high hydrostatic pressure treatment or by its combination with essential oils

Laboratory batches of fresh tomato juices were treated in several experimental trials by high hydrostatic pressure alone or in combination with various concentrations of oregano, thyme or dill seed oils. Lactic acid bacteria formed the dominating component of the spoilage microbiota during post-processing storage at 15 °C causing spoilage of the untreated samples within 4 days. One tenth of a percent oregano or thyme oils at least doubled the microbiological shelf life, while their respective concentrations of 0.5% alone, or 400 MPa 5-20 min high hydrostatic pressure treatment alone resulted in microbial stability for at least two weeks. Two hundred MPa for 10 min resulted only in an approx. 3 days delay of spoilage, whereas 0.1% thyme oil increased the efficiency of this moderate UHP-treatment, resulting in a microbiologically stable product for at least 3 weeks at the storage temperature applied.