Effect of UV-C light on anthocyanin content and other quality parameters of pomegranate juice

Abstract Pomegranate juice (PJ) was subjected to UV-C irradiation as a non-thermal technology and changes in major quality characteristics of juice such as anthocyanins, polymeric colour, antioxidant activity and total phenol content were determined. The results were compared with control (untreated) and heat treated (at 90 °C, 2 min) juice samples. UV-C treatment preserved the major quality characteristics of pomegranate juice better than heating process. After UV-C treatment, total monomeric anthocyanin content of pomegranate juice did not change significantly and decrease in individual anthocyanin pigments were between 8.1% and 16.3%. However, anthocyanin content of PJ was significantly affected by heat treatment ( P P  > 0.05) while polymeric colour of PJ were significantly affected by heat treatment ( P Esherichia coli ATCC 25922 as a surrogate microorganism of E. coli O157:H7 in PJ resulted in 1.8, 1.45 and 6.15 log reductions, respectively.