Effect of ozonation parameters on nutritional and microbiological quality of sugarcane juice

Abstract

Sugarcane juice is susceptible to rapid spoilage and quality deterioration owing to browning of the juice and fermentation. To address this issue, ozonation of the juice has been attempted in this work. For optimization of ozonation process, response surface methodology based on full factorial design with control variables of gas flow rates (3, 6.5, and 10 L/min); ozone concentration (10, 20, and 30% wt/wt); and exposure time (5, 12.5, and 20 min) were employed. Physicochemical and microbiological indices were affected significantly by the gas flow rate irrespective of other two independent variables. Regression analysis showed that the predicted quadratic model fitted well with the experimental data and was significant (p < .05) with coefficient of determination (R2) for all responses >.9. Significant reductions in nutritional parameters, such as polyphenol content (13.5%), flavonoid content (22.5%), ascorbic acid content (81.46%), and antioxidant capacity (30%) were observed after ozonation. However, the treatment resulted in 67.8% inactivation of polyphenol oxidase enzyme and 3.72 log reduction in total plate count. Sensory analysis revealed that the treated juice was acceptable in terms of sensory properties. Thus, the ozone treatment was proved effective in enzyme inactivation and microbial destruction that offered enhanced anti-browning and antimicrobial properties to the sugarcane juice.