The Effect of High Hydrostatic Pressure on Physicochemical Properties and Microbial Load of Lime Juice in Comparison with Thermal Techniques

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article- En

Authors

R. Babagoltabar Samakoosh ¹

H. Sadrnia ¹

S. M. Mirzababaee ²

¹ Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

² Department of Green Technologies in Processing, Research Institute of Food Science and Technology, Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/jam.2026.98134.1479

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) processing applying at 600 MPa for 10 min on pH, total soluble solids, total acidity, total phenolic content, vitamin C, pectin methyl esterase activity, and microbial load of lime juice (Citrus Latifolia, Persian variety) immediately after treatment and during 45 days of storage at 20°C in comparison with conventional thermal pasteurisation at 72°C for 20 s. HHP treatment decreased pH and °Brix of lime juice, while thermal treatment had no effect on the mentioned parameters. The influence of HHP on pH and °Brix was not practically considerable. Total acidity was changed insignificantly by both treatments. Storage time caused a significant reduction in the pH and °Brix values of all samples. Total acidity of thermal and HHP of the treated samples remained stable until the 14^th and 29^th days, respectively. But then, there was a significant increase until the end of storage. The best retention of total phenolic (82.51%) and ascorbic acid (91.61%) content was observed by high-pressure processing during storage. Pectin methyl esterase was significantly inactivated by thermal and HHP processing, immediately after treatments. The residual activities were 5.69% and 3.59% at the end of the storage period, respectively. Initial contamination of control lime juice with acidophilic bacteria and total moulds and yeasts was 5.7 ± 0.51 and 4.79 ± 0.28 log CFU mL^-1, respectively. Immediately after treatment, high-pressure processing decreased the microbial load beyond detectable levels. The population of microorganisms remained stable until the 14^th day (for acidophilic) and during the whole time of the storage period (for total moulds and yeasts) under HHP processing.

Keywords

High Hydrostatic Pressure

Lime Juice

Microbial Load

Thermal Pasteurisation

Vitamin C

Subjects

• Postharvest, Processing and Agri-food Engineering

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Authors retain the copyright. This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)

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