Stability of Phytochemicals during processing of plums

Abstract

newline The present investigations entitled Stability of phytochemicals during processing newlineof plums were conducted in the department of Food Science and Technology, University newlineof Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar. Plums represent one of the most important source of newlinebioactive compounds. They are highly perishable fruits and cannot be stored for more newlinethan 2 5 weeks even under optimum storage conditions. The study, therefore was newlineconducted to investigate the effect of processing and storage upon physicochemical, newlinephytochemical, sensory, microbiological and antiproliferative properties of plum. The newlineresults revealed that upon processing and storage of plums into jam and squash there was newlinea significant reduction in anthocyanin, ascorbic acid, total phenolic content and newlineantioxidant activity. Plum drying as well as storage also resulted in the significant loss of newlineascorbic acid, anthocyanins and total phenol content. However, antioxidant activity newlineincreased during drying. As regards to sensory evaluation, highest overall acceptability newlinescores were observed for jam and squash prepared from cv. Au Rosa. Although, newlinesignificant changes occur in nutritional and phytochemical components of plum cultivars newlineduring storage, these products remain shelf stable over a period of six months as depicted newlineby their total plate counts. Further, results indicate that antiproliferative properties of newlineplum samples against cancer lines decreased after processing. Amongst different newlineprocessing methods it was observed that highest cell proliferation inhibition (%) was newlineshowed by dried plum and lowest by squash against the cancer cell lines studied (MCF7 newlineand HCT-116). Krassivica cultivar represented significantly highest amount of newlineanthocyanins, ascorbic acid, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity and newlineantiproliferative potential. The study thus confirmed that genetic variations have newlinesignificant influence on physicochemical, phytochemical and antiproliferative properties newlineof plum. Further, the effect of addition of different concentrations......