CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

BACKGROUND: Adding value to conventional fruit juices by including prebiotic compounds into their formulation and preserving them using non-thermal, eco-friendly and safe technologies represent interesting and strategic approaches to diversify healthy and innovative food products. In this context, the effect of ultrasound-assisted processing (for 15 and 30 min, 40 kHz, 180 W) on microbiological, physicochemical, nutritional and sensory quality of prebiotic-rich strawberry juices was investigated during storage (14 days, 5 °C). RESULTS: Compared to untreated samples, the applied preservation treatments enhanced the microbiological and nutritional quality of samples by significantly reducing native microflora counts (reductions up to 1 log CFU mL−1 at day 14) and increasing the total phenolic content (by more than 25% in comparison to controls at day 14) leading to higher antioxidant capacity of prebiotic-rich strawberry juices. Ultrasound processing and prebiotic enrichment had no negative effect on sensory attributes of enriched samples, suggesting that this non-thermal technique successfully retained the fresh-like attributes of strawberry juices during their shelf-life, contributing to the good sensory stability of juices. In addition, ultrasound treatments had no detrimental impact on physicochemical quality and ascorbic acid content of enriched samples, showing similar stability to control samples during storage. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our results, ultrasound processing appears to be a promising non-thermal technique for ensuring a stable product from both microbiological and sensory points of view with improved antioxidant capacity and unaltered physicochemical quality while offering a healthier, nutritive and valuable food alternative. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.