Comparative study: Thermal and non-thermal treatment on enzyme deactivation and selected quality attributes of fresh carrot juice

Summary The combined effect of emerging electro-technology high-voltage cold plasma (HVCP) and non-thermal ultra-high hydrostatic pressure (UHP) as bioprocess technologies on the quality and stability of carrot juice has been evaluated. Carrot juice was treated with HVCP (70 kV for 3 min), UHP (300, 400, and 500 MPa) at 25 °C for 5 min, and a blanched sample of 100 °C for 5 min (BS) was also prepared. As compared to control and single treatments, the combined treatment (HVCP-UHP500) has attained better results in terms of enzyme inactivation and electroporation extraction of coloring compounds, phytochemicals, and ascorbic acid. Wherein, the maximum of 25.87 ± 0.12 a µg/100 mL of β-Carotene, 11.89 ± 0.80 a GAE (µg g −1 ) of total phenols, and 24.07 ± 0.12 b mg/100 mL of ascorbic acid content in carrot juice were also observed in the combined treatment at 500 MPa. In addition, phytochemical enhancement might be attributed to the disintegration of phenolic dimers into simple aglycones, predominantly because of the electro-kinetic phenomenon of HVCP, which is subsequently intensified by UHP treatment. Therefore, the current study suggests that the combination of two novel techniques is a highly efficient method in terms of energy, time, and cost, with low yield efficiency and bio-safety.