Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Use of hydrogen peroxide to remove sulfur dioxide from over-sulfite dried apricots

19^th International Conference on Food Processing & Technology

October 23-25, 2017 | Paris, France

Fatmagul Hamzaoglu, Meltem Turkyilmaz and Mehmet Ozkan

Ankara University, Turkey

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Turkey supplies 75% of the dried apricots (DA) consumed in the world. DA lose their characteristic golden yellow color during storage due to browning reactions. Sulfuring is carried out to retard browning during drying and storage. Sulfuring is mostly accomplished by burning sulfur in an enclosed room and exposing fresh apricots to SO2 fumes. DA sometimes contain much higher SO2 levels (up to 6000 mg/kg) than legal limits (usually 2000 mg/kg). Therefore, it may become necessary to decrease the final SO2 level in DA. In this study, H2O2 was used to reduce sulfite content of oversulfited DA. FDA classifies H2O2 as GRAS and permits its use for various purposes. However, residual H2O2 should be removed during processing. DA were dipped into 0.5�??1.5% H2O2 solutions at 20°�??60oC for various times. No residual H2O2 was detected in samples treated with H2O2. H2O2 was very effective in reducing SO2 contents of DA. For example, at 1% H2O2 concentration at 40°C for 12 min treatment, SO2 content of DA decreased from 4184 to 2138 mg/kg. Removal of SO2 increased as H2O2 concentration and temperature increased. For example, at 20°C, 15% of total SO2 was removed from DA treated with 0.5% H2O2, whereas decrease in SO2 content was 31 and 42% at 1.0 and 1.5% H2O2concentrations, respectively. Similarly, at 1.0% H2O2 concentration for 10-min treatment, increasing temperature resulted in a considerable increase in the removal of SO2: 31% at 20°C, 47% at 40°C and 61% at 60°C. Results from reflectance color values showed that H2O2 treated DA had lighter, yellower and lower red color. The lower red color indicated the degradation of carotenoids. In conclusion, H2O2 treatment was very effecting reducing sulfites from DA. Critical factors for H2O2 application are choosing appropriate H2O2 concentration and temperature without bleaching the natural color of DA.

Biography :

Fatmagul Hamzaoglu completed her undergraduate studies in the Department of Food Engineering at Ankara University in 2013 and obtained Master of Science degree in the same department in 2016. She is currently working on her PhD in the same department since 2016.