Effect of refrigerated storage on ascorbic acid content of orange juice treated by pulsed electric fields and thermal pasteurization

Application of pulsed electric fields (PEF) can lead to longer shelf life of fruit juices with minimal product quality loss and good retention of fresh-like flavour. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of PEF and conventional pasteurization (90 °C, 20 s) on ascorbic acid content of orange juice, and to assess modifications in ascorbic acid concentration of orange juice stored in refrigeration at 2 and 10 °C for 7 weeks. The ascorbic acid degradation rate was -0.0003, -0.0006, -0.0009 and -0.0010 μs⁻¹ for fields of 25, 30, 35 and 40 kV/cm, respectively. With selected PEF treatment (30 kV/cm and 100 μs) the shelf life based on 50% ascorbic acid losses was 277 days for the PEF-treated orange juice stored at 2 °C, while for the pasteurized juice was 90 days.