Czech J. Food Sci., 2015, 33(4):384-391 | DOI: 10.17221/531/2014-CJFS

Effects of pre- and post-harvest factors on the selected elements contents in fruit juicesFood Technology and Economy, Engineering and Physical Properties

Francisco J.A. Paula^1,2,3, Raquel P.F. Guiné^1,2, Luísa Cruz-Lopes^1,4, Armando C. Duarte⁵, Anabela O.S. Fragata⁶, Manuel A.L. Reis 7

¹ CI & DETS, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Campus Politécnico, Viseu, Portugal

² Department of Food Engineering, ESAV, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Quinta da Alagoa, Viseu, Portugal

³ URFIC, S.A., R.Ed.A.M. Coimbra, Tondela, Portugal

⁴ Environment Department, ESTGV, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Campus Politécnico, Viseu, Portugal

⁵ Department of Chemistry & CESAM, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, Portugal

⁶ Department of Management, Administration and Tourism, ESTGL, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Lamego, Portugal

⁷ Department of Mathematics, ESTGV, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Campus Politécnico, Viseu, Portugal

Pre- and post-harvest factors determine the levels of the selected risk elements in100% fruit juices. The juices samples closely followed the Brix international reference values. Fruit juices presented the following order of the elements mean concentrations: cadmium (1.597 μg/l), chromium (2.767 μg/l), lead (20.75 μg/l), nickel (73.37 μg/l), zinc (545.9 μg/l), and iron (1792 μg/l), measured by AAS. The pre-harvest factors (origin, fruit, and agriculture) and the post-harvest factors (blending, packaging, conservation, pasteurisation, and process) were evaluated according to the manufacturers information and were correlated with the elements concentrations of fruit juices. A strong relationship was detected between the fruit species used for the juice production (i.e. pre-harvest factor) and their elements concentrations. Furthermore, multiple correspondence analysis was used for reducing the data dimension by grouping the factors. The zinc concentration was detected as a potential proxy for the identification of the fruit juices manufacturing process.

Keywords: processing effects; trace metals; atomic absorption; chemometric

Published: August 31, 2015  Show citation