STABILITY OF LYCOPENE IN CV. SALADETTE TOMATOES (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) STORED UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS

The objectives of this study were to determine the concentration of lycopene in cv. Saladette tomato subjected to blanching (thermal treatment), to extract the carotenoid and to evaluate the stability of the pigment in solutions added with and without antioxidants, in conditions of darkness at 4, 20 and 60 degrees C, and in fluorescent light at 20 degrees C during 30 days. The concentration of lycopene in non blanched tomatoes was 79.20 mu g/g, while in blanched tomatoes it was 75.25 mu g/g, none presenting any significant difference. The degradation of lycopene in solution during storage in darkness, fluorescent light or different temperatures, followed a reaction of the first order. In conditions of darkened or lightened storing at 20 degrees C, the retention of the carotenoid in both experiments was greater for solutions containing lycopene extracted from blanched tomatoes than for solutions with pigment extracted from unblanched tomatoes after 30 days. When the pigment in solution with antioxidants added was stored at different temperatures, the greatest lycopene retention was in darkness at 4 degrees C. In contrast, pigment degradation was greater in conditions of light and 20 degrees C, than in darkness at 60 degrees C. The constant rate of lycopene degradation increased when elevating temperature.