Effects of Pre-Heating and Concentration Temperatures on Microbial and Sensory Quality of Semi Concentrated Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum) Paste

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Fresh tomato is one of the fruits with a short shelf life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of pre-heating and concentration temperatures on the microbiological and sensory quality of semi processed tomato paste. Breaking temperatures of 60ï‚°C, 70ï‚°C and 90ï‚°C for 7minutes and concentration temperatures of 8ï‚°C and 90ï‚°C were used to preparesemi tomato paste of 13 degree brix of total mesophilic aerobic plate counts and fungal counts and sensory quality were determined following standard methods. Increasing breaking temperature and concentration temperatures significantly (p<0.05) reduce microbial loads. Processing conditions have a great influence on the overall quality of the final product. The breaking process at 70ï‚°C and concentrating at 80ï‚°C shown good with higher overall sensory acceptability with lower number of microbial load with acceptable range. Therefore, breaking at 70ï‚°C and concentrating at 80ï‚°C can be adopted for commercial production of tomato paste.