Investigation of colour changes of some tomato products during frozen storage

The colour changes of frozen tomato pulp were investigated under different conditions of frozen storage (-25 degrees C; in open bags with presence of O-2 and in artificial light or darkness; in closed bags also in artificial light or darkness). In addition the antioxidative effect of tomato seeds and spices (sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, majoram) was studied. The colour change of tomato pulp was determined with instrumental colour measurement, the carotenoid pigments loss was measured with UV/VIS spectrophotometry. It was found that exposure to light and oxygen accelerated the colour loss and oppositely packaging and storage in darkness had a colour saving effect. The ground tomato seeds (5%) could stabilize the carotenoid pigments after longer time frozen storage (min. 10 weeks). The commercial spices (0.2%), mainly rosemary and marjoram significantly reduced the pigment degradation. The tomato seeds and the spices did not change significantly the taste of tomato pulp.