A kinetic study of furan formation during storage of shelf-stable fruit juices

To this day, research for furan mitigation has mostly targeted the levels of food production and handling of prepared foods by the consumer. The present study demonstrated the importance of appropriate (moderate) storage conditions for shelf-stable fruit juices, because the furan concentrations of pasteurized orange and mango juices originated from the storage phase, rather than the thermal preservation step. For both juices, the increase in furan concentration during storage was best described by an empirical, logistic model. The duration of the lag phase decreased as a linear function of the storage temperature, while the maximum reaction rate constant followed the Arrhenius law. Furthermore, the rate of furan formation was clearly matrix-dependent, which could be attributed to the differences in juice composition (sugars, ascorbic acid and carotenoids). Next to furan, the juices were also analyzed for 2- and 3-methylfuran. Like for furan, the methylfuran concentrations were matrix-dependent and seemed to increase as a function of storage time and temperature.