The impact of thermal processing on bioactive compounds in Australian native food products (bush tomato and Kakadu plum)

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of food processing on the survival of bioactive compounds in Australian bush food products. The lycopene, beta carotene, and ascorbic acid were detected from bush tomato sauce, bush tomato ketchup and Kakadu plum chilli and ginger sauce. The finished product samples were collected during real food production line at three interval times; beginning, middle and the end of the real time manufacturing processes. The bioactive contents from the three products were stable throughout the heating process. In another experiment, bush tomato sauce (16% dried bush tomato content), Kakadu plum sauce (70% Kakadu plum filtrate) were prepared in the laboratory. Bioactive contents (lycopene and beta carotene) in lab formulated bush tomato sauce increased by 48 and 14% respectively. In contrast, ascorbic acid content in the Kakadu plum sauce lost by 16.9%. The experiment suggested that heat processing increased the level of lycopene and betacarotene but minimised ascorbic acid content in processed Australian Bush food products.