Effect of heat treatment on vitamin content during the manufacture of food products at industrial scale

Abstract

The molecular structure of vitamins makes them easily degradable under various conditions such as temperature, pressure, and pH. It is necessary to understand and determine the stability of vitamins during the processing of food products to ensure their presence at the time of consumption. In this study, the degradation of vitamins added was assessed before and after heat treatments during the manufacturing of food products. Vitamins of interest were quantified by HPLC. The results obtained allowed to establish that prolonged heating of the product caused water-soluble vitamins degradation. The greatest degradation was observed for vitamin B12, decreasing by 94% in a baby porridge product after pasteurizing at 85 °C for 15 s. In contrast, vitamin B1 showed the lowest reduction in a chocolate milk, decreasing by 4% after ultra-high-temperature (UHT) treatment at 139 °C for 5s.