Degradation Kinetics of Betacyanins during the Pasteurization and Storage of Cactus Pear (Opuntia dillenii Haw.) Juice Using the Arrhenius, Eyring, and Ball Models

Abstract

Betacyanin stability was assessed over temperatures ranging from 60 to 90 °C for cactus pear (Opuntia dillenii Haw.) juice. The juice showed a betacyanin content of 0.76 g/kg. The rate constants for the betacyanin degradation and isothermal kinetic parameters were calculated according to the following three models: Arrhenius, Eyring, and Ball. The fittings of the models were found to be close to one other with SSE values of 0.0964, 0.0964, and 0.0974, respectively. However, because the estimated parameters for the Ball equation happened to be less correlated than the parameters of the other models, this equation was then used for the simulations. The parameters for z and D0 were 42.21 °C and 6.79 × 104 s, respectively. Betacyanins were found to resist typical heat treatment conditions (F70°C values between 100 and 200 min), with a maximum loss of 10% when the temperature was above 80 °C. The time/temperature combinations that could assure both the safety of the product and the preservation of the betacyanins were identified. With Enterococcus faecalis as the reference, when the temperature was 100 °C, the pasteurization time satisfying these two conditions was 0.6 min, whereas it was 180 min when the temperature was 62 °C. The degradation of betacynins during storage was positively correlated with temperature and was accompanied by the appearance of a brown shade.