Effects of cutting and maturity on lycopene concentration of fresh-cut tomatoes during storage at different temperatures

To investigate the changes in lycopene concentration of fresh-cut tomato during storage, tomato fruits at different stages of maturity were cut into 7 mm slices and stored at temperatures varying from 2°C to 16°C. To assess the effect of cutting, intact fruit were stored in an additional experiment at 5°C. Cutting did not change the accumulation of lycopene in fruit stored at 5°C, compared to intact fruit. The lycopene concentration of the tomato slices stored at different temperatures showed net increases of lycopene concentration for all maturity stages tested at temperatures of 8°C and higher. At lower temperatures no increases or small decreases were observed. The lycopene concentration was considered to be the net result of production and degradation of lycopene. Kinetic models for different pathways were tested. The reaction rate constant for lycopene formation at 8°C was estimated at 2.16 ± 0.24 ¿ 10-2 µg/mg.day. The estimated activation energy for the lycopene formation (92.4 ± 7.3 kJ/mol) indicates that this process is highly dependent on temperature. The degradation rate constant was estimated at 2.99 ± 0.61 ¿ 10-2 (1/day) and, over the temperature range studied, the degradation rate was not dependent on temperature