Trichomoniasis in humans, caused by the protozoal parasite Trichomonas vaginalis, is the most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease, while Tritrichomonas foetus causes trichomonosis, an infection of the gastrointestinal tract and diarrhea in farm animals and domesticated cats. As part of an effort to determine the inhibitory effects of plant-based extracts and pure compounds, seven commercially available cherry tomato varieties were hand-peeled, freeze-dried, and pounded into powders. The anti-trichomonad inhibitory activities of these peel powders at 0.02% concentration determined using an in vitro cell assay varied widely from 0.0% to 66.7% against T. vaginalis G3 (human); from 0.9% to 66.8% for T. foetus C1 (feline); and from 0.0% to 81.3% for T. foetus D1 (bovine). The organic Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme (D) peels were the most active against all three trichomonads, inhibiting 52.2% (G3), 66.8% (C1), and 81.3% (D1). Additional assays showed that none of the powders inhibited the growth of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic fungi, or non-pathogenic lactobacilli. Tomato peel and pomace powders with high content of described biologically active compounds could serve as functional food and feed additives that might help overcome adverse effects of wide-ranging diseases and complement the treatment of parasites with the anti-trichomonad drug metronidazole.

Color and thermal‐ and pH‐stability of anthocyanins from a grape cell suspension culture were compared with those of commercial food colorants using Hunter and spectrophotometric analysis. At pH 3, grape cell anthocyanins showed color vividness (Chroma) similar to red cabbage and higher than that of other samples and a hue (Theta) similar to purple corn and redder than other samples. Brown oxidized phenolics were absent from the cell culture and red cabbage preparations, but were found in other samples. Color loss during incubation at 30 and 95°C, pH 3 and during an increase in pH from 3 to 5 was more severe for cell culture than red cabbage anthocyanins probably indicating they were intrinsically more sensitive.

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