Impact of pulsed light treatment on achieving microbial safety, enzymatic stability, and shelf life extension of dragon fruit juice

Abstract

Due to microbial and enzymatic spoilage, dragon fruit juice has a limited shelf life. This study examines the shelf life of dragon fruit juice treated with thermal and pulsed light (PL) processing and stored at 4°C. The thermal treatment at 95°C/3 min and PL treatment at 1.4 J cm−2 produce a microbially safe juice. Both thermal and PL‐treated juice samples were packed in ethylene vinyl alcohol pouches and stored at refrigerated conditions (4°C). The juice's microbial, enzymatic, and biochemical attributes were analyzed over 30 days of refrigerated storage. There is no significant influence (p < 0.05) on total soluble solids, pH, and titratable acidity. The thermally treated juice loses 36% of the total phenols and 22% of antioxidants. The loss of bioactive compounds is higher in thermal than in PL treatment. The shelf life of PL‐treated juice is 25 days, and thermal treatment juice is 30 days, based on the microbial analysis (6 log10 CFU mL−1). The study affirms the potential of PL treatment as an alternative technique for preserving dragon fruit juice.