Effect of thermal processing and chemical preservatives on the physicochemical and phytochemical parameters of carrot juice

Vegetables are important constituents of the diet and provide significant quantities of nutrients especially vitamins, minerals and fiber. Daily consumption of vegetables reduces the risk of cancer, heart disease, premature ageing, stress and fatigue primarily due to the integrated action of oxygen radical scavengers. One such vegetable available is carrot, which is an excellent source of P-carotene and antioxidants. Carrot is a cool season crop and during the harvesting season, large quantities get spoiled due to excess production. So a Long term preservation method is required that could be useful to prevent spoilage of Carrot such that it could be consumed in off seasons as well. Keeping in view the nutrirional and therapeutic value of carrot its juice was processed and treated with different chemical additives and tested for various physichochemical, phytochemical characteristics and antioxidant activity. At the end of storage period of six months, KMS treated samples were found to retain the maximum nutritional quality. There was significant(p<0.05) increase in the shelf stability of the chemically preserved juices than the thermally treated samples.