Folate Content in Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Influence of Cultivar, Ripeness, Year of Harvest, and Pasteurization and Storage Temperatures

The effects of cultivar, on-vine ripening, and year of harvest on the folate content of raw tomatoes were studied. Folate content in hot-break tomato puree (HTP) subjected to pasteurization at different temperatures and its evolution during the shelf life of tomato juice were also investigated. 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate (5-CH3-H-4-folate) was the only folate compound identified in raw tomatoes and HTP, but tetrahydrofolate (H-4-folate) was 10% of the folate detected in tomato juice. The content of folates in raw tomatoes ranged from 4.1 to 35.3 mu g/100 g of fresh weight and was highly influenced by all of the factors studied. No clear trend of folate content with ripening stage was observed. The extractability of 5-CH3-H-4-folate from HTP increased significantly after pasteurization at 98 degrees C for 40 s, but higher temperatures decreased its content. Tomato juice showed folate losses during storage independent of the storage temperature. Folate losses were higher when tomato juice was packed in glass bottles than in Tetra Pak.