Impacts of Lemon Juice Extract and Aframomum Danielli on Physicochemical and Microbiological Properties of Stored Peeled Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum. L)

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L) is an important fruit which plays an active role in human diets but deteriorate very fast due to its short shelf life. This necessitates the use of lemon juice extract and Aframomum danielli to preserve the food product. The study aimed at investigating the effects of lemon juice extract and Aframomum danielli on the storage of tomato. Fresh peeled tomato (cherry type variety) was packed in glass bottle. 5ml and 20ml of lemon juice extract and Aframomum danielli extracts were added to the samples respectively. At two weeks interval, the samples was evaluated for moisture content, ascorbic acids, pH , titratable acidity, lycopene, coliform, yeast, molds and total viable count for a period of twelve weeks. The results showed an increased in titratable acidity as the period of storage proceed while pH decreased as the storage period increased. There was a significant difference in moisture content between tomato treated at 5ml and 20ml of both preservatives at P<0.05. Lycopene content, ascorbic acids decreased as the period of storage increased at each week. The results of microbiological properties showed that the samples treated with 20% lemon juice and Aframomum danielli had the lowest count while the samples treated with 5% lemon juice and Aframomum danielli had higher count. This finding revealed that microbial load of the stored peeled tomato treated with 20% of both lemon juice and Aframomum danielli were within safe limit (1.0 x 106 ), therefore the stored peeled tomato can be stored adequately with 20% lemon juice and Aframomum danilelli.