Innovative technologies to increase bioactive compounds in carrots of the chantenay variety

Carrots have become a functional food ingredient, providing various nutraceuticals such as carotenoids and phenols. Postharvest treatments (cutting and UV-C radiation) can increase the content of bioactive compounds in carrots, prior to their incorporation as an ingredient in food formulations. In this work, the effect of cutting (shredding) and different doses of UV-C radiation on the content of phenolic compounds and antioxidants, as well as the color of carrots of the Chantenay variety, was evaluated. Carrots, obtained from producers in Santiago del Estero-Argentina, were washed, disinfected in a chlorine solution (200 ppm, 5 min) and drained. The ends of the carrots were cut and grated using a food processor. The samples were then subjected to the different treatments: T1 (control): grated carrots; T2 (control + I): samples incubated at 25 ºC for 24 h; T3-5 (UV-C): carrots with applied doses of UV-C: 10, 25 and 50 kJ/m2; T6-8 (UV-C + I): carrots incubated after being treated with the UV-C doses; T9-11 (I + UV-C): carrots incubated before UV-C. All treatments showed higher total phenol content with respect to the control (2.71 mg/g). UV-C treatments registered an increase of approximately 10%; however, when UV-C was combined with incubation, the increase was significantly higher, approximately 56 and 45% when performed before and after UV-C, respectively. I + 50 kJ/m2 treatment exhibited the highest value (6.97 mg/g). Antioxidant capacity presented similar behavior to total phenols. As for color parameters, no significant differences were observed without deterioration of visual quality. Thus, the application of stress by cutting followed by incubation and UV-C radiation would induce a higher accumulation of bioactive compounds, which would benefit the obtention of a carrot flour to be used as a new food ingredient with improved functional properties.