Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Abstract

Extraction of Antioxidants from Fruit Peels and its Utilization in Paneer

Soma Singh and Genitha Immanuel

Natural antioxidants have gained considerable interest in recent years for their role in preventing the auto oxidation of fats, oils and fat containing food products. In the present study, peels of pomegranate, lemon and orange were used as sources of natural antioxidants. Among the three extracts pomegranate exhibited a high percentage of antioxidant activity and phenolic content of 92.7%, 249.41 mg/g in comparison to lemon and orange peel extract. Maximum total phenolic content was found in lemon extract (0.9 mg/g). Paneer samples prepared by addition of natural antioxidant extracts from these peels where subjected to sensory studies which showed that the extracts at the level of 2% was acceptable and had greater ability to prevent peroxide formation. The ability to prevent peroxide formation in paneer sample was in the order of pomegranate peel> lemon peel> orange peel. Synthetic antioxidants generally used in food products like BHT and BHA are toxic and may cause health hazards. Fruit peels like pomegranate, lemon and orange are normally wasted during fruit processing thus a proper waste utilization of these peels were done. Natural antioxidants from these peels were extracted and then utilized in paneer to increase their shelf life by preventing peroxide formation. Thus these natural antioxidants could be added to any food product containing fat and oil to increase their shelf life by preventing rancidity.