Quality and consumer acceptance of radio frequency and traditional heat pasteurised kiwi puree during storage

Summary To explore the feasibility of using radio frequency (RF) heating as a method to process kiwi puree, this study compared the effects of RF heating with traditional heat pasteurisation (TP) on various properties of kiwi puree. RF treatment completely inactivate of microbes in kiwi puree, with total aerobic bacteria counts (TAC) decreased by 4.81 log CFU mL−1 and yeast and mould counts (YMC) decreased by 2.62 log CFU mL−1, which are similar to TP treatment. During the 7 weeks’ storage, RF-treated puree showed retarded growth of microbes. The pH, titratable acidity and °Brix values of RF-treated samples were significantly different from those of the control. The vitamin C, total phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of RF-treated samples were significantly higher than those of TP-treated samples during storage. RF-treated sample retained better colour than TP-treated sample throughout storage. The customer satisfaction analysis indicated that consumers prefer RF-treated kiwi puree than TP-treated samples. These findings suggest that RF heating has potential applications in processing of kiwi puree or similar products.