Techno-functional properties of tomato puree fortified with anthocyanin pigments

Abstract This study investigates the effects of tomato puree fortification with several anthocyanin-rich food colorants on bioactive compound content (phenolics, isoprenoids), antioxidant capacity, in vitro biological activities and consumer acceptance. Tomato puree ( tp ) was added with different anthocyanin extracts from black carrot (Anthocarrot), grape fruit skins (Enocolor), elderberry fruits (Elderberry) or mahaleb cherry fruits (Mahaleb), thus obtaining a ‘functional tomato puree’ ( ftp ). The consumer acceptance (colour, flavor, taste, visual appearance) was at high level, except for Mahaleb-added ftp . Compared to the control ( tp ), the addition of colouring extracts increased significantly the total phenolic content, before pasteurization, in addition to the expected anthocyanin content. However, after pasteurization, mostly Anthocarrot-ftp preserved an increased phenolic (+53%) content, as well as a higher antioxidant capacity (50%), more than the other added-extracts. Consistently, against tp , Anthocarrot-ftp exhibited an increased anti-inflammatory capacity as showed by the reduced expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 in human cultured endothelial cells, under inflammatory conditions.