Abstract:
Tomato and tomato‐based products play a vital role in human diet due to the pres‐
ence of bioactive compounds. The conventional heat treatment is designed as a cur‐
rent practice in tomato products industry to ensure food safety but it can lead to
undesirable changes both in the nutritional and in the sensory properties of the prod‐
ucts. In order to avoid these unfavorable changes during the heat treatment, novel
thermal, and non‐thermal processing technologies have been receiving much atten‐
tion with the aim of improving and replacing conventionally processed products.
Among them, some of the most promising technologies of high pressure processing,
pulsed electric fields, and power ultrasound in comparison to conventional thermal
processing technologies are highlighted in this article. This review presents recent
scientific information on impact of these technologies on physico‐chemical, organo‐
leptic, and microbial properties of tomato‐based products. Furthermore, it analyses
and discusses the opportunities and drawbacks in commercial applications.
Practical applications
The preservation of tomato and tomato products is of primary interest for the food
industry. Several novel thermal and non‐thermal technologies—discussed in this re‐
view—could be utilized for the production of high quality tomato‐based products.
These technologies are increasingly attracting the attention of food processors as
they efficiently provide products with extended shelf life and higher quantities of
labile bioactive compounds when compared to conventionally processed products
