Quality Evaluation of Mixed Fruit based Rts Beverage

Abstract

Experimental studies were conducted for the production of bael and orange based RTS beverage and its quality evaluation. The quality attributes comprised of acidity, pH, optical density, TSS, ascorbic acid, total plate count and sensory quality parameters on 9- point hedonic scale. Evaluation of quality parameters were done for fresh as well as stored RTS samples at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 days of storage under different storage conditions. RTS beverage bael and orange samples were packed in glass bottles. The TSS and acidity of bael and orange RTS beverage increased with increase in the level of bael juice ratio at different storage condition and the optical density increased with increase in the level of orange juice ratio. The pH decreased with increase in the level of bael juice and pH values of the samples composition 60:40, 50:50 and 40:60 after 90 days of storage were observed as 1.49, 1.50 and 1.25 respectively, under refrigeration condition. The total plate count (TPC) of the RT$ samples of different bael and orange juice ratio of 60:40, 50:50 and 40:60 were observed as 1.098x 1 05cfu/ml, 1.095x 1 05cfu/ml and 1.090x 1 o5cfu/ml under refrigerator condition. The microbial growth increased during storage period irrespective of bael juice ratio at different storage condition. The vitamin-C (ascorbic acid) of the RTS samples were decreased during storage period. It might be due to the oxidation or irreversible conversion of L-ascorbic acid into dehydro ascorbic acid in the presence of enzyme ascorbic acid oxidase (ascorbinase) caused by trapped or residual oxygen in the glass bottles. The minimum ascorbic acid of the sample of juice ratio (bael and orange) 60:40, 50:50 and 40:60 after 90 days of storage were observed as 3.92, 3.63 and 3.98 respectively, under refrigeration condition. The higher score of overall acceptability was 8.225 for the fresh samples and the minimum scored awarded for overall acceptability was 7.325 for the RTS samples. However, the overall acceptability of beverage decreased with increase in storage period. It was concluded that refrigerated storage method was found to be superior over other methods. of storage of bael and orange based RTS beverage followed by BOD incubator and room temperature conditions.