Effect of Magnetic Field Pre-treatment on the Fibre Content of Sweet Pepper and Fluted Pumpkin Leaves.

Abstract

Sweet pepper (SP) and Fluted pumpkin leaves (FPL) vegetables contain fibre. Thermal pre-treatment (heat addition) of vegetables during processing has the tendency of reducing their qualities. Magnetic field (MF) as a non-thermal method of food pre-treatment is still grossly underutilized. Therefore, three (3) MF pre-treatment parameters (MF types, MF strength and pre-treatment time) were imposed on SP and FPL for the investigation of their effect on the fibre content of the two vegetables. A device working on electromagnetism principle was used to conduct the experiment designed. The average capacity and highest value of MF strength of the device are 20 g/min and 30 mT respectively. The fibre content of all pre-treated samples and controls (blanched and fresh) were analysed using standard procedures. Results showed that pre-treatment with MF led to fibre content of about 1.7 – 2.6% for SP and 6 – 10% for FPL; but samples of blanched SP and FPL had 1.8% and 7.5% respectively. MF pre-treatment in most cases led to better values of fibre than blanching for SP and FPL.