Influence of technical processing units on chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of carrot (Daucus carrot L.) juice essential oil

The effect of three processing units (blanching, enzyme liquefaction, pasteurisation) on chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of carrot juice essential oil was investigated in this paper. A total of 36 compounds were identified by GC–MS from fresh carrot juice essential oil. The main constituents were carotol (20.20%), sabinene (12.80%), β-caryophyllene (8.04%) and α-pinene (6.05%). Compared with the oil of fresh juice, blanching and pasteurisation could significantly decrease the components of the juice essential oil, whereas enzyme liquefaction had no considerable effect on the composition of juice essential oil. With regard to the antimicrobial activity, carrot juice essential oil could cause physical damage and morphological alteration on microorganisms, while the three different processing units showed noticeable differences on the species of microorganisms, the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration. Results revealed that the carrot juice essential oil has great potential for application as a natural antimicrobial applied in pharmaceutical and food industries.