Publication:

Extra-virgin olive oil enriched with lycopene: from industrial tomato by-products to consumer

Lycopene is usually extracted from the by-product of the tomato industry using organic solvents (OS) in combination with a physical technique. An emerging physical technique is high-pressure processing (HPP). This study aims to find a method by applying a green solvent (edible vegetable oils) in an HPP-assisted solid-liquid extraction. Three dosages of tomato by-product (10%, 20%, and 40%, w/v) were tested using OS, sunflower oil (RSO), and extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO). Lycopene recovery increased with the ratio of by-product to oil, particularly when using EVOO. In another stage of the study, consumers evaluated EVOO that contained two doses of tomato by-product (10% and 20%, w/v). Consumers preferred the EVOO from 10% tomato by-product ratio over that with 20%. Additionally, 83.8% of consumers stated that enriched oil could be deemed beneficial for health. The proposed method considers the fundamental principles of the circular economy and practical industrial scenario to recover lycopene from tomato by-product.