Mild Enzymatic Method for the Extraction of Lycopene from Tomato Paste

Four commercial enzyme preparations containing cell-wall degrading enzyme activities were tested for their ability to facilitate lycopene extraction from tomato paste. At 25°C, up to 75.6% of the lycopene present in the tomato product was extracted by a two-stage procedure that consisted of a preliminary 5 hour enzyme incubation followed by a 3 hour solvent (hexane or ethyl acetate) extraction. Increasing the duration of the enzymatic treatment to 12–18 h allowed the recovery of 85–90% of total lycopene. The highest extraction yields were achieved by using enzyme preparations with polygalacturonase and pectin methylesterase in addition to pectin lyase or cellulase activities.