Abstract/Summary

Microemulsions (MEs) could be considered as promising nutraceutical carriers for anthropoid consumption where their stability during storage is a real advantage. Considering powerful health benefits of lycopene and constant growing interest in green and safe extraction techniques, current study was aimed at ME extraction of lycopene from tomato industrial waste and monitoring of rheological behaviour, turbidity, refractive index, and colour characteristics of the developed ME during storage. Within 3 months, no significant changes were noted in the rheological behaviour and refractive indices of lycopene MEs in three different storage temperatures (5, 25, and 45 °C). However, at higher temperatures (25 and 45 °C), there was a progressive but slow increase in the turbidity, total colour difference, chroma, hue angle, and browning index values, whereas those stored at 5 °C presented no or fairly small changes over the study period. All in all, the best storage condition for the lycopene ME was concluded to be cold temperature under which it can stay almost unchanged for relatively long periods of time. Potential applications of lycopene MEs can be a wide range of beverages and foods which would result in their better colour and a well-documented health-promoting quality.