Effects of Lactic Acid Fermentation on the Retention of Beta-Carotene Content in Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes

This study aimed to establish the effects of lactic fermentation on the levels of β-carotene in selected orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) varieties from Kenya. Furthermore,it sought to demonstrate fermentation as a potential process for making new products from sweet potato with enhanced nu-traceutical attributes. The varieties (Zapallo, Nyathiodiewo and SPK004/06) were fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum MTCC 1407 at 25 ± 2ºC for 48 h and kept for 28 days to make lacto-pickles. During fermentation both analytical (pH, titratable acidity (TA), lactic acid (LA), starch, total sugar, reducing sugar (g/kg roots), texture (N/m2), β-carotene (mg/kg roots)) and sensory (texture, taste, flavour and after taste) attributes of sweet potato lacto-juice were evaluated. Process conditions were optimized by varying brine levels, with fermentation time. A UV-visible spectrophotometer was used to identify and quantify β-carotene. Any significant variations (p < 0.05) in analytical attributes between the fermented and unfermented samples (pH, LA, TA and β-carotene concentration) of lacto-pickles, prepared from the potato roots, were assessed. The study reported a final composition of 156.49mg/kg, 0.53mg/kg, 0.3N/m2, 1.3g/kg, 5.86g/kg, 0.5g/kg and 5.86g/kg for β-carotene, Ascorbic acid, texture; Starch, total sugars, LA and TA respectively, and a pH of 3.27. The fermented products were subjecte