Analytical characterization of flavan-3-ol-rich apple juices produced with the innovative spiral filter press technology.

The retention of flavan-3-ols and other phenolic compounds during apple juice production at pilot plant scale (200 kg, cv. Boskoop) was investigated. An oxygen-excluding spiral filter press and a conventional decanter were used with and without pectinase mash treatment. Phenolic compounds were comprehensively identified and quantitated by RP-UHPLC and HILIC, both coupled to DAD-FLD and DAD-ESI(-)-QTOF-HR-MS/MS. These techniques combined with using a NIST cocoa flavan-3-ol standard allowed for the first time an individual quantification of flavan-3-ol fractions (DP 1-7) in apple juices. Spiral filter-pressed juices were exposed to less oxidation and exhibited four times higher total phenolic compound levels than decanter-made juices (1016 vs. 262 mg/L). Apple juices derived from pectinase-treated mashes had lower total phenolic compound levels than their non-treated counterparts. However, those made by spiral filter press still retained significantly higher concentrations (780 vs. 104 mg/L). Flavan-3-ols were especially well retained by spiral filter press processing, reaching unprecedentedly high concentrations of up to 713 mg/L. A 280 mL serving of non-treated spiral filter-pressed juice would therefore suffice to provide the daily intake of 200 mg flavan-3-ols, equaling the dose of cocoa flavan-3-ols associated with an authorized European health claim for healthy blood flow.

Filter aid selection allows modulating the vanadium concentration in beverages.

This study reports a clear-cut relationship of the technological use of specific filter aids with highly variable vanadium levels in beer, wine, and fruit juices. First, the previously reported broad range of vanadium levels was confirmed in 68 commercial beverages by ICP-MS. Since cloudy apple juices exhibited significantly lower vanadium amounts than clear apple juices, filter aids used for clarification were analyzed and found to contain substantial and highly variable amounts of vanadium, particularly in all analyzed diatomite (38-368 mg vanadium per kg filter aid), but not in perlite products (<4 mg/kg). Subsequent pilot-scale precoat filtration experiments (170 L/batch) proved vanadium to be released from diatomite (Kieselguhr), increasing its levels from ca. 2.1-2.6 µg/kg unfiltered to 27-201 µg/kg filtered juice, depending on the use of diatomites high or low in vanadium. Thus, filter aid selection was shown to modulate the vanadium concentrations in clarified beverages.