Quality attributes of homemade tomato sauce stored at different temperatures

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is processed into different products including tomato sauce. The aim of this study was to determine the quality attributes of homemade tomato sauce during storage at 6 and 30°C for 8 weeks. At 4 weeks, there were no significant changes in sensory attributes during storage at both 6 and 30°C. There were significant differences (P˂0.05) of sensory attributes after 6 weeks. Sauce stored at 30°C had higher microbial load than at 6°C. Both sensory mean scores and pH were inversely related to microbial growth. Therefore, the shelf-life of homemade tomato sauce could be increased at low temperature (6°C). Key words: Homemade tomato sauce, storage temperatures, sensory, attributes.