Folates are water-soluble vitamins, involved in the limitation of diseases such as neural tube defects.Man is dependent on his food to cover its folates’ needs. Fruits and vegetables, particularly greenvegetables are one of the major dietary sources of folates. In the same time, green vegetables are mainlyconsumed as processed products, cooked frozen or canned. It is therefore important to controlprocessing parameters in order to preserve folates content in final products. The aim of this study was toidentify the impact of processing (industrial and domestic) on folates loss. Two industrial processingchains were studied: spinach freezing chain and green beans canning chain, home treatments consistedin vegetables boiling or steaming. Thermal treatments (blanching and steaming) did not induce asignificant decrease in folates concentrations. In contrast, losses were observed when vegetables were inclose contact with the water. This study identifies two mechanisms of losses, leaching and thermaldegradation. Folates diffusion was studied on a laboratory scale, the diffusion constants for folates weredetermined. Diffusion was more influenced by the matrix, than by temperature or pH. Some of thermaldegradation, including oxidation, can not be excluded during leaching experiments. Degradationkinetics were performed at different temperature, with different oxygen contents, from spinach andgreen beans puree as well as model solutions. Oxygen plays an important role in chemical degradation,especially in model solutions. Plant matrix seemed to have protective effect, maybe as a barrier tooxygen. Folates are generally fairly well preserved during processing. One of the perspectives would bethe study of the impact of processing on folates bioaccessibility
