It is known that the industrial process of fruit pulping followed by freezing / thawing steps interferes with nutritional values. The objective of this study was to evaluate total phenolic compounds and antioxidant potential of cashew pulps during industrial processing. Samples of cashew pulps from 4 batches were supplied by a fruit pulp industry and harvested in the following processing steps: 1) immediately after pulping; 2) after being frozen for 90 days in a drum; 3) after passing through stages 1 and 2, it was fractionated in sachets and stored under freezing for 90 days. Phenolic compounds were quantified in acetone, ethanolic (95%) and methanolic extracts by the Folin-Ciocalteau spectrophotometric method. The antioxidant potential was evaluated in acetomethanolic extracts by the spectrophotometric method of sequestration of the DPPH radical. The phenolic compounds in the ethanol, methanol and acetone extracts presented variations from 97.32 to 207.90, 69.95 to 128.04 and 42.36 to 56.66 mg.100g-1, respectively. Significant losses of phenolic compounds were observed from the second to the third stage, that is, when the pulps were fractionated and stored in sachets. The antioxidant potential (IC 50) varied from 0.71 to 1.25 mg.mL-1, and the response profile was different among the different batches. There was reduction of the antioxidant potential (greater IC50) in two batches between the first and second stages. Prolonged periods of refrigeration or very low temperatures generate a loss in fruit quality, which occur due to the action of specific enzymes such as peroxidases and polyphenoloxidases that participate in the oxidation of phenolic compounds and, in this way, may decrease the antioxidant capacity of frozen pulps. Ethanol was the most suitable solvent for extracting the phenolic compounds in the cashew pulp and are susceptible to degradation during processing and storage of the pulp with impairment of the antioxidant potential.