Chemical characterization of fruit pulpes marketed in Southwest of Piauí State

Resumo

The production of frozen fruit pulp is an agroindustrial activity that has become an important segment of the productive chain, favoring fruit consumption and guaranteeing the use of the surplus produced. However, despite the considerable increase of this production, it is still possible to find pulps with changes in their physico-chemical characteristics, due to problems associated with the lack of processing and/or storage. In view of this, the objective of this work was to perform the chemical characterization of the main frozen fruit pulps marketed in the southwestern region of Piauí, in view of their adequacy to the standards of identity and quality (PIQ) established by the legislation. The selection of pulps was carried out based on research in the retail trade in the city of Bom Jesus (Piauí, Brazil), to which the pulps of acerola, cashew, guava and mango were selected. The analyzed parameters were: soluble solids (SS), total acidity (AT), pH and total vitamin C. The values of SS/AT in the pulps of acerola, cashew, guava and mango were 5.2º/1.02%, 8.2º/0.45%, 4.8º/0.2% and 11º/0.51%, respectively. The pH in the pulps of acerola (3.0) and cashew (3.8) followed the legislation, while guava (2.72) and mango (3.1) were characterized below that proposed by legislation. When at vitamin C content, the acerola pulps 1015.42 mg 100 g-1, cashew 152.42 mg.100 g-1, guava 29.0 mg 100 g-1 and mango 82.02 mg 100 g-1 were as required in legislation. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that some parameters do not meet the minimum required by the legislation, being necessary to adapt them to reach a production of quality fruit pulps, through the adoption of Good Manufacturing Practices and standardization of raw materials.