Avaliação da estabilidade da vida-de-prateleira da água-de-coco resfriada produzida na cidade de Maceió/AL

Abstract

The increased supply of coconut water in natura for industrializationand human consumption, requires that companies need to offer aproduct under sanitary conditions and consequently with a shelf-lifestable. Within this context, the objective was evaluating the stability of shelf-life of the cooled coconut water produced in Maceio-AL. The study involved seven companies producing cooled coconut water, located in the city of Maceió/AL. All samples were taken directly from factories in the first days of production. From each trademark were obtained three samples from the same batch and kept preserved in a refrigerator at 5°C being analyzed individually by three times with an interval of five days. For each trademark the experiment was repeated with three batches, resulting in 63 samples. Microbiological and physicochemical analyses were conducted. Physical-chemical parameters evaluated the pH and Brix in all samples obtaining values above 4.5 and below 6.7 respectively. In all samples was identified coliform contamination at 35 ° C. In the first and second halves of all microbiological analyses, the samples were contaminated by filamentous fungi and yeast with values above 20 CFU / mL. The samples belonging to trademark B were not contaminated by Escherichia coli. All samples showed the absence of Salmonella sp. These results indicate that all trademarks, since the first day of manufacture, do not have stability in their shelf-life. in relation to the microbiological parameters and pH. It is necessary to the realization on the part of companies, a thorough evaluation to identify the critical control points in its production scale and what corrective actions are necessary to eliminate nonconformities and ensure a better stability of shelf-life of their products.