Investigação da presença de bromato de potássio em pães do tipo francês comercializados no município de Fortaleza – CE em 2015

Abstract

The bread, in particular the French type, is one of the basic foods for most Brazilians. In such way that nutritional or toxicological modifications in this product can affect the population and they deserve continuous investigation. In the bread making process, are used traditional ingredients as well as additives with the purpose to confer quality and characteristics, which are desired to the product. One of these additives that were used per many decades, as flour enhancing, was potassium bromate (KBrO3). In the bread, its function was to promote bigger retention of gases, obtaining bigger volume, better texture and internal humidity by means of proteins oxidation. However, studies from the World Health Organization demonstrated that the use of potassium bromate in bread process can produce carcinogenic effect and provokes the destruction of complex B vitamins, especially the thiamin and the riboflavin. In Brazil, since 1970, its use was forbidden through the Resolution nº 15/70 (CNNPA/MS), which was consolidated for the Federal Law nº 10,273/01, the non-observance of this last sanitary infraction can penalized the transgressor, according to Law nº 6.437/77. Considering its potential risk for health and its prohibition as additive in bread process, this research objectives the identification of potassium bromate in commercialized and collected French type breads in the city of Fortaleza – CE, according to its Regional Executive Secretariats, among the months of August and September of 2015. It is an experimental qualitative research, using direct and indirect methodologies for the analito identification, praised by Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International- OMA (1990) and for the Adolfo Lutz Institute (IAL), respectively. The indirect and direct confirmatory tests for potassium bromate were detected by chromatography in thin layer (CCD), proposed by IAL. It was analyzed 28 samples in total, 19 samples (67.87%) presented positive results for bromate detection in which 10 samples were detected by direct methodology, and 14 samples by the indirect one, having 5 positive results samples for both tests. Relating to the general aspects of the bread with bromate presence demonstrated, it was observed the predominance of the regular levels in general aspect among the positive lots. Regarding to the average weight of the breads, only 10 samples were above or equal to 50g, between these 10 samples, 7 presented positive results for bromate. Analyzing the sales ways, amongst the positive samples for the analito, its presence was observed in 10 samples commercialized under fixed unitary value, and in 9 samples commercialized under weigh was evidenced. The 14 positive samples in the qualitative test for bromate by indirect method, were confirmed by CCD. However, in the direct method, the 10 positive samples for bromate had not obtained confirmation by CCD,possible due to the low concentrations of the analito. The results obtained in this work resemble with previous researches and indicate the necessity of an effective control in the establishments that produce and commercialize French type bread.