Avaliação da qualidade microbiológica de frutos minimamente processados comercializados em supermercados de Fortaleza

Abstract

The consumers’ search for a healthy diet involves fresh fruits and vegetables intake. At the same time, there is a crescent demand on fast and easy-toprepare foods, like the minimally processed. Minimal processing has been described as handling, preparing, packing, and distribution of agricultural products, throughout certain procedures, such as selection, cleaning, peeling and cutting, that do not affect the sensory characteristics of the products, aggregating value to them. As result, natural and practice products that require less time to prepare, attempting to modern life needs. The purpose of the minimally processed is offer a product similar to the fresh one, with a longer shelf-life, safe, presenting nutritive and sensory quality. There are some factors that limit consumption of these products related to their shelflife, such as increasing of respiration rate and of ethylene production, enzymatic browning, surface white discoloration, water loss and microbial changes. This work has focused on this last factor. Twenty samples of guava, mango, melon var. “japonês”, papaya var. “formosa” and pineapple, marketed in Fortaleza-Ce, were analyzed considering indicative microorganisms, and total and fecal coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus, Yeasts and Molds and Salmonella sp. Based on results, it could be suggest the quality control, observing the good manufacturing procedures, to further implementation of a preventive HACCP system, assuring to the consumer a healthy and safety product.