Estudo das etapas de obtenção e de armazenamento do pirarucu salgado-seco

Abstract

Arapaima gigas (Schinz, 1822) has promoted interest for commercial exploitation, due to its nutritional quality and sensory characteristics, as well as having a high rate of growth in captivity and a high carcass yield. Salting and drying are the main processes used in the fish muscle conservation, which is traditionally sold in the form of dry-salted. On the other hand, the processing of pirarucu does not have standard technological conditions and the sale of products also occurs without effective control, which compromises the quality products. Thus, this study aimed to assess the quality of commercial dry-salted pirarucu, as well as to study the process of obtaining dry-salted pirarucu, with satisfactory stability and quality. In the first chapter, a review of the literature on the themes addressed in the study is presented and in the following four chapters the main research results are presented. In the second chapter, a manuscript is presented that deals with the evaluation of the composition and physical-chemical quality of the dorsal and ventral regions of salted-dried pirarucu sold in the Metropolitan Region of Belém (Pará, Brazil). The composition and quality parameters (water activity, pH, total titratable acidity, instrumental color, total volatile bases, substances reactive to thiobarbituric acid and amine profile) from six commercial samples of the product were analyzed, to identify possible quality markers to be used during the processing and marketing of the product. The third chapter presents a manuscript with the results of the research, in which the impact of using different proportions of refined and coarse salt in the dry salting process of the dorsal and ventral regions of the pirarucu was evaluated. Additionally, the complementary drying process of the salted product was studied, as well as the possible changes of the product, during the storage period, in a standard atmosphere. In the fourth chapter, a manuscript published in the Food Research International magazine is presented, with the results of the research that evaluated the influence of the application of vacuum pulse and periodic vacuum pulses, as well as temperature, in salting process of the pirarucu muscle, by impregnation with sodium chloride. The fifth chapter presents a manuscript with the results of the study that compared the drying processes with hot air circulation and cold air circulation, of the pirarucu muscle impregnated with sodium chloride, using a periodic vacuum pulse. In this study, the hygroscopic behavior and the nutritional and sensory characteristics of the products obtained by the two drying processes were also evaluated