Parâmetros da qualidade das amêndoas de cacau (theobroma cacao L.) de regiões produtoras no estado do Pará e aplicação de NIR associado a ferramentas quimiométricas para sua classificação.

Abstract

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a native fruit of tropical forests and plays an important role in the economy of producing regions, however, due to the lack of infrastructure and inadequate processing practices, they generate almonds with low potential for application in the food industry. In order to value cocoa beans, this research aimed to evaluate the quality of cocoa beans from regions of Pará (Lower Tocantins, Northeast, West, Southeast and Trans-Amazon) by physical, physicochemical and chromatographic evaluation and near infrared datroscopy combined with chemometric tools. A questionnaire was informed with the producers about fermentation and drying practices, followed by physical, physical-active, antioxidant capacity, quantification of total polyphenols and bioactive compounds, in addition to using NIR as an analytical tool. According to the physical evaluation, as it presents an acceptable commercial standard, however, the cutting test results showed the lack of standardization in the preprocessing of the seeds. Among the physicochemical parameters (proteins, lipids, moisture, ash, pH, acidity and water activity), moisture within the limit tolerated by legislation and only relevant dissipation lipids. As for the antioxidant capacity, total polyphenols and bioactive compounds, only the bioactive compounds differences differences, with the Lower Tocantins region these values higher for all studied compounds. The grouping of the functions of physicalchemical composition variations was evidenced by the Principal Components Analysis that there was a cluster formation for a region of Baixo Tocantins.