Aplicación de tratamientos térmicos en la conservación de alimentos y su efecto sobre agentes patógenos y enzimas

Abstract

Heat treatments are effective when destroying the microbial load and reducing the activity of certain enzymes present in food, applying treatments that precede others, in the case of blanching, which is a preliminary treatment before applying a more rigorous method. This is given in order to preserve its own organoleptic characteristics, maintain its firmness and prolong its shelf life. It is important to know the temperature profiles that govern the sterilization process inside the can, since with these it is possible to know the kinetics of destruction of pathogenic microorganisms. Clostridium botulinum is taken as the basis for the sterilization process of canned foods because it is a heat resistant bacterium, so if this bacterium is inactivated, we can ensure that the other pathogenic microorganisms and enzymes have been inactivated. The decimal reduction time in blanching at 90 ° C for 3 min was determined, the treatment time in sterilization was 4 min. The decimal reduction time for Clostridium botulinum at 90 ° C for 3 min is 0.01, for peroxidase 0,5 ×103 and for pectinesterase 0,3 ×106, applying sterilization at 121.1 ° C for 4 min, for Clostridium botulinum, presented a decimal reduction number of 19.05, for peroxidase 0,05 ×109 and for pectinesterase 2,9 ×109.