Optimización de puntos críticos del proceso de obtención de harina de maca (lepidium meyenii) en función de la calidad microbiológica del producto final

Abstract

This present academic work emphasises two critical steps in the process of obtaining maca root powder (Lepidium meyenii) for human consumption based on the microbiologic quality of the final product. The maca root powder was provided by the company “study case” located in the Baguanchi area, in Azuay, between March and July 2018. The two critical steps deeply analyzed were sterilization and dehydration. The changes recommended in order to improve the process of obtaining maca root powder were evaluated by means of factorial experimental design 22. Four experimental packages were analyzed by combining the two traditional stages, sterilization (vinegar 5 ppm during 10 minutes) and dehydration (≈200 º C during 40 minutes) with the recommended: sterilization (peroxyacetic acid 70 ppm during 2 minutes) and dehydration (70 º C during 12 hours). The experiments were tripled. The experiment response variables were the microbiologic recount of mold, Escherichia coli y Salmonella spp. which suits the Sanitary Technical Regulation N° 071-MINSA/DIGESA/V.01 for powders in general. After preliminary tests, the absence of E. coli was proved, thus the recount of coliforms as a response variable was considered. Compact Dry® for mold and coliforms sheets were used for the cultivating process. The Kit Reveal® 2.0 was used for the identification of Salmonella spp. After applying the alternative sterilization (peroxyacetic acid 70 ppm during 2 minutes) and dehydration (70 º C during 12 hours) methods, microbiologic recounts with undetectable levels (˂10 UFC/ml) for mold and coliforms were obtained, as well as absence of Salmonella spp. With this it can be evidenced that the optimization of the selected critical steps allows to improve the process of obtaining maca root powder considering the microbiologic quality of the final product.