Optimización del pelado de maíz con cal a utilizarse como estrategia de descontaminación de fumonisinas

Abstract

In this study, the maize peeling process with lime (PPC) was documented and its parameters were optimized using an experimental design in order to achieve complete removal of the peel and the minimum degree of contamination of fumonisins. Fumonisin B1 (FB1) in maize was analyzed by RP-HPLC-FLD. Experiments were performed from a batch of dry corn grain consisting of subsamples provided by selected farmers in the canton Nabón, Azuay province, based on a previous research conducted by the VLIR-IUC Project, "Food, Nutrition and Health". The experimental design was divided into three stages: the characterization process, the same as was done using surveys and in situ observations; lime exhaustion tests for PPC, which were made from the data collected in the first stage, and the PPC assessment tests in reducing fumonisin B1. It was observed that, independently of the concentration of lime used, the peeling step produced a reduction of 8.73 times the concentration of FB1 of raw corn (P = 0.030), and the peeling corn plus cookingpromoted a reduction of 9.14 times (P = 0.019). It is recommended to continue the experiment to elucidate whether FB1 reduction was due to the mechanical process of removing the peel, or it is due to the chemical transformation into its hydrolyzed form, so this work could be seen as a preliminary exploratory study.