Histórico da qualidade físico-química de queijos industriais fiscalizados em Minas Gerais

Abstract

A historical study of 2,580 samples was conducted with samples of industrial cheeses inspected in Minas Gerais state - Brazil, concerning to the regulated physicochemical parameters of humidity, fat in dry matter, residual alkaline phosphatase enzyme activity and nitrate, from 2009 to 2015. The analysis of the sampling plan showed increase in the number of samples in 2015, with strong contribution of mozzarella instead of others varieties of cheese. The most non-compliant varieties were Parmesan type, Minas Frescal, Half rippened and Requeijão, of which only Minas Frescal had a significant sampling. A trend of reduction in the number of non-compliant samples was identified in the studied period, but this scenario was probably influenced by the quality improvement observed for Mozzarella. The regions that showed a higher frequency of non-compliance corresponded to the most sampled (Central, South and East). The seasonal distribution of the samples was identified as dependent on the operating structure of the Organization and stable during the period. In this sense, improving opportunities for fiscal sampling in MG would be in the stratification of the samples by varieties and by seasonality, based on production data of the different varieties and dairy production, respectively, or by conformity profile. Critical parameters in terms of non-compliancy were fat in dry matter and activity of the alkaline phosphatase enzyme, whose frequencies remained stable during the study period and were driven by varietiesMinas Frescal and Mozzarella, respectively. Thus, actions to promote quality improvement focused in such parameters would be strategic to leverage the quality and compliance profile of cheeses in the state. Moreover, the trend analysis of moisture and fat in dry matter for cheeses without regulated Identity and Quality Standard (PIQ) permited the proposition of standards. It was concluded that statistical tools applied in a complementary way to the fiscal analysis in the state allowed to know and monitor the System, indicating actions for its improvement aiming the promotion of food safety.