Irradiation of camu camu (Myrciaria dúbia) pulp.

The camu camu is a native fruit from Amazonian and it has obtained increasing attention due to its higher content of vitamin. This substance can be lost during the conventional process used for juice pasteurization and concentration. This work aimed to evaluate the irradiation of camu camu pulp regarding the physical, chemical and nutrition quality of the irradiated product. Camu camu from Tomé Açu, Para state - Brazil was used as raw material. The fruits were submitted to the usual steps of the fruit pulp processing: selection, washing and depulping (accomplished in a finisher with a sieve of 0.6 mm). The pulp was conditioned in plastic bags of 500 g and maintained at -18°C until the irradiation. The pulp was irradiated at 0, 500, 750 1000 and 1500 Gray. The irradiated fruits and the non-irradiated control ones were stored under refrigeration at 10ºC during 60 days. Fruits from the experiment were evaluated at the beginning and at each treatment intervals. Five samples were gotten for each characterization. The following analyses were realized: pH, soluble solids contents and titrable acidity, ascorbic acid content, It was verified that there was no significant difference in the physical and chemical properties as well as on the vitamin C content during storage. The irradiation was effective to preserve the quality of camu camu