Propriedades térmicas, qualidade e armazenabilidade de camarão (Litopenaeus vannamei, Boone) congelados em temperaturas criogênicas.

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the effect of techniques of: 1) freezing in temperatures of-20 °C, -196 °C and -170 °C; 2) storage in temperatures of (-20 °C, -30 °C and -170 °C, and 3) of unfreezing method ( environmental temperature: approximately 25 °C and in thermostatized bath: 35 °C) on two samples of shrimp: 1) with exoskeleton and head and 2) without exoskeleton and head, for a period of 12 months of storage. The following parameters had been determined: 1) physical characteristics (mass, length, thickness and volume); 2) kinetic freezing of temperatures at -20 °C, -170 °C and -196 °C; 3) thermophysical properties (density, specific heat, thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity); 4) physicochemical characteristic (water content, ashes, proteins, pH, carbohydrates, fats, calories, exuded and an texture attribution: hardness); 5) microbiological characterization (salmonella, fecale coliform, vibrio parahaemolyticus) and 6) sensorial evaluation (flavor, scent, texture and appearance), aiming to verify the effectiveness of freezing and unfreezing techniques in the quality of the stored shrimp. During kinetic analysis, the curves of freezing obtained at the temperature of -20 °C for the shrimp with the head and exoskeleton for the filet, the three phases, or better saying, cooling, crystallization and after-freezing were clearly observed. This fact also occurred for the shrimp with frozen head at -170 °C, on the other hand for the filet at -170 °C, it was not easy to distinguish with clarity phase I from Phase II, in other words, the phases of cooling and crystallization, due to the speed of freezing. At the shrimps with head freezing curve, it was observed that when these were submitted to freezing by immersion in liquid N2 (-196 °C) there was not any distinction between the phases of cooling and crystallization. In relation to the thermophysical properties, the density of fresh shrimp (25 °C) with exoskeleton and head were of l,066g/cm3 and of that of filet was l,02g/cm3. The average values of the specific heat of the shrimp with exoskeleton and fresh filet is of 0,84 and 0,86 kcal/kg °C, respectively and for shrimp with exoskeleton and filet at temperature of -170 °C were of 0,28 kcal/kb °C, 0.31 kcal/kg °C and 196°C were of 0,25 kcal/kg °C and 0,28 kcal/kg °C, respectively. The medium diffusivity effectiveness of the shrimp with exoskeleton at the temperatures of -20 °C, -170 °C and -196 °C, was of 9,13 x 10"3 mm2/s; 29 x 10"3 mm2/s; 571,8 x 10"3 mm2/s and for the filet at the same temperature was 9,9 x 10"3 mm2/s temperatures was; 28.1 x 10"3 mm2/s; 384,3 x 10"3 mm2/s. The average thermal conductivity for shrimp with exoskeleton at -170 °C and -196 °C was of 0,032 W/m °C and 0,499 W/m °C and for filet at the temperature was of 0,029 W/m °C and 0.371 W/m °C, respectively. For physicist-chemistry characterization, both in shrimps with head as well as that of filet, frozen and stored in N2 vapor (-170 °C) the water content, proteins, pH, fats and exuded remained unchanged during all the period of storage. The results of the microbiological analyses of the fresh shrimps, after been frozen and during 12 months of storage, presented absence of salmonella, fecal coliform and vibrio parahaemolyticus. In the sensorial evaluation as much as flavor, scent, texture and appearance are concerned, the testators demonstrated preference for samples frozen and stored in vapor of N2, the samples with the least acceptability indices were those frozen and stored at -20 °C. It was concluded that in the flavor, scent and texture, in all the treatments, the average notes of defrosted shrimps in thermostatized bath of 35 °C temperature were less than those defrosted at environmental temperature, however, in the evaluation of the appearance of the shrimp with exoskeleton and head, when defrosted at thermostatized bath of 35 °C, presented higher notes than those defrosted at environmental temperature, such facts are attributed to astaxantine existing in crustaceans, which when heated, gives the shrimp that gives the orange color to the shrimp,