Estudo da produção e da qualidade das cachaças paraibanas de acordo com o Programa Nacional de Certificação da Cachaça.

Abstract

Paraíba is the largest state producing cachaça and its cachaças (Brazilian sugar-cane spirit) has quality that stands out in national tasting panels. Its sugar-cane spirits have qualities that stand out in tasting panels and, regarding the average price among Brazilian states, it is only behind Rio de Janeiro. Although Paraíba has no leadership as an exporter of cachaça, when considering artisanal production exclusively, it is the largest exporter of this product, in proportion to the production. There is a lack of widespread studies in the scientific literature that prove this cachaça sensory quality and there are no studies on its physicochemical quality and operational hygiene. Moreover, no cachaça producer has INMETRO quality certificate in Paraíba. In this context, this study aimed to locate the regular producers of cachaça in the state of Paraíba and study the technological, organizational and hygienic production aspects as well as the physicalchemical and sensory quality of this product. Finally, this study culminated in the verification of the certification potential of cachaça according to the INMETRO regulations. To this end, cachaça samples were collected from 20 producers, participant in this research, and were sent for sensory analysis by a group of expert cachaça panelists at the Amazile Biagioni Maia Laboratory. Each sample was also sent to the Technology Institute of Pernambuco for physicochemical quality evaluation. The cachaça production units were inspected, and their geographical location was determined by GPS. Producers were also evaluated by inspection as for compliance with BPF (Good Manufacturing Practices) established by MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture) and for quality requirements established by INMETRO for certification purposes. Checklists were used to systematize inspection observations. According to the results, the cachaça production units are mostly located in the “Agreste” (82 %) and “Mata Paraibana” (13 %) regions of Paraíba. Borborema region has no mill or plant for cachaça or sugar-cane spirit production. A total of 65 % of the cachaças evaluated in this study met the physicochemical quality parameters determined by MAPA and only 35 % met the INMETRO parameters. Because of the volatile acidity and ethyl carbamate concentration, 35% and 40 % of the samples were disapproved, respectively. On average, 85 % of the BPF criteria were met when evaluated using the MAPA checklist. However, compliance with the organizational criteria established by INMETRO for certification ranged from only 48.1 to 82.4 %. The sensory evaluation of cachaça, according to sweet, bitter, acid, alcohol residual taste, irritating nasal sensation, and individually alcohol residual taste descriptors had satisfactory results, but some types of cachaça had negative results. According to the global sensory evaluation, it is necessary a longer storage period in wooden container for cachaça quality promotion. These results showed that the producers should give more attention to the operational and customer service registration activities for INMETRO certification and compliance with physicochemical quality limits.