Introduction. Tucupi is one of the main foods of Pará gastronomy, and its presence is
more and more marked in Brazil, intensifying the sanitary surveillance control over this
type of product. Goals. This labor aimed to carry out the physical-chemical and
microbiological characterization of tucupi sold in a supermarket in Belém-Pará. Material
and methods. The analyzes were performed at the Laboratory of Food Hygiene and
Bioprocesses at the Federal University of Pará. Seven samples of tucupi were used,
obtained from supermarket chains in Belém-Pa. For the physical-chemical analysis, the
following were analyzed: pH, Brix, and total titratable acidity, free cyanide content and
for the microbiological analysis: aerobic mesophiles, total and thermotolerant coliforms,
molds, and yeasts. Results and discussion. Results ranged from 2.0 to 4.52 for pH, 1.0 to
8.0 for oBrix, and 6.6 to 16.0 meq NaOH.100 mL–1
for total titratable acidity. Free
cyanide values ranged from 3.89 to 4.87 among the seven brands. The results for
microbiological analysis ranged from 1.1x104
to 5.9x106 CFU/ml for molds and yeasts,
from 1.2x105
to 1.3x108 CFU/ml for aerobic mesophiles and were absent for total
coliforms and thermotolerant coliforms in all samples used. The highest count of molds
and yeasts was observed for Tucupi VII, and the highest count of aerobic mesophiles was
observed for Tucupi III. Conclusion. It was verified that, in general, the tucupi analyzed
were within the contamination limits suggested by the legislation as suitable for
consumption.
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