AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE E DAS CONDIÇÕES DE EMBALAGEM DE AÇÚCARES COMERCIAIS COM RELAÇÃO A INSTRUÇÃO NORMATIVA N0. 47 DO MINISTÉRIO DA AGRICULTURA

Abstract

Crystallized sucrose is commercially called sugar, being widely studied in research focused on food production, as it plays an important role as an ingredient and preservative in various formulations and technological processes and its characteristics influence the quality and quantity used. Normative Instruction No. 47 of mapa, in force since July 1, 2019, regulates the classification of sugars into two groups, the first destined to human food and the second to industrial supply. The regulation requires the producing companies or those responsible for packaging to specify: the group, the class and the type of sugar in their packaging, thus requiring physicochemical analysis to ensure the quality of the final product to the consumer. This paper presents an evaluation of the packaging and quality of some brands and lots of commercial crystal and demerara sugars, in order to verify whether they are in accordance with the Normative Instruction. This work was carried out by observing the information contained in the packaging of seven brands for crystal sugars and four of the demerara sugars and how much the physicochemical analyses (%moisture, and conductive ash) two brands and two lots of crystal and demerara sugars were analyzed, respectively. Then, the results were compared with the parameters established by the current legislation. The methodologies used to perform quality analyses and standardization of crystal and demerara sugar packaging are specified in the normative instruction. The brands of sugars were coded in letters and lots in numbers, in order to preserve the companies. As for the packaging information for the brands of crystal sugars only one obeyed Chapter VI, referring to the packaging provisions, of Normative Instruction No. 47 of the MAPA, while for the demerara sugars evaluated none of the brands met all the requirements of the packaging. The brands and lots of crystal sugars (A1, A2, B1, B2) and demerara (X1, X2, Y1, Y2) analyzed physically and chemically were within the specifications for conductive ash, but as for moisture the B1 sample was out of specification. The verification of compliance with the legislation of the classification of sugars showed that some companies need to adapt to the packaging and that the quality of the sugars produced needs to be adapted to comply with the legislation, or may be obtained by the inspection.