Diagnóstico do sistema de produção e qualidade do mel de Apis mellifera

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Mariana Borges de Lima da
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
• Texto Completo: http://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/2956
• topic: Mel; Apicultura; Qualidade; Honey; Apiculture; Quality; CNPQ::CIENCIAS AGRARIAS::CIENCIA E TECNOLOGIA DE ALIMENTOS::CIENCIA DE ALIMENTOS

Brazil has a potential of producing huge amounts of honey. However, the condition that Brazilian honey is collected and processed may affect its market and its consumption. The purpose of this work was to diagnose the conditions in which the production of honey is carried out in the north of Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais state, including all stages related somehow to honey quality and to compare the physical-chemical and microbiological quality of honey produced in the region with those registered in Service of Federal Inspection (SIF) in the state of Minas Gerais. Thirteen bee keepers and honey house owners were investigated, in the days of harvest and extraction of honey from the honeycombs from May to July of 2006, being the diagnosis fulfilled and documented through the application of questionnaire and photography done in the days of visit. Analyses of the physical-chemical and microbiological quality of 39 samples were carried out, in which 3 of them were from each one of the 13 apiculturists investigated and 18 samples provided by the registered brands of SIF-MG. Results indicated 23.1% of the apiculturists carrying out the management of their apiaries in the proper way. The civil construction was according to requirements of Brazilian law in 15.4% of them while the use of equipments and devices in bad condition for the lack of them was observed in 61.5% of the places researched. Hygiene conditions for honey handlers, equipment and the whole honey facilities were not adequate for a food processing place, in most of units researched. Difference in quality was observed between north of Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais state honey and SIF honey for: acidity, ash, hydroxymethylfurfural, apparent sucrose, insoluble solids and fungi and yeasts. SIF honey has shown better quality than those from north of Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais state. Acidity mean values of two out of 13 bee keeper honey houses from north of Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais state were higher than the upper limit set by Brazilian regulation. Insoluble solids mean values of 11 out of 13 bee keeper honey houses (39 samples) from north of Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais state and two from SIF were higher than the upper limit set by the same regulation. It is recommended for the apiculturists to have professional preparation in aspects related to management, harvest and extraction of honey, in order to improve the quality of the product from the region researched.