PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL EVALUATION OF THE FROZEN PASSION FRUIT PULP TRADED IN THE BAURU REGION

The purpose of passion fruit Pull) industry is to keep the taste and nutritional characteristics as close as possible to the natural fruit. The objective of this work was to evaluate the packing nutritional information and the physical-chemical characteristics of the frozen passion fruit pulp. It was analyzed 25 Pulp samples of the 07 different brand names found in Bauru and nearby cities in the State of Sao Paulo. Just one of the analyzed brand names (14.3 %) was according to the Current Brazilian Food Legislation, the others had exceeded or incomplete tables. The variations of the physical-chemical characteristics for the traded brands were mainly Clue to the rate of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and 64% of the samples also don't follow the rules of the Technical Regulation for Identify and Quality Standards (PIQ) for passion fruit pull) of the Agriculture Ministry. The observed variations between "in natura" and frozen pulp are small for the following items: density, pH, Total Soluble Solid (TSS), acidity in citric acid and ratio, but are high for the rate of ascorbic acid.