BURGER OF PIRARUCU (Arapaima gigas): ELABORATION, PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION

The consumption of freshwater fish has increased in recent years with the increase in the creation of pirarucu (Arapaima gigas), whereas this has excellent nutritional characteristics, presenting itself as the most promising species for the development of fish farming intensively in the Amazon region. In addition, the development of fish products has become a way to increase fish consumption, since fresh fish has an extremely short shelf-life. In this sense, the objective of this work was to elaborate and characterize the physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of pirarucu burger bred in captivity. For this purpose, the elaboration of the pirarucu burger were carried out at the Meat Laboratory of the National Industrial Learning Service of Mato Grosso (SENAI-MT), partner of this work, following the norms of good manufacturing practice (fish refill and grindind, weighing the raw material and condiments, mixing, molding, packaging and storage under freezing) and analyzed, in triplicate, for moisture, ashes, protein (Kjeldahl method), total lipids (Soxhlet method), pH, water activity, sodium chloride content, carbohydrate content by difference and total energy value by means of the conversion factors, as well as Salmonella sp. using ISO 6579:2007 method, Staphylococcus coagulase positive by the direct counting method and counting of coliforms at 35 and 45°C and E. coli by the Apha method of the Most Likely Number). The results obtained in the physico-chemical analyzes were: water activity 0.98, pH 6.53, sodium chloride content 1.24%, moisture 71.64%, ashes 2.12%, protein 18.98% (above that recommended by legislation (15%)), lipids 4.53%, carbohydrate 2.73% and energy value 127.61 kcal/100g, while the results of the microbiological analyzes fully met the standards required by current legislation. Pirarucu burger production has proven to be a viable alternative to offer the consumer a product with excellent nutritional and microbiological quality as well as being practical for use in day-to-day.