ISSN 2375-1061
African Journal of Agricultural Marketing ISSN 2375-1061 Vol. 4 (12), pp. 001-006, December, 2016. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Impact of cocoa processing technologies in free fatty acids formation in stored raw cocoa beans
Simplice Tagro Guehi 1*, Michael Dingkuhn2, Emile Cros3, Gérard Fourny3, Robert Ratomahenina4, Guy Moulin4 and Anne Clement Vidal2
1Laboratoire de Biochimie et de Technologie Alimentaire. UFR Sciences et Technologies des Aliments. Université d’Abobo-Adjamé. 02 Bp 801 Abidjan 02. Côte d’Ivoire.
2CIRAD-AMIS, Equipe Ecotrop, TA 40/01, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
3CIRAD-CP/Programme Cacao, Laboratoire de Chimie-Technologie du cacao, TA 80/16, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
4INRA-Montpellier, Laboratoire de microbiologie industrielle et de génétique des microorganismes, 2 Place Viala, 34000 Montpellier, France.
Accepted 18 July, 2016
Abstract
The quality of raw cocoa beans depends widely on their free fatty acids (FFA) content. High FFA content is a serious quality defect and reduces the technical and economic value of the cocoa beans. The work investigates the influence of cocoa processing technologies on FFA formation during storage of raw cocoa beans. Different samples of ferment dried cocoa beans purchased from Cote d’Ivoire were stored and analysed for FFA content. Very low FFA contents were found in whole healthy cocoa beans generally complied with UE standards (1.75% oleic acid equivalent) throughout storage while high FFA content was found in poor quality and broken healthy beans. The formation of FFA did not depend on the genotype or on cocoa post-harvest processing technologies. However, high and increasing FFA contents were observed in defective cocoa beans and could be attributed probably to the activity of microflora which in turn were associated with initial quality and loss of physical integrity of the cocoa beans.
Key words: Raw cocoa beans, processing technologies, free fatty acids content.