Abstract

It was determined the influence of weight, temperature and time of injection of saturated steam as an organic sterilization system (OSS), on the microbial load, proximal analysis and capsaicin content in mirasol chili pepper and panca chili pepper. Work was done with 3 and 4 kg of chili pepper, 100 and 105 °C (20 and 25 kPa), for 2 and 3 minutes. The pre and post analyzes were: count of viable mesophilic aerobes, total coliforms, E. coli, Salmonella, molds and yeasts, proximal and capsaicin content. The samples containing 3 kg of mirasol chili pepper, subjected to 105 °C for 3 minutes and the ones containing 3 and 4 kg of panca chili pepper to 105 °C for 3 minutes, achieved a greater reduction of mesophilic aerobes and molds. The statistical evaluation found interactions between the variables: weight and temperature in mirasol chili pepper; weight, temperature and time in panca chili pepper, on the reduction of mesophilic aerobes and molds; influencing the proximal composition and content reduction of capsaicin from 863.2 to 751.9 ppm (mirasol chili pepper) and 405.6 to 315.1 ppm (panca chili pepper); showing that the OSS treatment is an efficient method in microbial decontamination process.