Determination of the shelf-life of arepa with egg through accelerated testing

Abstract

The objective of this research was to determinate the shelf-life of arepa with egg through accelerated tests. The shelf-life of the arepa was estimated taking into account the increase in the product's peroxide index (IP) under accelerated conditions with the aid of the factor Q10. For this purpose, a zero-order model for kinetic degradation was used, in addition to physical-chemical and microbiological analyses. The results indicated an increase in IP at higher temperatures and also during the first frying period. IP tended to increase basically with temperature and frying time, this may have been due to the accumulation of less stable primary oxidative compounds. A value of Q10 of 1.93 was obtained, which indicates that the speed is accelerated those times for every 10°C increase in temperature.