São necessários estudos que definam um “padrão de qualidade” de um determinado produto. Nesse sentido, as avaliações ligadas aos variados aspectos dos alimentos, sejam eles de indicações nutricionais, físico-químicos ou sensoriais, apresentam-se como importantes ferramentas na definição da qualidade do produto. O trabalho teve como objetivo analisar a qualidade de quinze marcas de açúcar mascavado. Quanto à humidade, todas as marcas estavam dentro do relatado pela literatura apresentando duas delas um valor de Aw maior que 0,60. Quatro marcas apresentaram-se fora do limite estabelecido do padrão internacional para bactérias mesófilas e duas marcas não conformes para bolores e leveduras. Quanto a analise sensorial, os açúcares apresentaram diferenças na cor, aparência húmida, gosto doce e textura granulosa, porém estas diferenças não afetaram a preferência para este grupo de consumidores.

Studies which lead to a pointing that aims at defining a qualitative positioning of a certain product are necessary. In this sense, the evaluations related to the various aspects of the foods, being them of nutritional indications, physicochemical or sensory, are important tools in pointing the quality of the product. This work aimed at analyzing the quality of fifteen brands of brown sugars. Regarding moisture, all brands were inside what is reported by the literature and two brands presented Aw higher than 0.60. Four brands stayed outside the limit established by the international standard for mesophilic bacteria and two brands were not in accordance for molds and yeasts. The sugars presented sensory difference for color, humid appearance, sweet taste and grainy texture; however, for this group of consumers, these differences did not affect preference.

Abstract Ethanol is obtained in Brazil from the fermentation of sugarcane, molasses or a mixture of these. Alternatively, it can also be obtained from products composed of cellulose and hemicellulose, called “second generation ethanol - 2G”. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly applied in industrial ethanol production, is not efficient in the conversion of pentoses, which is present in high amounts in lignocellulosic materials. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of a yeast strain of Dekkera bruxellensis in producing ethanol from synthetic media, containing xylose or arabinose, xylose and glucose as the sole carbon sources. The results indicated that D. bruxellensis was capable of producing ethanol from xylose and arabinose, with ethanol concentration similar for both carbon sources, 1.9 g L-1. For the fermentations performed with xylose and glucose, there was an increase in the concentration of ethanol to 5.9 g L-1, lower than the standard yeast Pichia stipitis (9.3 g L-1), but with similar maximum yield in ethanol (0.9 g g TOC-1). This proves that the yeast D. bruxellensis produced lower amounts of ethanol when compared with P. stipitis, but showed that is capable of fermenting xylose and can be a promising alternative for ethanol conversion from hydrolysates containing glucose and xylose as carbon source.