PHYSICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION OF THE SMOKED “CHIPOTLE” PEPPER DURING DEHYDRATION

Abstract

One marketing alternative for 'Jalapeño' pepper (Capsicum annum L.) is the smoked and dried processing whose product is known in México as “Chipotle”. Smoking is a common technique of food preservation that provides a special aroma and flavor, and is traditionally carried out in a field open-oven, so that fecal and physical contamination carried by the wind is possible. In this work the microbiological quality of “Chipotle” was determined in the production chain: smoking and dehydration, according to treatments for good manufacturing practices (GMP) in this process. The treatments to minimize the risk of contamination during the process were: 1. Placing a mesh hail (mesh-shade) over the drying oven; 2. Restricting direct contact of the worker with the chile pepper; and 3. Sanitizing working tools. With these simple GMP fruit quality and absence of physical contamination of “Chipotle” were attained. When not all GMP-related activities were implemented, contamination of the “Chipotle” with fecal coliforms reached values up to 210 MPN/g in the “Chipotle” fruits.