Diseño de un proceso industrial para la elaboración de Queso Ricotta a partir de suero láctico para la Corporación de Organizaciones Campesinas Indígenas de las Huaconas y Culluctus (COCIHC), Cantón Colta.

Abstract

The objective of this work was to design an industrial process for the elaboration of ricotta cheese from lactic whey for the Corporation of Peasant Organizations of the Huaconas and Culluctus (COCIHC), Colta Canton. It began with the physical-chemical and microbiological characterisation of the sweet-type whey determined by the NTE INEN 2594: 2011 standard, besides, through laboratory tests, the most appropriate form of ricotta cheese production and process variables were established. It was found that the proper form is from coagulation by adding an acid substance and increasing the temperature, the process variables were: heating temperature 84 ° C, coagulation temperature from 84 ° C to 86 ° C, coagulation time of 6 minutes, filtering time of 1 to 2 hours, storage temperature 4 ° C. It was determined that 1 g citric acid / 1L whey is necessary, to obtain 17.53 kg of ricotta cheese from 300 L of processed whey, for which the following equipment is necessary: kettle with stirring system and a container for filtering. The design validation was carried out through the characterisation of ricotta cheese based on the NTE INEN86: 2013 standard. Ricotta cheese. Requirements, whose physical-chemical results are 73.87% humidity and 13.53% fat, in the microbiological analysis indicates that it complies with the permissible index of good and acceptable quality, to ensure product safety. With the financial analysis, it was verified that the project is economically viable.