Diseñar y construir un prototipo de cámara fría para la conservación de carne de cuyes y conejos

Abstract

This work was carried out at the Research and Academic Unit of Minor Speciesof the animal Science Department of Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo. A cold chamber was designed and built to preserve guinea pigs and rabbit meat. Its efficiency at freezing, cooling and room temperatures was assessed; later. Then the microbiologic and chemical variables applying descriptive statistics were analyzed. The microbiologic variable showed that as the temperature increases, the bacterial load increases; that is why the best results were obtained at freezing temperature (-8 ° C) and at cooling temperature (5° C). The rabbit meat showed 70 CFU / g and 70 CFU / g at -8 ° C and 5 ° C respectively. The chemical variable analysis determined a pH value of 6.02 and 6.05 at -8 ° C and 5°C respectively and in rabbit meat and a pH 6.26 and 6.30 at -8 ° C and 17 ° C respectively in guinea pig meat. It is concluded that the best results were obtained with the chemical and microbiological variables at 5 ° C (99.28%) and -8 ° C (99, 51%) when determining the cold chamber efficiency for preserving beat. It is recommended to observe the manual of handling and equipment maintenance for a proper calibration and performance and to carry out future research in preserving meat at different temperatures.