EXPERIMENTO ACADÊMICO: APLICAÇÃO DO MÉTODO DE DIFERENÇAS FINITAS PARA A ANÁLISE DO RESFRIAMENTO DE UMA BETERRABA COZIDA

Abstract

Given the increasing concern about food safety and its parameters, set by government agencies, it is important to know about the maximum exposure time of food in general to atmospheric air, in order to avoid possible microbiological contamination. Defining the food temperature profile and its variation over time, allows greater control over this factor. Therefore, the present article aims to determine, through finite-difference and Global capacitance equations, the cooling process of a cooked beet, establishing the time after which the beet would reach the temperature of 60 ºC, and be susceptible to contamination. After cooking the vegetable, surface temperatures were measured for predefined periods of time. The results revealed that, even before the future measurements, two of the surface points were already at the temperatures of 52.9 and 56.6 ºC, showing that the used method was not satisfying for the initially proposed analysis.